All owners will be aware of the costs of feeding, grooming and generally looking after their pets – and that’s before vets fees have been taken into consideration. That vets fees are to continue to rise wont be news to owners, who have managed to save small fortunes by taking out the right pet insurance plan for their four legged friends. However, what isn’t common knowledge to some owners is that premiums for pet insurance traditionally rise over the summer.

This is because the number of potential accidents that can happen involving a pet are generally higher – kids are back from school for the holidays, and rising temperatures will see pets wanting to spend more time outside, and so are more likely to be involved in road accidents.

Everyone’s heard the expression like a dog in heat; summer weather can also see some animals becoming more irritable and more likely to get involved in scrapes with other animals or even, in extreme cases, attack people.

Certain breeds of hairless cats and dogs are also susceptible to sunburn, just as humans are – cats with white ears are also particularly vulnerable to skin cancer. Whilst there are expensive specifically formulated ‘lick resistant’ versions of sun cream for cats and dogs, human sun screen works just as well, so slap on the Piz Buin.

Tesco Personal Finance reported last year that there was a six per cent increase in the number of pet insurance claims in 2006, with this rise in claims correlating with a rise in temperatures, and Halifax Pet Insurance urged British owners to leave their dogs at home during the summer months, rather than letting them overheat in a hot car.

Pet insurance is one of the most overlooked forms of insurance out there – many owners see it as an unnecessary expense, but the reality of the situation couldn’t be further from the truth – a premium costing around £10 a month, for example, could see you avoid having to cough up for vets fees which these days reach into the several thousands.

Tesco Pet Insurance for cats starts at around just £4.50 a month, and £8 a month for dogs, with the Halifax offering insurance for cats starting at £3.75 per month, and £5.85 per month for canines.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 am and is filed under Pet Insurance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.