You become responsible forever for what you have tamed. That’s why getting pet insurance is recommended to anyone, who has a dog or a cat at home.
Animals and birds that once enter our house become precious to both, adults and children, who live in this family. Like any living beings, sometimes they get wounded or ill, and it is quite pricy to treat them. To provide your animal for necessary health care and to avoid financial hit, you should study pet insurance plans and get one (or several) of them!
Standard Pet Insurance Plan
American insurance companies have a lot to offer to their future customers. Certainly, every additional option in your policy means additional amount of dollars, added to your premiums. So, if you are not ready to pay a lot and look for the cheapest version of pet insurance, you should get standard pet insurance plan.
This plan has a limited level of coverage. Thus, if you get it, you can expect these kinds of maintenance:
- Coverage in case you pet gets unexpectedly ill. Usually standard insurance plans have a certain list of unexpected illnesses or accidents, which are covered. Thus, usually you can apply for coverage, if your pet has bronchitis, ringworm and some kinds of inflectional diseases, that occur regularly, but are not so expensive to treat. You can get reimbursement for visit to vet clinic (limited amount annually). On the other hand, you won’t get coverage, if your pet becomes seriously ill or gets some rare disease, like cancer, bite of poisonous insect etc.
Standard pet insurance plan presumes coverage for accident, like broken leg etc. Besides, the insurance company is responsible to look for the pet, if you have lost it. They should hang alongside ads in order to find it and to recover the market price of the animal in case it isn’t found.
Standard pet insurance plans have a limited period of validity. The cheapest versions of pet insurance are valid during one year. Of course, it helps, if your dog suddenly becomes ill or wounded during this period, but if it has some chronic illness, it is better to choose lifetime insurance plan to be sure, that you have enough money to provide your dog with constant health care.
The price for standard pet insurance plan starts from $100 per year. But the cost of vet service increases regularly, so the standard coverage is not enough for most of pet illnesses. That’s why cat and dog owners get additional options to cover.
Thus, look through different
pet insurance plans
and choose that one, where hereditary and chronic illnesses are covered. Some companies offer to microchip your pet in order to find it in case it gets lost. There are also such options as payments to some person for caring about your pet if you get ill and can’t do it yourself.
So, if you are a pet owner, choose wisely and try to include all the necessary options in your plan. Thus you can be sure, your pet is protected.
It is easy to get the insurance policy for a small puppy or funny kitten. But the owners of old animals become really distempered, if they want to insure senior pets.
Senior Pet Insurance Plan
Pets live longer nowadays, and it is good news to any pet owner. But they get more illnesses, connected with their age – it is bad news. It is very important to take constant care about senior cat or dog to prevent most of illnesses or to catch them at their initial stage.
Many insurance companies don’t offer insurance plans for senior animals. But still there’s a number of companies in USA – like PetFirst or Trupanion and some others – that offer coverage for senior pets.
If you get the policy for a senior pet, you will get the certain number of services:
- Advanced health care
Your pet will attend the vet clinic every 6 months and will be examined carefully. If your pet is older than 8 years, it is prone to such illnesses as cataracts, arthritis, dementia and others. The earlier you will know about these illnesses, the better you will treat them.
- Recommendations as for diet
Senior pets need special nutrition, full of vitamins and minerals. At the same time the amount of calories must be reduced as senior dogs are prone to obesity. Your vet will recommend you the necessary diet to your pet in its golden years.
- Caring about pet mobility
Older pets are not so eager to run and jump like their younger friends. But mobility is very important for animals of all ages, so you will be offered the certain set of exercises for your pet to keep it fast and active.
- Of course, senior pet insurance plans presume coverage for different kinds of illnesses. Some pet owners include burial or cremation in their policies.
As you see, even senior pets can get the care they deserve – and you can get insurance plans of any kinds of animals you have. But the most widespread domestic animal is a dog. And there’s one kind of pet insurance that is bought especially for dogs. It is third party liability insurance.
Third Party Liability Insurance for Pets
Dog insurance plans include not only health or accident coverage, but also third party liability coverage.
Every year millions of Americans are bit by dogs. Sometimes dogs become the cause of car accidents or they can break the fence of third party house.
To cover that damage, responsible owners get third party liability insurance for pets. In this case any kind of damage – bodily or property – unexpectedly caused by your dog, will be covered by insurance company.
This category of dog insurance plans is not compulsory. But most of dog breeders prefer to get it. It is not pricy – just $200-$300 per year and it can help you to pay for the other person, who has suffered from your pet.
Very often the people, who are close to you, suffer from your dog mostly. It is so fair to offer them compensation. So, thirds party liability insurance for pets is highly recommended to be purchased.
Of course, liability insurance can be bought not only for dogs, but also for cats, birds etc.
But what to do, if you own not a widespread kind of domestic animal, but an exotic one?
Plans for Exotic Animals
Amphibians, rabbits, reptiles, guinea pigs and snakes can also be covered and protected. But not all insurance companies deal with exotic kinds of animals.
If you are the owner of some exotic pet, you need to get insurance plan even more desperately, than the owners of standard cats and dogs.
Be sure, that the insurance company, you choose, offers the policies for your kind of pets. Try to get the insurance plan, that offers the necessary vet care to your unusual favorite – the vet you attend should know about the nutrition, health care and vaccination (if it is necessary) of this rare kind.
For owners of exotic pets, full coverage in case of loss is highly recommended. Thus, if you own a rare kind of a bird, in case if it dies or flies from you, you can get the compensation – its market value. It is better to microchip exotic animals – this service is offered by some pet insurance companies – thus it will be easier to find it. Some exotic pets can be dangerous for adults and children, so it is necessary to have an opportunity to find it speedily!
To sum up, there are so many variations of pet insurance plans, that anyone can get it – according to his level of income – and provide his pet from one hand and his closest people from the other hand from disaster and inconveniences.