COVID-19 has been at the forefront for healthcare providers, including veterinary professionals. Widely recognized as a virus. It is primarily a person-to-person disease. Trupanion, a leader in medical insurance for cats and dogs, analyzed its database to provide insight into the top health conditions for dogs and cats since the onset of COVID-19 in North America.
COVID 19: Health Conditions for Pets
With more than 500,000 pets currently under its medical insurance coverage, Trupanion receives medical invoice data for thousands of members daily and has a team dedicated entirely to animal health data analysis.
“Even though we’re in a pandemic, it’s clear to see that the things that our pets are usually impacted by don’t change,” noted Dr. Weinrauch.
According to Trupanion claims data from March 1 to May 31, 2020, the top health conditions for pets since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic are:
- Allergy
- Otitis
- Vomiting and diarrhea
- Lameness
- Mass
- Urinary tract infection
- Arthritis
- Cruciate Rupture
- Seizure
- Diabetes
Over its 20-year history, Trupanion has compiled a database of claims from over 1.5 million pets. This data can be used to identify trends and patterns over time, which can be compared to real-time hospital claims data to identify current trends in pet health.
With veterinary hospitals providing essential services for family pets, most facilities have remained open during the pandemic, providing curbside service for their clients. Analyzing Trupanion data from March 1 to May 31, 2020, the top health condition for pets was allergies. Rounding out the top three conditions were otitis and vomiting.
Since March 1, Trupanion has helped over 11,000 members’ pets with claims paid for allergy conditions. During the same period, Trupanion paid out approximately 6,000 claims for otitis and another 6,000 claims for vomiting.
“Trupanion exists to help loving, responsible pet owners budget and care for their pets,” said Dr. Steve Weinrauch, chief product and veterinary officer at Trupanion. “We are here to provide peace of mind in uncertain times and that includes pandemic coverage as a standard should the need arise.”
