Why Pet Insurance?

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A survey recently published revealed that 1 in 3 pets needs an unplanned visit to the vet every year. So the odds that you’ll be making a claim on your pet insurance are higher than the chances of you claiming on your home & contents policy or your motor insurance.

The word “unplanned” is key here. We don’t mean routine treatments such as vaccinations or worming, you won’t find a pet insurance policy that covers preventative treatments. Nor you will you able to get cover for ‘elective treatments’, like neutering for example. Basically, the common reasons for visiting the vet cannot be insured against.

As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s the unplanned visits that are the expensive ones! Animal care has progressed a lot in recent years, and all kinds of maladies can be treated, at a horrendous cost. Emergency care is always expensive, and if your cat gets run over, you could be looking at a bill of $1,000 or more. A series of X-rays could cost $500, and you don’t want to know how much a MRI scan could set you back – oh go on then – $1,000 or more! If Dickens the Daschund breaks a leg then it can be treated – but how much will it cost? It could be close to $2,000 – that’s a lot of money!

Now we’ve established that most reasons for a visit to the vet cannot be covered by insurance, so what is included?

Well, pet insurance plans come in 3 main guises:

The value of the claim for each condition or event is capped;

The total annual payout cannot exceed a set amount;

The payout per condition is limited and ceases to cover your pet after twelve months of treatment. This is the cheapest option.

Virtually all pet insurance policies will pay