Insurance for a 10yo cat

[girlywhirly]

I've insured my cat since she was first adopted, and now Direct Line are asking for £24 a month when I am due to renew next month. Surely there must be cheaper policies for an older cat, can anyone recommend who they use please?

We use PetPlan, but started the policy when glee adopted our cat at 11 months old.

I always used to use and advocated Petplan...after they have wriggled out of a claim and gone to every effort to avoid paying out (long story but vet is also shocked and has written letters on my behalf) avoid. Try PDSA. Don't know if any better but Petplan will not see any of my money again.

Interesting, thanks for replying.

I've just looked at Animal Friends Insurance, anyone used them? They insure older pets.

no direct experience but after the Petplan atrocity will try anyone but Petplan! If you go to Petplan's facebook page the visitor posts are very telling. We (after exhausting the complaints process with them) will be going to the Financial Ombudsman. We have a strong case and veterinary support.

I've heard very mixed reviews about Animal Friends and wouldn't touch them. The only insurance company I've claimed from is Petplan and, unlike Owl's experience, they were brilliant and paid out on a claim that the vet warned us probably wouldn't be paid. The downsides are that once an animal reaches 10 years old the excess goes up (ours is £115) and we had to pay 20% of the claim. It still saved us a fortune though.

EnlightenedOwl, good luck with the Ombudsman, I hope you win your case.

Thank you. We are hopeful given the support from the vet and the methods PP have employed to avoid the claim.

Wow that surprises me about Petplan as I would reccomend them. We were unsure if we would be able to claim when our cat became diabetic as due to illnesses last year there was a high chance she would become diabetic. They paid up no problem. Though for some reason they won't cover the cost of the sharps bin for the syringes.... Sorry to hear you're not finding them so good Enlightened.
I would avoid Animal Friends as I have heard they are very slow paying up if they do at all.
Read the small print carefully and the really cheap ones are often cheap as they avoid paying up! We had a cheapie insurance for our previous cat (can't remember who)and made two separate claims. Both times first symptoms were him not eating but two very different illnesses. Insurance company refused to pay out as initial symptoms were the same. The best was when I contacted them to ask why and the response referred to our cat as Douglas which wasn't his name but the vets name! We switched after that.

*recommend