Pet insurance can save you time, money and stress

Packing up your pet for the family's summer vacation? Your pre-planning checklist might include a carrier, new leash or doggie travel treats -- but don't forget about pet insurance, an often overlooked aspect of Fido-friendly vacations.

Don't know where to start? Pet Protect PetHealthAlert recently introduced a service specializing in free pet Medical Alert Tags and online National Pet Health Registry that provides critical and immediate health alerts for pets that become lost, stranded or displaced during natural disasters, when traveling, or for everyday pet emergencies.

The free internet-based service, found online at  www.PetHealthAlert.com, is the first pet ID system to do so.  PetHealthAlert.com was developed in response to first-hand experience of how natural disasters like hurricanes can be incredibly devastating for pets.  By offering a free and effective pet identification service, PetHealthAlert.com hopes to make Pet Medical Alert Tags available and easily accessible to every pet owner across America. 

Pet owners can choose from 10 different stainless steel Tag styles, for example ‘seizures’, ‘blind’, ‘healthy pet’, or ‘I am a Survivor’ (to honor Hurricane survivors or rescue pets), and each Tag is engraved with a unique ID number.  A pet owner can register their Tag ID number, including their pet’s medical and veterinary contact information and upload their pet’s photo in PetHealthAlert.com’s National Pet Health Registry.  Anyone finding a lost or displaced pet can search the pet’s unique Tag ID number on www.PetHealthAlert.com  and instantly retrieve the pet’s critical information, registered by the pet owner.   

Amanda Jacobs of PetHealthAlert headquarters in Naples, Florida, explains, “Pet Identification is so important, because more and more families are traveling with their pets, and disaster and emergency preparedness is something many pet owners don’t think about until it is too late.”  The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University,  predicts 17 named storms and 9 hurricanes for 2006.  In addition, The U.S. Fire Administration, A Profile of Fire in the United States 1992-2001 confirms, “Fire departments respond to nearly 2 million fire calls that result in thousands of deaths.”  The American Veterinary Medical Association’s Saving the Whole Family, Disaster Preparedness Series suggests, “Preparing ahead of time and acting quickly is the best way to keep you and your family, including your animals, out of danger.”  Jacobs further explains, “Natural disasters are not the only emergencies that can leave pets stranded, lost, or displaced.  We can’t forget that pets are lost everyday, when traveling, and can even escape from their own home or backyard.”  

Additional features of PetHealthAlert.com include a Pet Travel Checklist and suggestions on what to include in a Pet Evacuation Kit and Pet First Aid Kit.  Pet owners can download a free tag order form online or request a free tag order form by mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Pet Protect PetHealthAlert  PO Box 11447, Naples, Florida  34101.  For more information, please visit www.PetHealthAlert.com.

(Source: Pet Health Alert)