Soko and her asthma: the night I understood
My cat Soko started coughing. Three years of care, over 3,000€ in vet bills, and what I wish I had known about feline asthma and pet insurance.
📌 Why this article. This is the story of Soko, my six-year-old cat, and the night I saw her wheeze for the first time. Personal article — it mentions Barkibu, a pet health insurance (I discuss it further down, in full transparency).
One night, in November
Soko is my cat. Six years old, two white spots on her belly, a voice you only hear when she's hungry. On November 14th — it will be almost three years ago — around 11 p.m., she got up from the couch, got into a low position (paws spread, neck stretched toward the ground) and started coughing.
Except it wasn't really a cough. It was a wheeze. Mouth open. Short, panicked breathing. Fifteen, twenty seconds that stretched like an entire hour.
I'll be honest: I didn't even know a cat could have asthma.
Feline asthma, in a nutshell
At the emergency vet clinic that night, the diagnosis came within two hours: feline asthma. More frequent than you'd think (1 to 5% of cats according to studies), often confused with a hairball or a passing crisis, but it's a chronic respiratory disease. Bronchial inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, muscle contraction — exactly like in humans.
Not fatal if managed, but requiring lifelong monitoring: bronchodilators, corticosteroids, sometimes adapted inhalers (yes, like for humans, with an inhalation chamber called AeroKat), X-rays for check-ups every six months.
💡 The signs that should have alerted me. Looking back, Soko had for several weeks these "false dry coughs" that I blamed on hair. Low position, stretched neck, open mouth: it's asthma until proven otherwise. If you see that, it's never a hairball — straight to the vet.
Three years, and over 3,000€
The counter started that night, and it hasn't stopped moving. Here's what I've spent on Soko since:
- Year 1: night emergency (387€), second crisis + treatment adjustment (220€), quarterly check-ups with primary vet + AeroKat + long-term corticosteroid (310€), additional allergy tests to identify triggers (495€). Total: ~1,410€.
- Year 2: three check-ups (240€ × 3 = 720€), renewal of baseline treatment (~30€ × 12 = 360€), severe crisis requiring overnight clinic stay under oxygen (640€). Total: ~1,720€.
- Year 3 (ongoing): check-ups + baseline treatment (~750€ to date), new control X-ray (180€). Partial total: ~930€.
Cumulative: over 3,000€ in three years, on an otherwise perfectly healthy cat. And the counter keeps running — asthma is for life.
⚠️ What I hadn't foreseen. When you adopt a dog or cat, you visualize the kibble, the litter box, the bed, maybe a toy occasionally. You don't visualize the night at emergency, or a monthly baseline treatment for ten years. And when it happens, you discover that between 60% and 80% of French don't have any vet coverage. I was in that group.
"Pet insurance? That really exists?"
That's the exact sentence I said to my vet the morning he handed me the 387€ bill.
Him, calmly: "Of course it exists. Why do you think vets in Germany or the Netherlands go bankrupt less than ours? 70% of dogs there are insured. In France, we're at 7%."
I spent the following week digging. I compared Bulle, Santévet, Animaux Santé, and several others. I read 40 pages of terms and conditions. I asked questions from other owners in the waiting room. And that's how I came across Barkibu, an actor who arrived more recently in France.
Why I'm talking about Barkibu (in full transparency)
Let's be clear about the contract: SokoScan has an affiliate partnership with Barkibu.
Now the question that matters: would I recommend them anyway without this agreement? Yes. And here's why.
From what I consulted after Soko's episode, they gave me the least desire to flee their terms and conditions. What concretely struck me:
- You can pay directly at the vet with their card (you don't advance money), or settle yourself and get reimbursed via their app — they announce 95% of cases processed in under 5 days, and that's consistent with what users I cross-referenced say.
- The plan covers vaccines and annual check-up, what many classic insurances classify as "prevention" and exclude.
- It's for life, provided you subscribe before age 11 of the animal. After that, you can't enroll.
- Valid at any veterinarian in France, and on vacation in the EU, UK, Andorra.
- With their card, they return 3% cashback on your vet expenses — you can donate it to a shelter or deduct it from your next bill. It's rare in the sector.
There are obviously exclusions (pre-existing, waiting period, breeding, aesthetics) and an annual cap — like everywhere. Read the terms before signing, not after.
The calculation I wish I'd made before November 14th
Pet insurance for a 1-3 year-old healthy cat is about 15 to 25€/month. Let's say 20€.
✅ If I'd had that when Soko's asthma arrived, I would have paid 20€/month × 36 months = 720€ over the three years before — instead of over 3,000€ out-of-pocket. Saved: ~2,280€. And it would keep saving me, because asthma lasts a lifetime.
It's exactly what Barkibu's affiliate briefing says, and it's exactly what happened to me: "If I'd had that when X arrived, I would have saved X€." Except in my case, X = "Soko's asthma" and X€ ≈ 2,000€. I didn't know. Now I do.
💡 The code and commission, out loud. Public code SOKOSCAN25 — 25€ offered on first subscription. If you use it, SokoScan gets a Barkibu commission. This partly funds the fact that we keep the app free for life for you. If you prefer to avoid that, you can also subscribe without the code — Barkibu remains just as serious.
🎯 The golden rule. Barkibu affiliation influences no PawScore product in the app. Our rating engine is independent of brands we recommend elsewhere. If tomorrow Barkibu launches catastrophic kibble, it will get a catastrophic score — affiliate or not.
And Soko?
Soko is fine. She's sleeping on my keyboard as I write this sentence (yes, really). She takes her inhaled corticosteroid morning and evening, she chases pen caps like before, and she purrs when we pick her up for inhalation — which, believe me, wasn't guaranteed.
If this article spares even one of you the night I spent on November 14th — or rather, the financial anxiety that added to medical anxiety, and cost me 2,280€ I could have kept — then it will have been worthwhile.
Take care of them. They mean more than anything in the world.
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