According to Vsurance Inc. (OTCBB: VURC), the U.S. has the largest population of companion animals in the world – more than 141 million dogs and cats. Yet, U.S. pet owners trail the UK (19 percent of pets insured) and Sweden (48 percent insured) in insuring those animals.”Clearly, the pet insurance market in this country has remained largely untapped. As a pet insurance company with a distinctive strategy and a great degree of experience and knowledge in this emerging industry, we’ve identified this as a unique opportunity for growth,” states the company’s Web site.
The American Veterinary Medical Association reports that pet owners spend more than $18.2 billion each year in pet healthcare, in 2001 $11.6 million of that was spent on dog care. When my dog severed the Achilles tendons on both her back legs, she required laser surgery costing over $1,000, not counting initial and follow-up visits. If I’d had insurance the cost would have been much more affordable – however, I didn’t even know there was such a thing.
Vsurance Inc. realizes the need for pet insurance – from cats and dogs to horses. The company has collaborated with pet care and insurance authorities to produce life and health insurance for horses, cats and dogs, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to track animals, other lost and found services, and more.
Vsurance has created an online community which allows pet owners to shop for pet insurance, healthcare services and more.
VetpetMD is a Web-based resource center that provides animal owners and veterinarians objective and credible sources for animal healthcare information; the Purrfect Pet Club provides users with lost and found registration services, access to pet related products, medical insurance for animals and more; Spot the Pet resource center provides ID tags and GPS which allow pet owners to monitor the location of their pet via cell phone or PDA; Purrfect Pet Insurance provides pet owners with insurance products for their companion, and the company will soon expand liability to pet owners; and Purrfect Horse Insurance provides health insurance to the horse market.
The company plans to soon offer pet owners liability coverage themselves, with the purchase of a health insurance policy.
“Our audience is ‘pet owners of dogs and cats’ but insurance for all other companion animals is forth coming,” the company states. “Vsurance will be the first and only U.S. provider of liability coverage with a pet health insurance plan.”
MN1 attempts to contact Vsurance went unanswered.
