All pet owners want the best for their furry friends, and taking out cat insurance or dog insurance can often be a part of this. While insurance can give you the added peace of mind should your pet become ill or have an accident, an insurance policy won’t protect you and your pet against everything! When taking out a policy, it’s important to know what exclusions it contains, which is why we’re sharing five of the more common things your pet insurance might not cover!
1. Routine and preventative treatments
There are certain treatments you’ll make sure your pet receives which are part of responsible ownership. These might include their initial and ongoing vaccinations, spaying, neutering, scaling and polishing teeth, as well as tooth removal. You’ll also need to bear in mind that your pet may also not be covered for conditions that could have been prevented with routine treatment. This means it’s important to take your pet to their vet for annual check-ups, have them vaccinated, and to do your best to prevent them becoming unwell in the first place!
2. Excess weight
Just like humans, our dogs and cats can be prone to putting on weight if they overeat and don’t get enough exercise! However, for insurers, your furry friend piling on the pounds could be viewed as something preventable by their owner. If your pet develops a medical problem that’s linked to their excess weight, this might not be covered by the conditions of your policy. Keeping an eye on what your dog or cat eats and how much exercise they receive are really important in making sure their weight doesn’t become a problem. Find out more here!
3. Behavioural problems
Similar to a pet’s weight, the way they behave is also largely in the control of their owner. If your pet harms a person or animal, or causes damage to property because of behavioural issues, this might not be covered by insurance. To avoid this, due care needs to be paid to training your pet, especially dogs. Taking canines to training classes and ensuring they’re well socialised can help them respond to situations calmly. Ensuring your cat or dog is properly toilet trained is also a good idea, as damage caused to property by defecation might not be covered by your policy.
4. Costs resulting from tooth or gum disease
We all know it’s important to keep our teeth clean, and this goes for our pets too! Failing to keep on top of your cat or dog’s dental hygiene can lead to bacterial infection, loss of teeth, and in the case of cats, painful resorptive lesions. Once again, your insurer might not cover your pet for costs resulting from tooth or gum disease as it could have been easily prevented. Regularly brushing your pet’s teeth, as well as the use of dental kibble and treats can all help to keep dental problems at bay! Find out more here!
5. Pre-existing injuries, illnesses and conditions
Whether your pet will be covered for any pre-existing injuries, illnesses and conditions is a slightly more complex question, and will depend upon the type of policy you purchase, as well as the insurance company you purchase it from! For example, with The Insurance Emporium’s Pet Insurance, if you have a Lifetime insurance policy, this should provide cover for conditions, even ongoing ones, as long as they first showed clinical signs after the policy has been taken out and after its 14 day deferment period. Other policy types could cover your pet for accidents only (which might not include a 14 day deferment period in its terms), cover a condition either for the duration of 365 days after it first developed clinical signs, or provide cover for one condition up to a certain cost.
Check carefully when taking out pet insurance to see how or if pre-existing injuries, illnesses and conditions will be covered. If a condition started before taking out your insurance, it could also be excluded from your policy. Ask your insurer about this if you’re not certain or have any questions.
While there are certain things your pet won’t be covered for, taking out pet insurance might help you out when you need it to. At The Insurance Emporium, we offer Pet Insurance with a range of different cover levels, as well as up to 30% discount* when you take out a policy. Head to The Insurance Emporium to find out more!
* The 30% discount is made up of 20% Introductory Discount plus 10% Multi-pet Discount. The Introductory Discount is available for the first 12 premium payments on lunar and calendar monthly policies or one premium payment on annual policies.
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