With only a handful of providers, there is a small market for pet insurance in Ireland but the standard of pet healthcare is rising
Only 30 per cent of Irish pet owners hold some form of insurance policy for their animals, far below the figures in other countries. Photograph: iStockand almost everybody softens. Companion animals – such as dogs and cats – are ubiquitous in Irish homes and the Covid pandemic where people were working from home increased the trend significantly. But only 30 per cent of Irish pet owners hold some form ofPart of the issue is that it can be difficult to acquire.
Petinsurance.ie offer three types of insurance. Its accident-only product does what it suggests, while their time-limited product covers illnesses as well as injuries but expires 12 months after the date the animal’s injury or illness begins. “When you look at it for dogs in particular, things like cruciate ligaments are a big one,” Simpson says. “The typical cost of that in terms of claims we’re paying out is around €1,500. Then you might have road accidents – typically we’re up to about €1,000 for a road accident for a dog.
“It’s very important that people do some research about the breed they’re taking on and what likely conditions it could get as it gets older,” Simpson says. “That’s another thing we want to do – build up that information ourselves and give people a bit more of a steer on what sort of level of insurance they might need to cover that particular breed.
“Some of these procedures and total costs of care for rabbits can go from €1,000 to €3,000 and there’s no insurance for them.” Karel Verbruggen, a long-time veterinary surgeon in Oughterard, Co Galway, was made aware of VSI’s work at a conference in Killarney. He says that if insurance providers become willing to cover some of the more advanced work done by Dr Ortiz and his colleagues, it will likely result in significantly higher premiums.
He believes insurance is more beneficial for certain breeds – particularly for expensive or pedigree dogs. For crossbreed dogs that don’t tend to experience as many issues, he is likely to recommend the sort of “personal” pet health plan mentioned by Ortiz – where the owner puts money away each month to be used for pet healthcare when needed.
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