Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: pappilon on October 26, 2010, 12:51:21 PM
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Does anyone know if its more expensive to insure a cat/kitten if they not microchiped?
I never had insurance before and right now there is a kitten around 2 months old here with me and i got a quote from AXA and is under £20.00 a month! Is it high cuz he is not microchiped or is it more expensive for kittens than cats? Or £20.00 is reasonable?
I am sorry i know there are lots of treads about insurance but atm i cant think straight, appreciate your reply. Thanks
Pav ;D
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Hi Pav, I'm not 100% sure, but I would have thought that microchipping would be taken into consideration.
£20 a month does seem high though, Poot's is about £10 a month, but that was taken out a year ago, and I have heard that the price of policies has shot up recently :doh:
So who's the little one with you at the moment then? Spill the beans lol :hug:
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That is ridiculously high Pav, should be around a tenner or less. Microchip has no part to play in this at all, or whether they are indoor or outdoor, male ot female and believe it or not whether they are neutered or not!!
Just to put this in pespective I was paying 17-18 pounds for each birman aged 16 years and they doubled this from Oct 23 and I have cancelled the policy for them. The other two moggies are 11-13 pounds from now, also a huge increase.
I have recently got a lot of quotes for Misa from other online places and he at 8yrs was coming in much higher than AXA at about £11.
If you would like to pm me the details I can use some of the places I wen t to before and see how they come in. the only thing that affects the quotes according to AXA is your postcode and how many claims there have been made for similiar aged kittens throught the country!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree with last poster, spill da beans ;D ;D
So pleased you ahve another cat :hug: :hug:
I had a plumber with his henry vacume around the side of my boiler yesterday and he picked up a not from you............how it got there I dont know but blame Misa and his filing :innocent:
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We got Maizie at 10 weeks in summer 2009, insurance at that point was £7.85 a month with More Than, when it renewed this year it was £8.50. I wouldn't have renewed with More Than (I didn't know any better first time round) but they renewed automatically because I didn't cancel it. Next time I renew it will be with either Axa or Petplan! £20 per month seems very high for a young cat if there are no existing health problems! :)
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Thankx Claire. I thought from what i have read here on purrs that £20.00 is a bit high !
WEll as you know i have been planing to go back home and my flat is been in the market for a while now, but few weeks back we foud out there is a major leak from my place to a neighbour so i had to pull out of market and they have to come and dig my place to find the leak :( Mean time my neighbour told me i could sell some of my things which i dont need in some sites, she gave me the names and on Sunday i was going through them and in one they had pets >:( Well this little one was there and i thought i help him to find a home with my friends so after talking topeople and exchanging name and everything i thought no its not right so called them back and said its too far for me to travel and too expensive to go by cab. cut the story short he was droped to me at 11pm on sunday and they didnt even want to check the place :(I asked them if he was wormed and she didnt know cats have worms she said no he had fleas when we got him but washed him with flea shampoo. :-:
Right now i want to insure him , once he is settled i will take him to vet for flea and worming treatment, i havent had a kitten since 1990's but i will do my best for him. I also gave all Millie's thing to mayhew so just have to sort few things for him.I am not planing anything atm , always prefered to adopt older cats,which are hard to home We'll see but thanks for the reply. :hug: :hug:
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Definately right to get insured before seeing vets and then its 14 days before insurance kicks in, please pm me Pav and I will help find a company.............I am definately off out now but will be back in a couple of hours.
Whjat terrible people to dump a kitten like that but I know you will looks after him just wonderfully. :hug:
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I have just insured Noah a 8month old Siamese with Halifax insurance.. which pays up to 6000 per yr for life long cover and i am paying 10 per month... If you go down to 100o per yr it was 6.00 pm.. Chipping and neutering reduced the cost by a few quid but not much..I spent ages investigating insurance and the best ones for life long cover.. Aviva, petplan where all reasonable but when i did a search on reviews Halifax where good so i plumped for them.
My other cat Bella is insured with Pinnacle (Help you cover) and i am pahing 22.00 pm for her again life long cover and i am quids in as this yr i have spent over 1000 in vets bills for her with tablets. I cannot fault Pinnacle but they are not cheap but i have never had a problem with claims .. I got them to quote for Noah and they were in the 17.00 bracket.. Although you will aways pay more for pedigrees and being in the SE which i am..
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I've just insured James and Christopher with NFU Mutual and their premium for permanent health cover was £103.51 a year each, equivalent to around £8.63 a month.
