Insurance for elderly cat

[Lynne Phillpot1963]

Hi,
We are thinking of homing an elderly rescue cat (15 years approx) are there any insurances out there that would cover an elderly cat.

Any replies greatly appreciated.

Regards

Lynne

[Mollycat]

Good on you!

I'm biased (having worked in the insurance sector) and have never insured my pets. We had to find £7,500 last year between 3 animals but given that insurance would have covered less than half of this, and the previous 30 years of pets costing me nothing at all, I have no regrets.

Chances are if you can find anyone willing to insure a 15 year old cat the premiums they will want are likely to be extortionate.

As a whole over the insurance sector from car insurance to buildings insurance and everything in between, they work on paying out half of the premiums they collect. The other half is not all profit of course, there are costs from premises to advertising as well, but 50% is roughly what they plan to pay out when they calculate premiums.

[fjm]

I think you would struggle to find anything affordable. Policies usually exclude pre-existing conditions (and at 15 a cat is likely to have at least one), and I found the premiums began to increase exponentially when my cats got to 8 years old - I stopped at that point and put the money into a savings account instead. I dread to think what the cost of insurance would be now, with tow cats aged 17 and two dogs aged 11, with a clutch of chronic conditions amongst them, but I am pretty sure it would come close to the annual vet bills.

If I were considering adopting an older cat I would want full blood tests first, including kidney and liver function and thyroid levels - if the rescue was struggling I would even be prepared to pay for them myself. CKD and hyperthyroidism in particular are extremely common in ageing cats. That would give you a baseline to decide whether you can manage the potential health costs. Depending on where you live and whether the cat is indoor/outdoor it may be worth looking at accident insurance, which is usually comparatively inexpensive. The price comparison sites will let you input details and get quotations if you want to explore insurance options - might be worth using a dedicated email address to stay off marketing lists.

[Kay]

my suggestion in these circumstances is to take out a new credit card, with as long an interest free period on purchases as you can find, and keep it by in case of a big vet bill

if you do incur a big bill, the payments to clear the card would very likely be less than insurance payments and any excess, and you will have peace of mind that you wouldn't have to decline any necessary treatment on the ground of cost alone

[booktigger]

I agree with others, insurance isn't as easy to get for oldies as it used to be. Some rescues have deals with places like Petplan to offer 4 weeks insurance to adopters and I know that does cover older cats who they don't normally cover, but fairly sure it is quite a limited policy. I agree about bloods, then you know if you will be facing medication or diet from the beginning

[Lynne Phillpot1963]

Thanks everyone for the replies. The rescue have done all full blood tests and they have come back clear. We are going to open a separate bank account and pay so much in every month should we need it. We are going to see the cat on Saturday to see if we are a match

[Mollycat]

At one time no insurance would take on a new policy for a cat over 8 years old at all.

As above I am biased but I honestly do think that's the best insurance possible, with a solid high limit credit card for backup and for while you're building up reserves as well.

That said after this post came up I did go looking around again and I'm surprised how many options were out there for obviously limited cover but under £10 a month and all policies here https://www.theinsuranceemporium.co.uk/ ... 247C10226D came out under £250 a year all the way to their top cover on a 16 year old moggy.

The other factor is how much we're prepared to put our animals through to make them well again. Difficult subject but it's no use insuring for £10,000 if in reality the trauma involved in a treatment that costs that much would be more than we would consider for that animal.

[Lynne Phillpot1963]

Just had a look at the link below, its quite interesting....going to have a good think about this and perhaps talk to the rescue and our vets and see what they think.