When is a pet not a pet?

Sometimes I think I’d having nothing to blog about if it wasn’t for summer holidays.

I've started looking into travel insurance for this summer, and have found that some policies I looked at had a clause headed “Pet Cover” or similar, which basically says that, should the return journey be delayed for any valid reason, the costs of additional kennel or cattery fees (presumably for pets left in the UK while their owners are on holiday) will be paid.

Which is a good idea. Except lizards don’t go to kennels or catteries; they go to a reptile sanctuary.

But the clause heading is most definitely about PETS, so perhaps they were using kennels and catteries as an inclusive term.....

So I emailed them, asking if this clause also applied to other small domestic pets, explaining that we would be boarding out lizards and, for good measure, adding that the cats would be coming with us but had their own insurance. (would that be purrsonal insurance?)

I was expecting a simple answer yes; after all, one small domestic animal is pretty much like any other small domestic animal – well, in insurance terms, anyway – and boarding fees for lizards are almost certainly going to be less than kennel or cattery fees. It’s not like I was expecting cover for stabling a horse ….

After a little more than 24 hours the answer came back.

No cover.

So we have another new definition - Pet: A domestic animal that is boarded in either a kennel or a cattery.

I wonder if I can find a kennel that accepts lizards?