Pet insurance for cats in apartments with dangerous cladding

I'm just thinking about the difficulties that cat owners might have in obtaining insurance for their cat if they live in apartment blocks with dangerous cladding. This is a UK specific problem but you may have heard about the Grenfell fire which was devastating (see photo below). It was caused by highly inflammable cladding which wrapped around the block turning the tower into an inferno and killing 72 people who were told to stay inside by the fire service. But that's another point.

Photo on Wikipedia and by Natalie Oxford - https://twitter.com/Natalie_Oxford/status/874835244989513729/photo/1

Thousands of people have now been condemned to lives of fear after the government missed its target of replacing flammable cladding on high-rise buildings.

Replacements of cladding has only taken place in 155 tower blocks out of 455 high-rises. Residents of these blocks are facing buildings insurance premium hikes of almost 400%.

They can't sell their properties because buyers can't get a mortgage on them. The banks have simply washed their hands of them in terms of lending money against the buildings. In some of these blocks there will be people living with domestic cats. How does this chaos affect them if they want to take out pet health insurance?

I don't know the answer and I can't find the answer but I suspect that they will not be able to obtain insurance for their pet. Think about it: a fire takes place and they rush to abandon their apartment, leaving their cat behind. The cat is injured or killed. That is the potential scenario and I'd be very surprised if companies providing pet insurance would cover that scenario knowing that the cladding surrounding the building is flammable.

Top five pet health insurance claims for the Bengal cat

Tesco Bank Pet Insurance can help us understand the kind of health problems that Bengal cats suffer from by providing us with the top five conditions claimed for by their customers in 2018 together with the average cost of the treatment.

Average Treatment Costs Table

Condition	Average treatment cost
Cat bite abscess	£223.66
Wound	£354.35
Lameness	£251.75
Road traffic accident	£846.97
Injury	£523.29

Average annual cost of premiums for top five (most expensive) cat breeds in the UK

I've just written a page on the same subject but in respect of Maine Coon Cats. The difference between these two breeds in respect of insurance claims is quite stark. Whereas the Maine Coon related to internal organ diseases, as I read the information, the Bengal's claims are much more to do with injuries. This points to UK cat owners letting their Bengal cat go outside to roam freely when they become injured. Or they occur inside the home. Perhaps they fight in multicat households. It doesn't surprise me because the Bengal cat is very active. Arguably they need to be outside but I think this is a very difficult decision because they are a very glamorous looking cat and confident.

Beautiful Bengal cat. Photo copyright Helmi Flick. Published here with her express permission

They are liable to get into difficulties and to be involved in road traffic accidents and become injured. You can also see that cat bite abscesses are on the list. This implies (no more than an implication) that they are involved in fights with other cats. Neither does this surprise me because the Bengal cat can be quite aggressive. They are, we must remind ourselves, wild cat hybrids. They have while blood in them in layman's terms. They carry the DNA of a wild cat, which predisposes them to be more aggressive than your standard moggy or the more placid purebred cats such as the Ragdoll and American Shorthair.

When cats fight they bite each other which can lead to an abscess on the head. Bacteria is deposited under the skin where it grows and becomes a major infection. It needs to be flushed out and disinfected.

Years ago, I wrote about the major health issues which can affect this highly popular cat breed. You can read about them by clicking on this link. All purebred cats have a tendency to have inherited health diseases due to selective breeding. Breeders do their best to keep these diseases down to a minimum. There is a difference in the theoretical inherited disease and the claims made per Tesco's data. It is quite marked. For instance HCM affects Bengal cats but the Tesco pet insurance claims make no mention of claims for this disease.

Whether you choose pet insurance through a company like Tesco Bank Pet Insurance or go the self-insurance route is a personal choice. I believe that the companies need to be more competitive in order to grow the business. Percentage-wise very few people take out pet insurance.

Maine Coon cat: top 5 health conditions claimed for under pet insurance

Tesco Bank Pet Insurance usefully provide the public with the top five health conditions claimed for by owners of the Maine Coon cat in the UK. It is interesting and perhaps revealing. The information may not be generally indicative of Maine Coon health issues. It tells us that the Maine Coon in the UK typically might suffer from these health issues. They appear to point to diseases of internal organs. 

Average Treatment Costs Table

Condition	Average treatment cost
Lump	£439.47
Diabetes	£221.93
Pancreatitis	£425.21
Hyperthyroidism	£229.70
Organ tumour	£949.61

Average annual pet insurance premiums by cat breed - top five

The information in the table relates to the period 01/01/18 to 31/12/18 and refers to paid treatments including excesses. They say that Maine Coons can suffer from specific ailments although they describe the breed as relatively healthy. 

They can suffer from the common heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which affects middle-aged cats. The heart grows bigger and the symptoms are shortness of breath, reduced appetite and a reduction in activity levels.

They mention tumours. To the best of my knowledge, Maine Coons are not predisposed to developing cancer tumours. But Tesco argues that common feline growths include lipomas (benign fatty tumours), mast cell tumours (a cancer of the immune system) and lymphomas (a cancer of the lymph nodes).

