We dig into the facts on our Pet Insurance and what you need to know about cover for routine care costs like flea and tick treatment.
Parasites are serious business when it comes to our pets. Whilst the costs of flea and tick treatment might not seem all too big to begin with, they are recurring monthly costs which can quickly start to add up.
The healthcare costs of owning a pet shouldn’t be taken lightly, you can take our word for it. Which is where pet insurance comes into play. We dig into the costs of tick and flea control and your cover when it comes to pet insurance with Oneplan Pet Insurance – the insurer we always recommend when asked.
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Flea and tick control in pets
Tick and fleas might initially seem to be an easy solution, but they can easily lead to more serious (and expensive) health concerns like hot spots and worms. Which is why prevention is far more effective than treatment after the fact.
Prevention methods are also much easier on your pet (and your wallet). There is a range of options for tick and flea treatments, some might be over-the-counter and others might be prescribed by your vet.
The costs of flea and tick treatment
External parasite control results in monthly costs ranging from about R80 to R100 for cats and R80 to R160 for dogs (and these prices are per pet). So, if you have 1 cat and 2 dogs, you are looking at around R300 in tick and flea control treatments every month.
Of course, these costs will be dependent on what you purchase for your pet and where you purchase it from. For example, some products like Bravecto cost about R450, but this product lasts for as long as 3 months.
If you decide not to treat your dog or cat for tick and fleas, then an uncomplicated case of tick bite fever can cost anywhere between R500 to R1 000 to treat, if the case is more complicated, then it can cost from R2 000 to R10 000 for hospitalisation.
Read this: Owning a pet & working full time: 9 things to consider
Pet insurance and flea and tick treatment
Right then, now that we all have a clear idea on the cost and importance of tick and flea prevention, let’s explore what pet insurance with Oneplan will cover when it comes to these costs. If you have one of the below pet insurance plans with them, then tick and flea control are covered under your Pet Med Savings benefit:
- Pet Classic Plan
- Pet Super Plan
- Pet Primary Plan **Routine care is included only if you have added a Pet Med Booster
- Pet Hospital Plan **Routine care is included only if you have added a Pet Med Booster
Here’s an expert guide to our plans if you want to know a little more.
What is routine care?
Routine care refers to preventive healthcare for your pet. It’s basically a form of wellness cover needed to keep your pet healthy and prevent him or her from contracting a more serious and expensive-to-treat condition. Routine care includes voluntary sterilisation, vaccinations, deworming, tick & flea control, and anal gland expression, dental scaling and polishing and nail clipping.
Because Oneplan believes that your furry members of the family deserve the best veterinary treatment, they include routine care in a number of their plans under the Pet Med Savings Benefit, and you can add even more to your routine care cover with their Pet Med Booster Benefit.
Pet Med Booster
Oneplan Pet Insurance has an add-on benefit for routine care where, for a small additional monthly fee to your premium, you can add Pet Med Savings to your plan. You can add this benefit onto the Pet Primary, Hospital, Classic, and Super Plans.
For example, if you decide to add this benefit to your Primary or Hospital Plan, for an extra R35 per month, you will receive R350 in cover for routine care costs. If you have chosen the Classic or Super Plan, the routine care benefit for this plan is R80 or R90 per month respectively, and you’ll double your Pet Med Savings to either R1600 or R1800 respectively.
Related: Why Oneplan’s Pet Super Plan is the Top Pet Insurance Plan for Boujee Pets
The great thing about this benefit is that it automatically includes the Excess Buster which helps to cover the excess charged for a hospital claim, meaning you could save thousands of rands in medical bills.
How to claim for routine care with Oneplan
Oneplan’s easy to use Oneplan Claim Card allows you to pre-load funds for Vet and Routine Visit claims using the Oneplan App..
Your Oneplan Claim Card is sent to you when you become a part of the Oneplan Family and works the same way as a debit card! Funds can be pre-loaded before visiting your vet of choice (yeah, they let you go to ANY vet of your choice).
All you have to do is:
- Login to the Oneplan App
- Load a claim
- Money is loaded onto your Oneplan Claim Card
- Swipe your Oneplan Claim Card at the vet
Just a heads up – You will need to provide a detailed copy of your invoice to validate your claim or to facilitate a refund, this can be snapped and uploaded in-app.
We hope this article has given you some valuable insight into how flea and tick treatment, and routine care treatment in general, is covered by pet insurance!
