Five indications that you really need to insure your dog

In an ideal world, all dogs should be covered by a bespoke insurance policy that provides coverage for accidents and illnesses, allowing you to get the best possible care for your dog when they need it without having to worry about where the money will come from to fund it.

All dogs can benefit from insurance, even when they are young and in excellent health, and in fact this is the best time to take out a policy that will remain with them for the duration of their hopefully long life. However, it is a simple fact that within the UK, more privately owned dogs are uninsured than insured, despite the fact that insurance is a good idea for all dogs.

If your dog is uninsured, you should read this article carefully, as there are certain warning signs and indications that your dog really should be insured in order to save you money and worry in the long term, due to a combination of potential risk factors. If you or your dog fall into one of the five categories below, getting them insured asap should be your top priority.

In this article, we will look at five indications that you really need to insure your dog. Read on to learn more.

1. You’re terrible with money

If you don’t have any savings to fall back on, live week to week, and never seem to have enough cash, insurance might seem like the last thing on your list of priorities, but in reality, living this type of lifestyle is the best possible reason to get your dog insured.

If you don’t have savings or a fund put by to provide for emergency care if your dog should need it, you will be very limited in terms of what you can do for your dog if they should become ill or injured, leaving you worried and scrabbling around to find the funds to pay for treatments when they are needed.

Even if you are not well off, insuring your dog does not have to be expensive, and the vast majority of insurance companies offer a monthly payment option to make your premiums more manageable. Invest in insurance now, and that will leave you with one less thing to worry about!

2. You want to ensure that your dog will be with you for life

Even if your dog is currently young and in perfect health, as they age, you cannot possibly predict what may happen further down the line. When you commit to buying or adopting a dog, you should do so with the understanding that it is now your responsibility to care for your dog for the entire duration of their life, and this means making an investment in their future health and wellness by ensuring that you can cover the cost of any necessary future care.

3. Your breed of dog is prone to health conditions

Virtually every pedigree breed of dog in the world has a certain predisposition to some specific health conditions that tend to affect their breed at a higher occurrence rate than others, such as bloat or GDV in the Great Dane, and hip dysplasia in the German shepherd, among other things.

Some of these conditions can be expensive to treat or correct, and so if you own a pedigree dog, insurance is essential so that should an issue present itself down the line, you will be able to get them the appropriate care. Insurance companies will not pay out for a condition that your dog displayed signs of prior to the commencement of your policy, so insure them now before it is too late!

4. Your dog is highly active

Dogs that have high energy levels, lead a very active lifestyle or that take part in canine sports will tend to be at the peak of health and very fit, but they will also be at higher risk of developing injuries or having accidents as part of their very busy lifestyles!

Breaks, sprains and strains can take a long time to heal as well as being expensive to treat, and so if your dog is very active, does canine sport or has a working role, insurance is essential.

5. Your dog will eat anything

If your dog seems to have an iron stomach and can and will eat everything placed in front of them, this does have some advantages, such as being able to feed them a wide range of different things without having to worry about potential sensitivities or stomach upsets. However, dogs that beg, scavenge, dig through the bins or eat anything that is not kept well out of their reach without thinking too hard about what it is are also at higher risk of eating something harmful, and this is why indiscriminate eating can soon work out very costly!

If you seem to spend half of your life keeping your dog out of the bin or wondering what on earth they have eaten now, insurance is strongly recommended, as the chances are that sooner or later they will eat something that doesn’t agree with them, or that is actually toxic.