Dog and cat insurance

For a long time, one of my female dogs suffered – apart from other ailments – from panniculitis. It is a degenerative change of the subcutaneous adipose tissue and the subcutaneous fat. I was spending a lot of money for treatment and operations and so I started to think about insuring her. In our case, I decided, that the insurance didn’t pay off. Since it is not a classical health insurance, more about that below. But this doesn’t mean, that it is generally disadvantageous or useless at all. For example, if a dog is hit by a car, or they are injured in any other way that requires a more complicated operation, without insurance, you will often have to make do with nothing else, but to take a loan for the treatment.

The existing insurance covers conditions that require immediate veterinary treatment resulting from an injury or a disease. However, it will not cover permanent, continuous treatment of chronical or long-term illnesses, which used to be exactly our case. The insurance doesn’t even cover regular, routine procedures such as vaccination, regular check-ups and the like. The insurance company will not even pay for the costs of medication and the care connected with medical issues resulting from aging, hereditary disease, inborn defects, insufficient nutrition or a disease caused by parasites, probably not even infectious diseases or illnesses caused by insufficient care. Therefore, they will not pay even for neutering or teeth treatment or any other interventions on the dog’s teeth, costs connected with gravidity and labour in female dogs and cats, and treatment of various skin diseases.

The insurance terms and conditions state, at the time the agreement is made, that the animal has to be healthy, has to get the care it needs and has to be duly vaccinated against rabies. However, this reality is not verified through insurance agents, or by an expert opinion from a vet. However, there is a so-called “protective period”, that is, several days or weeks since the signing of the agreement, in the course of which the insurance may not be drawn yet. At least this way, the insurance company is protecting itself against financial performance for already ill animals.

Another condition of the insurance is a permanent labelling of the animal with a microchip or a tattoo. It is usually enough to state the identification code of the microchip or the tattoo number within the agreement. The limiting factor for the insurance is usually age and in dogs also its weight category. For example, Česká pojišťovna (the Czech Insurance Company) will insure a dog under 40 kg only until 9 years of age, over 40 kg until 5 and a cat until 8 years of age.

You can conclude an insurance even for the death or putting down of a dog. Therefore, we could logically assume, that we will pay for the dog’s insurance for its whole life and with its death, we will get it back either way. But what would maybe not occur to us, that the insurance ceases to exist at a certain age of the dog. In dogs within the category under 40 kg it is at 11 years old, in those over 40 kg only 6 years old. The chance that your dog would die of a natural death from old age during the time, when they are still insured, thereby decreases significantly. The insurance does not apply to the death of a dog or cat caused by an infection, contagious disease, non-contagious acquired diseases, injury, operation, labour damage or acute poisoning. At some insurance companies, you won’t even be able to conclude this insurance without a certificate of origin.

The only type of insurance which I’ve concluded, is the insurance for the damage caused by an animal to a third party. I’ve chosen the insurance for the liability of citizens, which also applies to the damage caused by animals. If you’re living with your animal under a lease, you don’t have to be afraid as much that your dog will scratch the parquets, chew on a chair and the like :). An insured accident means the origin of obligation of the insured, to compensate for the damage caused by the insured dog or cat to another person through an injury or different damage to health, damage to or destroying of a thing. Do you belong among those, who have their pets insured?