Animal Friends Pet Insurance Review: Are You After Low Prices?

Animal Friends Pet Insurance Review: Are You After Low Prices?

A wide range of pet insurance plans available, from quite inexpensive to premium.

Good for

  • Many lower-than-average premiums
  • Some plans include dental illness and injury
  • Pawtal claims system can pay vet directly
  • No upper age limit (even for lifetime policies)
  • 24/7 vet video access
  • Euthanasia cover
  • Features have improved in the last year

Bad for

  • No dental cover on some plans
  • Only 90 days to submit claims
  • May limit reimbursement to "average" vet fees
  • No cremation cover on most plans

Editor's Rating

4.0/5.0

The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.

Animal Friends is a very popular pet insurance company that offers relatively cheap pet insurance for the UK market putting lifetime cover within reach of pet owners who might not otherwise be able to afford it. With a full range of over a dozen different plans covering each type of insurance, there may be a good Animal Friends plan for you if finding cheaper pet insurance is your priority.

However, there are some limitations to Animal Friends policies that we'll explain in this review. For example, only two of the plans cover dental illness and only a few cover dental injury. And there are some differences to the Lifetime plans that can be confusing.

Compare Cheap Pet Insurance for Your Dog or Cat

Pet cover can help with vet bills. Compare quotes from 25 providers, including Animal Friends

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Look through our review to learn more about the Animal Friends products. Then, when you're ready, compare pet insurance quotes from Animal Friends against nearly two dozen providers by clicking the blue "Get Quotes" button above to see how much you can save.

In This Review

Choosing the right cat or dog insurance policy for you will depend upon the individual needs of you and your pet. Use the information in this guide to help you understand which features are important to you in order to make the best buying decision. We also advise reading through the policy wording before you buy.

Animal Friends Pet Insurance Review

Animal Friends offers a wide selection of dog and cat insurance plans at prices that are less than the average cost of pet insurance for budget-conscious dog and cat owners. In fact, their Lifetime policies start from around £130 for dogs and £110 for cats. They have a wide selection of plans to choose from:

Animal Friends LimitsAnnual condition limitCondition limitAnnual policy limitDental Accident
Lifetime (per year)Prestige£6,000UnlimitedUnlimitedAccident only (excluding root canals)
Superior Plus£4,000UnlimitedUnlimitedno
Superior£2,000UnlimitedUnlimitedno
Super£1,000UnlimitedUnlimitedno
Lifetime £1,000, £2,000, £3,000 or £4,000n/aUnlimited£1,000 - £4,000no cover for dental illness and accidents
Lifetime £5,000n/aUnlimited£5,000dental accidents
Lifetime £10,000n/aUnlimited£10,000£3,000 for treatment of dental illness and accidents
Lifetime £18,000n/aUnlimited£18,000£3,000 for treatment of dental illness and accidents
Max Benefit (per condition over the life of the pet)Max Valuen/a£1,000n/ano
Max Plusn/a£2,000n/ano
Max Extran/a£4,000n/ano
Time LimitedPrime Plus£1,000n/a£4,000no
Prime£2,000n/a£7,000no
Basic Plus£4,000n/a£10,000no
Accident Only£2,500£15,000n/ano

It's important to note that there are two types of Lifetime policies, those with:

  • An overall annual limit (a maximum amount you can claim each year for all of your pet's various injuries and illnesses): Lifetime £1,000, Lifetime £2,000, Lifetime £3,000, Lifetime £4,000, Lifetime £5,000, Lifetime £10,000, Lifetime £18,000
  • A per condition annual limit (a maximum amount you can claim each year per condition, with no overall limit on total annual vet claims): Prestige (£6,000 annual per condition limit), Superior Plus (£4,000 annual per condition limit), Superior (£2,000 annual per condition limit), Super (£1,000 annual per condition limit)

If it fits in your budget, the Lifetime £18,000 plan will offer the most cover for situations like expensive surgeries. How does this policy work? Each year you can claim up to £18,000 and when you renew your policy at the end of the year, this cover amount resets back to £18,000 for the next year. As a result, it is best for covering the most expensive situations. And this and the Lifetime £10,000 plan are the only ones to cover dental illness; but they actually offer less cover for a few situations like no cover to transport your pet to another hospital if needed (which is covered under Prestige).

Prestige offers up to £6,000 for a relatively competitive price for that level of Lifetime pet insurance cover. Note, the Prestige limit of £6K is per condition, which means you can get up to £6K for each unrelated condition every year (e.g. up to £6K for a surgery + up to £6K for treatment of another health condition in one year). While that means you could theoretically make more than £6K of vet claims in a year with Prestige, keep in mind that the plan is not as optimal for covering very high-cost problems—to protect against that, a pet owner might need a plan from a competing companies, as some offer policies with north of £10,000 of coverage for top tiers of cover.

When choosing a plan, keep in mind that lower levels of cover in particular won't be enough to cover more serious issues like surgery or expensive diagnostics like MRIs, which now cost around £2,500.

Claiming should be relatively easy with Animal Friends. The company is big and has an efficient claims system called Pawtal, which most vets are accustomed to working with. You only have 90 days to submit claims, however, which is less time than you'll find on some competitors like Petplan.

And we should point out that Animal Friends has made some positive changes in the past year or so, which we're pleased to see. These include a free 24/7 vet video app to get advice from home, dental injury on a few plans and some new Lifetime options.

Limitations

Most Animal Friends policies don't cover:

  • Dental illness
  • Cremation

Why is Animal Friend so cheap? There are a few features that Animal Friends plans don't cover. Only the two most premium policies (Lifetime £10,000 and £18,000) cover dental illness, which could be needed if gingivitis leads to a dog needing teeth pulled, for example. These plans also cover dental accident, for instance a chipped tooth that needs treating. Only one other plan (Lifetime £5,000) also covers dental accident.

