Pet insurance
Pet Insurance Quotes
compare UK cover for dogs, cats and rabbits, before you need it
Cover for the vet bills of dogs, cats and rabbits, in four levels, where the level you pick at the start decides what will still be paid for a long-running condition years later.
- Accident only, time limited, per condition or lifetime
- Dogs, cats and rabbits
- Third party liability for dogs
- FCA authorised and regulated
Quick answerPet insurance comes in four levels, and only one of them keeps paying for a long-running condition year after year. Everything else about a pet policy follows from that choice, including how much the price matters, because the one thing you usually cannot do later is switch away from a condition your pet has already been treated for.
The short version
The Short Answers First
What UK owners ask before they compare anything.
| Question | Quick answer |
|---|---|
| Is pet insurance compulsory? | No. Nothing in UK law requires it, unlike motor cover. It is a choice about who carries the cost of a vet bill. |
| How many levels are there? | Four: accident only, time limited, per condition, and lifetime. They are not tiers of the same thing. |
| Which one keeps paying? | Only lifetime. Its limit refreshes at every renewal, so a long-running condition stays claimable year after year. |
| Can I switch later? | Rarely, in the way you would want to. A new insurer normally treats anything already treated as pre-existing and excludes it. |
| When does cover start? | Accident cover within a day or two. Illness usually waits around 14 days, which is why buying early matters. |
| What is a co-payment? | A percentage of the bill you pay on top of the excess. It typically starts at the renewal after a dog turns 8 or 9, or a cat 10 or 11. |
| Are vaccinations covered? | No. Routine and preventive treatment is not, on any level, and skipping a jab your vet advised can cost you cover for that illness. |
| Do dogs need liability cover? | It is not required by law. Most dog policies include it anyway, at a limit measured in millions. Cat policies do not. |
The basics
What Is Pet Insurance?
Pet insurance pays vet bills you could not easily absorb. Nothing in UK law requires it, which makes it unlike car insurance: it is a choice about who carries the cost when a dog tears a cruciate ligament or a cat turns out to be diabetic.
What makes it unusual is that the decision is close to irreversible. Once your pet has been treated for something, another insurer will normally treat it as pre-existing and exclude it, so the level you choose in year one is the level you are likely to be living with in year eight. The Association of British Insurers put the average claim at £685 in 2024.
What a policy has to do
- Cover for vet fees when something goes wrong, up to the limit you chose
- For dogs, cats and rabbits, from a few weeks old
- Third party liability, on most dog policies
- A decision made once, at the start, that is hard to undo later
The levels, and liability
How long each one lasts
- Accident onlyInjury, never illnessInjury only
- Time limited12 months per conditionThen stops
- Per conditionA cash pot per conditionNever refills
- LifetimeA limit for each policy yearRefreshes
- LiabilityDamage your dog causesRuns alongside
How a claim runs
How a Claim Actually Gets Paid
The vet treats, then either the practice claims direct or you pay and claim back. Your excess and, on an older pet, a percentage of the bill come off. What is left depends on the level of cover and what that condition has already used.
Your vet treats, and somebody pays
Some practices claim direct from the insurer and you settle only your share. Many do not, so you pay the bill and claim it back. Find out which of the two your own practice does now, rather than on the day.
Your excess and any co-payment come off
A fixed excess, usually charged once per condition per policy year, and on an older pet a percentage of each claim on top. Both are yours to pay.
The limit and the clock decide the rest
Whether the claim is paid to the end depends on which of the four levels you bought, and on what the policy still has left for that particular condition.
If your practice does not claim direct, you need to be able to find the whole bill up front and wait to be repaid, and that changes what excess makes sense for you. It is also the reason a large voluntary excess can be a false economy on a pet policy.
What it reaches
What Does Pet Insurance Cover?
Vet fees for accidents on every level, and for illness on every level except accident only. What separates them is what happens to a condition that lasts: 12 months, a fixed pot, or a limit that comes back every year.
| Accident only | Time limited | Per condition | Lifetime | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accidents and injuries | Covered | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Illness, short term | No | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| A condition that runs for years | No | For 12 months | Until the pot empties | Refreshes yearly |
| Third party liability, dogs | Check the wording | Most policies | Most policies | Most policies |
| Death, theft or straying | Check the wording | Check the wording | Check the wording | Check the wording |
| Routine and preventive care | Not on any level | Not on any level | Not on any level | Not on any level |
Third party liability is the row owners overlook. If your dog causes an accident or hurts someone, you can be held responsible, and the cover sits inside most dog policies at a limit measured in millions. It is not required by law, and it does not exist on cat policies at all, because the law treats the two very differently.
