... at last! A friend of mine who works for an insurance company emailed me to let me know they could, finally, offer pet insurance beyond third party liability. Hurrah! I filled in the forms to get my quote and read the policy. Hmm, €286 per dog, per year. Not too bad. But... it only covers 80% of vet fees, up to a total of €2,500 a year. It's not a lifetime policy. It doesn't cover hips, elbows, or cruciate problems. Doesn't cover Leishmaniasis. Doesn't cover any "lesions or diseases due to the age of the animal". And doesn't cover any accidents that occur through training. So, I think I'll pass. The things I'm most concerned about would be hips, elbows and Leish. Fatty lumps etc as they get older. Accidents that might occur during gundog or agility training (although how they would know about this, who knows). Veterinary care is comparatively cheap over here, anyway, and if I wanted top-drawer care for, say, joint surgery, I would bring them to the UK, which wouldn't be covered in any event. It's a step in the right direction, but it's not quite there yet for me.
Bummer. That sounds similar to what it used to be the in US. Which is why I didn't have any and referred to Brogan's two TPLO's as "my new car". It's probably better now, but at the time "pet insurance" was essentially "we're really only a super complicated way for you to pay for your yearly vaccines because we don't cover anything else" insurance.
