Cat Insurance With Pre-existing Condition?

jaxthecat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
34
Purraise
13
Good morning all! I adopted a cat from the shelter a five years ago. He's currently 6 years old. He's an indoor cat so I never thought I would need pet insurance. This cat is my baby but I jokingly refer to him as the 24 karat cat because I have never had a pet cost so much. I was looking for some opinions on pet insurance.

A little background. He came down with a URI right after adopting him, later developed urinary issues, FLUTD, (has had two episodes) with no crystals that they attribute to stress which resulted in numerous trips to the ER vet. He's on prescription urinary food. Constantly outfitting the house/him with feliway diffusers/ calming collars and just recently was told he had a tooth re-absorption lesion and needed a dental with two teeth removed to the cost of around $950.00 (not including the almost $400 I spent a few weeks ago on his wellness visit and bloodwork for the dental anesthesia.) I live in CT so my research seems to show that vet prices are higher here than elsewhere across the country and my vet, while expensive, is great and focuses solely on cats so I know he is in good hands.

My question is-- is it too late to look into pet insurance for him? The cost of his care has been astronomical and he now has a pre-existing condition. Does anyone have any suggestion/experience with this? Just looking for ways to still give my guy the care he needs but making it less financially stressful for me.
 

MeganLLB

Accidental Ailurophile
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2017
Messages
1,439
Purraise
1,226
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
No pet insurance will cover a pre-existing condition. And they will look for any and every way to NOT cover something and claim it is pre-existing or not under something that they cover.

You can look into getting Care Credit, which is basically a credit card you can use for vet care. Or I would consider making a separate savings account. I just cancelled my insurance. The deductible was so high I would never meet it to get anything covered. It was also per condition. Deductibles can be applied per year or per condition, then you have to pay monthly premiums on top of that. It's just not worth it in my mind. Trupanion had good coverage, but all of them are expensive.
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,504
Purraise
7,336
Location
Arizona
Plus, even for dental work, they cover next to nothing. One of my cats also had to have two teeth extracted due to FORLs this year, so I checked into pet insurance to see just what is covered on dental work, and decided it wasn't worth it. Of course, if there is a catastrophic issue, it might help to have insurance, but otherwise, I figured it would just be better to set aside the monthly premium in a pet savings account.
 

verna davies

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
23,638
Purraise
17,509
Location
Wales uk
I have my cats insured but one has a pre existing condition that they won't cover. The cover I have is a small amount, mainly as a safety net for myself but I also put a couple of pounds into a bank account I opened especially for vets bills.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

jaxthecat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
34
Purraise
13
Thank you all for your replies! I have been digging in to pet insurance, but it seems like they mandate yearly visits but don't cover them (which is counter to human health insurance?), or really anything else for that matter... I just thought I'd reach out to other cat parents to learn from their experiences.
 

MeganLLB

Accidental Ailurophile
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2017
Messages
1,439
Purraise
1,226
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
I had Trupanion. They cover nearly everything. Like it really is great coverage. And there's no cap to the amount that they will cover. The deductibles are applied per condition for the life time of the pet. So once the deductible is met for that condition, it never has to be paid again. It's great in theory, but in reality it's too much money still. My premium for my dog was about $35 per month with a $700 deductible. He was having digestive problems that was probably going to be a one time deal. They asked if I wanted to do a full work up on him which would have been $300. So that would have been all on me and didn't even come half way to meeting the deductible. And this was a "condition" that I probably wouldn't pay towards again. At least maybe not for many more years unless somethings happens. So basically it was not covered. I don't have $300 to pay that bill, so I went home with some medicine that cost $16 that I hoped would work and thankfully it did. If I would have put all that money all that time into a savings account, I would have had money to do a full workup.

I decided it was too expensive and I cancelled it.
 

Blakeney Green

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
711
Purraise
1,022
Location
Upstate NY
I wouldn't bother for a cat with a preexisting condition. My recommendation would be to take the amount you'd spend on the premium and put it in a designated savings account instead; that way you can be sure the money will be there when you need it. For vet expenses already incurred, I recommend Care Credit.
 
Top