While millions of people own cats, a huge number of those people do not yet have cat insurance.

If you are one of these people, here are a few things you will want to know about cat insurance or Försäkrakatten and why you should always have it for your cat.

Cats do get sick — One of the things that is scary about owning a pet is how quickly they can become ill. When they do, a trip or two to the vet can cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. All for an illness you had not seen coming, and had certainly not planned for.

Case in point, my parents’ cat was perfectly fine one day and off his food, throwing up and deathly ill the day after.

When they took him to the vet, not only did he almost die, but his subsequent treatment cost more than $3,000 before he was back on the road to recovery.

Thankfully, my parents have cat insurance, so their cat’s illness was not a financial hardship for them. Without that insurance, however, and it could quickly break the bank.

Do you have an outdoor cat? — If you have a cat that spends most of its time outdoors, they are in even more danger than an indoor cat of becoming sick or injured, eating something poisonous or falling when climbing a tree.

Before my parents’ cat became the indoor cat he now is, he was outdoors and was bitten by a snake. That trip to the vet was another few hundred dollars my parents would not have liked to pay if they had not had the cat insurance they do.

The myth about cats not eating certain foods — There is a myth that has been popular for decades. It is the idea that cats can detect bad food or food that could poison them, and so will not eat it.

This is not true. In fact, cats become sick all the time from eating poisonous food or food that is no longer fresh. Some even eat poison that has been deliberately put down for them by someone that does not like cats.

With cat insurance, however, you will not have to worry about your cat eating something it should not and then you having to deal with the expensive consequences.

You do not want your cat to die — In some circumstances, the cost of vet treatment for a sick cat can be so much money the owner simply cannot afford it.

Imagine how you would feel if your cat became ill, and you had a choice between thousands of dollars in medical care and having your beloved pet put to sleep because you could not afford its care.

You will never have to worry about that if you have cat insurance.