Looking After Your Best Friend

Looking After Your Best Friend

Around 30% of British households have a dog. Our love of these furry friends has been growing over the last 20 years and there are now 13 million dogs in the UK.

However, the cost of owning a pet is also on the rise. Vet''s bills are increasing, so too is the cost of food, especially now that VAT has risen from 17.5% to 20%, plus the cost of actually buying an animal is on the up too.

So what can you do to protect yourself from these rising costs? The most obvious answer is insurance, although roughly just 12% of pet owners have pet insurance. So, why do people choose not to take out insurance for their pets?

The perceived cost is usually the main reason quoted for not taking out pet insurance. Many people feel that paying ?10 per month ? ?120 over a year ? is not worth it; they believe that they can afford to pay for an operation if their pet needs one; moreover they can more easily pay for an operation if they don''t pay every year for insurance.

But many pet owners underestimate the price of an operation, immunisations and even an overnight stay at the vet''s. For example, the cost of an x-ray is ?160, to fix a common knee injury sustained by many dogs is anything from ?500 to ?2,500 and just one night at the vet''s is almost ?400. So, if your dog needs all three? you are looking at pretty hefty vet''s bills that you''ll have to pay off your own back.

There are other costs too that most owners don''t even anticipate, like what happens if your dog has a go at biting the postman? What about if your dog is the reason behind a car accident? Even if it isn''t injured, you as the owner might have to fork out repairs on the car, bike or neighbour''s wall.

If you dog goes missing pet insurance can be used to cover the cost of advertising and rewards. If you need to go into hospital some policies pay for kennels or boarding. Others will pay the purchase price of your dog when it dies in a form of dog life insurance.

Pet insurance is actually very comprehensive and when you take all this into account, pet insurance really begins to make a lot of sense.