Owning a pet isn’t a cheap exercise, is it? Good food comes in at R500 a month, and what about the dog walks, treats and occasional squeaky toy? Should you be spending a few hundred bucks extra on pet insurance? It’s a fair question.

At OnePlan Pet we believe every pet owner (we cover cats and dogs) should have a pet insurance policy in place. Perhaps you don’t need a policy with all the bells and whistles, but at the very least you should be covering the risk of an expensive hospital stay.

How much does an average hospital stay at a Vet cost?

Our average hospital claim is R4,520.

Do you have that type of money lying around to cover a pet emergency?

Here are a few other stats that you might find interesting:

• We have paid out a total of 1302 claims
• R1 387 401 in total pay outs
• Our average day-to-day claim is R1173
• We pay more claims for dogs than cats
• The most frequent (and highest) claims for dogs are for cruciate ligament repairs
• 65% of cruciate ligament repair claims are for Rottweilers
• 60% of illness claims are related to Gastro
• 70% of accident claims are related to foreign body ingestion
• Cherry eye and Entropion is more common with Pekinese, Chihuahua and Bulldogs.
• Intervertebral disc disease is more common with Labradors and Great Danes
• 70% of claims for cats are related to bladder stones
• Our average turn-around for day-to-day claims is 48 hours

Let’s consider these stats for a second:

Our pet hospital plan costs R169 per month (if you add the excess buster at an additional R35 per month). Over a year you would be in for just over R2,000 in premiums.

What are the chances of your dog landing up at the Vet every couple of years for an overnight stay?

That’s the question you need to ask yourself.

If you find yourself spending a couple of hundred bucks a month on all types of stuff for your pet, doesn’t it make sense to get them onto a pet insurance policy for less than R200 a month?

If you asked your pet, their response might be “Enough with the toys, let’s get some medical aid sorted out please.”

Click here to find out more about our pet insurance policy options.

Until next time

The Pet Insurance Team