Are you considering purchasing a wellness plan for your pet but you want to know if it is worth it, and what it covers? Our Riverside County vets will discuss cat and dog wellness plans and why they are beneficial for your pet.
What Is A Pet Wellness Plan?
Now that you have a pet you want to care for it the best that you can, but pet care can be very expensive especially if your pet becomes sick or injured. A wellness plan can help with those costs.
A wellness plan costs a small amount of money each month, but the wellness Plans "group" all of the preventive services you need to keep your pet healthy throughout the year into a monthly payment plan, allowing you to save money and manage your budget.
What Does It Cover?
Pet insurance covers the cost of injury or illness treatments after they occur, which is the main distinction between it and pet wellness plans. However, pet wellness plans include regular and preventive care procedures as well as screenings to identify and prevent potential health problems.
Vaccines
Core vaccines must be given to every pet to ensure that they will not catch infections or diseases that could harm them, your other pets, and sometimes even humans.
Canine parvovirus, distemper, canine hepatitis, and rabies vaccinations for dogs are essential. Cats should receive the panleukopenia, feline calicivirus, feline herpesvirus type I, and rabies vaccines as a minimum. The majority of these illnesses are what kill puppies and kittens, and some spread rapidly. Therefore, vaccines are crucial.
If you don’t have a pet wellness care plan you’d need to pay out of pocket for each vaccine.
Blood test
Complete blood tests will let the veterinarian know if the pet's blood shows any anomalies that might mean an intervention is required. If a problem arises, it ought to be covered by your typical pet insurance policy. The actual screening, however, is only a part of the wellness and preventive care packages that are offered in addition.
Heartworm tests & Prevention
While heartworm treatment is covered by pet insurance, prevention and test are covered only by pet wellness insurance.
If you don’t have such a policy, you will have to pay out of pocket.
Fecal Tests, Deworming & Urinalysis
A Fecal test is performed once per year to determine if any gastrointestinal parasites are present. Similarly to this are the heartworm and tapeworm tests to determine if these parasites are present. This may require several treatments over some time.
Urinalysis is a routine test that scans the urine for chemicals. This is done in order to detect diseases such as kidney failure and urinary infections as early as possible. While most pet health insurance plans cover treatment, preventive measures are typically excluded.
Flea & Tick Prevention
There are a few options for preventing ticks and fleas. But most pets are given monthly medicine to avoid this.
What Is The Difference Between Pet Insurance And A Wellness Plan?
Both wellness plans and pet insurance policies provide benefits, but they are very different. When it comes to your pet's veterinary care, it's critical to understand which services are and aren't covered. This way, you won't be caught off guard when you go to the vet or need to budget for your pet's care and treatment.
What Does A Wellness Plan Cover?
Wellness plans generally cover routine vet care such as microchipping, vaccinations, and dental care. The primary goal of these plans is to assist you in spreading out the cost of improving and maintaining the overall health of your pet.
What Is Pet Insurance?
Pet insurance takes care of any veterinary bills if your pet requires emergency veterinary care.
It can get very expensive to treat illnesses like cancer or diabetes or to provide emergency care. Pet insurance offers you financial assistance to cover the costs of illnesses and accidents covered by your pet's insurance policy.
What Does Pet Insurance Cover?
Although policies vary, in general, pet insurance pays for both emergency medical care and treatment for illnesses that arise as a result of accidents. Prescription drugs, congenital and hereditary disease treatment, and orthopedic issues may all be covered by some pet insurance policies.
How Do I Choose Which Option To Buy?
To guarantee their pet's total protection, some pet owners enroll in both wellness plans and pet insurance, while others choose to subscribe to just one. It will help you and your pet if you are aware of how each of these options functions because it will enable you to select the one that is best for you both.
Ask your vet if you would like help deciding what is best for your pet based on their particular needs and concerns.