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| There are two plans that I know of, but there may now be others; search for 'Tierversicherung' (German) or assurance pour animaux (French).
Epona:
http://www.epona.ch/german
Animalia:
http://www.haustier-versicherung.ch/
When I looked into insurance I quickly saw that it made no financial sense for us, given the age restrictions and exclusions for pre-existing conditions. The premiums turned out to be more expensive than the yearly vet costs for all but one of my dogs, and that dog was not insurable at all.
For young healthy animals it might be worth your while, though - you'll need to look into each policy carefully, given your individual situation.
FYI, I've found that routine vet care here is actually quite a bargain compared to what I've paid in the US. For years my vet bills here in Switzerland, even for some not-so-routine stuff, were minimal.
Specialist care can be very costly though, as it everywhere. One should be prepared for the unexpected. I've had a pretty awful year with four of my guys - at present I'm spending a small fortune every month. But as it turns out, insurance would not have covered three of the dogs in any case, and the fourth would have exhausted the maximum pay-out within the first set of diagnostic tests. So, I'm still better off paying the vet directly.
But your situation may be entirely different - speak to an advisor. | |
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We just looked into this with Epona. We could only buy health insurance for our youngest dog, as the limit is up to 4th birthday. (she turns 5 in October so we wanted to make a decision quickly). First we had to take her to the vet for a check up and the vet had to fill out a medical form. We had to pay the cost for that. Our vet charged us 50 chf.
For the two older dogs, Epona could only offer us accident insurance and we felt this was of no use.
The monthly premiums for the youngest dog were as follows:
CHF 44 per month with a limitation of CHF 3000 per illness or event CHF 52 per month with a limitation of CHF 5000 per illness or event
Immunizations are not covered and that is a big part of our annual expenses.
We felt it was too much money. In the meantime, Epona has called me 3 times to follow up on our inquiry and now they have added me to their mailing list as I just received an email this morning!
Recently there was an article in the local paper (Aargauer Zeitung) about pet insurance. Apparently Coop offers health insurance for dogs up to 7 years old. I haven't looked into this yet as it would still exclude one dog. It is a new service as of 1st Sept 2009. Here are some links (German only).
http://www.coopzeitung.ch/article45122 http://medienmitteilungen.coop.ch/me...age.do?id=4626
It atually looks like there is more optional coverage available with Coop, with a surcharge. For example, prescription food.
I know the animal shelters are critical of these insurance companies with their limitations which they claim make it more difficult for shelters to find homes for older dogs.
The article in the paper appeared on the day when I had just taken one of our dogs to the vet for xrays to her leg. She has been limping for weeks and after an initial examination we let some time pass and didn't walk her but there was no improvement. She has a sensitive stomach and the pain meds (Rinadryl) gave her diarrhea right away. Also, not being in pain was really worse as then she was using the leg which was not recommended.
I felt it was best to do a more thorough investigation. She needed anaesthetic and several films were taken. I was able to take her home but had to keep a close watch on her as you would after anaesthetic. She was sleepy but fine. Invoice has yet to come but I can only imagine.
The good news is that we were able to rule out anything sinister. She is getting better but still not 100%. It looks like it was a bad sprain.
Keeping your dog fit and not overweight is really important, particularly if your dog is a breed that is prone to certain conditions (our dogs are!)
We are going to look in Coop and see what they can offer. Epona makes no sense to us.
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