Looking After Your Pet: Top Tips for Pet Owners

Harriet Meyer, freelance personal finance journalist, talks about looking after your pet:
Hefty vets’ fees result in many dogs and cats being put down or abandoned by owners who struggle to meet the cost of caring for them. Tough times have seen a sharp rise in the number of abandoned animals, according to the RSPCA. It reported a 57% increase in the number of abandoned animals in the 12 months to April last year as people tightened their purse-strings.

For those with sick pets, the vet’s bill can easily amount to hundreds of pounds. If your pet suffers from a debilitating lifelong condition, such as arthritis, or gets hit by a car, the cost of treatment can even reach thousands – leaving many owners with difficult choices.

The importance of insurance

Making sure you have pet insurance is one way to enable you to stump up for these costs – but many people are failing to take out cover or are giving up their existing policies in a bid to save money.
Yet unfortunately, vet fees are rising in excess of UK inflation, making it essential to ensure that you have adequate insurance. It is particularly important to insure your pedigree pet when they are puppies or kittens because if an illness or medical condition develops, it may be impossible to have it covered in a new policy as it will be regarded as a ‘pre-existing condition’.
According to Sainsbury’s Finance, around 12% of cats and dogs under the age of three suffer from some form of medical condition which may occur later in life or be linked to other conditions. Some are more susceptible than others to illness – during the first half of 2009, the number of claims Sainsbury’s received linked to the top 10 most popular pedigree dogs was around 48% of the total number it insures.
If you choose to stop your cover, or not to take it out in the first place, you should be prepared for the fact that you might have to say goodbye to your pet permanently if something goes wrong – a situation that is likely to cause much heartache.

Picking the right policy

Choosing insurance can be tricky, however, as policies vary enormously in terms of cost and the level of cover they provide.
Michael Powell, general insurance consultant at independent research company Defaqto, says: “The first most basic, and generally the cheapest option, is a policy with a ‘per condition’ limit and a 12-month time limit.
“For example, a policy will provide up to £2,000 for vets’ fees for each condition with a 12-month time limit. This means that the policyholder may claim up to £2,000 for each treatment but once the treatment costs have reached £2,000 or have exceeded the 12-month limit, no further cover is provided.


“If treatment needs to continue, the policyholder would be responsible for paying for the costs to the vet themselves.”
More comprehensive per-condition policies include higher levels of cover and aren’t time-limited: treatment for a single condition is available over the pet’s lifetime until the policy limit – often several thousand pounds – is reached.
Often the most expensive policies are those that provide an annual limit that is renewed each year – known as ‘lifetime’ policies. For example, a policy will provide cover for vets’ fees for each condition up to, say, an annual limit of £5,000. The main difference with this type of policy is that, provided the policyholder renews the policy each year, the £5,000 benefit is also renewed – but only if the pet remains within any other policy conditions, such as a maximum age limit.
Pedigree animals are usually more expensive to insure than crossbreeds, as they are more at risk from long-term conditions. As a general rule, non-pedigree cats and dogs live longer and are healthier than pure breeds.

Finally…

Bear in mind that if you make a claim on a pet insurance policy, any treatment is then classed as a ‘pre-existing condition’ and obtaining an alternative policy could mean that the new insurer excludes cover for this condition. This makes it very difficult for pet owners to shop around when their policy comes up for renewal, unless they are prepared to pay separately for any treatment regarded as a ‘pre-existing condition’.
Also, not everything will be covered by insurance. Worming, vaccinations and flea treatments are not included, for instance – so check the small print.

source: K9 magazine