We all know how important our pets are to us and are considered by most to be a member of the family. It is therefore just as important to insure your pets as you would any other member of the household.
On average 1 in 3 pets will require the services of a vet in the space of a year and with costs rising by approximately 11% each year it makes taking out pet insurance all the more worthwhile.
Insuring your pets in Spain used to be really difficult and there used to be a very limited amount of insurance cover available. Now you can insure your pets with much the same cover that you would find in the U.K. You may want to look at our article on Dangers to your dog in Spain to see some of the problems that your pet can encounter in Spain.
There are some instances however, where you will not be able to get insurance cover. These include:
- If your dog is used as a guard dog.
- If your dog is used for racing.
- If your dog is the type of breed that should be registered under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. These breeds include Pit Bull Terriers, Japanese Akitas, Sharpeis, Wolves and Japanese Tosas.
You will also need to keep up with the vaccinations to avoid your insurance becoming invalid. These include:
For dogs – distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis (sand fly disease), parvovirus and rabies.
For cats – feline leukaemia, cat flu and rabies.
Most pet insurance will cover for:
- Vets fees
- Boarding kennels and catteries
- Loss of pet passports and health certificates
- Death from accident
- Re-imbursement of advertising if your pet gets lost or is stolen
As your pet will probably need the services of a vet at some point it is advisable to take out pet insurance. Vets can be really expensive and with cover costing as little as 3 Euros a week it is well worth doing.
You can insure your pets either with U.K. based insurance companies, such as Direct Line or Churchill, or there are many companies offering pet insurance in Spain. Companies such as Elite Insurance Brokers or ProtectaPet have bilingual agents and can offer great insurance cover for your pets.