Insurers see surge in health insurance for pets

Insurers have revealed that there has been a surge in health insurance for customer’s pets .

As veterinary bills rise and consumers spend more time with their pets, the health insurance industry is set to expand. However, while less than one per cent of pet owners own health insurance policies for their animals, those in the marketplace see a growing trend.

David Goodnight, president of Purina Care Health Insurance, said, "Pets are becoming more and more important to people and they are looking at them more as family members. The other factor is that we are seeing a rapid increase, really an explosion, in the cost of veterinary care because of new technologies and the procedures."

New trends are emerging, such as the Pet Health Consortium which is a new group working to promote pet health insurance . The group is calling for the government to allow pet insurance to be treated as an optional pre-tax benefit that companies could offer their employees .