Veterinary costs in France tend to sit lower on average than in the UK or Switzerland, which can lull owners into skipping travel insurance altogether. A routine consultation is genuinely affordable by comparison, but a real emergency — surgery, overnight hospitalisation, specialist imaging — can still run into a significant bill regardless of the country.
If your existing pet insurance is domestic-only from your home country, check specifically whether it extends to veterinary treatment received elsewhere in the EU — some policies limit cover to a single country or require an explicit travel add-on before they'll reimburse care received abroad.
Keep the policy documents and an emergency claims number somewhere accessible that doesn't depend on a single device staying charged. Most policies, as elsewhere, expect you to pay the vet directly and claim reimbursement afterward, so budget for the upfront cost regardless of what the policy ultimately covers.