Cat Insurance

Our Lifetime Elite Extra Plus policy provides £5,000 of vet fee cover per condition minus your excess and any co-payment.

There’s no limit to the number of conditions or accidents you can claim for. However, keep in mind that related injuries or illnesses may be grouped together and covered under the same policy limits.

And because it’s a lifetime policy, your cover reinstates each year when you renew – so you can continue to claim for ongoing conditions, year after year.

Cat insurance covers the vet bills when your cat gets ill or has an accident, but exactly what’s covered, and for how long, generally depends on the type of policy you choose. We offer four levels, each doing a little more or less than the next.

At the top is lifetime cover, the most complete option. It pays towards new illnesses and injuries up to £5,000 per condition, per year, and because those limits reset each time you renew, an ongoing condition can stay covered for the rest of your cat’s life. Maximum benefit works a little differently, giving you a fixed amount per condition with no time limit that you claim against until it’s used up, while time limited cover looks after each new condition for up to 365 days from when it starts before cover for that one ends. Accident only is the most basic of the four, helping with vet fees after an accident but not covering illness at all.

Whichever level you go for, your cover also includes complementary treatments like physiotherapy, and the fuller policies add extras such as overseas travel, emergency boarding and help if your cat goes missing. Two things are never covered, though, whichever you choose: pre-existing conditions and routine care like vaccinations, flea and worming.

Lifetime pet insurance is the most comprehensive types of policy for pets. It’s designed to protect your pet not just in the short term, but for life, so long as your policy is renewed each year with no break in cover.

With lifetime cover, your pet’s insured for new conditions that started after the waiting period (14 days for illnesses and 5 days for accidents and injuries). Each year, all the limits are reinstated, so long as your premiums are up to date and there hasn’t been a break in your cover. This means that even ongoing treatments can continue to be covered.

While lifetime insurance typically costs more than maximum benefit or time-limited plans, it offers lasting value by ensuring your pet receives the care they need throughout their life.

It’s always a good idea to check your policy documents to know what’s covered and what isn’t for any type of policy.

Pet insurance policies are not generally designed to cover routine care like UK cat vaccinations, flea treatments, or worming. Your cat insurance can help cover the vet fee costs for any illnesses, accidents and injuries, along with other things like complementary treatments, like acupuncture or physiotherapy, if your cat needs it.

Perfect Pet customers get access to perks & offers from established pet brands, where you can find exclusive offers on the cost of pet care, including prescription medications and flea and worm treatments.

Your cat insurance covers emergency dental treatment for injuries, but routine dental cleaning or dental illnesses aren’t covered. Always check the policy wording to understand what’s included.

There’s no single type that’s best for every cat, as the right cover really depends on your cat’s age and health, how much protection you want and what fits your budget. What suits a healthy young kitten often isn’t what suits an older cat with more visits to the vet ahead of them, so it’s worth understanding what each level does before you decide.

If you want the most comprehensive cover, lifetime pet insurance tends to be the one owners look at first. It covers new illnesses and injuries up to £5,000 per condition, per year, and refreshes those limits every time you renew, which means it can keep paying towards an ongoing condition like arthritis or kidney disease for the rest of your cat’s life. That makes it particularly popular for older cats, though it usually costs more than the other levels.

If you’re after something lighter on the budget, the other three do less at a lower price. Maximum benefit gives you a fixed pot per condition with no time limit, time limited covers each condition for up to 365 days from when it starts, and accident only helps with vet fees after an accident but not illness. The best way to weigh it up is to think about what you’d want covered if your cat became unwell, then compare the levels side by side and get a quote to see the price for each.

The cost of cat insurance depends on their breed, age, where you live, and the type of cover you choose.

Lifetime policies usually cost more than, for example, an accident-only policy, as they are the most comprehensive. Lifetime policies protect your cat for life, so long as you continue to renew without any break in cover.

If you insure two or more cats at the same time, you can also benefit from a 15% multi-pet discount.

Yes, you can still take out a policy for a cat that already has a health condition. Like most insurers, we’re not able to cover a pre-existing condition itself, which means anything your cat has had, or had treatment or advice for, before the policy starts won’t be covered. But your cat can still be insured for all the new, unrelated illnesses and injuries that might come along later, so a policy still gives them a lot of protection.

It’s worth knowing exactly what counts, too. A pre-existing condition includes undiagnosed signs as well as diagnosed ones, so if your cat was limping beforehand and was later diagnosed with arthritis, that would be treated as pre-existing whichever insurer you went with.

Even where we can’t insure the condition itself, we can still help with the cost of managing it. Every Perfect Pet customer gets our included discounts and perks, with average savings of 57% on prescription medication delivered to your door, which can take some of the sting out of ongoing treatment. You also get free 24/7 Vet Assist calls, so you can check in with a real vet nurse any time you’re worried about your cat, at no extra cost and without it counting as a claim.