Where claims fail
Where a Pet Claim Falls Down
Routine care is the honest exclusion and nobody expects it to be covered. What actually costs owners a claim is different: the waiting period at the start, a condition that was already there, and the conditions on vaccination and dental checks that nobody reads.
The waiting period
Illness cover normally starts around 14 days in, accidents in a day or two. Anything that shows symptoms inside that window is excluded, which is the argument for insuring a pet the week you get them.
Pre-existing conditions
Anything your pet had, or showed signs of, before cover began. It is one of the most common reasons a pet claim is refused, and it is what makes switching insurer so difficult later.
Routine and preventive care
Vaccinations, flea and worm treatment, neutering, nail clipping and grooming. Not covered on any of the four levels of vet fee cover, because none of it is an unexpected event.
Skipping a jab your vet advised
Most policies will not pay for an illness the animal could have been vaccinated against. It does not void the policy: it removes that one illness from it.
Dental, and the check-up condition
Dental illness is commonly covered, but usually only if the pet has had an annual dental check that you paid for yourself. Read that condition before you need it.
Breeding, banned breeds and elective work
Pregnancy and giving birth are excluded, as is anything elective or cosmetic, and so is treatment for a dog banned under UK law.
The Financial Ombudsman Service publishes what it sees go wrong on pet policies: pre-existing condition disputes, arguments about when the 12 month clock started, bilateral conditions where one hip or one eye counts as the same condition as the other, dental exclusions, and changes to a policy sold as lifetime. If a claim is refused, ask for a final response and take it to the Ombudsman free of charge.
The four levels
The Four Levels, and Why Only One Really Lasts
Accident only excludes illness altogether. Time limited pays for 12 months per condition. Per condition pays up to a pot that never refills. Lifetime refreshes its limit at every renewal, and is the only one that keeps paying for a chronic condition.
| Level | What it pays | The catch worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Accident only | Injury, never illness | Cheapest, and the narrowest by a long way: it does nothing at all for illness |
| Time limited | 12 months from the start of each condition, and a cash cap | The clock is the trap. The condition is excluded at 12 months even if the money is unspent |
| Per condition, or maximum benefit | A fixed pot per condition, with no time limit | The pot never refills. A long-running condition empties it and is then uninsured for life |
| Lifetime | An annual limit that comes back at every renewal | The only level that keeps paying for a condition year after year, while you keep renewing |
Two things about lifetime cover are worth getting right, because the word does a lot of work. It does not mean unlimited: there is an annual limit, and a bad year can exhaust it. And the limit comes in two shapes, one pot for everything or a separate pot per condition, which behave very differently for an animal with two problems at once. Check which one you are being sold.
Hard to place
Which Pets Get Priced Out, and Why
Older animals, pets with something already on record, breeds with known hereditary problems, dogs banned under UK law, rabbits and other less usual pets, and anyone looking at a renewal quote that has climbed.
Older pets
Premiums climb with age and co-payments start, typically at the renewal after a dog turns 8 or 9, or a cat 10 or 11. Some insurers will not take on a new older pet at all.
Pets with a history
Anything already treated is normally excluded by a new insurer. A handful will look at conditions that have been clear for a year or two, which is worth asking about specifically.
Breeds with known problems
Flat-faced dogs and cats, and the breeds with hereditary joint, heart or eye conditions. Priced accordingly, and sometimes excluded by name.
Banned and restricted dogs
A dog banned under UK law is excluded from cover everywhere. The rules around XL Bully dogs have changed repeatedly since 2024 and differ by nation.
Rabbits and the less usual pets
Far fewer insurers will quote at all, and the vaccination conditions bite harder than they do on a dog or a cat.
Owners already locked in
A pet with a history cannot realistically move insurer, and the renewal pricing rule that covers home and motor does not reach pet insurance. Being unable to leave is its own kind of priced out.
This is the part of the market MyMoneyComparison.com exists for. A mainstream aggregator is built to price the common case quickly, and its answer to an unusual one is often no answer at all. A declined quote is not a verdict on the animal: it usually means the question was asked in the wrong place, which is what our guide to comparing insurance providers argues.
The real alternative
Insurance, or a Savings Pot?
