Why should I get pet insurance and what policy will suit my pet the best?
Insurance helps to cover the cost of veterinary treatment in the event of your pet falling ill or being in an accident.
If your pet becomes ill or has an accident we want to provide the best health care for them. With the advances in veterinary medicine, treatments are now available that make once fatal conditions in animals now treatable. Veterinary practices also have access to much more sophisticated equipment than they did in the past, making it possible to detect and diagnose problems that would once have gone untreated. Inevitably these specialised treatments come at a price and for this reason, many owners opt to take out pet insurance.
Being able to access the best possible care for your pet 24 hours a day can also mean that your vets fees maybe higher, as an example we have recently changed our small animal out of hours/night service to using VetsNow. VetsNow is a fantastic service which provides specialised emergency vets who only work during the night to deal with your pet’s emergency, this leaves our own vets fresh and awake during the day. VetsNow was recently used by one of our clients whose pet became very ill during the night and subsequently needed emergency treatment throughout the night. VetsNow did a great job and due to their efforts there was a happy ending. Unfortunately there were costs involved but luckily this dog was insured and his owners were able to claim these costs back.
There are three types of pet insurance policies:
1. Time-limited policies. There is a maximum amount per condition e.g. £2000, however for each condition that you do claim for there is a 12 month limit, after which no further pay outs are made.
2. Maximum benefit policies. This covers up to a maximum amount e.g. £2000 but there is no time limit.
3. Lifetime cover. This provides a set amount of cover for veterinary fees, renew each year and your pet will be covered throughout its lifetime providing the policy remains active.
Some pet insurances policies will also pay out if a pet dies, is lost or stolen or causes injury to a third party or damages a third party’s property. Many pet insurance companies will now also cover smaller pets too such as rabbits and exotic pets.
It is also worth noting that when you insure your pet any pre-existing conditions will not be covered under a new policy. There will also be a policy excess for each condition which will be payable by yourselves.
Please contact us on 01772 861300 if you have any further questions.