Insurance for Older Pets

lowis

have been thinking long and hard about the best insurance for my soon-to-be-adopted 13.5 year old cat, spoke to the head nurse at our vet practice and she suggested that i should also consider policies with a higher monthly premium and small excess due to the age of my cat - she said loads of things can go wrong with them as they get old, not all conditions are fatal, but will require expensive ongoing treatment.

the best three that i could find that offered lifetime cover were:

M&S (underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance)
Greenbee - John Lewis (underwritten by AXA)
AXA

all were around the £30 a month mark, with an excess of £75.

so...does anyone have any negative experiences with these firms? do they offer true lifetime cover i.e. won't exclude conditions previously claimed for on annual renewal, won't increase premiums because you have claimed?

your thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks!

spookylukey

I personally wouldn't touch M&S with a bargepole since they switched to Royal & Sun Alliance. The terms and conditions are bordering on ridiculous (you MUST ring a 'helpline' before you take your pet to an out of hours vet - yeah right, like you're going to find your policy, ring the helpline and discuss whether your dying animal needs to go to a vet :eek:).

I know that Axa is true lifetime cover ie as long as you keep paying the premiums you're covered for life regardless of any claims. They also have a 7k limit per year which is reset each and every year. I think if you needed more cover than that for an elderly animal then you'd need to start thinking about quality of life anyway.

If Axa are the same price as Greenbee (underwritten by Axa) then I would go with Axa directly as Greenbee could change their underwriter and subsequently any terms and conditions at any point. Last year M&S were underwritten by Axa and it was a good policy with reasonable premiums, now they have switched underwriters it has silly clauses (see above!) and the premiums are much higher.

lowis

thanks Spooky - great concise answer. i was vearing towards Axa anyway

£7k is a great limit but can still get eaten up quickly by a condition that doesn't necessarily mean poor quality of life (especially if your vet is one of the most expensive in the country!)

i just had a cat with lymphoma, she was diagnosed in December 06, we treated her with chemo and she went into remission a couple of months later - from as soon as the vet identified the cancer and started treating it, her quality of life was next to normal apart from a bit of constipation from time to time. the illest she ever seemed was the week prior to her diagnosis andf then the week before she died.

total cost for treating and monitoring a cat with lymphoma over 18 months? almost £12k! thank god for insurance