Yes me and Rosella both have same problem and I have two pedigrees aged over 17years and they jumped from £18/£19 to nearer £60 each!!
I decided after checking most insurers to cancel their insurance because believe it or not Axa was the lowest. They both had pre-existing conditions but I wasnt expecting anything else really except the meds for Frantas seizures every few months and the metacam for Duchas arthritus.
However this post has come at a timely time and maybe shows why the costts have gone up so much.
I created a slush fund of £500 for the birmans and started adding £40 a month which was about the old insurance amount.
I thought that it would build up quite quicly and did not expect any major outgoings.......................WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One or both birmans have been ill ever since and today had to pay out nearly £300 for Frantas bill from one week in Dec and paid out over £200 for Ducha at end of January, this is ontop over the other over £50 for all the other times we have had to go to the vet since end of Oct!
My slush fund is now broke and still owe the vet over £30!
I have paid out far more in vet bills than I would have paid AXA at the new rates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Franta has had seizures, caught cat flu at the vets and went yesterday cos he was behaving so strange only to find he had an unseen flea somewhere. He was so ill in Dec he had comprehensive bloods that came to close to £100 plus all the jabs and two consultations that I get at the cheaper rate.
Ducha caught cat flu from Franta and then in Jan dislocated/fractured a wrist on the side of his missing back leg and the xrays alone cost £156 plus vat. Plus the consultation and since then his cat flu has come back cos of the stress of being in a cage.
On top of this Ducha is costing a fortune each week in puppy pads and had to buy a cage immediately etc etc and none would have been covered by insurance.
So to some extent this is a warning both about the cost of medical bills versus the cost of insurance and how the unexpected can suddenly cripple you, especially with older cats.
Being a cat owner has dramatically increased in price and if your cat ever needs an MRI scan then you could be looking at a bill for around £4000!
Franta really needed one when his seizures started but he was too ill to travel for one but as it turned out it would not have helped and his treatment proved to be correct........well done that vet!
I am sorry if this a very down post but I think we have to face up to the new reality and how the insurance companies were one step ahead of us! I would have liked it more if the new company handling AXAs insurance could have been more honest because they are reaping the fallback they have created by not being honest when they send out the renewals.
They should telling people that the premiums have gone up so much because the costs from the vets have gone up so much and also said that the new costs are not based on whether you have claimed but on stats from across the country.
I think that AXA are still the cheapest but its now a very expensive cheapest if you have older cats
