Vet/Pet Insurance Advice Please

Miroslav

Hi folks

I need a little bit of advice, if I may.

1. Vets

I have 5 cats, all 14 years of age, who remarkably have had a fantastic illness free life. I am so lucky, but now, as they age, problems are arising.

Today I went to a different vet to register, where one of my cats could get PDSA treatment.

One of my cats has a funny eye at the moment (more to follow...)

The vet surgery said that I had to register one of the 'fit' animals for PDSA as they cannot take a cat with a current/potential illness on PDSA. Fair enough.

However, they refuse to see my cat who has the funny eye, until they have also seen the other 4, and it's a condition of the practice that all my cats are registered and seen by a vet there, before they will consider seeing my cat with the funny eye.

I don't mind registering all of the cats there, but they refused to see the cat that could be ill until I committed to them and also agreed to pay £8.40 per month, per cat, by standing order in advance for flu jabs and worming. They were totally uncaring and unprofessional, even though I agreed i'd need to pay.

I declined and will stick with my current vet I think

Enough blabber, I was just hoping for some advice re: the cats eye.

It's sort of a clear/white film that appears over her eye. She's happy, in no distress at all, but does anyone have any idea what this could be. I'll take her to the vet anyway.

2.

Pet insurance

5 cats, 14 years old. What kind of insurance should I be looking for? I've had pet insurance before but didn't really understand it.

Based on age, should I be looking at life cover or not?

Any good suggestions on which company are good and easy to deal with?

Thanks for any help

lowis

i have just adopted a 14 year old siamese - and i pay £28 a month just for him with AXA - believe me, they were one of the cheapest, and one of the few, who offered older cat insurance. M&S and Green Bee were similar.

another insurer is Animal Friends. their monthly premiums are around £15 a cat (London rates) for their top 'for-life' policy. one of their cheaper policies might be suitable for you too.

i opted for the 'for life' cover as i have just had the experience of treating a cat who had cancer...over 18 months we claimed about £12,000...our annual allowance on our policy was £7k. with older cats they do tend to be prone to illnesses which might need prolonged or ongoing treatment so for this reason 'for life' is the best option.

by the way...stick with your vet...the PDSA ones sound horrid. if they aren't nice to the owner they probably aren't very nice to your pets.

good luck x

Miroslav

lowis wrote: »

i have just adopted a 14 year old siamese - and i pay £28 a month just for him with AXA - believe me, they were one of the cheapest, and one of the few, who offered older cat insurance. M&S and Green Bee were similar.

another insurer is Animal Friends. their monthly premiums are around £15 a cat (London rates) for their top 'for-life' policy. one of their cheaper policies might be suitable for you too.

i opted for the 'for life' cover as i have just had the experience of treating a cat who had cancer...over 18 months we claimed about £12,000...our annual allowance on our policy was £7k. with older cats they do tend to be prone to illnesses which might need prolonged or ongoing treatment so for this reason 'for life' is the best option.

by the way...stick with your vet...the PDSA ones sound horrid. if they aren't nice to the owner they probably aren't very nice to your pets.

good luck x

Is a Siamese a special breed that you have to pay more for? I certainly cannot afford 5x £28 :eek:

Will check out Animal Friends

For life sounds the best option then. I'm very poor though, so will have to somehow do something

I was thinking similar about the vet. I couldn't guarantee they would give the same level of treatment to the one getting the PDSA treatment.

Thanks for all the advice

lowis

hi, i am not sure if siamese are more expensive than a non-pedigree cat to insure, i wouldn't be surprised if they are, insurance companies will use any excuse to load their premiums. in this case it is the age of the cats that bump the premiums up too.

i forgot to mention, animal friends has quite a high excess - hence the cheaper premiums. if they had had a lower excess i would have chosen them as my insurer.

i find it odd that you have to register all of your cats with the PDSA vet before he will see your sick one...sounds like an extortion racket to me! are there any other vets in your area who offer PDSA treatment?

Miroslav

I figured it would be the age. No idea how I can afford 5 It would have been easier a while ago, but current financial situation...

It's going to be tough to choose Will have to look around and see.

Well, this vet was very odd. Big signs saying 'absolutely no credit' thus no payment plans I guess and the compulsory £8.40 a month per cat towards worming etc etc with no refunds if you decide to move practice/your cat passes away.

The sheet of paper with all the conditions felt more like a threat from a debt collection agency than a vet helpsheet.

simontheiceman

Miroslav wrote: »

Hi folks

I need a little bit of advice, if I may.

1. Vets

The vet surgery said that I had to register one of the 'fit' animals for PDSA as they cannot take a cat with a current/potential illness on PDSA. Fair enough.

Not really: They should at least give you the chance to treat this condition and then accept you on the PA scheme. At the very worst the PDSA rules state that you can reasonably expect that a client should commit to a period of treatment before the patient is accepted onto the scheme. This is taken to be 3 months and I am in the process of doing this with a client who has a dog with thyroid disease and will be joining the scheme in December after she has shown commitment to the practice for 3 months. If the cat has a condition which is likely to clear with simple treatment then you can expect to pay for that first before joining. If the cat needs long term treatment the practice will get xtra funds from the PDSA to cover the needs of that cat.



However, they refuse to see my cat who has the funny eye, until they have also seen the other 4, and it's a condition of the practice that all my cats are registered and seen by a vet there, before they will consider seeing my cat with the funny eye.

Fair enough to register them all at the same practice - we would expect the same.


I don't mind registering all of the cats there, but they refused to see the cat that could be ill until I committed to them and also agreed to pay £8.40 per month, per cat, by standing order in advance for flu jabs and worming. They were totally uncaring and unprofessional, even though I agreed i'd need to pay.

Most Pet Aid practices will expect you to cover routine treatments with them but this does seem a touch of overkill.


I declined and will stick with my current vet I think

I would. That seems too much like hard work.

Enough blabber, I was just hoping for some advice re: the cats eye.

It's sort of a clear/white film that appears over her eye. She's happy, in no distress at all, but does anyone have any idea what this could be. I'll take her to the vet anyway.

Its probably DPTES (Diorrhoea with Protruding Third Eyelid Syndrome) and will resolve spontaneously over 6 weeks. That said I am not looking at the eye at the moment so its a pure guess based on experience.


2.

Pet insurance

5 cats, 14 years old. What kind of insurance should I be looking for? I've had pet insurance before but didn't really understand it.

You're stuffed for insurance at that age.

Based on age, should I be looking at life cover or not?

Any good suggestions on which company are good and easy to deal with?

Thanks for any help

The answers are in the quote above lol.

lowis

5 cats, 14 years old. What kind of insurance should I be looking for? I've had pet insurance before but didn't really understand it.

You're stuffed for insurance at that age.

not really...i managed to insure my 14yo Siamese with Axa, yes it is expensive (£28 per month). I also got quotes from Animal Friends, M&S, Halifax, Green Bee and a couple of others for 'for life' insurance.

angelavdavis

lowis wrote: »

another insurer is Animal Friends. their monthly premiums are around £15 a cat (London rates) for their top 'for-life' policy. one of their cheaper policies might be suitable for you too.

Thanks for this. I have increased cover to include life cover and decreased premiums by £10 per month for my two 11 year old cats by insuring with Animal Friends.

Miroslav

simontheiceman wrote: »

The answers are in the quote above lol.

Thanks for all that.

She now has some eyedrops, so hopefully...

I figured the insurance would be tough. No idea what i'm going to do if a big bill comes up.