As Gill says, microchipped or not shouldn't make a difference. The main things that will affect cost of insurance are where you live (which affects the likely cost of vet fees), age of the cat, any pre-existing medical conditions, the type of cover (life-long, condition capped or time capped), the amount of cover required and the insured value of the cat.
Most insurers will assume that all pets have been bought (so if you have a pedigree cat it will have cost you several hundred pounds to buy it) and therefore its insured value will reflect that cost. Sometimes the concept of rescue cats needs explaining to them! James and Christopher have an insured value of £35 each, which is the minimum value NFU accept for permanent health insurance (they are, of course, priceless! :Luv:).
The whole pet insurance thing can be very confusing but try not to panic. I suggest writing down exactly what kind of insurance you want so that when you ask different companies you're sure you are asking them for the same thing, otherwise you wind up comparing apples with pears!
What a lucky kitten he is to have found you :hug:.
:)
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Thankyou Gill, i will pm you later on i would appreciate any help re insurance. I don't think i wait that long to take him to the vet for worming tab and he does scratch a bit but i brushed him and cant find any flea dirt it wont cost much i pay for it.I allso want him to check his mouth he is chewing everything so am not sure if his teeth need checking or is just being a kitten.
But i need to insure him ASAP.
Thanks Sharon i will look in to Halifax, my home contents are with them and they have been very good.
Does the insurance cover chipping and neutering though and also i dont have a DOB , i was told he is 8 weeks old and they had him for 3 weeks and reason for rehoming because she works and not fair to leave him aloane. Wy didnt they think that before taking him then :(
Thanks everyone.
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Insurance doesn't cover chipping, neutering, worming, de-fleaing or vaccinations, either initial or annual boosters. It also doesn't ususally cover routine dental work (but would cover work required due to accident or illness).
The chewing sounds like normal kitten behaviour to me but if you take him to a vet for a worming tablet I'm sure they'll give him a full health check while they're at it.
Don't worry about not having an exact dob - month and year should be fine. If they do want a day just count back the weeks and pick the date for the Monday of that week!. I had to guessimate James's dob as he is the only one who knows the truth and he's not saying!
:)
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Thats no problem Pav, am back now >
No insurance doesnt not cover neutering, vacs, wormer and its no worry about being a rescue cat.
I will need age.......11 weeks? sex, name!!!!!!!!!!!!! you can always change it later, i think thats all.
I was going to try NFU but you cant do it online and they were too busy and could have taken 48 hrs plus for someone to get back to me and nobody could even tell me what the cover was! So decided that wasnt good enough service.
Anyway pm me and I will start looking.....I also need to know what cover but you can decide that when I get some quotes cos all are slightly different.
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£20 does seem VERY expensive, there's a really good comparison tool here that shows the difference between the masses of policies available http://www.defaqto.com/compare/cat-insurance
Sorry to hear about problems with the house but I'm very pleased you're going to share some love around :hug: Look forward to hearing about him as he settles in :hug:
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Halifax give 5 per cent discount on line.. (when i did it was 10 percent) tell them you have house insurance with them.. They do from 8wks but you need 10 days for the policy to start. There is no charge for monthly payments by direct debit..
They do ask for date of birth of cat (round it up to nearest month) and do ask about neutering and chipping.. But there is only a few small difference if not chipped but there is a difference for neutering.. So if the cat is too young then the quote may be higher this yr then next when the cat can be neuterered.. But its only say 2.00 or so.. In Noahs case before and after neutering it was around 1.63 difference..
Do review the insurance companies as if its too good to be true then it usually is. Watchdog this wk reports on Healthy pets that is dreadful and so is EDF avoid like the plague. Many supermarket chains do not do life long cover for animals that is why they are chepaer. More then basic policy does not do life long cover but the Extra does... I am told Argos is not bad but have no experience with them.. There was one review site that listed the top ten life covers and most of the good ones where online only.. Do make sure they are UK call centres.. Petguard was one i was told about but every time i rang i could never get through so i avoided them in the end. Liverpool Victoria is another that was good...
£20 is very expensive as thats nearly what i pay for my 14yr old Siamese with Pinnacle and they are not cheap insurance company at all..Good lluck.. its a minefield out there if you do not do your homework.
