What's reasonable to expect to pay for cat insurance - and does the provider matter?

[ALittleBitAlexis]

I adopted my cat from an old flatmate when I moved out. She's 8 years old, and I haven't claimed on insurance since I got her.

I'm with John Lewis because I'd heard they were easy to deal with if you do need to make a claim, but they've just increased the annual payment by over £50, so I'll be paying £18.58 per month.

This strikes me as high, and I can see from comparison sites that I can pay a lot less, but I know that premiums do increase as a cat ages and I do want to have comfort that the company will pay out if needed.

Does £18.58 sound reasonable or expensive, and can anyone recommend a different insurance company that have proven reliable?

I'm not familiar with cat insurance but as far as having other animals insured goes, I think that increase will be because of age. By all means ask them and see if they'll drop it if you say you've got a better quote elsewhere, but 8 is about the age dog insurance goes up too because of age related problems.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a decent insurance provider. Thawed chesper quotes are often from insurers who will try to wriggle their way out of paying either with small print (I once insured my car with a £2000 excess without realising my mistake... normally £150) or by just being awkward and awful to deal enough. You mare likely to also find that other insurance companies won't take on an older cat.

@Coffeeandchocolate9 thanks, totally get what you mean about the importance of the provider - my excess is only £100 and I know that JL paid out a fortune for my friend's dog's ongoing illness without an issue. Renewal letters just make me grumpy :P

I pay £6 per month for my 2 year old cat. It was £5 when she was 1 year old.
It's a mid range cover policy so not basic but not top of the range. It seems ok for our needs and they paid out with no problems at all when daft cat cut her tummy on a fence and needed stitches. I thought we'd get a premium hike after that but it only went up by the £1 per month which is probably age related anyway.
I have heard that once a cat reaches age 7 premiums do go up quite a lot.

That sounds like a good price for a cat her age but it depends on the level and type of cover you have. You can find cheap policies but they tend to be limited to a set amount or set time, so for example would only pay for the first year if she got a chronic condition.

You'll want a lifetime/covered for life type policy, that's the only way to ensure they will keep paying for as long as needed if she gets kidney disease, diabetes, allergies or any number of any ongoing conditions.

Thanks, @viccat - I do trust that JL will pay out if needed and there's no limit on chronic disease coverage, so I think I'll just stick with them. She wasn't treated well by my old flatmate so I'd rather have the comfort that she's well-covered than save a few quid :)

That sounds like a bargain - Harry's is £32 a month with Petplan!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat that's settled then, I'm sticking!

It's likely to go up with age a bit but you'll be glad you have it if you need it, vet bills can easily be hundreds or thousands of pounds even when it's nothing overly dramatic. I think people often think pet insurance is for big accidents and injuries but, things like scans and blood tests are very costly too.

Worth having a search on moneysupermarket to see if you can get a cheaper deal.
I pay about £150 a year and that's a lot because we live in a busy metropolitan area. We used to pay a lot less in a suburban area.

It's worth every penny - in the last 4 years he's had a fractured jaw caused by a bone infection, early kidney disease, hurt his leg and had suspected heart failure (thankfully scans showed a grade 1 murmur) so we've got our moneys worth!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat Oh bless him! The reason I went with JL in the first place is that they've paid out £20k+ on a friends dog in the first few years of his life because of bad kidney disease, so I had confidence in them. The renewal letters just make me grumpy

My last annual insurance premium for my 9 year old cat was just over £1,000. I’ve had her for just over two years and claimed about £7,000 in vets bills in that time. Yours sounds like a bargain

It’s always worth doing a price comparison with moneysupermarket etc and them speaking to JL about price matching.

I’ve never insured any of my cats.
I’ve paid a total of just £550 in vet bills over the past 40 years, not counting routine immunisations (which have cost between £18 and £30 a year over the decades).
I think that’s a lot cheaper than 40 annual premiums would have come to. In my view, insurance companies try to wriggle out of paying for anything, by weaselling about with exclusion clauses - that’s certainly the case with home insurance.

Babdoc I think you have been very lucky then. I'm another one who has claimed, a total of almost £10k in the last 5 years with 2 different problems - Xrays, scans, 4 operations, numerous blood tests and a biopsy were bloody expensive and I wouldn't have been able to afford them without insurance. My insurance co paid out both times with no issues.

I pay £52 a month to insure my 9 & 7 year old Persians. But since Tesco have paid out almost £17,000k for Snorg and her late sister. I'm not complaining!

£150 per month here...

I pay around £20 per month for each of my 2 cats. They are 1 and 2 yrs. in the last 6 weeks the youngest has suffered a broken femur (probably hit by a car or bike), and then s torn knee ligament while he made a bid for freedom up our fence while he was under supervised rest/gentle outdoor exercise post femur op! He's had a 2 week stay at our local and lovely vet clinic while we were on holiday. Fortunately the vet costs are very reasonable, esp for central London and this has all been covered by insurance. Worth it 😀

I pay £16.50 per month to Petplan for my 3 year old cat. It's cover that is for life, up to £4000 a year and £70 per year excess.

It's worth checking that the vets will do direct payments. Especially if you have a huge bill!