The Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Health Insurance

Animal health insurance's most common benefits include unlimited payouts, protection against pre-existing conditions, and cheaper premiums. Read on to discover how to get animal health insurance for your beloved pet. Also, learn about coverage limitations and avoid them. Whether you want to protect your pet's health or pay for emergency veterinary care, ark insurance is a wise investment.

Pre-existing conditions
When purchasing an animal life insurance policy, it's essential to be aware of pre-existing conditions. Dogs and cats share several curable diseases. To save money on pet insurance, be mindful of your pet's common ailments, and shop around. Some policies may cover pre-existing conditions while others may not. It is also essential to know which states are excluded.

Most insurance policies will not cover pre-existing conditions, though you can still enroll in pet insurance if you have diagnosed your pet with one. Insurers typically view pets with pre-existing conditions as high risk and can only offset the cost of medical benefits if they've already been diagnosed. You may want to consider this when buying a policy. A dog's life span can range anywhere from 10 to 13 years.

Unlimited payouts
You may be tempted to choose an animal life insurance policy that provides unlimited payouts. However, this can be problematic. The policy will have a deductible, which can be expensive and only covers medical costs up to a specific limit. The procedure may not reimburse a portion of the charges, which can be frustrating for you and your pet. Fortunately, some options to consider will provide unlimited payouts for your animal.
The policy covers behavioral and holistic treatments, nonroutine dental procedures, and diagnostic tests. Because there are no annual limits, you can rest assured that you will always be able to cover all of your pet's medical bills. In addition, it pays out quickly, with most claims settled within days. Another advantage of this plan is that it covers hereditary and alternative therapies. However, there is a 15-day waiting period before you can claim for injuries caused by the cruciate ligaments. Another downside is that hip dysplasia is not covered unless your pet is older than six.

 
Cheaper when your pets are young When you acquire animal life insurance, the younger your pets are, the cheaper it will be. This is because it will be cheaper to treat illnesses that start before the policy is set up. In addition, the younger your pets are, the less likely they are to develop any pre-existing conditions. Plus, the younger your pets are, the less likely they will get an illness during the plan's term, so the older your pets get, the more expensive the policy will be.

 
Although acquiring insurance for older pets may be cheaper than insuring your pets younger, it is still cheaper in the long run. This is because the older your pet gets, the more likely it is to get sick or injured. Also, insurers charge more for older pets because they are more prone to injuries and illnesses. However, you may get the best bang for your buck if your animals are healthy and uninsured.

Limitations on coverage
There are numerous limits to animal life insurance coverage. Because insurance data are based on insured animals, the amount of coverage that each animal can receive will depend on its age. However, the amount of coverage that a dog or a cat can receive is much lower than human beings. For example, a pet's life insurance policy will not cover the costs of a traumatic accident or a disease. In addition, coverage for some conditions is limited to a certain age.

 
The researchers plan to analyze animal insurance data from Sweden, beginning with data on cats. Future studies will also look at insurance data from other countries. Detailed information about the population and insurance policies should be available to determine the extent of animal insurance coverage. The basic tenet that animals are 'at risk' must be realistic. If not, there must be a better way to assure pet owners and ensure affordable animal health insurance.

 

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How Often Should You Bathe Your Dog?

Do you give your dog a bath regularly? How often is often? This question has been nagging me for some time now. Reading through recommendations of veterinarians as well as asking friends who also have dogs, I learned that there really is no rule as to how frequent you should give your dog a bath. It all depends on your dog's activity and whether it sleeps with you in bed. 

But when and why should you bathe your dog? Most dog owners think that it is high time to bathe them when they get stinky. But this should not only be the time to bathe them. Dogs should get a bath because most of them love to get dirty. When they are outside, they love to run around, get covered in mud, roll around on the ground and in something stinky, or worse, dead (!). Giving your dog a bath on a regular basis actually helps promote healthy skin and coat. By removing excess dander, dirt and oils, the hair follicles are stimulated, resulting to a healthy dog hair and skin. Dogs that have chronic skin problems would require more frequent baths than usual using medicated shampoo.

For indoor dogs, a good bath once a month is the rule of thumb. For stinky dogs, at least once in two weeks is a good frequency or as needed. Caution should be taken though. Because over-bathing your dog is also not good because it could result to dry skin, flaking and can negatively impact the natural oils on their coat. When bathing your dogs, use a dog shampoo that is perfume-free, hypoallergenic and has aloe and oatmeal in it. These ingredients have a soothing effect and help condition your dog's skin.

So there you have it! For a good-smelling pooch, a healthy skin and shiny coat, give your dog that much deserved bath it needs. Your dog will thank you for it!

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Fresh, Fruity and Festive

The Body Shop has launched its Christmas edition products, with fresh, fruity and festive scents to get you in the mood for the holiday season.

This Christmas season, The Body Shop have released three limited edition product series:

1. Juicy Pear (fresh and sweet) - Luxurious body care highlights with pear extract from Italy.

2. Rich Plum (floral and fruity) - Turkish plum extract gives the sweet fragrance a nip.

3. Warm Vanilla (warm and creamy) - Vanilla extract from Madagascar encases the skin with a sweet fragrance.

I personally love the Rich Plum's fruity and floral fragrance. I still have to try the Juicy Pear. I am not a very huge fan of vanilla though, I find it too strong for my senses. I love The Body Shop products because they are committed to principles close to my heart: "Enrich, not exploit" by partnering with local communities in sourcing out sustainable and fair raw materials. It is also among the companies that have 100% vegetarian ingredients and continues to actively engage in a worldwide ban on animal testing of cosmetic products and ingredients.

Which Christmas Edition product variant have you tried?

Note: Images from The Body Shop.

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Suki's Visit at the Vet

Yesterday we had to skip my daughter's ballett class to bring our Suki to the vet for a follow up check up. She was always scratching her ears and shaking her head some 3 weeks ago that she can't sleep very well (and of course, the human mommy too). And because our Suki is such a sweet dog, she has no qualms going to the clinic.

Suki with my daughter at the examination room while waiting for the vet.

She would patiently wait in the waiting room, sniffing and greeting the other patients, and would not hesitate to get inside the examination room when it was our turn (no pushing and begging her to come) and would always greet the vet with joy and delight, happy face and all (no wagging tails though as she almost doesn't have one 😊).

What she dislikes though is having her ears checked. It was difficult the last time we went there, with frenchies having herculean strength when needed. But we didn't want to force her or endanger the vet nurse by being accidentally bitten. So we tried another trick this time, getting her calmed down first and giving her carrot treats while the vet examines her ears. Thank goodness it worked. And thankfully, the ear infection is gone.

That was such a relief, for all of us, for Suki most especially. And that is why it is always important to regularly dog's ears to keep the earwax in check, because as the adage says, "too much of something is not good."

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