Pet owners increasingly taking out pet insurance

By Teppei Ito

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

Yelnats at 03:02 PM JST - 13th January

They also need to come up with "Pet Stroller" collision insurance with a nice deductible. I saw a bike hit one of those things, and the gold plated surface got marred, one tire went flat, and Poochie did number one in his designer outfit.
timorborder at 03:06 PM JST - 13th January

Yelnats - that comment was a classic.
jwills79 at 03:15 PM JST - 13th January

When are we going to hear about the neglect due to Pachinko addiction?
nutsagain at 04:58 PM JST - 13th January

Next it'll be dental insurance. And after that it'll be emotional distress upon being left alone insurance with mutt therapy just around the corner. Thousands of Fidos all over Japan with paws over their eyes misty on the couch in therapy no less. Mark-my-words. If there's a buck in it and people have got skin in the game, money will be made. Alsatians might look good with gold teeth? Rotweillers & blood donations? There's an idea? Donate the mutt's entire supply! Pump up the carcass with air and stand it in the corner. Nobody will notice the difference and think of the food savings ...
Deepinside at 05:01 PM JST - 13th January

and the insurance german company end with a Z,ha.ha. i think so timorborder
Nessie at 05:13 PM JST - 13th January

Tip to shoppers: figure out what the margins are on pet insurance. Also, how many premium payments would you need to pay to cover an operation?

Coming to a theater near you: "Ace Ventura, Pet Actuary"
zurcronium at 05:36 PM JST - 13th January

how about dog life insurance for those owners who let their pets run off leash in parks where kids play. That may be a good idea as well.

Actually with the number of dog attacks on kids and others lately it may be good for humans to get a policy against out of control muts.
kokuryu at 03:19 AM JST - 14th January

I wonder if they do the same thing in Japan that they do here in the US. Here I cannot get pet insurance for my dog because he is older than 10 years old. Is the same true there too? I think the pet insurance is a good thing. And I also agree with zurcronium that there should be pet attack insurance too.
scoobydoo at 08:23 AM JST - 14th January

Interesting perceptions of pets. For some they are partners, for for others the pet of one is a feral animal that kills indigenous species and should be eradicated and for others a dog is not a pet at all but rather a worker that gets shot when it no longer works.
kurtp at 11:09 AM JST - 14th January

Zurcronium, good point - I actually had to tell some Japanese chap to stop letting his smelly dog slide down a children's play slide in a park - in fact, my son was using the slide at the time! Some people seem to have completely lost it - don't even get my started on those stupid little dogs wearing coats! Sick!
Himajin at 01:57 PM JST - 14th January

kokuryu, the age limit for applying for the insurance is 10 years 11 months. This is the one my vet has pamphlets in his office for, and it's mentioned in the article.

http://www.anicom-sompo.co.jp/products/insurance/index.html

I haven't called them yet, but am thinking about it. I have a Flatcoat and they are prone to cancer...chemo and surgery for large dogs costs almost as much as treating a person, the insurance should help somewhat. He's five, so he can enroll. I found out about pet insurance too late for our cat, who's beginning to have health problems and more trips to the vet...he's going to be 19 in May.
neverknow2 at 02:20 PM JST - 14th January

I actually had to tell some Japanese chap to stop letting his smelly dog slide down a children's play slide

Thank you
usaexpat at 12:57 AM JST - 15th January

Responsible pet owners need to be able to put their pets down when they are too old or ill to live a normal life. I remember seeing a dog pushing along some sort of doggie walker because it had a stroke and couldn't use its front paws. I get that people are attached to their pets but keeping them alive forever is neither kind nor responsible.
Jaspr at 07:41 AM JST - 1st February

To Timorborder. Could I ask you to post the name of the insurance company / policy that provides coverage of 1 milYen per annum, please.

My younger husky was diagnosed with a rare and bad variety of cancer 2 and half years ago (9 yrs old at that time), he defied the prognosis (weeks, to a couple of months) by more than a year. But the bills during that year were well over 2 mill. Sure was sorry not to have had insurance to help us out.

Now have another pup, and want to get the best policy(s) available. The best I've seen so far covers up to 5 manen a month. Certainly OK - but yours sounds more comprehensive.

Thanks in advance.
cleo at 01:21 PM JST - 1st February

Jaspr -

Sorry to read about your husky. Cancer in dogs is becoming much less rare than it used to be, partly because dogs are living longer (and therefore have more time to develop diseases like cancer - the same phenomenon is seen in humans) and partly, my vet warns me, because of increasing numbers and volumes of additives in pet food. Preservatives are the biggest danger (he says), and owners should read labels very carefully before buying. Expensive doesn't necessarily mean safe.

My Lab died of stomach cancer at the age of nine and a half, and my mongrel was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer soon after and given no more than 2-3 months. We decided not to go for the course of chemo the vet recommended - he told us the treatment could be expected to extend her life by no more than a year at most, and we weren't prepared to put her through a year of the discomfort and distress we knew the treatment involved. We determined instead to care for her at home after a course of steroids removed the symptoms that had taken us to the vet in the first place, and steeled ourselves to have her put to sleep when and if she started to fail. In the meantime I took her off commercial dog food and put her on a diet of home-made vegetarian food, and she's still going strong 7 years later. At least, as strong as an old lady of 16+ can be expected to go.