India is home to over 10 million pet dogs, making it the nation with the sixth largest pet canine inhabitants worldwide. The reputation of dogs as pets in India is unmatched with 34% of Indian pet homeowners selecting dogs as their most well-liked pets.
Unfortunately, reviews from the Journal of Animal Health and Production state that the data regarding potential zoonotic ailments affecting pet dogs stays disappointingly low amongst pet homeowners in India. Common obstacles to proactive data gathering and illness prevention embrace excessive prices of veterinary remedy and insufficient insurance coverage choices for dogs — points raised by 43.33% and 36.25% of pet homeowners respectively.
However, efficient options to those issues exist. For starters, pet insurance coverage can present complete protection for a wide selection of potential pet well being points.
“Under a pet insurance coverage cowl, numerous coverages are available to pet homeowners. An OPD cowl may help pay for any bills incurred at a veterinary clinic. The variety of diseases coated underneath the plan could differ from insurer to insurer. A Specific Illness Cover can present protection for numerous diseases like benign tumours, gall bladder stones, hepatitis, cataract, amongst others. This cowl additionally helps pay for any bills associated to diagnostic procedures, drugs, chemotherapy, dialysis, blood transfusion, amongst others,” mentioned Vivek Chaturvedi, CMO and Head of Direct Sales, Digit General Insurance.
A pet insurance coverage coverage for a two-year-old labrador for the sum insured of Rs 20,000 is available round Rs 800-1,300 on Policybazaar masking OPD, surgical procedure and hospitalisation bills.
Critical Illness protection is one other viable possibility, offering a lump-sum insurance coverage payout upon prognosis of any of eight severe circumstances like coronary heart problems, kidney failure, liver failure, and extra. Furthermore, some insurers additionally provide Third-party Liability protection, defending pet homeowners from monetary losses as a result of damages brought on by their pets’ behaviour. The insured sum for pet insurance coverage can vary from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh, with variance in premium primarily based on elements like plan sort, breed, age, and chosen insured sum. “One also can go for a Critical Illness cowl for his or her pets. Under this cowl, a lump sum quantity as much as the sum insured is paid by the insurer in case the pet is identified with any of the eight vital diseases like all sort of coronary heart problems, all malignant tumours, renal or kidney failure, liver failure, cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis and radial nerve paralysis,” mentioned Chaturvedi.
Apart from this, pet homeowners also can go for Third-party Liability cowl supplied by some insurers underneath the pet insurance coverage plan. This cowl can defend pet dad and mom from any authorized legal responsibility to pay for any damages in the direction of third-party civil claims of bodily harm or property injury prompted as a result of unruly behaviour of the pet.
What to remember? Some insurers could not cowl sure canine breeds and should have a cap on protection primarily based on the age of the canine. Few coverages underneath the pet insurance coverage plan could include some deductible or might need separate sum insured for sure coverages. Understand the coverages, inclusions and exclusions clearly from the insurer earlier than shopping for the plan, added Chaturvedi.
