Thread: Insuring your Maine Coon?

Ours have always been indoor cats and have always been insured. Despite being indoor cats, we have had:

1. Three with Cat Flu that they picked up in the last ever cattery that we used - their vaccinations were all up to date, but of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they won't get it. The bill for that little lot was around the £500-mark. They now stay home if we go away and we use a pet-sitting service.

2. Widget's diagnosis and subsequent treatment for HCM - that was a total of, I think, £750-800.

3. Spike's "mystery eye" complaint, where his left eye bulged alarmingly to the size of a ping-pong ball. Never did get to the bottom of that one, but that was a bill around £250.00

4. Gabby's kidney cancer - diagnosis, ultrasound, blood-work and palliative treatment (only for a week after diagnosis as she went down so quickly, we had no choice but to be kind and let her go) £600.00

5. Alice's illness, which is being diagnosed as FIP - so far, the bill is at £550.00, with blood tests, x-rays, abdominal fluid slides etc and of course, consultations.

Now, this all sounds really alarming, I know, but we have had six Maine Coons over fourteen years. HCM was starting to be recognised when Widget was diagnosed and now breeding lines are tested. Gabby was almost 14 when she was diagnosed with cancer - so, an older cat - heartbreaking but not unusual. Spike's weird eye lasted a couple of weeks and the Cat Flu incident was a real one-off. Mostly, our lot have only seen the vet for their annual check-up & boosters.

We have ours insured on the Insured for Life policy - there are multi-pet discounts available - so there is no cut-off age point (except for death by illness, of course). The excesses increase as the cat gets older, obviously.

My husband and I run a small company and there have been times over the years that we have had to take cuts in our income to ensure the company's survival. A significant vets bill at the "wrong" time could have been difficult to meet, so for us, there is no question - we continue to insure our indoor Coonies.

I have always insured mine for the first year as very often big problems can show themselves at that point,heredity etc,normally then stop,although with two babes at the moment Welly hares around & jumps half way up doors & spins round & off again so suspect he could do big injury so have given them a second year !
I then put the insurance premium for each into a seperate account & to begin with kept fingers crossed that nothing big occured before I had a tidy amount in there but with four others it is surprising how quick that mounted up. When you think a lot of the time a one off visit comes to less than you can claim on & as they get older the premiums go up & the excess you have to pay gets higher it all becomes a calculated risk but....!
I have to say that I am better off than if I had paid insurance premiums even covering the old girls monthly tablets her insurance premium would have been higher than they cost I have also got a nice nest egg for them so providing no more than two need big treatments at once we will be ok plus pot grows every month...
Daughter looks at it a different way,if something big goes wrong I will use credit card & pay that off.
Working at a vets I see both sides of the coin but I have chosen the tail side !

If they get the dreaded HCM it will cost thousands until they die so mine is insured.

We have Louie insured with the PDSA £7000 per condition per year life cover only £71 for the year BARGIN

I know he is a house cat but after our old MC broke his leg as a house cat after I had just canceld his ins DOH! never again that was nearly £600 atleast 9 yrs ago.

I have both Sarah and Zack insured for about $27 each per month.

I wish I had insured my dog - she has cost about $13,000 AUS over the past 4 years with several unusual illnesses and a knee reconstruction.

Insurance sounds like a really good option, well certainly for Menolly.
Is there anything to watch out for which may not be covered by a general policy? Also, when is a cat most vulnerable to illness and is it most important while they are still kittens?

I think all policys will not cover an existing problem we are stuck with Banjos naff company as no one else will insure him for bone disease

You have to also be careful that if you swop companys there is a lap over as the policy may not actually start for 14 days except possilbly accidents. Most companys will not cover dental unless the animal has annual check ups & they will not cover any illness that results from something the animal could have been vaccinated against.

Most kittens come with 4 - 6 weeks free cover the kitten we got last year who had to be pts because of FIP was coverd with his free ins but we had to pay 2 excesses never did work than one out

Hard luck Louie-Louie,I can't see why you should have to pay out twice either,if your cat was diagnosed FIP & any other treatment & subsequent euthanasia was all to do with this you should have had only one excess,could your veterinary practice not sort it out for you or at least found out the reason why you were charged twice.I think some companies do have some weird & wonderful rules so like any policies read all the small print,like most things the more you pay the more you get,some will cover drugs for any diagnosed treatment for life,some up to a certain amount of money,some just for the year,some companies will pay for alternative type treatments as well,some don't,it can be a minefield.
Like everything now the fact that more can be done for our animals & a lot of it is very expensive treatment the insurance companies are having to make the "Gold Star"policies high & as you step down the rungs less & less is covered.I think they shoud be like cars,you earn no claim bonus & not as your animal gets older & have never made a claim they put it up sky high as your reward.