Pet Sitting Insurance Canada Comparison Chart, Dog Walking and Pet Sitter Liability

by Professional United Pet Sitters LLC

The following companies are known to provide quality pet sitting insurance to individual pet sitters as well as professional pet sitting businesses.  Contact the companies directly for more details. 

If you provide pet sitter insurance, including care/custody/control, and would like to be listed, please send us an email.

Disclaimers

Printable Version:  Updated Oct 20,2013

 

Professional United Pet Sitters LLC  is NOT affiliated with any pet sitter and dog walker liability insurance companies, including the ones listed below. 

Professional United Pet Sitters LLC does NOT offer or endorse ANY Pet Sitter insurance, business insurance, health insurance, or bonding. 

 

Pet sitter insurance companies are listed below for your convenience only. 
No pet sitter insurance is included with membership to PUPS.

 

Professional United Pet Sitters LLC, PetSits.Com, Happy At Home Pet Sitters, and the owners are not liable for errors in or related to information presented here.   Please contact the companies directly for more current information.  The information listed is the limited understanding we have based on the info we’ve received.  It may be right, or it may be inaccurate.  Or the insurance may be changing while we speak.  This is just for information purposes only, and we can not and do not guarantee the accuracy in any way at any time. We are not personally or professionally affiliated with any insurance listed below.   www.PetSits.Com

 

Provided through:

Binks Verge / Canadian Pet Pro PROfur
Website www.binks.ca www.canadianpetpro.com www.profur.ca
Cost per year (annual) $600 Base Rate per year plus PST for up to 3 persons.  Larger operations are charged a bit more

 
$600 per year plus fees and taxes.

Monthly pay option also available for 3% service fee.

 

PROfur is a company we discovered online in Oct 2013. We do not have additional information about their coverage at this time.

You must be a member of

PSI

 (CA membership)

+ $125/year

None
 
Is there a discount available for certification? 10% credit available upon receipt and review of certificate. No
Is bonding available?

Covers the client in case a sitter steals from the home.  

Bonding generally applies only when subject is convicted of theft in criminal court or proven guilty of a crime.  Restitution may be sought by the insurance company.

Note:  be sure the policy includes coverage for the business owner.

Yes

Includes third party bonding of $15,000

(Both employees and IC's).

 

Yes

Includes $20,000 third party dishonesty bond.

 
Is theft insurance available

An alternative to bonding.  Restitution is not sought by the insurance company.

No Yes  
Liability limits

$2,000,000 Commercial General Liability

$5,000,000 Annual Aggregate

$2,000,000 Personal/Advert. Inj

$2,000,000 Products/Completed Ops

$2,000,000 Non-owned Auto

$500 Lost Key

$2,000,000 Commercial General Liability, including in client's home

$50,000 Pets in your care

$5,000 Business Property, can be increased.

$500 Lost Key

 

Is care, custody, and control / Animal Bailee included?

(covers if you are liable for damage/death of a pet - including vet care, property replacement, etc)
Yes
Limit of $500,000, which includes damage caused to ALL client's personal property.
Yes
Website says:  $50,000 Pet in Your Care (500,000 any one occurrence)
 
Is there coverage for claims with no pet sitter negligence?

(this can be used if you need to take the pet to the emergency vet and the client is unwilling to reimburse you for the visit)
Yes
Subject to Voluntary Property Damage terms.  Low limit.  Contact Binks for more information.
No  
Effective date Unknown Unknown  
FAQ FAQ FAQ  
Are ICs, spouse & employees covered

Note:  ICs should always get their own coverage in the own business name separately through their own business.  It is best  for you to also cover them also with your policy through your business.
Yes
You are covered for anyone acting on your behalf.
Yes
Each must be bondable
 
Are under 18 year old employees covered to do pet sits alone?

Yes

Unknown  
Can I bring my kids to sits?

Note - insurance coverage does not include injuries or damage to the children or the children's property.

