Understanding pet insurance: A guide to protecting your furry friends
Find out what dog and cat insurance covers, what types of policies you can choose from and common exclusions to watch out for.
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 some 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.
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 vet fee, say €5,000 each year.
Another type of lifetime policy is per-condition, per-year cover. With this, you’d get an annual limit for each condition, for example, 42,000 per year for claims related to your cat’s diabetes.
Other lifetime policies do a bit of both: They pay a limited annual amount (such as €10,000) and a smaller annual benefit 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 policies, the higher the limit, the more expensive the premium. However, whatever this limit is, with a lifetime policy, you can rely on the insurer to make an ongoing contribution towards the costs of your pet’s conditions.
Non-lifetime cover pet insurance
The 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 (often referred to as ‘max benefit’) and time-limited cover.
Per-condition pet insurance pays a limited amount for each condition, and once the limit is reached, the insurer stops covering it.
For example, suppose your cat has an eye infection and your per-condition cover limit for this is €5,000, once that limit is reached. In that case, the insurer will no longer pay for claims related to the eye infection, even after you renew your policy.
Time-limited cover will have both monetary and time limits – typically 12 months from the beginning of your claim – before the condition is excluded.
Accident-only pet insurance
This is the cheapest and most basic type of insurance. It does not cover illnesses, only injuries.
These policies provide a fixed sum for each accidental injury to help pay for treatment, but they often stop paying after 12 months.
What does pet insurance cover ?
It covers vet fees and medical expenses, ranging from €1,000 to €25,000.
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 years is relatively common, but it can be as low as five.
Missing pet cover
Most policies contribute to the 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 and compensation.
Overseas travel cover
Most policies cover your pet’s medical expenses if it falls ill, is involved in an accident or needs veterinary treatment 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 no one else can look after your pet, providers usually pay for the pet’s stay in a cattery or kennel.
You must usually be in hospital for at least two to four consecutive days.
Euthanasia, cremation and burial
Your policy may cover the costs of your pet being put to sleep and 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.
What is excluded from pet insurance policies?
The following are some of the standard exclusions from policies. Read the T&Cs of your policy to ensure you have all the coverage you need.
Pre-existing illness or injury
A pre-existing medical condition existed before you took out a policy or arose shortly in the policy’s ‘waiting period’ (see below). They fall into two categories:
- Chronic conditions: Ongoing problems your pet has when you take out your policy, such as heart conditions or hip dysplasia.
- Historic conditions: Illnesses or injuries your pet no longer suffers from, such as healed tissue injuries or illnesses.
Most providers exclude pre-existing conditions from new coverage. However, some may be allowed if your pet has not required treatment for these conditions or shown symptoms for a certain period (for instance, two years).
Others will potentially cover some of your pet’s conditions after a medical screening process, enabling them to understand the risk similarly to health and travel insurers.
Illnesses in the ‘waiting period’
Most providers don’t cover illnesses that begin within the first 10 to 14 days of taking out a policy.
A few will waive this if you switch 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 arising from pregnancy, giving birth and treating any offspring.
Can older pets be insured?
Insurance companies treat cats and dogs over eight as ‘older pets’. For pets such as rabbits, this decreases to around five years, which could be as high as 20 years for horses.
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 will likely charge more to insure older animals than younger ones.
Finding competitive policies for older pets is still possible, but shopping around is essential.
Consider 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, ‘co-payments’, or both, on older pets. A co-payment is when the insurer does not pay a certain percentage of the claim’s cost. For older animals, these can be as much as 25%.
What are the alternatives to pet insurance?
There are several 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 essential to consider 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 higher veterinary costs 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 may help with some treatment to pets: