In addition to food and grooming, it is advised that you take your pet to the vet at least once a year for a check up and also for annual boosters and flea or worming treatments.
In addition to food and grooming, it is advised that you take your pet to the vet at least once a year for a check up and also for annual boosters and flea or worming treatments.
But while a typical vet consultation costs between €45 and €60, the cost for serious treatment can run into thousands of euro.
So, should you buy pet insurance to cover those costs?
Just what will the insurance typically cover and more importantly what will it exclude?
Pet insurance is not cheap
Pet insurance really is pet healthcare insurance because the majority of claims are based on treating illness and injury.
But premiums don’t come cheap; starting at €260 a year for a pedigree dog, and the amount of cover for vet costs will depend on the age and size of your pet.
The big costs will be for treatment for injury or illness and bear in mind that more treatment (and technology) is available now that before i.e. CT scans, MRI scans available, meaning that there will be increased costs.
That development in technology and resulting treatment available, means that the option is often there now to treat the pet rather than put the pet to sleep.
This is why many insurance companies now sell pet insurance.
What insurance typically covers
The headlines
As with all insurance policies it’s the headlines that you’ll see first and they will list the areas of cover provided.
Typical pet insurance will cover: vet fees for injury and illness; 3rd party liability and legal costs; boarding kennel or cattery fees; death from illness or accident; theft or straying and holiday cancellation.
Each of these areas will be covered up to a maximum amount, for example €4,000 for fees.
All policies will also include an excess, that is the amount you pay before cover kicks in, and that will be between €75 and €150.
Usually before buying any insurance, it is these headlines, the amounts you are insured up to, the excess amount, and the price of the premium that people will look it.
Happy with the information, consumers will purchase the policy but usually won’t have read or carefully read the exclusions.
Yet when it comes to pet insurance, just as in any other insurance policy, it is the exclusions you should read first.
This is where you’ll find out when you won’t be covered. If you read this information it’ll be helpful in deciding just how worthwhile buying the policy is and if you do buy the policy, will avoid disappointment later if you know you cannot claim for some things.
You have to buy the product knowing fully in what circumstances you will be covered so that you know you are making the right decision to buy. You should understand this financial product.
The exclusions:
To get an idea of the sort of things typically excluding under pet cover, let’s take some of those ‘headlines’ again but this time checking what typically isn’t covered.
Bear in mind that each insurance policy is different, so you’ll always have to check the detail yourself before committing to buying.
Vet fees
These are the most common cost that policy holders will claim for.
It is best practice to get an annual check up, vaccines, preventative treatment etc for your pet but typically that won’t be covered. Vet fees usually only cover illness and injury, unless specified otherwise.
In addition many policies will insist that as a general condition you must arrange and pay for a yearly health and dental check for your pet and keep the pet vaccinated. If you don’t this may effect in your claim; in other words you may not be covered.
In addition some policies will not cover house calls by the vet, or the extra cost for outside hours calls, unless the vet says the emergency treatment was necessary.
Also, if the illness first appears (clinically) with a certain time period after you take out the policy (often two weeks), or if it’s a pre-existing illness then the pet won’t be covered.
In some cases you may be entitled only to claim a percentage of the fees and
check also what the maximum amount payable, and many policies have clauses which say if they think the vet fee is too high they can independently check it, likewise if they feel treatment was excessive.
And if you caused your pet’s injury it’s likely that won’t be covered either.
So is it worth it?
Operations and surgical procedures can be very expensive. For example an operation for a cruciate ligament (common in dogs) can cost between €600 and €1,500; an MRI scan in a spinal case can cost €2,400 and cataract surgery can cost between €2,000 and €3,000.
Having insurance to cover these costs can mean the difference for some people between opting for further treatment for their pet or putting their pet to sleep.
What won't be covered
1. Keep in mind the amount of excess you will have to pay. If the treatment for an illness of injury is €100 for example, but your excess is also €100 then you won’t be able to claim anything.