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You can worm without taking the kitten to the vets, Drontal is available from vetUK without a prescription and my understanding is that is a good product. Be aware that anything the vet treats before insurance kicks in will preclude vaguely similar conditions - e.g water infection can mean no protection for any kidney or bladder conditions, tummy upset can mean no protection for any digestive complaint. Obviously nobody would want you not to treat any worrying symptoms, and I do know my examples are not issues you'd want to leave a cat with. :-[
Noah (five year old-ish male) is £90 a year with AXA, but I suspect I live in a cheap postcode - I can't imagine we have many pets, few own a car and very few burglaries so I don't suppose there are many insurance claims of any sort. I got completely confused by the different levels of protection and prices from different companies, so just went with AXA because it was one of two lifetime policies that were raved about on Purrs! ;D
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Im with axa and pay just under £10 a month for Amber whos 11. Then again it is due in january so might change.
I paid £25 a month for Mogs who was 18 and had health problems and that was with More than.Of course by the time she had developed high blood pressure I had to stay with them and oddly enough each renewal went up by the amount I had claimed >:(
Ive heard good stuff about nfu as an insurance company and been told if you take mulitple policies they create a 'portfolio' and give you a discount
love
Tab
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Halifax give 5 per cent discount on line.. (when i did it was 10 percent) tell them you have house insurance with them.. They do from 8wks but you need 10 days for the policy to start. There is no charge for monthly payments by direct debit..
They do ask for date of birth of cat (round it up to nearest month) and do ask about neutering and chipping.. But there is only a few small difference if not chipped but there is a difference for neutering.. So if the cat is too young then the quote may be higher this yr then next when the cat can be neuterered.. But its only say 2.00 or so.. In Noahs case before and after neutering it was around 1.63 difference..
Do review the insurance companies as if its too good to be true then it usually is. Watchdog this wk reports on Healthy pets that is dreadful and so is EDF avoid like the plague. Many supermarket chains do not do life long cover for animals that is why they are chepaer. More then basic policy does not do life long cover but the Extra does... I am told Argos is not bad but have no experience with them.. There was one review site that listed the top ten life covers and most of the good ones where online only.. Do make sure they are UK call centres.. Petguard was one i was told about but every time i rang i could never get through so i avoided them in the end. Liverpool Victoria is another that was good...
£20 is very expensive as thats nearly what i pay for my 14yr old Siamese with Pinnacle and they are not cheap insurance company at all..Good lluck.. its a minefield out there if you do not do your homework.
I have just done a number of quotes for Pav from Halifax and the base line is that at his current age for 6K policy it would cost £17.33 unneutered which is terrible.
If he is 3 moinths old that policy will dropp to £14.92 as long as he is neutered but the real killer is that at 7 years old, on top of the £75 excess they want 15% of the rest of the bill!!
AXA although they ask about chipping and neutering , they are not using it in the calculation..............as they told me on the phone but I bet they will when they have online stats for a year! They are horrendously expensive at £19.62 with a £100 excess!
Sainsbury who only give per condition ins are really bad at £29.42 with £50 excess but cover for each condtion up to £7500, I havent gone back and tryed a neatered quote but will but think it will come in higher than AXA.
NFU conditions are way down on anyone else and cover very low, cant get quote cos they dont do them online.
I feel that companies are now trying to stop taking on cats!! They are certainly pricing new kitten owners out of the market.
Are cats such a bad risk that they cost more than a car to insure?
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Alice is insured as a 15 year old, although we aren't sure how old she is - with Axa, her cover is £13 a month. I don't remember them asking if she was chipped. Prices vary on area - London is expensive.
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I am paying more than that for Sasa since 23 of this month and she is only 11! The cost has almost doubled Mark.
Even my young man cat is costing nearly that now and I have put up the excess to £75 for both to get about a pound off........things are looking very bad in the cat ins market.
So am intersted in any other companies that seem to give a good deal, have done axa, sainsbury, halifax and know nfu conditions no good.
It seems that any that have a good price, there is a catch somewhere else like in Halifax.
I know that Tesco is not life cover and also not very much per condition, and starting to feel that all prices for a cat this young are going to be very high.
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Mark this will horrify you...............Alice now called Ginger living at Pavs addy from AXA.
2. Your quote results
Just £675.07 or £56.26 per month to protect Ginger your (15 years and 9 months old) MOGGIE
Pay by a single payment£675.07 Pay by a single payment
Pay by 12 monthly instalments£56.26 Pay by monthly instalments The excesses applicable to your policy are:
Third party liability property damage £250, Holiday cancellation £50.
