What is the best pet insurance?: How to choose it

You have had it vaccinated, sterilized, you take care of it every day, but what happens if your animal twists its leg, is injured, or contracts a more serious illness? When you know how expensive veterinary bills can be, dog-cat health insurance can be invaluable. For a few euros, you are guaranteed support in the event of a glitch! How to choose your dog cat insurance? Find our advice and our comparison of the best insurance offers for your pet.

How much does dog and cat insurance cost?

The prices for dog cat health insurance vary from one insurer to another because there are many different formulas and options. Depending on the age of your animal at subscription, the formula chosen, the options subscribed, the prices can be very different.

A younger animal will benefit from a cheaper subscription, even with advantages (2 months free for animals less than 6 months old on subscription, for example). For a very young animal, the contributions can cost around 5 € / month for a formula in the event of an accident, for example.

If your animal is at the limit of the age required for subscription, it is better to turn to mutuals offering single rates, regardless of the age of the animal. It will take an average of €300 per year to ensure your dog and €240 to insure your cat.

Certain formulas for an animal in the prime of life can go up to €100 per month, depending on the guarantees and options chosen. It is therefore very important to compare to offer the best water guarantee at the best price.

To find the best health insurance for your pet, do not hesitate to compare the formulas and options of different insurers. Comparators allow you to do this quickly and effortlessly. You subscribe to the best guarantees, in order to preserve the health of your animal while controlling your budget. Reassure me offers you to compare contracts and choose the best insurance contract for dogs or cats. 

What are the guarantees of a mutual dog?

By subscribing to canine mutual insurance, you ensure your pet optimal care in the event of illness but above all, you will significantly reduce the costs related to your dog’s health.

When you know that a dog owner pays an average of €300/year for the health of his animal (excluding major incidents), the calculation is quickly made as to the savings allowed by a dog mutual!

Whether it’s costs related to the prevention of your pet (vaccines, deworming, routine visits), those related to a specific health problem, or an accident, the bill can quickly turn out to be steep. Especially in town, most veterinarians practice fee overruns, sometimes reaching more than 50 € for a consultation.

Many dogs are prone to digestive problems (poisoning, distemper, gastroenteritis) as well as skin infections such as Lyme disease. In addition to the need for rapid care of your dog, having mutual insurance will save you additional financial worries.

Here are the main guarantees offered by dog ​​insurance:

• support for veterinary consultations,
• reimbursement of laboratory analyzes (blood, stool),
• reimbursement of radiotherapy sessions (particularly in the case of cancer),
• reimbursed surgery, anesthesia, or hospitalization costs,
• etc

Depending on the type of canine mutual insurance chosen, you can choose to insure your animal for its entire lifespan. Mutual dog insurance also offers an optional “death” guarantee. Thus, in the event of loss of your animal, you will receive financial compensation to help you overcome this ordeal (between €400 and €600 on average).

Dog-cat health insurance covers your pet’s health costs. If it causes damage to a third party, your civil liability will be incurred. This guarantee is included in your home contract.

What does cat health insurance cover?

Although no law obliges you to insure your animal, it is more than advisable to take out specific mutual insurance for your cat. Indeed, thanks to health insurance for your cat, you will be compensated for veterinary costs, but not only!

Depending on the mutual insurance formula for cats that you subscribe to, different levels of protection may be offered. Thus, a mutual cat will be able to take care of the reimbursement of:

• vaccination costs for your cat,
• disease with or without surgery,
• sterilization of your cat,
• veterinary consultations,
• medications.

To give you an idea of ​​the savings that can be made with cat insurance, here are examples of health care costs for a cat and the average coverage offered by animal mutuals:

Health care for a coverage rate observed support for mutual chat

Veterinary consultation 35 € 100%

Vaccination costs 70 € 80%

Castration 150 € 70%

Tattoo 60 € 80%

Radio 70 € 70%

Blood test 70 € 70%

cat surgery €1,000 70%

Treatment of gastroenteritis 80 € 80%

The amounts of cover are generally expressed as a percentage of the costs actually incurred. In the same way, as for guarantees, the different formulas offer you to take from 70% to 100% of the actual costs, for example.

Please note that in most animal mutuals, an annual guarantee ceiling is set. Thus, in the event of a succession of health costs for your cat, you may no longer be reimbursed. Be careful when subscribing. A good ceiling for cat insurance is around €1,500/year.

How to choose your dog cat insurer?