Tesco Pet Insurance do say that this breed may be predisposed to developing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The small or large intestines becomes inflamed. My research indicates that it can be quite difficult to cure this disease in felines. I have a page on home remedies for this disease which you can read by clicking on this link.

I have a page on Maine Coon cat health problems - click here to read it. In a post I wrote in 2018 I said that Maine Coons are more expensive to insure than Bengal cats in the UK.

Tesco Bank Pet Insurance helpfully provide us with some suggestions for Maine coon cat names: Max, Luna, Bella, Milly, Lola.

Maine Coon cat. Photo: copyright Helmi Flick and published here with her express permission.

Average annual UK pet insurance by cat breed

 

Collage: Michael. Photos: Helmi Flick with her express permission.

It is complicated picking the right pet insurance policy for your cat. It is also complicated deciding whether to take out pet insurance in the first place. There are a plethora of different types of insurance policies and you have to work out whether the cost is worth it. It's about risk and peace of mind. It's a personal choice at the end of the day. Do you want to take the risk or buy some peace of mind. Just remember that the insurance companies are in it to make money and they will do so whatever it takes. I prefer self-insurance: save and put money aside for vet bills. This cuts out the insurance admin fees and broker fees if applicable. But this a very personal choice. It depends on you and your character - how risk-averse you are. Insurance companies provide a good service to the right person and their cat.

Without fail, the pedigree, purebred cats are more expensive to insure than random bred cats commonly called moggies in the UK. The montage above illustrates the cost of annual insurance for five major cat breeds in the UK. These are very well known breeds, particularly in America. I don't know whether these sorts of prices are payable in America (in US dollars). I suspect they might be. The snow Bengal cat has the highest premium payments because they are rare and expensive. Rarity and cost dictate the price of the premiums. All five of the cat breeds in the illustration are highly prized domestic cat companions. The four others are not particularly rare but they are desirable.

I suspect, actually, that you will pay premiums that vary from those stated in the illustration because the cost of purebred cats depends upon the quality of the cat and this is an individual-by-individual cat pricing in my opinion. Perhaps the insurance company doesn't know the difference in which case you might get a very good deal.

For example, the Moneysupermarket website (from which I got these details) have mis-described the Snow Bengal and called the breed the "Snow Leopard Bengal".

The price of the premiums will also vary across the country because the cost of veterinary care varies from region to region in the UK. I would expect the same variation in the USA. The big metropolises such as London are going to be more expensive and Scotland will be the least expensive or thereabouts. Pretty much everything is more expensive in London and cheaper in Scotland.

You have to pick your insurance policy carefully. For example you have to decide between a lifetime or annual policy. An annual policy lasts for 12 months. Your cat is protected for those 12 months and you will be reimbursed for veterinary costs incurred during that period. You might not be able to renew your policy if your cat develops a condition which goes into the next year. Lifetime policies are more expensive but of course there is no limit to the duration of the claim but there may be an upper limit to the cost you can claim, perhaps £5000.

Food portion size for domestic cats

You don't have to be worried as a cat owner about the food portion size for your cat and neither do you have to be concerned about the amount of food your cat should eat over a 24-hour period. This is because pet food manufacturers tell you how much to feed your cat, dependent upon the size of your cat, on the box. It is part of the labelling and you simply have to find it and read it. It can be hard to find it!

Sheba food portions and daily feed for domestic cats as indicated on the packet. Photo: Michael

• How many calories does an elderly cat need?
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• How many calories does a cat need?

For instance, with the fancy British pet food manufacturer Encore, they say that for a domestic cat who is lighter than 3 kg you should feed her one can over a 24-hour period. Each can weighs 70 g. This seems like a very tough diet to me! I am sure that this is incorrect and their instructions are poor. They seem to be advising adding dry cat food for a complete diet but once again the labelling is poor because this is not specified clearly. So much for relying on the manufacturer's guidelines!

Another box of cat food: Purina® Gourmet™ Perle states that for an average cat of 4 kg in weight you should feed her or him 3 to 4 pouches per day in at least two separate meals. This applies to an averagely active cat under normal environmental temperatures. The amount fed should be adjusted as required. Each pouch weighs 85 g.

A third cat food that I have is Sheba. These are 50 g pouches and the manufacture tells me that for a cat weighing 3 kg you should provide her with four pouches over a 24-hour period. For a cat of 4 kg, five pouches is applicable and for a 5 kg cat, give her six pouches. They advise feeding the pouches which is a wet cat food with dry cat food and under these circumstances you should provide a 3 kg cat with three pouches +10 kg of dry cat food. For a 4 kg cat you should provide her with three pouches together with a 20 kg amount of dry cat food and for a 5 kg cat it is four pouches +20 kg of dry cat food.

Who reads the box to decide what portions you should give your cat? I have rarely done it. But it might be a good idea to read the box in future except for Encore. Crappy instructions.

Japan's leading cat doctor, a veterinarian, Dr Yuki Hattori, advises that cat owners should calculate portion size carefully. He recommends that you read the daily portion size, as determined according to the cat's weight, on the back of the packet. All you need to do is to measure the right quantity for her size. A cat's energy requirements depends upon their weight, age and body mass. As the calculation is complex it makes sense to refer to the pet food manufacture's guidelines.