Pet insurance explained

What is pet insurance?

Pet insurance helps you cover the cost of treatment when a pet is injured or ill. Insurers will also usually pay out if your pet dies, is lost or stolen or damages property.

Our experts have analysed hundreds of the best cat insurance and best dog insurance policies, and thousands of policyholders have rated the customer service of the biggest companies to find the best pet insurance.

We explain how pet insurance works, what to watch out for and what's excluded from policies. 

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What are the main types of pet insurance?

Lifetime cover pet insurance

Lifetime policies are the most popular and the most comprehensive type of insurance. As the name suggests, they will pay out indefinitely for treatment over your pet's lifetime, subject to annual limits. 

Lifetime policies can work in different ways. Annual policies pay up to a specified amount on vet fees each year, say £5,000.

Another type of lifetime policy is per-condition, per-year cover. With this, you'd get an annual limit for each condition, for example £2,000 per year for claims related to your cat's diabetes.

Other lifetime policies do a bit of both – paying a limited annual amount (such as £10,000), with a smaller annual benefit within this for any single condition (perhaps £2,000). 

So using those figures, you could make up to five claims of up to £2,000 in the year if your pet required treatment for five unconnected conditions, but you'd only get £2,000 towards a succession of costs involved in treating one illness.

With all types of policy, the higher the limit the more expensive the premium. However, whatever this limit is, with a lifetime policy you can rely on the insurer making an ongoing contribution towards the costs of your pet's conditions.

Non-lifetime cover pet insurance

Non-lifetime cover is less comprehensive and excludes certain conditions after you hit your claims limit. 

There are two main types of non-lifetime insurance: per-condition cover and time-limited cover.

Per-condition pet insurance pays a limited amount for each condition and, once that limit has been reached, the insurer stops covering it.

For example, if your cat has an eye infection and your per-condition cover limit for this is £5,000, once that limit is reached the insurer will no longer pay for claims related to that, even after you renew your policy.

Time-limited cover will have both a monetary limit and time limit – typically 12 months from you beginning your claim – before the condition is excluded.

Accident-only pet insurance

This is the cheapest and most basic type of insurance, and it doesn't cover illnesses only injuries.

These policies provide a fixed sum of money for each accidental injury to help pay for treatment and will often also stop paying for the injury after 12 months. 

What does pet insurance cover?

It covers the cost of vet fees and certain medical expenses, and can range from £1,000 to as much as £18,000. 

In addition to vet fee cover, most policies cover the following:

Death by accident or illness

If your pet dies, you can claim for an amount reflecting what you paid for the pet or its financial value.

Most policies have a maximum age at which this part of the cover can be used – around eight is fairly common, but it can be as low as five.

Missing pet cover

Most policies contribute to costs of putting up posters and paying a reward if your pet goes missing.

Third-party liability

If you have a dog, your pet insurance policy should pay out if your dog injures someone or damages their property. 

This covers legal costs, expenses and the claimant’s expenses.

Overseas travel cover

Most policies will provide cover if your pet falls ill, is involved in an accident or needs veterinary treatment when abroad. 

Many insurers also offer cover for lost travel and accommodation costs if you're forced to cancel a holiday because your pet becomes life-threateningly ill when you're due to leave.

Cattery and kennel fees

If you're hospitalised and there's no one else to look after your pet, providers will usually pay out if it needs to be put in a cattery or a kennel. 

You usually have to be in hospital for at least two to four consecutive days.

Euthanasia, cremation and burial

Your policy may contain cover for the costs of your pet being put to sleep, cremation or burial.

Dental cover

Most insurers offer cover if your pet needs dental work. Some policies will only cover dental treatment resulting from an injury and won't pay for dental costs related to illness. 

Those that do usually make the cover contingent on your pet receiving dental check-ups once a year.

• Find out more: how to find cheap pet insurance.

What is excluded from pet insurance policies?

The following are some of the common exclusions from policies. Read the T&Cs of your policy to make sure that you have the cover you need.

Pre-existing illness or injury

A pre-existing medical condition is one that existed prior to you taking out a policy, or arises very shortly afterwards in the policy's 'waiting period' (see below). They fall into two categories:

• Chronic conditions Ongoing problems your pet has at the time you take out your policy, such as heart conditions or hip dysplasia.
• Historic conditions Illnesses or injuries that your pet no longer suffers from, such as healed tissue injuries or illnesses.

Most providers exclude pre-existing conditions from any new cover, although in some cases these may be if your pet hasn't required treatment for these conditions for a certain period of time (for instance, two years).

There are, however, a small number of companies that do consider covering pre-existing conditions. Some, for example, will cover historic conditions where your pet has been free of symptoms and treatment for a set period of time – usually around two years.

Others will potentially cover some of your pets' conditions after a medical screening process enabling them to understand the risk in a similar way that health and travel insurers do.

Illnesses in the 'waiting period'

Most providers don't cover illnesses that begin within the first 10 to 14 days of the taking out a policy. 

A few will waive this if you're switching to them from another insurer, so you don't have a 'gap' in your cover. 

Routine and preventative treatment

Treatments such as vaccinations, spaying, castration, flea, worm and tick treatments, grooming, claw clipping and teeth maintenance are often excluded from cover.

Pregnancy and giving birth

Policies may exclude expenses that arise due to pregnancy, giving birth and treatment of any offspring.

Can older pets be insured?

Insurance companies typically treat cats and dogs over the age of eight years old as ‘older pets’. For pets such as rabbits, this decreases to around five years old and horses could be as high as 20 years old.

As your pet ages, they're more likely to fall ill or suffer an injury that could lead to a more expensive claim.

To cover this additional risk, insurers are likely to charge more to insure older animals than younger ones.  

It's still possible to find competitive policies for older pets, but it's important to shop around. Bear in mind the following: 

• If your pet has had any illness or veterinary treatment in the past, be sure to check whether any exclusions apply to the new policy so you understand what you're paying for.
• Don't overlook the excess. Insurers typically impose higher excesses, or 'co-payments' (or both), on older pets. A co-payment is when the insurer won't pay a certain percentage of the claim's cost. For older animals, these can be as much as 25%.

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What are the alternatives to pet insurance?

There are a number of alternatives to pet insurance if you want to protect your pet. These include.

Self-insurance

Self-insuring your pet means saving a set amount of money to pay for potential vet bills.

With self-insurance, it’s really important to think about how much you can realistically afford to put aside and keep in a fund to protect your pet.

The risk of self-insuring is that you could run into veterinary costs that are higher than the amount you've saved.

For example, Hip dysplasia – where your pet needs both hips replaced – could cost around £7,000.

Charities and other help

If you can’t afford pet insurance, the following groups offer free treatment to pets:

• Blue Cross
• People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)
• Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA)
• Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA)

Help from these charities is means-tested and mainly helps people who are on a low income, retired or receive certain state benefits to get help towards the cost of veterinary care.

Pet insurance: your questions answered