With no Medicare for pets, planning for unexpected veterinary bills is important. Young animals can get themselves into mischief eating inappropriate objects or break limbs falling off beds/couches. Older animals have a greater likihood of developing serious illnesses like cancer. Whatever the age, chronic illness such as skin allergies or arthritis can add constant expense to your pets’ care.
Pet insurance is great safety net and we love when we don’t have to cut corners on health care for your 4-legged family members, in order to squeeze into a tight family budget but insurance companies main aim is to make a profit so when considering taking up a policy there's a few hazards to watch for.

Payment Method
If you have health insurance of your own, you’d be used to the hicaps system – so when you go to the dentist or physio you just pay the gap cost between the charges from the provider and what insurance covers. Traditionally though pet insurance have been a user pays model. So you need to pay the vet bill in full, then a few weeks later, once reviewing your claim, insurance would make a reimbursement to your bank account. The problem with this system is that you need to have enough cash/credit to be able to pay the bill to start off with. These days things have improved and there is a now a ‘gap only’ system that can integrate with most veterinary clinics, however there are still some insurers that require you to stump up the money first.

Excess amounts
The final area of difference between pet insurance and the other types of insurance that families would be familiar with (car, house) is in the structure of the excess. For most car insurance, there is a fixed cap amount you need to pay and then everything beyond that is covered by insurance. Pet insurance however on the most part works on a percentage excess. So while that mightn’t be a problem to pay 20% of a $200 visit for consultation and medication, when it’s a $3000 dollar visit to emergency, you’re still out of pocket $600! It’s worth looking at what the excess amounts mean for your family on a larger bill or consider options that might have a fixed excess amount.
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Pre-exisiting Conditions
Taking out a policy on your pet after they have had health issues, is a bit like get car insurance after an accident. The insurers are not going to cover for anything that was documented as being a problem in all the time before the policy started. If you’ve mentioned problems to us and we’ve put it our clinical notes, they typically will exclude that body system and for high risk breeds (French Bulldogs and Dachshunds we’re looking at you!) that will sometimes have blanket exclusions on any problems they can argue the dog was born with and therefore you were aware of at the time of purchase. So it pays to take out insurance as soon as you get a puppy or kitten, before anything can go wrong, and read the fine print on their exclusions related to congenital conditions.

General exclusions
Although we are seeing more progressive insurers changing on this front, for the last 2+ decades pet insurance has excluded two whole body systems from cover. Namely, anything to do with teeth, because they claim it is preventable, although we see plenty of problems that owners can do nothing to avoid on that front (cat resorptive lesions and broken teeth in dogs to name a few), and behavioural (mental health) problems.

Injuries vs Illness
Another method that insurance companies use to ‘discount’ premiums is to offer injury only cover. While this might sound good, and it’s reassuring to know that if you pet was struck by a vehicle that they would be covered, there’s lots of shade of grey with claims. Is a puppy eating a sock an ‘injury’ or an ‘illness’? And often the most expensive care occurs with chronic illness such as heart disease or skin allergies, neither of which are covered by the basic policies.

Sub Limits
To make policies seem affordable, one tactic insurance companies take is to have sublimits. So while the policy might state that they will cover your pet for up to $30k worth of vet bills, buried in the policy documents will be a section stating that for select conditions - typically tick paralysis and cruciate ligament rupture (dogs) that they will  pay out $3k. Coincidentally (not!) the two most commonly claimed problems are…tick paralysis and cruciate ligament rupture. And treatment costs for ticks typically range between $2-10k and the standard recommended option for cruciate ligament repair is $5-6k. This leaves the pet owner substantially out of pocket, but saves the insurance companies a mint. It’s best to avoid policies with any sub limits.

Although we are not allowed to advise on insurance providers, considering these common traps can help you navigate deciding between the different options that are out there in the marketplace.

These days the usefulness of microchips for our cats and dogs is taken for granted but the way the microchip system operates within Australia leaves a lot to be desired and can be a great source of confusion and contention.

The Basics:
A microchip is in essence only a scannable number. It gives the reader a 15 digit number (or if it is a fancy microchip, it may also transmit the pet’s temperature). But that number is useless without a relevant database. Think about it like a number plate for your car. For most of us when we look at the number plate, the only thing we can tell is that specific combination of letters and numbers. But its value is when those details are put into a database such as the NSW Vehicle Registry which allows access to information such as the registered owner, car make, model & colour. Similarly the NSW Pet Registry given information on the species, breed, colour & age of the pet, as well as the owners name, contact details & address.

Which Registry:
You would think like vehicle registration, that if you have your pet’s details recorded on the NSW system, that it would mean if you pet ends up interstate that their details would still be accessible by pounds, etc but that is not the case. In Australia there is at least 5 different registries. Different states require animal residing within its boundaries to have their details lodged with various providers. None of the registries communication with each other and many are privately owned – and as happened recently, this leaves them vulnerable to bankruptcy and the pets details being wiped completely or sold off. What does this mean for you? Well if you live in NSW, you pet needs to be on the NSW government registry, irrespective of whether they are also on another interstate registry. And if you acquire a puppy or kitten interstate you’ll have to complete the relevant change of ownership forms for both the state they are leaving as well as ensuring they have the specific microchip paperwork for NSW completed.

Registration vs Being on the Registry
Having your pet’s details on a microchip registry is NOT the same thing as them being registered with council, nor kennel club registration. Confusingly the same word is used but it means different things. Being on the pet registry just means that your pets microchip number has been placed on the system with an owners’ contact details. When the lifetime registration fee has been paid to council or via the Service NSW portal, then the pet is considered registered in NSW. The one-off lifetime NSW registration fees are the main source of income used by the councils to fund the work of the council rangers in collecting strays, caring for and rehoming unowned dogs and cats.
Pedigree dogs can also be registered with Dogs NSW, but that is only relevant for purebred dog owners who are wishing to confirm their dog’s lineage for show-ring or breeding purposes.

What’s The Rules?
The microchipping laws are laid down by the state government but in a complicated system of bureaucracy, local councils have to administer the rules. This is why at times rules may change but the people in the local council office are unclear on what is supposed to be happening. As of 2024, registration fees are due “when a pet changes ownership or at 12 weeks of age, whichever is first”. This means as soon as you adopt a puppy or kitten it is your responsibility to organise payment of the registration fees. You do NOT wait until they are old enough for desexing (if that is something you are planning on). Fees around entire vs desexed animals do not apply until they have reached breeding age.
Transfer of ownership is another point of confusion. Traditionally this was done with a form in triplicate (i.e. 3 copies) that the breeder and new owner each kept a copy of and the third copy had to be physically taken to a council office for submission. Now there is also the option for electronic change of ownership via the Pet Registry Portal. If it has been years and for whatever reason your pet isn’t in your name, then the best option is to complete a statutory declaration form and submit that council to request the pet is transfer into your name.
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The microchip system is confusing and often convoluted, but can be a life-saving in identifying pets and getting them back to their owners. It’s worth spending a bit of time checking that all of your pets details in order, because it is heart-breaking when families lose a beloved pet and are unable to track them. If you’re getting confused about it, you are welcome to reach out to us, we are more that happy to help people navigate the system.