There have been lots of advancements in animal medicine and surgery in the past decade. Diagnostic tests like CT scan, MRI scan, Doppler, electromyography; some medication; or some surgical procedures, like limb deformity reconstructions, limb sparing surgeries, prosthesis, ligament tears, advanced facial or wound reconstructions, key-hole surgery; and cancer treatment, would have been unthinkable and could have only dreamt off 10-15 years ago.
Thanks to all of these and, at the same time, to the increase on owners expectations, the possibilities to treat many conditions that our dogs and cats suffer have risen dramatically, and therefore our pets life span and quality of life.
The downside of this is that the cost of many treatments has gone up significantly too, and many of these treatment or diagnostic modalities are still more expensive than for people, mainly because the volume of cases is a lot smaller and veterinary practices and hospitals are not funded by taxes, like they are in most countries.
Many owners get extremely concerned and stressed when their animal gets ill or injured because they are very attached to them but in some circumstances, because they want to do the best for their beloved animal, but they cant afford it. And this is happening more and more often in the past 2-3 years, since the economic crisis, job losses, etc Here is were the pet insurances come into play and become extremely helpful. Therefore, as long as we have chosen the right insurance cover, and we know what kind insurance have we purchased, and what does it cover and what does it know, the stress of cost is taken out of the equation in most cases, having to focus only on the care of our pet and to make sure that he or she gets better.
The reason why I stress the importance of what kind of cover we have and to talk to your vet about it (which, at the end of the day, they are the ones that are going to be able to give you the best advice, based on their experience), is because there are hundreds of insurance companies these days, and some of them with different covers or policies each, so it can become extremely confusing to choose between them if you are not familiar with all of this.
Although, the best thing is discuss this with your vet, I am going to summarise and try to give you some recommendations regarding the main policies that you will find in the market at this moment. They are three main categories:
1- Lifetime covers or cover for life policies (PetPlan, MoreThan,): they cover up to a set amount for vet fees per year (e.g. 4000), renewed each policy year; there is no time limit on how long you can claim for each illness or injury. This type of policies is ideal for conditions like diabetes, arthritis, skin allergies, which are for life. These are the ones that your vet will recommend in most cases. They are a bit more expensive normally, but as everything, because they give you more cover.
2- Time-limited policies or 12 months policies (most of them): the cover they provide is again up to a maximum amount per condition only, having a 12 months limit. What this means is that once you have reached that maximum amount covered, they wont pay out any more for that condition, and it will be excluded from the policy after those 12 months.
3- Maximum Benefit policies (Sainsburys,): Cover is provided up to a maximum amount per condition (e.g. 5000), but for the life of the animal, not per year, so if you use that amount in the first 3 or 4 years of your animals life, they wont pay any more for it, and that condition will be excluded from the policy.
So, with this in mind, it is clear that they are different types of insurance covers, and that obviously some will be cheaper than others.
But also, it is not only important the cover that you get in veterinary fees, but also what other benefit levels, excesses and extra cover you get, for example cost of euthanasia or not, advertising or cancellation of holidays if the animal gets lost or injured, alternative medicine (physiotherapy, prescription food, hydrotherapy).
It is also important that you check if the cover or excesses change once you pet becomes older; as many increase their excesses quite a lot once your dog is over 8-9 years old and your cat over 10 years old.
There are a very few insurances that can give cover, as an optional extra, for conditions or problems related to breeding (caesareans, etc.) which could be interesting for some breeders (e.g. Agria pet insurance).
And what is the excess? As with the rest of the insurances, it is the amount of money that they will not pay out of the first claim for that condition, for that policy year. This is important to consider too, because in some policies, you dont only have an initial excess, but also a percentage of each claim you make (10 or 20% normally), therefore, getting less money back from the insurance.
And also, dont forget that your pet insurance MUST give your pet third party liability (normally only for dogs), as this is very important in case of legal action (if your dog bites somebody, or causes a car accident, breaks somebodys gate/fence, etc.
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And remember, pet insurances is not the same as car or house insurance, that you can change every year to another cheaper one, once you get one, stick to the same one, even if becomes a bit more expensive, because if you change, everything that has happened to your pet before you take out the new insurance, even if he or she was covered by another insurance policy, will NOT be covered on the new one and will be excluded for the rest of the animals life.
In summary, insure your pet if you can. You are a lot more likely to claim on your pet insurance than on any of your car or home policies. Ideally choose a lifetime policy, but if this is a little bit out of your budget (remember, you might still end up paying less on one of those after the years, if your dog ends up getting a lifelong condition and you only have a 12 months policy). But if you really cant, get a cheap 12-months or time-limited policy. You can find them for only a few pounds a month, and will give you cover for accidents, injuries and initial cover for lifelong conditions (their initial tests, diagnosis and treatment).
