Table of Contents:

1. Pets as Gifts: Be Prepared
2. Don’t Forget About Pet Insurance!
3. Benefits of Pet Insurance
4. Give the Gift of Pet Insurance This Holiday Season

Puppies and kittens are a favorite gift every holiday season and they should prove even more popular in a year of pandemic stress. Adoption numbers have surged throughout 2020 and many pet lovers across the country are surely adding dogs or cats to their wish lists this year.

If a new pet happens to be on your list this holiday season, it’s important to plan ahead to ensure that they can make a smooth transition into your family.

Pets as Gifts: Be Prepared

In a sense, pets are gifts with “some assembly required.” Keeping a dog or cat safe, happy, and healthy means purchasing a number of other essentials on or before Day 1. Some — like identification tags or a microchip — could last your pet’s lifetime. Others will become regular purchases and a major component of your pet care budget:

• Bowls for food and water
• Collar
• Crate
• Food that suits your pet’s age and size
• Identification tags
• A litter box or training pads
• Training treats
• Toys

That’s not to mention all the work that goes into pet-proofing a house. While you’re putting up the holiday decorations, look around for potential pet safety hazards, because they are more abundant than you might expect. Make it fun and invite the whole family to help you take the following steps:

• Hide or cover electrical cords to prevent chewing
• Remove choking hazards from the floor and other pet-level surfaces
• Ensure potentially poisonous foods and products are safely stored
• Get in the habit of covering trash cans and closing all appliance doors

Watch out for holiday decorations too! Puppies and kittens are naturally curious. They’ll bat, jump, and paw at just about anything, so make sure to hang those stockings with extra care.

Still not sure you’re ready to bring home a new pet? Check out these simple steps toward a successful adoption.

Don’t Forget About Pet Insurance!

When you think of pet essentials, pet insurance often gets overlooked. However, like car or health insurance, pet insurance provides protection against future costs. It’s also similar to human health insurance in the sense that some policies cover routine wellness and preventative services.

Depending on the type of coverage you choose, pet insurance can offer financial assistance for some or all of the following:

• Accidents and Injuries: Nearly all pet insurance policies offer coverage for medical mishaps like bone and muscle injuries or insect bites. PetPartners plans with Accident & Illness Coverage offer reimbursement for a range of diagnostic and emergency services.
• Alternative Treatments and Therapies: As alternative and holistic treatments like acupuncture and massage therapy have grown more popular, some pet insurance providers have begun reimbursing policyholders for these services.
• Chronic Conditions: This is where pet insurance can become a major money-saver. Like humans, pets become more likely to develop chronic conditions as they age. Affecting the joints and organs, these can lead to everyday symptoms and disrupt their quality of life. A pet insurance plan with chronic condition coverage will help you maintain their standard of living without breaking the bank.
• Illnesses: Pet insurance may provide coverage for temporary conditions in addition to life-threatening diseases like cancer. The treatments and procedures for these illnesses are typically quite costly, and pet insurance can provide you with financial peace of mind so that you can tend to your four-legged friend during their time of need.
• Routine and Preventative Care: Some pet insurance policies, like PetPartners’ Defender and DefenderPlus Wellness plans, offer coverage for regular expenses like pest prevention treatments, vaccines, and exams. While not big-ticket items, these services and treatments can add up quickly. Wellness Plan policyholders can avoid hundreds or thousands in expenses over the lifetime of their pet.

An inexpensive pet insurance plan may cover accidents or illnesses alone. More comprehensive offerings, on the other hand, may include insurance benefits beyond those noted above. Your selection of pet insurance plans will vary based on your zip code. That will also help to determine how much you’ll pay for coverage, along with several other factors.

Benefits of Pet Insurance

A dog or cat would probably rather tear into some treats, but they’d thank you for purchasing a pet insurance policy if they could. Insurance boasts benefits that make it an ideal present for pets and pet parents alike:

• Pet Insurance Saves Money: Pet care isn’t cheap. Both routine and emergency expenses add up fast and sometimes force pet parents to make impossible decisions. With pet insurance, you’ll never have to make the choice between your pet’s health and your own financial well-being.
• Pet Insurance Fits Your Needs: Pet insurance plans can be tailored to stick to a budget and meet your pet’s needs. Avoid paying unexpected costs or covering unwanted perks by hand-picking customized add-ons based on your pet’s health, age, and breed.
• Pet Insurance Provides Peace of Mind: Any seasoned pet parent will tell you to expect the unexpected. Emergencies and injuries are a part of everyday life, especially for pet owners. Though pet insurance can’t eliminate anxiety, it can certainly help you keep a cooler head in these instances. As you seek out veterinary care, you’ll be able to act with confidence, secure in the knowledge that your provider has you covered.

Give the Gift of Pet Insurance This Holiday Season

Looking for a holiday gift that truly shows that special someone how much you care? Consider purchasing pet insurance for a friend or loved one with a new pet. Simply put, pet insurance is the gift that keeps on giving long after the holidays are over.

A pet insurance policy can keep expenses manageable, ease your mind, and even help save a pet’s life. Insurance can’t prevent pet health emergencies or eliminate the need for routine care, but it can dramatically reduce the financial and emotional toll of both. What’s a better gift than that?

Want to learn more about pet insurance from the comfort of your home?

Check out PetPartners today for a quote.