Before choosing mutual health insurance for your pet, you will need to compare the offers of players offering health insurance for animals. There are many dogs ​​and cat insurance offers and it can be difficult to choose.

To optimize your research and find the best contract to insure your animal as quickly as possible, brokers are one of the best solutions. As independent service providers, their role is to offer you the best offer, adapted to the profile of your animal. Their advice is invaluable. As a perfect connoisseur of the market, he will be able to direct you to the dog and cat insurance best suited to your needs and those of your pet.

To help you in your research, we have written fact sheets on each of the dog and cat insurance policies offered by market players:

Dog cat health insurance: when to join?

If you own an animal, like one in two French people, you surely know that this rhymes with expenses. Thus, dog-cat health insurance is for almost all dog or cat owners. Almost, because insurers impose underwriting conditions.

The subscription is authorized from the 2 (or 3 months) of the animal and is often limited to 7 or 8 years. After this age, insurers are less inclined to offer you mutual animal insurance because old age most often brings illnesses… However, some insurers offer dog cat mutual insurance without an age limit.

The limits may vary depending on the contracts offered: some insurers allow subscription until the animal is 10 years old. However, if you insure your animal at the age of 2 years, for example, you can opt for dog cat insurance that can run throughout the life of your animal: we then speak of lifetime guarantees.

How to subscribe to mutual pet insurance?

There are two possibilities: online subscription, or by mail: either the mutual authorizes an online pet insurance subscription, or it asks you to return the items by mail or e-mail. If the insurer does not allow online subscriptions, you will need to fill in all this information on a paper application form and then return it to the insurer.

Most of the time, you will ask a comparator to find you the best possible offer for your pet. When you have chosen your formula, you will receive a quote directly by e-mail and will be directed to the insurer’s website.

For a subscription directly online, whether you have gone through a comparator or not, all you have to do is complete the information requested:

• type of animal: dog, cat, … (if it is a dog, you must specify the category);
• his date of birth ;
• her name ;
• genre ;
• the race ;
• his identification number (chip or tattoo).

The insurer will then ask you for your personal information (contact details, identity, bank details, etc.), then you validate the information online and receive the membership documents by e-mail. One of the advantages of an online subscription is that you benefit from a customer area, which will allow you to easily and quickly find all the information you need.

How do you get compensation for your pet?

To be reimbursed for the various treatments concerning your animal by your dog and cat health insurance, all you have to do is ask your veterinarian for a care sheet at the end of the consultation. This care sheet must be sent to the mutual insurance company, accompanied by the paid invoice. Some animal mutuals operate online and allow dematerialized sending of documents, which allows faster processing of applications.

Upon receipt of your documents, the insurer analyzes your request and reimburses the benefits by bank transfer. Some dog-cat health mutuals announce reimbursements within 48 hours, others within 30 days maximum. Once again, it is, therefore, necessary to carefully compare the contracts and formulas offered in order to be able to take out the best dog-cat health insurance.

What are the pet insurance options?

Each animal mutual offers a common base of guarantees to which options can be added, allowing you to personalize your animal’s health cover as well as possible.

Regarding dog cat insurance, mutuals generally offer two options:

• dog or cat Civil Liability. Compulsory for category 1 or 2 dogs, it can be taken out for all types of animals. Thanks to the RC dog, the material or immaterial damage caused by your dog will be taken care of.
• death benefit. In the event of the disappearance of your pet, you will receive financial assistance to deal with this event and compensate for your loss.

Mutual dog cat mutuals also offer assistance options to help you if you need help with your pet. Here are the different assistance guarantees that you can take out via an animal mutual insurance company:

• 24/7 worldwide care of your pet in the event of loss, hospitalization of the owner, or inability of the latter to care for it,
• Coverage of boarding and transport costs for your animal in the event of the death of the owner.

What are the deductibles and waiting periods of the mutual dog cat insurance?

When taking out a contract, pay attention to the deductibles and waiting periods for dog-cat insurance. Deductibles are amounts that are not covered by insurance. For example, a deductible of €20 means that you will only be reimbursed for costs above €20. Thus, 20 € will remain your responsibility whatever happens.

Waiting periods are also applied to the subscription of the contract. This is a period during which the guarantees cannot be engaged. For example, a waiting period of 48 hours may be imposed in the event of an accident, 45 days in the event of illness, and 6 months in the event of surgery following an illness. This prevents people from signing a contract to pay punctually the costs provided for their animal, then canceling quickly.