Pet insurance is not compulsory. However, it can be useful to have if something unexpected happens to your pet. In this article we will give an outline of what pet insurance is, what it covers and explore some of the reasons why it is important. We hope this will give you enough information to decide whether pet insurance is a worthwhile investment for you and your furry friend.

What is pet insurance?

• Pet insurance assists with the costs of a pet’s medical care in the event of illness or injury.
• Pet insurance can be a major help if your pet needs urgent or intensive vet care, as it can help you avoid paying out of your own pocket for excessively high bills.
• Essentially, a pet insurance policy provides peace of mind that your pet will be covered in any unfortunate event that they would need to visit the vet outside of regular check-ups.

What does pet insurance cover?

There are four main types of pet insurance:

• Lifetime cover- Covers a pet for its entire life if the policy is renewed every year.
• Maximum benefit cover - Can also be known as per condition, provides a fixed sum to treat each injury and illness for as long as the policy is live.
• Time limited cover - 12 months of cover for illness or injury, works similarly to maximum benefit cover with fixed treatment amounts.
• Accident-only cover Only covers events of accidental injury, usually the cheapest insurance available as it is not as comprehensive.

If you would like to know more about the four main insurance types, we explain them in more detail here.

• The coverage pet insurance provides is dependent on the type of policy chosen, but in broad terms the most basic policy will usually cover treatment costs for accidental injury (cuts, breaks, bites.)
• More comprehensive plans will cover illness (ear infections, gastrointestinal issues, skin disorders) as well as accidental injury.

Some insurance providers also offer additional extras that can be added onto a policy, these can include:

• Dental cover - Cost cover for emergency dental care
• Death/Loss cover - A pay-out in the unfortunate event of pet loss through death or theft.
• Third party liability (commonly only available for dogs) - Cover for costs accrued if a dog causes injury to another person, or another person’s property.

Why is pet insurance important?

• It is no secret that vet bills can be expensive, especially in the event of a pet needing surgery or ongoing intervention (such as a course of medication or follow up vet appointments.) Knowing you will not have to shoulder high vet bills alone can provide some peace of mind.
• Having the protection of insurance can make more expensive treatment options available to you if your pet is being seen for a particularly severe reason, which in turn can prevent some tough decisions needing to be made.

With the various policy and provider options available to you, it is possible to find the best pet insurance deal to suit you and your budget. Here at Pet Better we make it simple for you to compare pet insurance options with our very own comparison tool, which you can find here!