Nobody wants to think about this one, which is exactly why almost no renters policy has it. If a covered loss at your place — a fire, say — injures or kills a household pet, this optional coverage can pay reasonable amounts up to $500 toward veterinary care, or toward burial or disposal.
It's a small limit and an enormous kindness, and we know of very few renters policies anywhere that offer it.
The coverage applies to household pets owned or kept by you that are injured or die resulting from a covered loss on the residence premises. The trigger is the same event your policy already responds to — the kitchen fire, the building fire that starts two units over — extended, for the first time, to the family member with four legs.
A fire starts two units down in your apartment building on a workday afternoon. The sprinklers and the fire department do their jobs, your unit takes smoke damage, and your renters policy responds the way it's built to — belongings, temporary housing, the rest. But your cat was home, and she's at the emergency vet being treated for smoke inhalation. With pet coverage on the policy, up to $500 of that vet bill can be covered as part of the same claim — because the fire that damaged your things didn't check what was breathing in the apartment before it spread.
