PET INSURANCE, ENSURE TO ASSURE

By its basic meaning Insurance of your Dog seems and sounds a very skeptical expense to bother about. Indian Laws and policies endorse documentation of the Animals but haven’t made it a compulsion for the citizens. Ensuring your Dog is as important as Insuring yourself and your property because you have voluntarily owned a pet it’s a responsibility to ensure to ensure.

What is Pet/Dog Insurance?

It is insurance for dogs against death due to accident and/or diseases contracted during the period of insurance subject to usual terms, conditions, and exclusions of the policy. Pet Insurance schemes essentially pay for the veterinary costs in case one’s pet falls sick or suffers an accident or injury. Some pet plan insurance products also make payments for loss or death of the insured pet.

Why Insurance?

Pet medical insurance is essentially a risk mitigation strategy for guarding against significant medical expenditure for treatment of sick or injured pets. With the recent developments in the field of veterinary medicine the life expectancy of pets has increased, so did the cost of medical treatment. This has widened the market for pet insurance. Nowadays customized pet plan insurance programs are available for animals like cats and dogs.

Delhi-based Sanjeev Kumar covered his three dogs for a total of Rs 60,000 (Rs 50,000 for Tigger, the German shepherd, and Rs 5,000 each for two boxers, Angel and Devil). “These are expensive breeds. I coughed up over Rs 80,000 to acquire them. But, of course, this is not the only reason we opted for the cover,” says Kumar, who has a pet grooming salon and pays an annual premium of Rs 2,238 for his pets.

What Insurance Covers?

The cover spans over treatment expenses, public loss and can also be customized to include death due to accidental poisoning, accident in transit by air, rail or road, and risks associated with animal shows in India, besides burglary and breeding risks. If the animal is incapacitated and unable to work, which is considered equivalent to death, this eventuality can also be insured.

What are the Insurance Companies?

Pet care insurance in India is still at a nascent stage. But the market is growing with many insurance companies offering services. Bajaj Allianz, New India Insurance and United India Insurance being the top players providing customized policies.