Insurance for 14 year old cat

[BathshebaOak]

Hello, I’m looking for advice on cat insurance for my beloved 14 year old female cat.

She has always been an indoor cat by choice (she will sit in the garden with me, but doesn’t believe she can get over the fence, despite watching other cats do it) and at her last vet check up I was told that she was in excellent condition for her age.

Her insurance is up for renewal and the premium is going up to £37/month - that’s more than my car insurance!

Am under the impression that it’s hard to get new insurance for an elderly cat; does anyone have any experience or advice on this please?

Who's your current insurance with? I use Tesco but have never had to claim so far so don't know if they're any good that way

Worth ringing round if cat has no conditions. I've found Direct Line v good - got tied in as cat had hyperthyroidism but I was claiming back more than the cost every month and they are v easy to deal with.

Currently with Direct Line, and never had to claim.

I did have a look at a comparison site, but got quite confused by all the different options and cover.

If she is in good health and stays indoors does she need insurance. We had insurance with direct line for 12 years for our cat. When she was really poorly and pts they paid out 88 pounds! She died mid month, I cancelled the policy immediately and they wrote to me demanding I pay until the end of the month so no empathy at all.

No discount for indoor cats that I could find when I got mine. But I would say yes they do still need insurance, ideally lifetime, as they can get all kinds of illnesses unrelated to going out or not e.g. epilepsy, diabetes, hormone imbalances. These can cost a fortune and the drugs need to be given until end of life.

Always read the small print. There are so many exemptions.

Ive just switched to Argos for our cat. Shes 11 now.

Its £15 a month for the best cover with £65 Excess.

Plus a £25 gift card if you put the promo code in.

We were with Tesco at £9 a month but as pusscat is now a year older it went up to £25.

Dont be loyal - switch every year.

Just make sure you read all the small print. A lot of cheaper policies have time limits on conditions and will only cover them for one year then they become pre existing and won't be covered. I pay a bit more for better policies that don't have a time limit. Our cat is with petplan (have claimed various times with no issues at all) and dogs are with John Lewis

My Argos £15 a minth is lifetime cover.

Might be worth checking out Agria Pet Insurance's age amnesty next month?

You could go for a much higher excess and put the money you save into a savings pot to cover the excess. That way you're covered for the worst case scenario and if you don't claim you have a savings pot available. Be careful about changing insurer if your cat has any pre-existing conditions as new insurers won't cover them.

Thank you all, will look at other Insurers as suggested, and try to get the premium down.

Beloved cat is oblivious, and glaring at me - my own fault for using the vacuum cleaner!