Insurance Center Publish

You don’t love dogs or cats, but you love a pet dog or a cat. And he or she needs pet insurance as you would try all means to look after and do everything possible to treat them when they fall sick or suffer from an accident. You form an emotional bonding with them as the loved ones become part of your family. But vet bills can be extraordinarily high and threaten to break your bank.

But opinion on this score of bonding and high vet costs is divided as revealed from a ten year old survey conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Hospital Association and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. When asked if vet costs were high, 68% of the owners interviewed felt their pet’s value superseded whatever the cost of fees were. But 43% thought that vet fees were too high and always not affordable.

Some pet owners may have to spend $688 on average on treatment to ensure their pets recover if their survival chances are 75%. But the bar is lowered to $356 only when their survival chances even after treatment could fall to 10%. Pet insurance works to forge a link between a strong emotional bonding with affordability. For a simple fever and diarrhea, there could be clinical tests, blood samples, medicines and vet bills that could run several hundred dollars.

Among the two most favored pets, the dog and the cat, the dog is more likely to break your bank as it is outdoors most of the time, more active and likely to suffer from hereditary and other congenital diseases. To save their pet dogs from dying, the owners didn’t mind shelling out $1042 compared to cat owners who felt $ 657 was their limit according to another finding. Many are careening toward pet insurance companies that offer comprehensive coverage and the number, according to a founder of a leading pet insurance company in the US, could be more than 2.3 million.

In the absence of a comprehensive coverage for pet insurance, treatment costs of pets always remain out of bounds for pet owners. Most practicing vets are known for their expertise and are highly trained and their charges for top level treatment are not affordable to many. Invariably, they have to scale down to mid level treatments at slightly lower costs. Not many can afford them either as they too can break their bank. But pet insurance companies are also known to play on the emotional bond.

Larger dogs like the wolfhound, Great Danes, boxers and bulldogs attract higher premiums and pet insurance companies are known to check vet records if owners rush with a claim too soon. Newcomers can also be denied coverage on pet insurance. As medical bills continue to break the banks of owners, policyholders don’t go beyond the 1% mark according to a recent survey conducted by the American Animal Hospital Association. The average annual cost of pet insurance is $141, but it could be $657 depending on the emotional bonding and your area of residence.

Pet owners earning $35,000 feel the pinch as vet bills and group exams could swell to several hundred dollars and surgery, more than a couple of thousand. Pet expenses are breaking banks of the average owner seriously affected by the economic downturn. Even policy premiums of lower amounts have to be paid in chunks. But all is not bad as expenses are reimbursed quickly, but it is wiser to go for a pet insurance policy only with a company licensed in your state.Julia Winston is a freelance writer living in London. She often writes about financial issues like life insurance. This article focused on how pet insurance can be just as valuable.