Yes

 
Unknown  
Do I lose coverage if I place a certain # of claims? No
Discontinuation is based on nature and frequency of claims.

Unknown

 
Deductible $500 Property Damage/No Negligence
$500 Voluntary Property Damage (No negligence medical)
$500 to business property  
Medicating covered Yes
Exception: Professional pet medical service providers (RVT, CVT, CVA, etc) must add on Malpractice Liability extension for additional fee.

Yes

 
Is housesitting (No pets) coverage available/included? Yes
Must be incidental to overall pet-sitting operations.
Yes  
Is pet taxi covered?

Note:  NOT auto-insurance; just coverage for pets.
Yes Yes  
Are overnights at the client's home covered? Yes Yes  
Is boarding / day care covered at your own home? Yes

...but if your operations are more like a kennel, Binks will arrange coverage differently.

Yes  
Is grooming covered? Yes
Must be incidental to overall pet-sitting operations.
Yes  
Is poo scooping only service (no pet sitting) covered? Yes
Must be incidental to overall pet-sitting operations.
No  
Are all animals covered?

Note: most policies only cover animals NOT used by the client for profit or business.

Yes
...but horses and/or rare/exotic animals care should be occasional only.

No

Household pets are included.

 

Coverage excludes: farm animals, exotic animals, and animals prohibited as household pets by law.

 
Is online listing available

No

A listing is included with your membership to PSI on their website.

No
 
 
Insurance Provided By

Intact Insurance Company

Unknown  

 

Additional Information:

Injury to yourself or your personal belongings (including pets)
As far as we know, no Pet Sitter insurance covers harm to yourself, people you bring along, personal pets you bring along or your personal / business belongings. 

If you are hurt in a client's home, this would be something that would usually be covered by Worker's Compensation.  Many business owning sitters do not have worker's comp for themselves (and some are not allowed to get it in their states to cover THEMSELVES), but must have it for their employees.  So you will want to consider looking into  a worker's comp plan for yourself to cover injuries acquired on the job.  Or start a big savings account for emergencies!

The vast majority of regular health insurance providers do NOT cover injuries acquired while on the job.

You can try to sue a client for injuries acquired do to their negligence.   For example, if the roof caves in on your head, you could probably sue for your injuries.  The client's personal insurances may cover these situations. 

Injuries to yourself acquired from a pet in your care, under a pet sitting contract, may be entirely your responsibility.  Some states regulate that once you agree to take control of the pet by caring for it, you are entirely responsible for injuries caused by the pet to others or yourself.  Your Pet Sitter insurance will cover injuries to others (up to the limit), but not to your own person.  Other states have different standards, so you could try to sue the owner and hope for the best. 

As a side note, if a client pet (or any wild animal for that matter) bites you and you report it to a doctor, by law most if not all have to report it to the state.  Police will likely come to take information, and may take the dog/cat, no matter what the circumstances.  Vicious and dangerous hearings may result.  So obviously, don't lie and tell a doctor your own pet bit you to hide the truth!

Another side note - if you get bit and need a stitch or 2 and some antibiotics, it will cost lots - a lot more than you expect if you are used to having health insurance.  So just step back and rethink twice if you are a little nervous about any animal.  It's certainly not worth the cost!

Negligence Required
Pet Sitter insurance generally covers you ONLY if you were negligent in your duties.  If something is beyond your control, you are not covered or liable.  For example, if a broken sink starts to leak and you haven't touched it, you are not responsible.  There are a lot of fuzzy areas, and the pet sitter insurances above (at least the first 2) have a good track record of sorting out fuzzy items.

Exception:  Currently all four insurers listed above do include vet coverage for non-negligent situations as listed in the chart.  This means you can take an ill pet to the vet and trust that you will get reimbursed no matter the circumstances.

Considering a Claim
Consider placing a claim even if you think you are not covered.  Adjusters have the job of finding out what your coverage really is, so it can't hurt to file a claim (unless you are filing many and are about to get dropped).

 

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