Veterinary fees excess: £50 £75 £100 £125
I am sure its given me a wrong answer cos this is as much as for the renewal for a birman!
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Insurance is London is much more expensive. I had petplan with Kylie when I got her. I was living in Islington. In 2002, it was about £8 - I changed to Lloyds TSB around 2004 when Petplan put the price up to £13 - then, Lloyds was £5 :Crazy: - they have crept up to £13 now. I keep meaning to change to Axa but never get round to it.
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I dont live in London but my quotes for Misa came in really high.
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Has anyone tried Virgin Money?
I have just tried them and they seem to be coming up with a quote of £14.45
for two cats - one aged 3 and one aged 7 - which seems really cheap.
Not sure if postcodes affect this but mine is SK15 1JW.
Perhaps someone else should try this and see what quote they get.
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Thanks Tiggerman and will look after Ii have eaten LOL
Did you look at what cover was offered?
Post codes definately affect this as does age of cats.
I have now found one for a 3 month kitten, neutered and life cover for £12.81 with £75 excess, the life cover is not high but at £2500 per year and the premium price I think its as good as one can get. No add ons for excess as far as I can see and its with......wait for this lol Homebase.
I have just done loads of comparisons and there is nothing close for lifetime cover cos most are £17 plus.
OK it doesnt compare AXA etc but got a real span of ones I didnt know existed. along with obvious culprits like animal friends!
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Ginger aged 15 years and nine months, neutered but not chipped, using my postcode (Bradford) £25 a month or £299 a year. I am sooooo never moving house. :rofl: Do you want me to try a kitten?
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No I have already tried LOL. Just did Ginger for Mark lol
I have also tried Virgin now but the catch is that at 7 years they want a %age of the rest of bill.....they dont say what amount although I didnt go and look in policy cos it was in the assumptions.........sigh
So best lifetime cover I have come up with is Homebase after looking at quotes from nearly 30 companies. I think the list is almost never ending but having got this far I can see a distict pattern and amazing how many are using the new company that AXA have changed to for managing the insurance.
Also how many are using the same input form.
Just so I remember I used Gocompare.com to get bulk of quotes and did Haliax, AXA, Virgin, Sainsbury seperately.
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Thankyou everyone for your input and help. :hug:
Gill thankyou somuch for trying to help us, just sent a pm.
I am going to try and take him to my vet tomorrow to see if he can guess his age, he might be older than 8 weeks. I also will discuss whats the best age to have him microchipped, neutered and vaccinated as i have no idea whats the best age.
Firefox i have drontal at home but is for cats not kittens so i might ask the vet to do everything while he is there as for the insurance i will check homebase with my details and see what i get.
Thankyou all. :hug: :hug:x
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Have just replied Pav and loads of good luck at vet tomorrow :hug: :hug:
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I have a pet insurance policy with Direct Line, when I took it out, they were one of the only companies that did a dual policy - and the price was only £11.09 a month for both of my girls. :-:
Then the following year, that doubled!!!!!! My policy is due to expire shortly and I am definitely going elsewhere!!
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Just seen this thread and delighted that you have offered this little chap a home Pav. He is a very lucky boy, no mistake :hug:
You may know we now have a kitten that came to us on 21 August. We took Groucho to vet same day as he was crawling with fleas and covered in flea dirt. Vet said he was fully weaned and about 8 weeks old. The flea/worming treatment applied by vet only cost £5 but he waved the consulting fee as we thought we were going to rehome him thru CP :-[ When he went back for 2nd vac, the lady vet suggested we leave chipping until he is neutered. Wish I hadn't agreed as Groucho has almost got out twice now. The chewing has been quite a problem so you really need to watch out for wiring especially thin wiring like telephone wires, wires to speakers on hifis, radio aerials..... all ruined in our house :-: but thankfully doesn't seem to have hurt Groucho. Does your little man have a name yet Pav? Kittens are adorable but really quite a handful esp if you only have one. Hope you haven't become house proud since you last had kittens ;)
Am horrified at the Axa quote you had but can only think it is due to your post code as I put details through for a 2 month old boy kitten with £50 excess and premium not much more than £100 per annum with Axa. We are paying just over £7 per month for Groucho with Axa but have chosen a £100 excess and we get a 5% discount due to more than one cat insured with them.
Hope you can find a decent quote Pav :hug:
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Wow Rosella my postcode is as bad as Pavs!
I have no idea why cos very few cats round here at all. Only know one other up the road.