Self-insuring works until it does not. A savings pot is yours, earns interest and covers routine care a policy never will, but it is only as big as it is on the day, and the bills that ruin people arrive early or arrive repeatedly.
| A policy | A savings pot | |
|---|---|---|
| A big bill in year one | Covered once the waiting period has passed | Only what you have managed to save so far |
| A condition lasting years | Lifetime cover keeps paying; the other levels stop | Drains it, then keeps draining it |
| Routine care and vaccinations | Never covered | Covered, because it is your money |
| The money if nothing happens | Gone | Still yours, with interest |
| Third party liability for a dog | On most dog policies | Not covered at all |
If you do put money aside instead, be honest about the arithmetic: start it the day the animal arrives, keep paying in when nothing is wrong, and accept that a cruciate repair or a lifelong condition can outrun several years of saving. The Association of British Insurers reported £1.23 billion paid out on pet claims in 2024, which gives a useful sense of the scale of the bills involved.
Why it rises
Why the Price Climbs Every Year
Age does most of it and cannot be undone. Claims, breed, where you live and vet fee inflation do the rest. What you actually control is the level of cover, the limit, the excess and how you pay.
| Factor | Can you change it? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Your pet getting older | Not in your control | Works in one direction only, and never reverses |
| Claims you have made | Not afterwards | A claim can move the next renewal noticeably |
| Species, breed and size | Before you take them on | Dogs cost more than cats; some breeds carry known conditions |
| Where you live | Barely | Vet fees vary by area, and the premium follows them |
| The level and the limit you chose | In your control | The main lever you actually hold, and the one to think about first |
| Excess and co-payment | In your control | A higher excess lowers the premium and raises what you pay at a claim |
| Vet fee inflation | Not in your control | The Competition and Markets Authority found vet prices rose far faster than general inflation between 2016 and 2023 |
| How you pay | In your control | Monthly is usually a credit agreement with interest attached |
One rule you may think protects you does not apply here. Since January 2022 an insurer has not been allowed to quote an existing home or motor customer more at renewal than an equivalent new customer would pay. Pet insurance is outside those rules, and it is also outside the rule letting you cancel automatic renewal in one step. Both carve-outs exist for a reason, but the effect is that a pet renewal deserves reading rather than trusting, particularly when a pre-existing condition means you cannot realistically move.
Before you start
What the Quote Form Will Ask
Species, breed and age, whether they are neutered and microchipped, what you paid for them, every condition they have ever had, your postcode, and the level, limit and excess you want quoted.
About your pet
- Species, breed or cross, and how old they are
- Whether they are neutered and microchipped
- What you paid for them, if anything
- Any condition they have had, however minor
About you
- Your postcode, because vet fees vary by area
- Whether anyone else in the household owns the pet
- Whether you want more than one animal on one policy
About the policy
- The level you want quoted, and all four if you are unsure
- The annual or per condition limit you want
- The excess you could actually afford on the day
- Whether you want liability cover, if you have a dog
Declare every condition, including the ones that seemed minor and cleared up. An insurer that finds an undisclosed history at the point of a claim is in a much stronger position than one told about it up front, and a disclosed condition is often merely excluded rather than a reason to refuse you.
Compare with MyMoneyComparison.com
The Three Numbers That Decide It
The annual vet fee limit, the excess plus any percentage co-payment, and whether the limit refreshes at renewal. Those three decide what a policy is worth. The premium only decides what it costs.
The annual vet fee limit
Not the premium. A low limit on a lifetime policy can be worth less in a bad year than a higher limit on a dearer one, and this is the number a serious claim runs into first.
The excess, and whether a percentage joins it
Add the fixed excess to the co-payment and work out what a large bill would actually cost you. On an older pet the percentage is often the bigger half.
Whether the limit refreshes
This is the lifetime question in one line. If the limit does not come back at renewal, the policy has an end date for any condition that lasts, whatever the marketing calls it.
Tell us about your pet once and specialist UK brokers can come back to you. MyMoneyComparison.com is an introducer rather than a broker, so we do not sell the policy or recommend one. Our editorial policy sets out how we work, and our jargon buster explains the words a quote uses.
Keeping it down
How to Keep the Premium Down
Insure them young and stay with the same insurer, set an excess you could actually pay, have them neutered, keep vaccinations and dental checks current, pay annually rather than monthly, and ask about multi-pet.
Insure them young, and stay put
Cover bought before anything is on record leaves nothing to be treated as pre-existing later. Every year you wait narrows what a policy will ever pay for.
Raise the excess, within reason
It lowers the premium directly. Only raise it to a figure you could genuinely find on the day, particularly if your vet does not do direct claims.
Have them neutered
A neutered pet is usually cheaper to insure. Microchipping is not a saving to chase, because it is already a legal duty for dogs across the UK and for cats in England.
