What does Pet Insurance Cover?

However, once you have decided what level of pet insurance cover you require it is always advisable to shop around as a similar level of insurance will be available from a vast number of insurance companies often at widely differing costs.

In short, pet insurance covers you against two mains areas, vets fees and third party liability (liability cover is mainly restricted to horses and dogs). My personal preference is to have just the third party liability cover but I haven’t, as yet, found a domestic pet insurance that doesn’t include a certain level of vet fees cover. Pet insurance policies for horses do tend to offer you this option.

A basic domestic pet insurance policy will cover you for vet fees and third party liability. The level of vets fees cover tends to be a lot less than that of more expensive policies and won’t necessarily extend to the whole cost of a serious accident / illness.

If you are prepared to pay a bit more for your domestic pet insurance you will find that the level of vet’s fees will increase and other benefits will be added such as:

·        death (if you pet dies earlier than it should (e.g before the age of 9 for dogs and 11 for cats),

·        theft (if you pet disappears and is not recovered)

·        advertising (the cost of advertising if your pet goes missing)

·        boarding fees (in the event of you having to go into hospital)

·        accidental damage (the costs of damage to your own property if damaged by your pet)

·        holiday cancellation (pet costs associated with your holiday in the event of your holiday being cancelled)

The level of cover in each instance will vary from policy to policy with annual and / or per incident limits being placed on each element of pet insurance cover.

Exclusion will generally apply on your pet insurance with one of the main exclusions being pre-existing conditions.

Deductibles will vary from policy to policy with most pet insurances giving you the option to agree to a higher level of deductibles in return for a lower premium.