Pets are important to us. Often times we travel with our pets because they get lonely if we leave them at home. We tend to crave their affection just as much as they do ours. To take care of one’s pet requires several tactics. There are the basics with food, water, and affection. There are also the other needs such as health care. Health care for pets has become quite expensive. To alleviate the costs, companies have begun to form pet insurance. To determine what pet insurance policy is right for you, you will need to do a pet insurance comparison.

By comparing the cost of various insurances for pets you can determine what policy is best for you and your pet. There are other considerations you must make while doing the comparison. Not all pet insurance is the same. In fact some insurance will only cover the annual checkups for your pet. Other insurances are more comprehensive in that they cover medical emergencies, accidents, other ailments, and the annual checkups.

Pet policies also come with several exclusions which you must be aware of before taking out insurance coverage. You want to ensure that any exclusion will not take away what you need covered for your pet. Here are a few exclusions you might have to look for when doing a comparison of pet insurance.

• Preventive treatments such as vaccinations, neutering, and de- worming.
• Pregnancy
• Behaviour issues
• Illnesses that begin in the first 10 to 30 days of the policy
• Dental treatment
• Pre- existing conditions
• Working dogs or dogs on restriction
• Travel insurance coverage
• Diet foods
• Hydrotherapy

his is not a conclusive list of what exclusions could be on the policy. With pet insurance comparison you may find some policies add to or change the list we have outlined for you. One of the largest concerns about pet insurance when comparing is the type of breed of animal you have. Some insurance companies charge a great deal for certain breeds. These breeds tend to have a lot of medical issues. Other pet insurance companies may not cover breeds with medical conditions that could arise due to the breed. These do not go under pre- existing conditions. Sheepdogs are a good example of what we mean. A sheep dog can suffer from hip dysplasia. This is one reason most owners have the tail removed. Breeds that are prone to certain issues can be excluded completely from any policy.

When comparing the insurance coverage you also want to examine if a third party can be attached to the policy automatically or if you must add them. Travellers may leave their animals in the care of a third party and still need to seek medical care. Some policies will allow for this while others do not. Euthanasia is also a concern. We do not like to think about our pets needing to be put down for extreme health reasons, but it is something to compare because not all companies will cover it.