Adopting a dog is a responsibility. Your pet must be fed, vaccinated and treated in the event of an accident or illness. You must be able to bear these loads in order to treat your pet properly.
These charges can be heavy for certain people, they are not safe from amplification in the event that the health of your dog is at stake. For this purpose, there is insurance for pets and in particular for dogs.
The need for health insurance for your dog
Dog insurance is used to provide the best care for your companion while reducing the budget linked to health costs. This can also avoid the use of euthanasia, unfortunately often used as a last resort, due to lack of resources.
During its life, a dog may never encounter major health problems or suffer an accident. However, some people prefer not to risk finding themselves overdrawn, and proceed to build up a small security savings for their dog. Difficulties that some masters do not always manage to overcome.
In this case, animal health insurance proves very valuable to cover the hospitalization costs of your dog in the event of an emergency, surgical costs or even the costs of treatment which must be administered for life.
Health insurance makes it possible to cover part of these costs, depending on the guarantees taken out. At Santévet, reimbursement rates vary from 70% to 90% depending on the formula chosen, with annual ceilings of up to €5,000. LThe insurer also offers the choice between 3 deductible levels: €0, €50 or €100, in order to adjust the amount of its contribution (from €19.99 per month with the Light plan).
For the sake of your pet, it is therefore preferable to provide health insurance. It is also recommended to take out mutual insurance for your dog from an early age, for several reasons.
Insure your puppy from the first months
Subscribing when your dog is still young and in good health has several advantages: anticipating unforeseen events, avoiding certain exclusions linked to medical history and benefiting from appropriate protection from the first years.
We must also remember that the first months of life are essential for a puppy's health. Vaccinations, deworming, anti-parasitic treatments and veterinary consultations are part of the care to be provided upon arrival in the home.
To support owners during this period, Santévet offers “Premiers Pas”, a Junior range intended for animals under one year old. The major advantage of this offer is a prevention budget doubled during the first year, in order to support young animals in their first aid and health monitoring.
Conditions to know before subscribing
As with our mutual insurance companies, you should know that setting up health insurance for your dog must meet certain conditions. Indeed, there are subscription conditions for dog health insurance that can fail you and deprive your pet of the insurance and care it deserves.
Insurers can impose a minimum or maximum age for subscription. Some offers are specially intended for young animals, such as the Junior “Premiers Pas” range from Santévet, reserved for animals under one year old.
It is also imperative to know that, in the case of obtaining health insurance for dogs, your animal is not covered upon signing the contract. There is a waiting period corresponding to the period during which the guarantees are not yet in force.
This waiting period turns out to be shorter if your animal is injured, but extends in the event of illness.
At Santévet, these deadlines have evolved:
- Illness: 30 days, compared to 45 days previously.
- Accident: 48 hours, time limit unchanged.
- Surgery: time divided by 2 compared to the old conditions.
Some insurers also check that the dog is in good health at the time of signing the contract and that it is not subject to a hereditary disease. Whether your animal is injured or sick at the time of signing the contract does not necessarily lead to a refusal from the insurer. However, insurers do not cover incidents that occur before subscription.
For all these reasons and in order to provide the necessary conditions for the protection and health coverage of your dog, plan for insurance and plan it early to guarantee the well-being of your animal throughout its life.