What do you do when your pet is too old to insure? Are you forced to face the costs of vet bills? As it turns out, you might not be.

When it comes to pet insurance, I tend to find two common categories of pet parents: those who purchase pet insurance when their pet is still young and healthy to help cover the costs of inevitable veterinary care and those who are faced with the financial stress of unexpected healthcare bills for their pets resulting in them looking to pet insurance to shoulder any future costs.

In the case of the latter, many of these pet parents might be the proud owners of pets who are typically too old for pet insurance. If you do a bit of research on the pet medical insurance plans out there, the pickings become pretty slim when your pet is over the age of nine (the average age limit of pet insurance policies).

And perhaps you adopted an older dog and are looking to insure his or her health for the first time, in which case, kudos to you.

But no matter what situation you find yourself in, if you are looking for pet insurance for your older pet, you might be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Why do pet insurers not cover older pets?

Most vets will categorize cats and dogs as geriatric when they're around seven or eight years old, however, this tends to differ slightly based on the breed of your pet. If you have pet insurance already, then you might notice a slight increase in your premium when your pet gets older. 

This is because your pet is more likely to suffer from an illness or accident when they are older. Much like humans are more likely to hurt ourselves pretty badly from a small slip-up down the stairs or contract a serious medical illness the older we are, our pets are no different. As we get older our bones become brittle and our immune systems don’t quite have the fighting strength they once did, resulting in more doctor’s visits and higher medical bills.

If insurers had to insure the health of all pets, no matter their age, this would result in an increase in everyone’s premiums due to the high volumes of claims having to be accommodated for. In which case, you could wave affordable pet medical insurance out the window.

So, what do you do when you want to insure the health of your older furry member of the family and no pet insurer will have you?

Oneplan Pet Insurance

**Please note that these prices are reflective of the day on which this article was written, to ensure you are up to date on any price changes, please click here.

The typical cut off age for pets is 9 years old. But one insurer has one plan, and that is to do things a little differently.

Forget everything you know about pet insurance because here is an insurer who designed their pet insurance plans with your pet in mind.

Oneplan has a range of pet insurance plans for you to choose from, each with its own set of unique benefits and coverage options.

To accommodate budget-savvy pet owners and pet owners whose pets are older than the age limits, Oneplan created their Pet Accident Plan.

Read this: Can I get pet insurance if I don't know how old my pet is?

Pet Accident Plan Benefits

For only R60 a month, you will receive up to R8 000 in accident cover every year.

PLUS up to R1 500 cover for burial/cremation/euthanasia (this benefit forms part of your annual limit).

Head’s up - these costs are only covered from pet death due to an accidental event, for example, if your pet dies from an illness the costs are not covered for cremation or euthanasia, ONLY from an accident).

An excess of 25% of the claim is applicable for the first 6 months.

An excess of 10% of the claim is applicable from month 7 and thereafter.

No waiting periods

There are NO waiting periods that apply for this type of cover, meaning your cover is immediate and you can claim as soon as you need to.

What classifies as an accident?

An accident refers to a sudden, unusual, unexpected and unintended event which causes injury to your pet, resulting in the need for immediate medical attention.

Some examples of accidents include:

1. Burn or electrocution
2. Motor vehicle accident
3. Fall from an elevated surface/position
4. Actions of another animal
5. Embedded foreign object requiring surgical endoscopic removal
6. Poisoning
7. Near drowning

The great thing about this plan is that once you have purchased a policy, your pet will have cover for life.

So, if you are looking for affordable pet insurance for your senior pet, then Oneplan Pet Insurance is the answer.

Plus, Oneplan’s seamless and paperless claiming system makes your life just a little easier, not to mention their in-app chat function where you can chat to a team member through the app.

Until next time,

The Pet Insurance Team