The value of cat insurance claims rose 10% to an all-time high of £148 million ($264.6 million) in the UK last year as a record 1.06 million cat owners secured pet insurance.

Across all animals, UK pet insurers processed claims worth £799 million ($1.43 billion) in 2020, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reveals, the second highest since records began in 2007.

There were 978,000 notified claims. These included 212,000 involving cats and 734,000 for dogs, valued at £598 million ($1.07 billion). Other claims were for rabbits, birds and hamsters.

The average claim value across all pet policies was £817 ($1461), up 2% on 2019.

Examples of expensive pet treatments that cost many thousands of pounds were a French Bulldog with a fractured leg, reattaching toes to a cat after they had been crushed, treating a dog’s dislocated kneecap, repairing ligament damage in a Jack Russell terrier and treating a cat’s fractured thigh bone.