How do I insure a cat that isn’t mine?

[BitCoinBillionaire]

I posted some time ago about a cat that’s been in my garden for ages. Turned out to be a neighbours a road along from me … she lives in a very smelly and disgusting house where she hoards cats and doesn’t neuter them so you can imagine the issues this causes!

Anyway, this one turned up in my garden in June last year, hissing and frightened, with some wounds and un-neutered. Also starving

I discovered she was his owner and I took him back round. I have an older cat and she hated him I wanted him out of my garden. Rinse and repeat this a dozen times … sometimes I would take him back to hers and I’d get home and he was already back in the garden.

I arranged to have him neutered via a local scheme we have with her permission … so that was done. I flea treated him and wormed him. We started to feed him

she sent me a message 4 months ago saying she didn’t want him, would I please stop bringing him back and did I want to keep him!

err no. Don’t want another cat but by this time, my own cat had thawed towards him, he had stopped hissing and was very friendly but still… no. Not really

Felt we didn’t have a choice as she stopped opening her door to me so I said ok we will take him but you’ll need to change his chip over to us.

thing is, the chip is in her adult son’s name and he has learning difficulties and doesn’t know how to change the chip and says he has lost access to the email address he used in the first place. He also ‘can’t be bothered’ to do it

So I’d like to insure him. He’s only 3 so worth doing and he’s bloody well moved in now anyway so advice please? Can I insure him anyway? He’s effectively her son’s cat but they don’t want anything to do with him

any thoughts welcome

This is the cat I did not want.

Why don’t you take him to a cat rescue ?

@sillypossumsmum because they will scan him and return him to his owner. He will then turn up again and on and on

we have accepted our fate and it’s clear the cat distribution service has chosen us to have him so that’s that.

he’s here to stay and he’s super settled now. So… I need to know how to insure him with a chip registered to someone else

I perhaps should have been clearer in my OP! Did I want another cat ? No. Do I now accept we have one? Yes

is he really happy here? Yes

Your accidental new cat is gorgeous!

If the issue is the chip, is it possible to get it replaced if you explain the situation to the vet?

You can still insure him, a microchip isnt proof of ownership anyway

When I rehomed my dog, the vet scanned him, gave me the number, I looked it up online to find the company and filled out a form. Job done!

Aww what a gorgeous cat!!

IS he gorgeous?! Im not sure! I find him quite annoying 😬 But you appear to get what you’re given and after all the silly hissing for months on end he really is so so friendly.

He’s gorgeous! Can you contact a local animal rescue to ask for advice? If you explain he was abandoned and taken in by you then they may be able to advise how the details can be changed etc. I think you can take out insurance even without the chip details, I don’t recall ever having to enter this when insuring my own cats.

Ooh this sounds like it might be quite straightforward to do then?

im not trying to steal him or anything but if we are having him then i want it done properly

she regularly messages me asking if I want other cats she’s just turfed out. I’ve managed to rehome two of her young cats but im not some sort of animal sanctuary. I shudder to think about the environment her current ones are in

Would your vet scan and give you the details?

I had a friend who lost a rescue on a walking holiday and was posting on FB etc and loads of ppl asking about the chip because often it's not updated etc

The next time my dog was at the vet I asked them to check and it was not registered to me (or to the breeder). The breeder was meant to have done it but had my dog been lost I would not have been notified.
I think a few years ago there was a problem with chip data and apparently lots of animals have incorrect or incomplete chips.

I was able to fix it-wondering if you might be able to swap it to your details.

You can apply to have the microchip changed yourself, you just need the number which you can get at the vet and then you can do it online. The microchip company can contact the previous owner to confirm.

@cocopuffy I’ll do that. Maybe contact vets too. She would be very happy to say she’d given him to us so that’s isn’t a problem.

maybe me telling her there’s a big vet bill coming her way might encourage her to help her son sort it out 😬

I would report her to the rspca.

I’m 99% sure there is a way to change it without the owner having to do so (as that’s how rescues do it with abandoned pets) but yes if you reach out they should advise how this works! Probably a good idea to say unless she sorts it she’ll get the vet bills or something (obviously not necessarily true but might give her a kick up the bum!). Whilst on with a local rescue it may be worth mentioning the state of the other cats, I appreciate a lot can’t or won’t intervene but at least you’re putting in on their radar and it might ease your conscience!

He is a very good looking cat, the best cats are often the ones you didnt want in the first place!

Awwww bless him .

Poor cat. He is gorgeous.

We had this
After a while we could do it as vet could not contact owner- but you need the database and chip number
"If the previous owner is uncontactable or refuses to cooperate, you can contact the database directly with proof of ownership (such as vet records, adoption papers, or a signed statement). Databases often have protocols to transfer ownership after a waiting period or if the previous owner cannot be reached".

He’s absolutely gorgeous and I imagine he has a far better quality of life now!
As a pp said, I’d be tempted to contact the RSPCA or something similar with regard to the other poor kitties left at the other house. Poor things.

Thanks all! I will explore all this and it sounds like it might be straightforward

and yes - he’s a super happy cat now!

I was thinking about the signed statement then read this opst.

Maybe you can draft a statement which says she/the son agree for you to adopt the cat for them and get them to sign it - you should then have the evidence you need to get the chip changed and then insure him in your own name.

To be honest, I can't remember having to give the chip details to the insurance company when I first got any of mine, but the mandatory chipping of cats law came in after I got the last one.

@BitCoinBillionaire Thanks for taking him in, pretty cat!

They write a letter (needs to be by the person who is on the chip) confirming cats details inc chip number, and their details, and that they relinquish ownership to you. Send to the microchip company, pay a fee, details are put in your name.

Then consider reporting your concerns to the RSPCA with text messages as evidence. It sounds like she probably has cats that are breeding amongst themselves if she's not neutering them?