If you rely on livestock or service animals, or you own animals from your beloved show, you probably know that their losses are both emotionally and financially devastating. You may already have pet health insurance for your animals, but you may also want to consider pet life insurance. This type of coverage, also known as animal mortality insurance, has strict eligibility requirements, but pays profits if the insured animal is considered an investment. Bankrate’s insurance team can help explain the differences between these types of pet insurance and determine whether it is the coverage you need.
How pet life insurance works
Pet Life Insurance provides financial coverage to your pet in the event of a disability, injury or death, depending on the insurance. Human life insurance is usually available to anyone, but pet life insurance is primarily designed for high value animals such as pets, livestock, racehorses, service dogs and zoo animals.
Eligibility for animal mortality insurance depends on the animal’s breed, age and health status. It may be necessary to provide value documents that justify the importance of animals. Most animal death insurance companies will require a veterinarian review certificate to prove the animal’s health before your policy is approved.
In the event of a loss or fatality, you must file a claim and provide a death certificate from your veterinarian to receive death benefits.
Pet Life Insurance Company
Pet Life Insurance is a niche product, so only a handful of companies offer coverage. The five pet life insurance providers are:
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ARK Agency Animal Insurance: Provides mortality insurance for income-generating dogs, horses, cattle, livestock and exotic animals. The company offers limits or full death plans depending on your needs.
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AMWINS: Attendees in the tame animal and horse show can find moral coverage through Amwin’s underwriting partner Equisure.
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Marnitz & Associates: Provides horse and dog mortality insurance. Marnitz is the preferred provider of affordable rates and customized coverage plans.
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Sanger Insurance: We provide mortality insurance for cattle, horses, livestock and dogs. It also provides coverage for key medical expenses.
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Hartford: Provides mortality insurance for professional livestock, horse and dog workers. The deaths of commercial livestock and high value animals are covered in transport or owner facilities. The company offers many optional add-ons, including corpse removal, animal transport vehicle replacement, and power outage coverage.
What Pet Life Insurance Covers
While researching the best pet life insurance provider for your animal, it is important to learn what’s not covered. Below are some coverage options you may encounter:
- Animal Theft Policy
- Complete animal mortality coverage
- Restricted animal mortality coverage
- Livestock or horse transport coverage
- Livestock feeding and facilities expansion
- Long-term disability compensation
- Loss of use (revenue lost during gaps required to replace pets)
- Optional medical approval
- Key health or veterinary services
Common or additional risks and causes of death covered by pet life insurance include:
- Accidental shooting (unless it is done by an insured or employee)
- A coincidence of owner death
- Accidents involving transportation or unloading during transportation
- Bridges, buildings, or dark verts collapse
- Death from fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, lightning, or other weather event
- hindrance
- disease
- Electric shock
- explosion
- Diseases related to persistent injuries
- Animal theft (death certificate not necessarily required)
- Wildlife or predator attacks
Certain animal breeds may be excluded from coverage due to hereditary or congenital diseases, and many policies exclude compensation for deaths due to natural causes or disease.
Pet Life Insurance Costs
Pet life insurance costs are provided in the form of annual premiums, as you would pay your pet health insurance. The exact price you pay may depend on:
- Animal age
- Breeding
- Health and medical history
- A list of covered dangers
- position
- Select a policy
- Animal purchase price
- Animal species
- Animal use (services, shows, livestock, sports, etc.)
- The value of the animal (for example, the animal needs extensive training or gains abundant revenue)
Coverage and costs can vary between insurers, so you may want to get some animal death insurance estimates to get the best value for your investment.
Pros and cons of pet life insurance
There are perks to get animal death insurance, but not for all animals and household pets. To determine if this is a valuable expense, consider the following points:
How to determine whether pet life insurance is right for you
Deciding whether to purchase animal death insurance or not comes down to your financial situation and the potential financial impact of losing your animal.
Pet life insurance premiums can reach thousands, so take the time to research your company’s coverage options, ratings, and even customer reviews. If emotional and economic peace of mind exceeds expensive premiums, Pet Life Insurance can provide financial support if something unthinkable occurs.
However, if you have regular pets, pet health insurance may be a better option. It features add-ons that cover end-of-life benefits such as euthanasia, cremation, burial, and grief counseling.