Most cats would be farm cats and not insured at all.
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How very odd Gill :-:
Can I just mention that I think Halifax dental cover only for accident and injury not illness. Dental problems due to gingivitis seem so common I think cover for dental illness is something to bear in mind.
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Yes I think you are right but Pav is going to revist Homebase which is the same but much cheaper and life cover at a lower end.
I think kitty has a name now but will leave it to Pav to tell you ;D
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I've just this minute insured my two 3yr olds with AXA. Cooper is £6.50 p/mth and Peanut is £5.40 p/mth - which I think is a right bargain! ;D
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That definately is.....you must have a good postcode!
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Pandora is insured with Axa and she is £9.50 per month -5 years ,Pedigree.
That was the best price for the cover you get -well for this year anyway , see what happens next year!
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I had trouble getting a quote cuz I was choosing "DSH" for the breed. I rang them up and IT support said I need to choose "moggie" and then it should work :rofl: She also said the quote would be cheaper by choosing moggie! :shify:
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Well i thought is time to add some pictures to this tread and Gill kindly agreed to do so. Thankyou Gill :hug: :hug: x
Mister Sylvester Gaudi has been with me for 3 months ;D He is 5 months old and was neutured 2 weeks ago and the vet said he is in a very good condition healthwise . He weigh 3.2 kilo which i thought is too much but the vet thinks is healthy.
MSG is just gorgeous and very friendly, plays rough though but i put it as being young :innocent:
But and there is a big but he goes out and is noway to stop him :( He started going out when he was 3 months old and every time the door opened he just run out , tbh after what happened to Millie (RTA)
i am terrified.I got him so many toys and at first he showed interest but now comes morning and he start crying i spend 3 to 4 hours a day out side watching him but when he gets to the front thats where the Road is and i am so scared that some thing distract him and he crosses the road.
I was told by few people to keep him indoor and he will be reasonably happy and safe but he is not having it.Love him to bits its first time after 20 years since i had a kitten and he is really hard work but he is just gorgeous and they do make you smile :Luv2: Although i have to say i miss having my oldies :Luv:
Gill, i did insure him with HOME BASE, it was the best deal and thankyou soooo much.x
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I will add the pics tomorrow cos a bit tired now...............ummmmmm a lot tired lol
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Here is Mister SG in all his glory and furriness ;D
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And some more ;D ;D
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:Luv: :Luv: :Luv: :Luv:
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What wonderful pics Pav. Look at his tail in the tree pic! :Luv2: :Luv2: :Luv2:
What a very very beautiful boy you have there! The toys look strangely familiar. Bet he just loves his sparkly stick. I gave ours away at Christmas as a last minute prezzie for someone's young cat :-[ I seem to have got away with it.... for now.
I so hope you are able to find him a good home soon altho I know for sure it will break your heart to give him up :( Wish I could help out coz he is one special beauty but can't face anymore disruption settling in newbies .....
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Aww Gill thankyou sooooomuch. :hug: :hug: :)
Thankx Rossella, he is very sweet and friendly and is going to be hard to find him a home with safe out door in London but i am going to try also he is on raw diet which might be problem with new home and he is terrified of dogs!!! But like cats there is a huge ginger which comes to check for food and Mister run after him and chase him but not aggresive way or fighting he just want to play but Ginger runaway so i think he wants company ,i kepthim in yesterday and today and he looks really sad . He loves people too he sits in bath when i have shower and get wet and follows me every where :Luv2: Last week the post man brought him home in his bag in few occasion he talked to Mister and now Mister follows him and crosses the road so i asked him not to show him any attention :sneaky:I am worried that by keeping him in he gets depressed and i think that is selfish he loves to chase birds and every thing that moves and i am taking that away , i am not sure what to do?
Anyhoo Mister is very pleased that peopleps think he is gorgeous :evillaugh:x
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Sounds like Mister loves people who are nice to him and also wants a friend to play with as well as a safe garden and raw food,
He is such a handsome little man and so like Misa probably was when a kitten, so now needs to get a new home asap although like with me and Pussy will just break your heart :hug: :hug: :hug:
I agree that centre of London probably impossible but in outer London not so, lots of green and leafy suburbs that I could afford to live in......sigh
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Adorable pics of Mister SG Pav. It just needs the right person in the right area to pop up out of thin air and everyone would be happy. After you have a good cry at saying goodbye to him that is :hug: :Luv2:
Mary