I think you will generally find that all over... I'm in the south-west and it's pretty much the same here! When my one of my Mum's boxers (Ozzy - guess who he was named after?) decided to leap off of an 8ft wall when he was a puppy (they live on a hillside, he saw the old man and got excited!!) smashed the whole of his tebia (is that's how it's spelt??) that cost Ma well over £5000! Titanium plates and screws, a cage, a collar and 6 weeks later he could walk on it again! The neighbor witnessed it at the time, is a very well-to-do chartered engineer, about 120 years old and a bit of an ass, turned to Mum at the time and said "better get saving dear or I have a length of 4 by 2 in the shed if you need it"... I will not repeat the retort/wrath of my dear old Mum, but I'm surprised just how well she could use every expletive that I know in such a fluid manner!!
Best of luck, and all the best to the cat, my dog is insured up to the hilt (it's my missus boy really). About the idea of taking pets to Poland, my missus is from Poland, and I've seen the level of care they gave to her cat Bonfacy... Wow, really impressed! He managed to give him another 10 years of life (he was very ill) of well being... Vets over here... Well, I think you know. It's just a business...
Kind regards,
Karl