Save on veterinary expenses and provide your pets with optimal healthcare – why pet insurance is the first thing you need to do in the New Year.
We’re just as shocked as to how quickly 2024 went! For some of the pet parents reading this, you may have spent yet another blissful year with your furry member of the family by your side, creating more memories together. Other pet parents may have only adopted their fur babies in 2024.
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Regardless of how long you have been a pet parent for, you will know and understand just how important your pet’s health is to you. And no matter what, you always want to ensure they are looked after in order for them to lead long, happy and more importantly, healthy lives. One of the best ways to ensure your pet leads a healthy life is to get pet insurance.
Pet insurance for peace of mind
With the start of the New Year, we tend to have a number of other items on our to-do lists, and as a result, things like insurance might take a backseat. But what happens when something goes wrong?
What happens when you and your dog are enjoying a walk in the park and suddenly Spike is attacked by another dog? What happens when Whiskers is acting strange and not eating and you think he might have something seriously wrong with him?
Accidents and illnesses can and will happen to a number of pets. Just how humans have health insurance or medical aid to help us cover the costs of private healthcare, pets need the same kind of financial cover in place to help protect pet parents from the high costs of veterinary medical care.
Having pet insurance does more than prevent you from going into debt over vet bills; it also gives you peace of mind in knowing that if anything does go wrong, your pet’s health is in good hands and your bank account does not have to suffer for it.
Pet insurance for day-to-day costs
A number of pet parents believe that pet insurance is cover for emergencies only. And whilst this is true when looking at our Pet Accident Plan or our Pet Hospital Plan, if you have a more comprehensive pet policy, then this includes cover for routine care and vet visits.
Of course, the more comprehensive the plan, the more your monthly premium will cost you. But here’s the thing about plans that include day-to-day benefits – they save you even more money. And not only that, these kinds of plans encourage regular vet visits.
This form of preventive care can help your vet detect and treat any underlying health concerns before they develop into something more serious and more expensive to treat.
Read this: Pet Insurance & Waiting Periods: 4 Things You Need to Know
The costs of day-to-day care
Look at it this way, a vet visit is likely to set you back about R350 to R700 (depending on where you live and your vet). This is only for the consult costs. Any other costs such as scripted medication, diagnostic tests, tick and flea control of vaccinations will be accounted for separately.
With a comprehensive pet insurance plan, such as our Pet Super Plan, we include cover for vet visits and routine care. Here’s what this includes:
Vet visits: Up to R1 650 per visit (up to R6 600 per year)
Routine care: R900 a year
Pet insurance for emergency pet care
Then there is the case of accidents and emergencies. These are the highest costs when it comes to pet healthcare. This is because specialist veterinary is needed in order to save your pet’s life. You also need to take after hour vet fees into account as these will cost more.
The costs of emergency pet care will depend on the extent of the injury and what is needed to treat your pet. If surgery is required this can cost anywhere from R10 000 to R40 000 or more. If you don’t have that kind of cash lying around, you will have to pay this bill on your credit card or dip into your savings.
With pet insurance, our Pet Accident Plan includes R8 500 accident cover (and this plan only costs R80 a month!). Our Classic Plan includes up to R43 000 cover for hospital admissions (accidents & illnesses) and our Super Plan includes up to R58 000 for hospital admissions.
In fact, we have one of the highest annual limits compared to other pet insurers. Our average limit is R45 000. This is because we want your pet to receive the best possible care and not have you stress about the financial implications of this.
Read next: At What Age Can Your Pet Get Pet Insurance?
Other benefits
If you have pet insurance with Oneplan, we also pay you before you see the vet and let you go to any vet of your choice. From all of us at Oneplan, we wish you all the best for 2025!
Your Pet Insurance Family,
Oneplan
