Pet Insurance
We hope that you and your pets will have many happy healthy years together. To help that happen we are keen to promote health insurance for your pets, so that if your pet falls ill or is injured we are able to provide the best level of care. Insurance provides you with peace of mind and enables decisions on the treatment of you pet to be based upon what is their best interest, rather than financial grounds. Advanced investigations and procedures such as MRI scans are now commonplace, but without insurance may be out of the reach of many people. Even for smaller problems you are far more likely to claim on your pet's health insurance than your house or car insurance, so it's money well spent! 
Lin Pegler is a Pet Insurance Advisorfor Petplan, the largest provider of pet insurance in the UK, so can advise you on any of their products. Due to Financial Services Authority rules we can not advise on policies from other companies so if you want to shop around it's important to know how to compare products - premiums can vary but so can the level of cover. Make sure you know what you're getting for your money so you don't find your insurance cover is inadequate.
  • Amount of cover per condition. The best level of cover is given by policies that do not place restrictions on the cost or amount of time that you can claim for each condition. Other policies will often have a financial limit (eg £2000 per condition) or a time limit (typically 12 months from the onset of a condition) that you can claim for. Premiums are often lower, so they still be good value for money, but we commonly find owners run out of insurance cover for expensive or long term conditions such as skin problems, arthritis or heart disease.
  • Is there a standard premium or is it individually calculated? It is common to charge more for pedigree dogs than cross breeds as they are more likely to suffer from illnesses. Giant breeds may be more expensive than smaller dogs and some breeds, such as Shar Peis, may even be excluded from policies as the cost of veterinary care is so high. Some policies increase the premium as the animal reaches a certain age. Beware of policies where the cost of cover is individually calculated each year depending on the medical history. Whilst these may appear cheaper at first we have clients whose premiums have trebled once their pet has been diagnosed with a long term illness.
  • What is the excess? Lower excesses mean that you will be able to claim for smaller bills although the premiums will be higher. More important are excesses where you need to pay a percentage of the bill - 25% of a £1000 bill is still £250! Does that change with age?
  • Does it include third party cover? Dog owners are legally liable for any damage that their pet causes. If your dog bites someone or runs into a road causing a crash you can be sued for damages. This may already be covered under your home insurance so may not be required.
  • Other cover. Although not essential you may want to include cover for holiday cancellation, cost of boarding fees if you are hospitalised, retrieval cost if your pet goes missing. Euthanasia fees may not be covered by all policies. Additional cover may be required if you want to breed from your pet or are considering traveling abroad.
Check for exclusions. It is normal for conditions present before the policy started to be excluded and there is often a short period after a policy begins where your pet may not be covered for illness. Failing to disclose pre-existing conditions will invalidate your policy and is inadvisable as it is common for insurance companies to request a clinical history of you pet before allowing a claim. Routine dental treatments such as descaling may not be covered but check if other dental problems such as broken teeth are covered. Other areas to consider include behaviour problems, special diet foods to treat illnesses, hydrotherapy, physiotherapy and alternative therapies. 
 North Road Veterinary Centre        Telephone 01761 412132      Fax 01761 411660
Appointments    Mon-Fri 8.30am - 7.00pm     Sat 9.00am - 12.00pm
53 North Road Midsomer Norton Radstock Somerset BA3 2QE
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