Implications of taking on kitten recovered from cat flu

Kittenonthekeys

Thank you!

Pinkteapot - very good point about the cattery. Yes indeed, I just happen to know this kitten's history, but what about the great many others who have no way of knowing?
It would be very convenient to also have the option of a cattery if for any reason we couldn't get a pet sitter on a particular date (there are very few in our area) but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker.
At this point, I'm not even sure whether this cat can ever have a flu vaccination - this is something else I'm trying to find out about.

HappyMJ - Yes, the idea of self-insuring is becoming more and more appealing and I'm definitely going to be doing it in some form or other - and will probably need to in view of the cat's history.
It would seem that the vets in my area will only deal directly with the 'big players' so if I went with a smaller insurance co, I'd have to pay for the treatment myself, then claim it back, which I don't like the thought of at all.
I really will have to consider whether *any* insurance is right for us at all, as I don't want to find further down the line that I've been paying into a policy - excluding cat flu (with ever increasing premiums) only to find that in the event of a claim, they manage to link every condition to cat flu and refuse to pay out when I need them!
I think £50 per month sounds about right and we could manage that.
Every situation is different of course, but I've had cats all my adult life, all were insured and I never needed to claim for any of them.

paddypaws101

My Peggy had flu as a kitten, mind you that was nearly 21 years ago and she is still here with me now! She has been prone to the odd issue of runny eyes through her life but it has never been much of a problem.
I see no reason why your cat would be difficult to insure or even have exclusions on the policy unless there is obvious and ongoing damage from the flu. Maybe you should have a chat with your vet to put your mind at ease?
My understanding is that there is actually more than one virus which all get lumped together as 'cat flu' so you might want to see if there is more information in her medical history notes if she comes with any

paddypaws101

http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-flu.htm

Kittenonthekeys

Thank you for the link, paddypaws, very interesting reading. Wow, your cat is 21 YEARS OLD? You must be doing something very right then! That's fantastic.
That insurance co. replied; unsurprisingly, they have a blanket refusal for cat flu and it was the same with all the others I tried. Although of course I can see their point, they must obviously be insuring thousands of cats every day who may well have had the same thing, but whose medical histories are quite simply unknown, so it seems a little unfair - oh well, I'll have to just exclude that from any policy and go down the self-insure route for anything she might need in the future for any consequences of cat flu.

paddypaws101

I don't insure my cats, but always hear positive feedback about Petplan. I THINK that if a cat is symptom free for a period of time after an illness, it may be possible for the exclusion to be lifted....as long as your vet has examined the cat and agrees it is currently fit and well.

gettingready

Pls do not go with any "new" insurer - if you can afford it, go with PetPlan which is the best for Pet Insurance.

Lots of people went with "Animal Friends" when they started pet insurance and got badly burnt financially.

When you look at reviews, look at the ones from people who actually claimed with particular insurers not just the ones who took the insurance up and were happy with the sales team "polite, friendly" as often they discover the true value (or lack of it) when they need to claim.

Photo of the kitty please - we know you are gonna take THIS one xx

Kittenonthekeys

Yes, I will be going with Pet Plan. They seem to be one of the few insurers who vets are happy to deal with, and I always had my previous animals insured with them and no problems at all with claims.
We collected our kitten this morning and now that we have her, we're delighted, she's gorgeous and don't regret it taking her for one moment.
She settled in immediately, we've had a few games and she even claimed her place on the sofa (OH 's side, so that's his problem and at least *I'll* be able to sit down! :0))

charliewocka

My cat had Cat Flu when she was a tiny kitten - she was abandoned with the rest of her litter in a carboard box in my parents house and I took her on expecting her to die. But she is healthy as anything now! She has had a nasty knock from a car and a pinned and plated leg but you would never know!


She has a tiny amount of runny eye but no other symptoms. Be prepared that if you have pet insurance, they don't necessarily exclude just a condition but any symptom relating to that condition. As example I have is with my dogs - when overseas I had pet insurance with Allianz. One had a dicky tummy as a pup and I took him to the vets (change of food). I was slapped with an exclusion against 'any gastro-entereal' symptom or issue'. I argued with the underwriters about this saying they surely couldn't impose such a blanket clause given what it was a result of and managed to get it lifted after a year. He also has allergies to harvest mites and needs steroids to get him through summer occasionally and there was a blanket ban on any skin condition. My other dog has hip dysplasia and while Allianz were fantastic, when we moved to the UK any insurance company refused to cover any muscular-skeletal condition regardless of cause or type. So it just hasn't been worth it and I self insure, using a credit card reserved for emergencies. We couldn't do a direct transfer to Allianz in the UK due to different insurance regulations and so a new policy would have had to be set up which would have excluded all conditions/symptoms (even with Allianz themselves!).

Tygermoth

We didn't have a kitten with cat flu......we had three! All brothers

All really really poorly but recovered fine. They are now 8 and not once have any of them been to the vet other that check ups (except once and that didn't relate to flu at all)

As they were known carriers when placed with us the shelter advised us to have them as house cats only.

They have been nothing but adorable from the day we brought them home (and we have always self insured)

clint_S

We adopted a kitten from the RSPCA in 2000. He wasn't well, all I remember is a lot of Diarrhea and Vomiting. We took him to a vet who diagnosed Cat flu as the cause, weren't happy with the RSPCA as we had to pay to adopt what we were told was a health cat that had a vet sign off and now had vet bills on top.


He was always a small cat but is living a happy life, although a bad start he is still with us. All the extra time spent meant an extra friendly cat, you could even blow raspberries on his stomach, which was good as he never had an issue with children, stranger, other animals.