Pet insurance can provide you with the appropriate healthcare plan designed to cater for your beloved companion's safety and well-being should the worst happen and he or she falls ill.

Animal Friends Insurance - Pet Lifetime Cover Specialist

Animal Friends Insurance (AFI) is one such specialist company in that we only insure family pets. We do not sell unrelated products like the supermarkets do so don't come to us if you want cheap spuds or cabbage! We are a professional pet insurance company and nothing else. Animal Friends Pet Insurance currently specialise in cover for domestic cats and dogs and, by early next 2009, we will have added equine or horse insurance to our portfolio. We stick to animals as that's what we know and because that's where our passion lies. We are among the UK's leading experts when it comes to insuring family pets. Out of interest, did you know that we are among only a handful of insurers who provide cover for show dogs and we are also very proud of our extremely popular full lifetime cover - rare in the UK pet insurance market

If your pet needs treatment for a common disease or is inflicted by a life threatening illness, the cost for treatment can run into thousands for veterinary care. Pet insurance is there to protect you from such disasters. As a result pet insurance has gained immense popularity because of its many benefits. Especially when times are hard and your income is not as secure as you would have liked it to be; or where you can no longer rely on a credit card to bail you out of trouble should a big unexpected expense come up.

2008 has seen what could possibly be the World's worst economic shakedown since the 30's and due to possibly careless actions taken by some big financial institutions employment is also now harder to find, people who have been in jobs for many years have sadly found their employment in serious jeopardy. In such uncertain times there are many benefits to buying insurance cover for your dog or cat.

Animal Friends recommend that you at least check that your policy provides the following:

• Public Liability Cover. If your dog injures someone or causes an accident resulting in loss to third parties, public liability cover will pay for the losses claimed against you by the third party, including any legal fees. Such claims can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, possibly more.
• That your insurance plan covers the treatment of injury and/or illness suffered by your pet for a stipulated time or a stipulated cost that you are happy with. And check to see if a claim will only be covered for up to 12 months; if it will then see what full lifetime cover will cost.
• It gives instant cover, which applies as soon as the policy takes effect.

You can reduce your premium by choosing the plan that limits how much you can claim for a specific medical condition. The cheapest plans cover you for far less time and the funds allocated for an illness may be limited. You as the buyer should always be aware that a budget policy comes with budget or limited financial cover to you. For this reason we at Animal Friends Insurance ask that you make sure you read the small print on a policy document before you buy, or quiz the salesperson, to make sure you are getting what you think you are getting.

Take a minute to ask which exclusions will apply to your policy and what the claims process for the insurer actually entails, notably whether they outsource claims and what their claims turnaround time is. At Animal Friends Insurance for instance we handle all claims in house so there is no need for a client to be passed from pillar to post as with some insurers when it comes to making a claim.

Common exclusions on policies include pre-existing conditions, behavioral problems, congenital or hereditary conditions, dental treatment and guard, racing dogs, show dogs or other working dogs. If you are in any doubt as to whether your dog will be accepted by an insurer phone them and ask! Always ask. This brings us to another important point when selecting your pet insurance company. Is their phone number prominently displayed on their website? Do they actively promote and encourage your questions? Buying cheap pet insurance is great, until it comes time to trying to contact the insurer to make a claim!

So to recap, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the cover extend to a level I am really looking for?
• Does the insurer explain or provide easy access to the policy terms and conditions before I buy?
• Does the insurer make it easy for me to contact them during office hours via the phone?
• What's excluded from cover?
• Does the business I am buying my insurance from specialise in pet insurance or are they a jack of all trades or even simply a front for a third party administrator?
• Will my insurance company handle my claim or send me to a third party.

AFI would also like to mention that you as the buyer should check if a policy you would like to purchase covers your pet for a one- off set amount per illness, or for a set amount per illness per year (the latter being full lifetime cover giving you the greatest cover for your premium). If you are looking to compare cover you should be aware of these differences in order to properly compare pet insurance policies and ensure you are getting the best for your companion and for your money.

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