Keep vaccinations and dental checks current
Not a discount so much as protection: both are conditions on most policies, and letting them lapse removes cover you are paying for.
Pay annually if you can
Monthly instalments are usually a credit agreement with interest attached. Paying in one go avoids it.
Ask about multi-pet
A second or third animal on one policy is often discounted, and it puts every renewal on the same date.
We publish no savings figures. Any "save up to" number is only meaningful with a stated sample and method behind it, and most of the ones in circulation describe somebody else’s customers on somebody else’s platform. The one thing worth saying plainly is that switching to save money is the move that most often costs an owner cover, because the new insurer starts your pet’s history from scratch.
Jargon buster
The Words on a Pet Policy
The words a pet quote uses, in plain English. There is a longer general list in our insurance jargon buster.
- Lifetime cover
- A limit that refreshes at every renewal, so a long-running condition stays claimable.
- Per condition limit
- A pot of money for one condition that does not refill once it is spent.
- Time limited
- Cover for a condition for 12 months from its start, then permanently excluded.
- Pre-existing condition
- Anything your pet had, or showed signs of, before the policy started.
- Co-payment
- A percentage of a claim you pay on top of the excess, usually once the pet is older.
- Waiting period
- The days at the start when cover has not begun. Around 14 for illness, far less for accidents.
- Bilateral condition
- A problem affecting a paired part. One hip claimed for often makes the other pre-existing.
- Third party liability
- Cover if your dog injures somebody or damages their property. On most dog policies, never on cat ones.
Why MyMoneyComparison.com
Where We Fit, and Where We Do Not
MyMoneyComparison.com is an FCA-authorised UK comparison service that introduces pet owners to specialist brokers. We do not sell insurance and we do not give advice: the broker you choose arranges the policy. Comparing is free and there is no obligation.
Form, then brokers get in touch
Describe your pet once, instead of the same questions on site after site.
Advice given
We are an introducer, not a broker. We do not sell policies and we do not recommend one. Read our editorial policy.
Authorised and regulated
MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd appears on the FCA register under FRN 916241.
Comparing since
A UK company since 2013, working with specialist brokers across the country.
FAQs
Pet Insurance FAQs
The questions UK owners ask most.
Is pet insurance a legal requirement in the UK?
What are the four levels of pet insurance?
Which level keeps paying for a condition that lasts?
What is a pre-existing condition, and why does it matter so much?
Can I ever get cover for a pre-existing condition?
How long before cover starts?
What is a co-payment, and when does it start?
Does my excess apply to every claim?
Are vaccinations and routine treatment covered?
Is dental treatment covered?
Does pet insurance cover third party liability?
Does my pet have to be microchipped?
What about banned breeds?
Why does my premium go up every year even without a claim?
Does the rule stopping loyal customers being overcharged apply to pet insurance?
Can my insurer drop a condition or refuse to renew a lifetime policy?
What happens if my claim is refused?
How much does pet insurance cost?
Ready when you are
Find Cover Before You Need It
Tell us what kind of pet you have and UK brokers can come back with quotes. The earlier you start, the more a policy will ever cover. Free to use, with no obligation to buy.
- Accident only, time limited, per condition or lifetime
- Dogs, cats and rabbits
- FCA authorised and regulated
Free to use · No obligation · UK brokers
About this page
This page explains what pet insurance is, what the four levels actually pay, where claims fall down, what moves the price and what a quote form will ask, for UK owners of dogs, cats and rabbits. It is general information rather than advice. Policies for this product differ enormously, so read your own documents and put the questions raised here to your insurer or broker.
How we approached this page
- Association of British Insurers guidance on cover levels, exclusions and claims, and its published claims figures for 2024
- Financial Conduct Authority rules on insurance pricing and automatic renewal, including which products they cover and which they do not
- Financial Ombudsman Service material on what actually goes wrong with pet claims
- Government guidance on microchipping and on dogs banned under UK law, and the Competition and Markets Authority findings on veterinary prices
No premium figures and no savings claims appear here. Pet pricing varies so much by species, breed, age and postcode that any average would mislead almost everyone reading it. Four things in wide circulation are corrected on this page: that the four levels are tiers of the same product, that you can switch insurer freely to get a better price, that the rule stopping loyal customers being overcharged covers pet insurance, and that dental treatment is simply not covered.
Legal & Regulatory Information:
The MyMoneyComparison.com website is owned and operated by MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd, which does not provide financial advice and does not sell insurance policies. MyMoneyComparison.com Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for insurance mediation and credit broking activity under FCA registration number 916241.
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