Garry the pigeon was struggling to breathe and off his food. Garry’s owner was worried.
“The vet told us that we did not have a very good chance that it was more likely that Garry wouldn’t survive. Garry went into an oxygen chamber and luckily got better.”
There’s no public health system for pets and Reuben is 12, so his family had to find nearly $500 for the vet’s bill. Reuben feared for his other seven pigeons.
“If we didn’t have that kind of money, we wouldn’t be able to help them get better and we would be absolutely heartbroken.”
Reuben looked for pet pigeon insurance but was disappointed. Most companies only cover cats and dogs.
He was especially bugged by PD Pet Insurance. Its logo features a rabbit leaping into the air, but it covers cats and dogs only.
“I just thought that it seemed quite misleading; that’s why I called Fair Go.”
PD told Fair Go that the leaping rabbit symbolises the way it springs into action to help customers and gives them a soft landing; that it represents the company values, not its literal services or which pets it covers.
Petcover – another insurer Reuben considered – says it has plans to begin offering cover for exotic pets. Any pet that can legally be kept here would be eligible. For pigeons, Petcover says an owner could claim up to $6000 a year in vet bills, but it can’t yet say what that would cost, so it’s hard to work out if that cover offers value for money.
Consumer NZ has looked at pet insurance in some detail and says it pays to shop around as cover varies greatly, with a six-month old puppy costing anything from $25 to $75 per month to insure.
Maximum cover ranged from $9,000 to $25,000. Sometimes a condition can be claimed against each year, but it can also be capped as a once-off, so if your dog likes swallowing socks you may find some cover only works once.
Consumer NZ’s Rebecca Styles says it’s worth reviewing policies each year.
“Every year when it comes up for renewal, they can decide not to cover you or to increase the premiums or put more exclusions into your policy, so it would make it less good value for your animal.”
Styles says when her family considered insuring their dog Blue, the cost looked high so they opted to self-insure by putting aside some money to cover big bills.
She says she’s seen research that around 2% of pet owners need to cover an unaffordable bill in any year, but Tower Insurance has figures that paint another picture.
Tower Insurance Head of Product David Meaclem says research it commissioned estimates just over a quarter of pet owners have had to use a credit card, overdraft or borrow from family or friends to pay a vet bill.
“Last year we had one claim of $7,000 for emergency surgery on a dog. Some people will have that in savings, but a lot of us won’t and that’s where pet insurance helps”
Meaclem says Tower has no plans to cover pigeons but is impressed with Reuben’s thoroughness and is sending him a $50 pet store voucher to help with the bills and thank him for putting pet insurance in the spotlight.
Reuben says the episode taught him a lot about checking behind the advertising. He’s happy with the voucher and plans to start saving in case of another emergency.
Wise, considering that with the right care, a pigeon can live seven to ten years.
