About Exotic Pet Insurance

What Is Exotic Pet Insurance?

When pet insurance was first introduced in 1982 it was only for dogs and cats. In the United States today there are over 150 million dogs and cats owned as pets and since there are just a little more than 500,000 pets insured it stands to reason that the market potential for dogs and cats is huge. Horses are also popular animals to insure especially if you race your horse or show it in any competitions or horse shows. But what about the people that own birds, snakes, lizards, or turtles? All animals eventually get sick and need care so what about those pets? For pets like that the pet insurers of the world offer what is called exotic pet insurance.

Exotic pet insurance was something that really took hold in the UK first before it started to make its way to the United States. In the early days of pet health insurance there was not a lot of focus on exotic pet insurance because if people were not buying policies for their dogs and cats, animals which are known for getting sick and needing medical attention, then how were insurers going to sell exotic pet insurance when birds and lizards rarely seemed to get sick? Your lizard's tail falls off or gets chopped off then it just grows back. Have you ever been to the vet and seen anyone bring in anything other than a dog or a cat? If you have then it has been a rare experience. All that changed when pet health insurance saw a boom of companies being created in 1996 and 1997 especially when health insurance companies started to take root in the United Kingdom.

Those Crazy Brits!

In the United Kingdom you have a very large assortment of pets. The variety is probably the same as in the United States but in the United Kingdom they just love to be at the forefront of things and soon after the first few pet health insurance companies were established in the United Kingdom in 1996 they started offering exotic pet insurance and people bought it up. The influence of the small success of the exotic pet insurance market in the United Kingdom started to find its way to the United States. Today such large pet insurers as Veterinary Pet Insurance offer exotic pet insurance but it is still not part of their main line of products. They still focus on dogs and cats and if you want anything else you will have to give them a call and talk to a representative.

For something as unique as exotic pet insurance you need a market before any company will start to put money into it and a market is slowly starting to develop in the United States. In the United Kingdom this kind of insurance is on the front page of most pet insurance providers but the insurers in the United States still have some catching up to do. It's tough to catch a lizard or a bird anyways. So if you find yourself in need of exotic pet insurance and in doing your research you do not see any company in the United States really offering it with big bold letters don't panic. Just pick up the phone and give the company a call because chances are very good that they will have exactly what you need, hopefully at a price anyone can afford. So give the pet insurer of your choice a call and discuss exotic pet insurance with them today.