Pet insurance for older cats with pre existing conditions

What’s a pre-existing condition?

Most pet insurers class pre-existing conditions as any medical problems your pet had before you took out your pet insurance policy.

At ManyPets, we don’t think that’s fair, so we do things a bit differently.

We only class an issue as a pre-existing condition if it has needed treatment, medication or advice in the past two years.

That means all our policies will cover any pre-existing conditions that have been free from treatment, medication or advice for 24 months as though they were a new condition.

For conditions that your pet has had treatment, medication or advice for in the last two years, there’s our Pre-existing policy.  

It can cover pre-existing conditions as long as they have been free from treatment, medication or advice for 3 months before the treatment you’re claiming for.  Once we cover a pre-existing condition, we will continue to cover it no matter how often treatment is needed.

How ManyPets covers pre-existing conditions

We don’t make you fill in long forms declaring your pet’s previous conditions before we decide whether to cover them.

Our Pre-existing policy is simple. It gives you cover for pre-existing conditions, and a separate vet fee limit for any new conditions your pet develops:

• You’ll have a £1,500 vet fee limit to cover pre-existing conditions. A pre-existing condition is anything that occurred in the two years before your policy started. 

• Pre-existing conditions can be covered once they have been free from treatment, medication or advice for three months before the treatment you’re claiming for. Once we cover a pre-existing condition, we will continue to cover it no matter how often treatment is needed

• If, after two years, you haven’t needed any treatment, medication or advice for a pre-existing condition it will no longer be classed as pre-existing and you can use your full £7,000 vet fee limit for it in future if you need to.

This is a lifetime policy. That means both of these vet fee limits refresh each year when you renew.

How pre-existing cover helps pets... and owners

Choosing a pet insurance policy that covers pre-existing conditions means that even with previously diagnosed issues, your pet can still receive financial assistance for that problem. This takes much of the financial guessing game out for pet owners worrying about getting treatment going forward.

What else is covered?

It’s not just pre-existing problems that this policy covers. It also includes:

• Up to £1,000 for complementary treatments within your £7,000 vet fee limit

• Dental cover for accidents

• Legal action against you and your pet (dogs only)

• The option to add cover for advertising and a reward if your pet is lost or stolen

• Saying goodbye - £150 contribution towards euthanasia, burial and cremation costs

But you won’t be covered for:

• Pre-existing injuries or illnesses that occurred in the three months before taking out the policy. They’ll only be covered once your pet’s been free from veterinary treatment, medication or advice for a period of at least three months

• Accidents that happen in the first 48 hours you have the policy or illnesses that happen in the first 14 days - unless you switch to ManyPets straight from another pet insurer

• Dental illness - if this is important to you it's covered by our Complete policy, although that policy doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions from the past two years

Find out more about what's covered

Award-winning cover owners love

Cat and dog owners have voted us Pet Insurance Provider Of The Year in the Moneyfacts Consumer Awards for two years running. We also received over 16,500 five-star Feefo reviews in the 12 months up to August 2022.

Frequently asked questions about pre-existing conditions

Everything else you need to know about your pet's previous conditions and how our policies cover them.

When you make a claim, your insurer will ask your vet for your dog’s medical records, so they can see if they’ve had any previous injuries or illnesses.

No, unless you’ve switched to us from another provider. Like most pet insurance policies there’s a ‘waiting period’ at the start. That means there’s a short period of time before you can make a claim.

For all our policies the waiting period is two weeks for illnesses and 48 hours for accidents. But if you previously had cover with another pet insurance provider and you switch to us with no break in cover, there’s no waiting period and you’ll have immediate cover.

You can get cover for your cat and we might be able to cover that condition as long as:

• they’re not having any treatment when you take out the policy

• the murmur hasn’t had any treatment, medication or advice for at least three months.

If you take out a Pre-existing policy your cat’s heart murmur will be covered for up to £1,500 a year as part of your overall claims pot.

Just be aware that if the murmur needs regular or ongoing medication that doesn’t stop for a period of three months, we would never be able to cover this condition.

But if the murmur stops and your pet receives no treatment, medication or advice for it for two years, we’ll cover it just like a new condition if it ever crops up again.

Yes, and conditions with relatively infrequent occurrences like your dog’s epilepsy can potentially be covered with the pre-existing limit of £1,500 after the two-week initial wait period, once there’s been no treatment, medication or advice for it for a three-month period.

Your dog’s hip problems are what’s known as a ‘bilateral condition’, meaning something that can occur in the same body part on the opposite side of your pet’s body.

Most pet insurers would automatically class your shepherd’s right hip as a pre-existing condition because he’s already been diagnosed for his left hip a year ago. But we don’t think that’s fair, so at ManyPets we’ll cover it in the same way we would a whole new condition, as long as his right hip had no previous diagnosis when the left hip was seen to by your vet, and no medication, advice or treatment in the last two years.

If it was noticed and diagnosed when the left hip was, it’s part of the same condition, so depending on your policy and whether you were covered by us when that was treated, you may still be able to claim.

It really depends on whether it’s an ongoing, constantly managed condition or just something you’re worried will cause future issues, though she’s healthy right now.

She’ll need to have been free from advice, medication and treatment for three months for her to have her breathing problems covered by it.

Almost all other pet insurance companies won’t cover recent conditions, so our Pre-existing policy is worth considering if your furry friend’s been unwell less than two years ago.

That might be because:

• You didn’t have pet insurance before and your cat or dog has been poorly in the last two years.

• You previously had a time-limited pet insurance policy and it’s been more than 12 months since your pet first showed symptoms. Your time-limited policy won’t cover the condition any more, but you’re worried it might crop up again in the future.

• You previously had a lifetime pet insurance policy and made a claim. You want to switch your cover to ManyPets (good choice!) but you don’t want to be left with no cover for your pet’s pre-existing conditions.

The Pre-existing policy won’t be right for you if:

• Your pet’s never had any illness or symptoms noted by your vet.

• The last time your pet had advice, medication or treatment was more than two years ago, or the condition is ongoing (chronic).

But you can still get a quote and choose one of our other policies instead.