Hi Karen,

Thanks for your question.

Absolutely, you can still get insurance on your pet without papers. Different insurance providers have different requirements but I rarely hear that they need breed related papers to issue an insurance policy. If by ‘paper’ you are referring to medical and vaccination records, they may request that you produce these. If so, you don’t need the previous owner to give them to you. You can get them from the veterinary clinic your cat previously visited if the previous owner can remember the name of it. Veterinarians are required to keep records for years and as long as the previous owner consents, you can get them from the clinic. If you can’t get any records at all because the previous owner is not cooperative, you can simply visit a clinic for a physical exam and consultation and then submit that medical record.

Keep in mind that insurance policies can be offered to people over the phone with a minimal amount of information and the same is true for pets. There are many policies that can be extended with little information.

There are a few tips I have about insurance. Be sure to read the fine print because there may be lifetime maximums on pay outs, different percentage of deductibles, exclusion of certain conditions deemed to be pre-existing and changes in premium levels. Please view our video “Should I Get Pet Insurance” about pet insurance policies to determine if it’s right for your cats. An insurance policy can certainly provide peace of mind, but the alternative is that you could put money away every month instead of paying a premium and then the account can be used if needed, or returned if you don’t encounter a serious health problem. My final piece of advice is that I always encourage people to assess their pet’s risk of injury or disease based on their breed, lifestyle and wellness program.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Dr. Clayton Greenway