Does pet insurance cover HCM in British Shorthairs?
Lemonade Pet is not sold in every state.
Yes, if you enroll before any sign of heart trouble. Pet insurance treats HCM in British Shorthairs as a hereditary condition, and every insurer we review covers hereditary conditions as long as no clinical signs or symptoms appeared before enrollment or during the waiting period. A heart murmur noted by a vet before you enroll makes HCM pre-existing and permanently excluded on most policies. Enroll a healthy kitten, before any screening flags anything, and an eventual HCM diagnosis is claimable.
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Lemonade is the one insurer on this site we can send you to for a live quote. That does not make it the right plan for every pet. As of October 2, 2026, Lemonade Pet is not yet available in Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, or Wyoming.
Get a quote from LemonadeThe exclusions cheat sheet
A plain-English guide to waiting periods and key exclusions across eight insurers, with links to the full reviews.
Why British Shorthairs are flagged for HCM
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the hereditary heart condition that dominates this breed’s later-life veterinary bills: the heart muscle thickens, which can lead to congestive heart failure without ongoing medication and cardiac monitoring. Our breed guide rates the British Shorthair at moderate overall risk, with HCM plus a strong tendency to obesity-linked claims. Request current quotes for your cat and coverage choices.
The insurance problem is timing. HCM can develop silently for years, and insurers exclude anything that showed signs, even undiagnosed ones, before your policy started or during its waiting period. A murmur picked up at a routine visit before enrollment follows the cat for the life of every policy you buy afterward.
Waiting periods and how insurers differ
Illness waiting periods decide when your HCM clock starts: 14 days at Lemonade, Embrace, Spot, Figo and Pets Best, 15 days at Healthy Paws, up to 15 days at Fetch, and 30 days at Trupanion. Current Lemonade marketing waits (your state policy controls) are 0 days for accidents from the policy effective date, 14 days for illness, and 30 days for orthopedic conditions, with no separate 6-month cruciate wait. Healthy Paws sells cat insurance and scores 9.0/10 on our cat book; illness there waits 15 days in most states.
If HCM is ever diagnosed, chronic management differs by insurer. Trupanion pays unlimited with a once-per-condition deductible paid for the life of the pet, which suits recurring cardiac claims; Lemonade caps configurable limits at $100,000 with add-ons sold separately; Embrace distinguishes curable from chronic pre-existing conditions, but HCM counts as chronic, so a diagnosis already on file stays excluded permanently there too.
What to do before you enroll
Enroll young and healthy, before any vet has noted a murmur or arrhythmia, because that is the only version of this breed’s HCM risk that insurance will price. If your cat already has a documented heart finding, a new policy will not cover that condition, though it still covers unrelated new problems.
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