Insurance advice please!

[Mark]

Personally, I make sure that Clapton gets his protein as it is so important for cats. He will have been on Fortekor for 3 years in November and although he is the cat he was, he is still fairly healthy 

The renal foods that go down best in this house are

Hill's dry k/d or g/d (not quite so restricted for early renal failure) and Purina dry renal

Purina wet renal.

All cheapest from VetUK.

[clarenmax]

[ The vet says there's a new tuna RC one that lots of renal cats actually like

The tuna is the best of the 3 flavours, but Max stopped eating that after a while.  He only eats renal if I mix it in with the same flavour senior food so its 1/2 and 1/2, makes it taste better.

As Mark says, senior food with a phospherous binder is almost as good, so don't panic if the renal diet isn't eaten. 

The RC renal dry has always gone down well here, so that's another good compromise.

[Corporal Smokey]

Id put a claim in only if its a little one after paying the excess, this paves the way for future related claims. One thing tho is if you chose to have him blood tested rather than him being ill they may not pay it, its all in the small print.

I thought that might be the case. It was my decision to do it and therefore I made the commitment to pay. I don't need to claim at this stage for the money, it's more about being upfront and honest so if (heaven forbid) he were to crash and need to go in to hospital or something where it starts to cost me tons I'd be covered.

As long as my big bear is taken care of in the future I'm happy. I think I'll call them in a bit and see what they say. If they get funny I'll just stick some money into a savings account and do it that way.

edited to add: Mark, it'll be a mission and a half getting him to eat it at all! I think half and half will be fine for now. The vet says there's a new tuna RC one that lots of renal cats actually like. Thanks for the article, I'll have a good read. They like the Pro Plan normal food which has some kind of renal goodness in it so I might compromise and try that. I'll have a look at the ingredients and stuff next time I'm in PAH.

[Mark]

Just to add to the confusion, are you planning on feeding him 100% renal? - just that a lot of people are saying renal diets aren't that good as reduced protein can cause muscle wastage. Apparently the original experiments were done on rats. More and more experts are say a diet with regular protein amounts doesn't destroy kidneys. I would recommend a binder to reduce phosphorus though. I am not convinced that many vets are up to date on nutrition. Naturally RC, Hill's etc want people to pay a premium for it. Also, it smells horrible and my cats at least agree! 

Just my 2p

http://www.felinegood.co.uk/treatments/en/diet.shtml one of many articles.

[clarenmax]

I'd put in the claim as well, with the excess being £50 (assume yours is the same?), if you have 2 lots of bloods in a 12 month period, then you're saving money. 

The amount you pay shouldn't change that much either way in premium 

[Millys Mum]

Id put a claim in only if its a little one after paying the excess, this paves the way for future related claims. One thing tho is if you chose to have him blood tested rather than him being ill they may not pay it, its all in the small print.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

If you claim for the blood tests and he needs any more for the same reason withing the 12 months of the policy you must claim immediately.

Not sure why you need a a hypothetical chat though and depending on who you apeak to you will get different answers I am afraid.

As far as I know no company pays out for more than a small amount of special food

[Den]

Yup AXA covers a months worth of prescription food. Also, making a claim has no effect on renewal fees, thats all down to age, breed, sex and postcode. From reading a discussion earlier it seems all insurance companies are going up at the moment - some more than others.

[Corporal Smokey]

Well my policy looks like it only covers four week's worth of food 

Think I need to ring them tomorrow for a hypothetical chat... 

[Rosella moggy]

2 things CS but you will have to check Axa policy.  

1st I think you have to make a claim for special diet within 30 days if you are going to claim and

2nd you dont know at this point whether there will be further blood tests required within 12 month policy period and need to make a claim within 6 months for vet fees or otherwise you are still stuck with excess.  Need to check this though.

Sorry I don't know if a claim affects the following year's premium or not.  By the time we were claiming for Thomas, he was 18 and premium did get heavy but assumed age related.  Heavy as it was, it was nowhere near the amounts we claimed back.

  for Josh meanwhile and hope he's feeling OK in himself.  Just saw your last post and pleased he's doing well 

[Corporal Smokey]

Hope he is OK 

He's fine thanks. He's 14, a pedigree and his sister/best friend died of kidney failure 2 years ago so I wanted to get him checked over. This bear has a good few years in him yet!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I dont think his renewal will go through the roof and I believe you can only claim up to a certain amount on special food.

I would certainly claim for the blood tests if they are over the excess.

Other than that I would not tell Axa anything.

[Daisymac]

Umm I am not sure,  but I know my Mum's insurance (for her cats not for my mum !! ) only covers existing conditions for 3 years so you may want to check that out on your policy.  My Mum uses Pet Plan.

If it was me I think I would wait to see if he does need Fortekor because i guess that is when the heavy vet bills will start.

Hope he is OK 

[Corporal Smokey]

I had Josh routinely blood-tested a month back and again today because his results were borderline. Basically he's not renal but his levels are a bit higher than they should be. Apparently he's a long way from Fortekor but the vet recommends he goes on a renal diet.

I don't know whether to start claiming on insurance for his blood tests and food. I don't need to from a financial point of view as he eats Royal Canin anyway so the diet's not much more and by the time I've paid the excess that's most of the blood tests covered.

I do however want to be honest with my insurer (AXA) as if and when he does need treatment I'd like to know I'm still covered.

I'm just wondering how much do they put the premium up by when it comes up for renewal if they're paying for an existing condition? Or is there a way I can inform them without making a claim so my premium doesn't rocket but he'll still be covered when he needs it? Or should I just start claiming now and hope my renewal doesn't go through the roof?!