Cat insurance - level of cover to choose?

[Anotherweddingdilemma]

I've not had cat insurance before (having had many pets who lived to a ripe old age without ever needing treatment), but my beautiful boy passed away at the weekend (his passing was shockingly quick, he'd been to the vets and had blood tests which were all fine and they were monitoring him but he deteriorated that night and passed away at the emergency vets). Having insurance wouldn't have made any difference to his treatment as we paid for everything he needed but think I shouldn't risk it any longer so now want to get pet insurance for his sister who is 6.

My question is, what level of cover per condition/year do people go for? I'll get a lifetime policy but don't know what costs are likely to be so am not sure what cover to choose. And if anyone can recommend a provider, that would be great.

I'm still grieving so please don't berate me for not having insurance before. This will be the last pet I have as I can't take the pain of losing them!

I would think really carefully about bothering for a 6yo cat as once they get to 7+ stuff starts to not be covered and the cost just goes up & up. We decided we were better just putting the money in savings each month instead.

I’m sorry for your loss.

I've always self insured for cats through monthly savings. Mine are now indoor only so that takes away the accident risk.

We took out a lifetime policy for an 8 year old cat and were so glad we did, the vet bills were several thousand pounds about 2 years into the policy and were covered because it was a lifetime policy.
I got the highest level of cover we could afford. Ours was a cover per condition, and I think it was £7k per condition per policy year, which we maxxed out one year and have got close to multiple times.
An emergency vet hospital overnighter can be £1000+ before any real treatment. I know of close friends that have spent £3-5k in a matter of weeks too.

To those that just put the money into savings instead - so glad that works for you but the policy premium for my indoor cat wouldn't have even covered 10% of the vet bills so I'm very glad I didn't go down that route!

I'm sorry for your loss.

Has the 6yo ever been in the vets for anything other than jabs or neutering? Because if so, it will be seen as a pre-existing condition and you're unlikely to be covered.

PP also has a point that from 8, cats are considered senior and even with insurance, you'll need to pay a percentage of the vet bills anyway.

We recently cancelled insurance for our 8yo male as the costs were ridiculous and as we had to pay a percentage of his bills anyway, it just wasn't worth it.

So your cat was 10 when you needed to use the policy? 8 year old cat plus 2 years in? When I got my first rescue Siamese. I looked into insurance policies. By the time I paid for the policy premium, plus 20-30% of any bill plus deductibles I felt the £300 per month that I saved back then would be a reasonable match over time against any possible usage or claim. Siamese rescues are now only considered to have an average lifespan of 10 to 12 years. I was shocked by that length as it seems very short. But perhaps the trauma of them needing to be rescued makes that difference. For me, if my 10-year-old cat needed £1000's of treatment I would take the decision to put them to sleep. They clearly are not well if they need that level of treatment.

My indoor cats have run up bills of £28k!

Yes about 10 years old, the premium was about £20/£25 a month back then. Putting him to sleep wasn't even an option that the vets or I considered, he had his treatment and was absolutely fine within a week or so. I wouldn't put an otherwise healthy cat to sleep because they picked up an infection that could be fully treated within 10 days, and I like to think my vets wouldn't let that happen either. It would be kinder to give the cat over to a rescue than kill it needlessly.
Mine is a moggy and the vets said life expectancy could be 22-25 even with the age related illnesses he has since developed (which have all been covered by his insurance too).

My manypets policy has a £15k limit per cat (2 cats)

ManyPets. My cover is £7k per year. One emergency vet trip cost £3.5k. Even if they are healthy and you’ve never needed cover before, the most random unexpected things can happen and they cost a bomb. My cat ate an almond she found on the floor and £3.5k later here we are.

Just because a cat is older it doesn't mean whatever they have isn't worth treating. Harry was 10 and ran up thousands of pounds of vet bills with a broken jaw and dental issues. I certainly wasn't going to have him put to sleep for something that could be fixed, 11 isn't old. When he was 17 he was diagnosed with heart failure and thanks to medication he had another 5 months with us, and they were a good 5 months.

@Anotherweddingdilemma, I'm sorry for your loss. I would definitely take out insurance if your cat doesn't have any pre existing conditions (although Many Pets and Pet Sure will both cover pre-existing conditions in some cases). Make sure it's a lifetime policy and check whether you will have a co-payment when they reach a certain age. Harry was with Petplan who were brilliant when it came to claiming but they aren't the cheapest.

Lifetime insurance, 10k. It's not true that you always have to pay a percentage/co-payment for a senior cat, we're with waggel for our almost 14 year old cat and and pay 250 excess per condition. He has arthritis and a heart condition, treatment for just those 2 conditions added up to 6k last year, although he does have solensia (miracle drug, but costly), and bi annual cardiology checks.

@Alternativetolove it generally is true for all new policies taken out unfortunately - we got stung this way with our youngest cat.