Pet insurance for cats is projected to grow by 13% by 2026, according to the Global Pet Insurance Market Overview, 2020-2026 report. Though this points to more pet care opportunities for veterinary teams, reduced stress over client economic limitations, and more clinic revenue, research also shows two things:
- Veterinary teams play a key role in the growth of pet insurance.
- Veterinary teams face an ongoing challenge that likely won’t go away any time soon.
Why the Projected Growth in Pet Insurance for Cats?
Though dogs were the popular face of the pandemic pet adoption boom, people also adopted record numbers of cats. According to new findings by Rover.com, 55% of pet adoptees brought home a cat in 2020, and 5% brought home both a dog and cat.
Cat adoptions during COVID were fuelled by factors beyond the simple desire for companionship.
- Practicality: With apartments getting smaller, developers building smaller condos, and skyrocketing real estate prices eliminating the hope of home ownership for many people, cats are tailor made for pet ownership in a small space.
- Increased Awareness of Value: As the pet insurance industry grows, so does consumer understanding that pet insurance protects against going out of pocket or into debt for veterinary treatment and diagnostic costs.
- Pet Humanization: People now predominantly think of pets as family members. As such, where pet insurance was once an afterthought (or didn’t come to mind at all), pet insurance is gaining traction.
What This Boils Down to for Practices
- More Opportunities for Patient Care: Cat owners with pet insurance are more likely to bring their pet into a veterinary clinic and approve surgical procedures, according to 2021 findings published by the AVMA. This means pet insurance helps veterinary teams practice more of why they got into veterinary medicine in the first place.
- Reduced Stress: Pet insurance helps reduce the rate of economic euthanasia, which means pet insurance helps reduce the moral, mental, and emotional stress of euthanasia for veterinarians.
- More Practice Revenue and Better Client retention: According to 2021 findings by Nationwide, revenue increased 76% for practices whose clients had cat insurance. Insured pet owners also tend to stick with their veterinary practice, rather than bouncing around in an ongoing effort to find inexpensive pet care.
Veterinary Teams Play a Key Role in the Growth of Pet Insurance
Recent findings published by Veterinary Practice News reveal, “Pet owners are more likely to accept pet medical insurance when it is brought to their attention by their veterinarian.” This means, veterinary teams are in a unique position to drive the 13% projected growth in pet insurance—and realize the benefits. The key to it all is client education. As noted in a pre-pandemic article by Veterinary Practice News, “When veterinarians invest in learning about and recommending pet insurance, the result is a win-win-win for pets, clients, and the veterinary hospital.”
The Ongoing Challenge for Veterinary Teams
As much as veterinary teams wish more pet owners had pet insurance, a recent survey by the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) shows that busy clinic teams have little time to chat with clients about pet insurance (or don’t feel comfortable doing so). As a result, as noted by Mary Beth Leininger, DVM, in Veterinary Practice News, “Few veterinarians do little more than display pet insurance brochures in the reception area.”
PetInsuranceInfo.com Solves the Time Challenge for Practice Teams
Reflecting LifeLearn’s core commitment to help advance pet health and education, PetInsuranceInfo.com is accessible to pet owners from the web and can also be integrated into WebDVM custom veterinary websites.
Clarity and Simplicity = The PetInsuranceInfo.com Difference
PetInsuranceInfo.com helps pet owners make informed decisions by:
- Providing comprehensive but easy-to-understand information
- Demystifying common misconceptions about pet insurance
- Providing a simple tool for pet owners to compare different insurance coverage and quotes
All pet insurance policy transactions are handled directly between the pet owner and the pet owner’s selected insurance provider.
The Advantages of PetInsuranceInfo.com for Clinics
- com removes the burden on veterinary teams to be experts on pet insurance.
- The site solves the problem of veterinary teams having time for client education.
- Clients can feel confident knowing the education they’re receiving is unbiased, reliable, and has been recommended by the veterinary clinic they know and trust.
Since PetInsuranceInfo.com costs nothing for clinics (even as an addition to WebDVM), all you need to do is direct clients to PetInsuranceInfo.com when they have pet insurance questions or let them know the service is available to them in your client communications.
That’s it.
To help you easily get the word out, simply download our PetInsuranceInfo.com toolkit, which includes instructions on how to add PetInsuranceInfo.com to your website, as well as emails and social content to notify your clients.
If you have a WebDVM website, you can also email [email protected] to add PetInsuranceInfo.com to your website directly.
We’re here for you every step of the way.