2. Your pet is at the vet and you’re told he/she is sick and needs expensive treatment. You wonder if you should buy insurance to cover the costs. At this stage it is too late; the insurance won’t cover a pre-existing illness or in many cases one that has been diagnosed clinically within a certain period (ex. two weeks) of buying the policy.
3. Let’s say your dog has been diagnosed with a heart problem that requires surgery and then medication for life. You have a one-year insurance policy that covers the surgery and cost of medication. So far so good. But when you go to buy a new policy the following year the heart problem is now a pre-existing illness, so the cost of the ongoing medication won’t be covered.
This will be the situation if you dip in and out of insurance cover for your pet. However you can also buy life cover that renews annually, and if you have that insurance then in this case the cost of medication would continue to be covered.
4. What breed of dog do you have? This is important as pure breed dogs are more expensive to insure. But this is not because they cost more to buy; rather they are more likely to suffer more illnesse and therefore cost the insurance companies more.
Effectively pure breeds are in-bred and this (together with poor quality controls) means that a pre-disposition for illness will be passed from one generation to the next.
For example, for this reason King Charles spaniels tend to get heart disease, knee-cap issues and eye problems, among others, while Westies have a pre-disposition for skin problems.
Ironically, if you get a dog for free from the pound, it is likely to cost you less as they don’t have those inherent weaknesses, so won’t suffer as many medical problems.
So, as with the purchase of any insurance you are buying to cover a risk that may or may not occur.
And ironically, if you’re in a position where you won’t be able to find a couple of thousand euro for treatment if it arises, it may be better for you to pay for insurance, whereas if you are in a situation where you would be able to stump up the fees, then you might choose to take that risk rather than pay out for annual insurance.
Of course you also have to ask yourself, to what extent you are willing to care for your pet should he/she fall ill.
Other areas covered and exclusions
Boarding kennel or cattery fees
A maximum stated rate will cover the kennel fees or the daily rate of an individual minding your pet.
However, what happens if you have to go to hospital or convalesce in a nursing home?
In many policies kennel/cattery fees usually won’t be covered if you are in hospital for a short period time (i.e. less than four days); if you are in hospital due to a pre-existing illness, alcoholism, drug addiction or self-harm or if you are in a nursing home to convalesce, so check your policy carefully in case you have to fork out or arrange for a friend to mind your pet in your absence.
Holiday cancellation
If you have to cancel your holiday due to your pet’s illness or injury you’ll be covered up to the stated amount.
But watch out for clauses that exclude this cover if you have booked you holiday less than a month before you bought the policy of if your pet’s illness showed with a couple of weeks of buying the policy.
Third party liability and legal costs
This will cover you if your pet injures someone else, but be warned, this usually does not cover your pet injuring you, anyone living with you or an employee.
Other exclusions where this cover often doesn’t apply include a situation that relates to your occupation or if the dog is in the grouping that requires specific controls (i.e. muzzles) and was not muzzled at the time.
Theft or straying
If your dog disappears you will be covered for cost of placing an advertisement and the cost of providing a reward, up to an agreed amount (there will be a maximum). That is unless you were tricked into handing over the dog to someone.
Death from illness or accident
You’ll be covered for the price of the pet but not if the pet died from a pre-existing illness or (often) within a couple of weeks of buying the policy.
If you have a life policy this won’t apply.
Some policies also list certain illness for specific breeds and their ages, and will not cover for death if your dog fits the criteria.
Four questions to ask before you take out insurance
1. Ask yourself how much peace of mind is worth to you and how much care you want your dog to get; is it worth the annual payment?
2. What are the risks of our pet becoming ill, and would you be able to cover the costs yourself if it did?
3. Is it worth getting a renewable life policy rather then occasional annual policies, so that you won’t be penalised by the pre-existing illness clause.
4. You are buying a financial product so ALWAYS read the exclusions first. If you don’t, then you don’t know what you are buying.