Also, there's no cover for cremation/burial except on the Lifetime £10,000 and £18,000 plans. (But there is cover for euthanasia up to £100 as part of vet fees as long as the vet confirms the euthanasia was necessary and it is because of a condition that they would normally cover under the vet fee benefit.)

Another potential limitation is language in the policy wording that the company can "limit some vet fees at the market average cost", which could conceivably reduce a claim pay out if your vet charges more than the market average.

And the 90-day claim window means you need to stay on top of your claims and submit them in a timely manner. This should be greatly helped by the Pawtal system, however, as most vets use this system and can submit claims on your behalf.

Those who have older pets or are switching insurers should be aware that, like most pet insurers, Animal Friends does not cover pre-existing conditions. They define pre-existing conditions as follows:

  • Any condition, symptom or sign of a condition occurring or existing in any form and at any time prior to the commencement date; or
  • Any illness, symptom or sign of an illness occurring or existing in any form during the first 14 days of the commencement date.

There are a handful of insurers who do cover pre-existing conditions, which you can read about here.

What's the Animal Friends Excess?

For most Animal Friends policies (except Max Benefit) the policyholder pays a fixed £ excess once per condition per policy year. That is, you pay the excess upon a condition's first claim, and if the claim continues past the annual renewal then you pay the excess again.

There is one exceptions to this:

On a Max Benefit policy, you only pay the excess once per condition during the life of your pet.

Animal Friends offers a range of excess options: £69, £99, £159, £199 or £249. A higher excess should reduce the premium; a lower excess should raise the premium.

The excess will increase once your pet turns a certain age (8 for dogs, 10 for cats). At that point, the pet owner is typically responsible to pay a 20% copay in addition to the fixed excess:

Animal Friends Excess/Copay
Younger Pets£69, £99, £159, £199 or £249 fixed excess
Older Pets (dogs aged 8+, cats aged 10+)Fixed excess plus 20% of remaining vet bills

For older pets (dogs aged 8+ and cats aged 10+), owners pay an additional amount towards vet bills in the form of a 20% co-payment (e.g. the pet owner's contribution could be £99 + 20% of the remaining vet bills for older pets).

Customer Experience Ratings

Animal Friends Ratings
Trustpilot4.4 out of 5 stars

Animal Friends is rated a very solid 4.4 out of 5 stars for customer experience, according to more than 32,000 customers surveyed on Trust Pilot. More than 3/4 of customers rated Animals Friends as 'Excellent', highlighting good value for money, helpful customer service and prompt payment of claims. Here are some real life customer comments:

"Claiming was easy and hassle free. Very impressed. And to top it off my lovely dog Ellie is fit and healthy once more"

"Always kept good contact through any claim. Paid out fast and very easy to talk to when we had any questions."

"On the two occasions I’ve needed to claim Animal Friends have paid out promptly and communicated with compassion."

"Excellent service after my dog had to have an operation."

"Very happy with level of cover and competitive premium."

"Dealing with Animal Friends is effortless. Staff are extremely helpful and the claims process is extremely easy, particularly when the provider is registered with Animal Friends. I am absolutely delighted that I chose to go with Animal Friends."

Of course, not all customers write glorious reviews. A few common complaints are price rises for existing customers, the 20% copay for older pets, lack of payment for some out of hours claims and failure to pay when Animal Friends links a new condition to a pre-existing condition or a condition excluded by the terms. Here are a few more real life customer comments:

"I have not had to use my pet insurance as thankfully I have a healthy animal... I do wish that the premiums didn't go up as all the years I have paid are in your Bank account."

"I've been with this company for approximately 10 years and never had to claim, now I have I'm hit with 20% of the bill and a refusal to pay out of hours costs."

"...they didn’t pay saying it was a previous illness—it wasn’t. It was an injury. Although they payed for the X-ray initially, but not for the op."

"... the vets were very worried as his breed are prone to Pancreatitis and needed to do more tests. The results came back clear. I have now put in my claim of over £400, and it has been declined as a pre-existing condition because my dog has vomited in the past."

"I am absolutely shocked and appalled by the service we have received. Our dog Charlie suffered with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and had to go into vet hospital over-night. We were charged a ridiculous £903 for this. As Charlie had had a number of teeth extracted 3 days earlier Animal Friends wouldn't pay up as our insurance doesn't cover teeth and gums. The two are completely unlinked and there is no clinical evidence what so ever that they were linked (as stated and written by the vet.) We have dutifully paid our insurance for YEARS and never made a claim. Save your money - this is a robbing insurance company that will do anything to avoid your claim. We will be stopping our insurance with them."

"... Unfortunately on bank holiday Monday my dog fell while running and damaged his foot he was screaming in agony couldn’t put his foot to the ground and was obviously in distress, of course the most obvious thing to do for your loved pet is to take it to a vet. After paying the excess fee I made a claim from animal friends and was told that they only pay emergency vet fee if it’s life threatening!! So a nearly £400 vet fee they only paid out £80..."

Animal Friends Quote Comparison

Animal Friends is relatively cheap pet insurance compared to some competitors, but how much does it really cost and which plan fits in your budget? We gathered sample prices for dog insurance and cat insurance from Animal Friends to get a rough idea. Depending on factors like the breed (e.g., Bulldogs) and age of your pet and more, you may be quoted more or less than these figures. Each case is priced by Animal Friends based on the details of the application.

Cheap Animal Friends Premiums vs. Market Averages

It can be difficult to compare quotes across insurers, as coverage, features and excess amounts vary considerable. However, we think it is still useful to compare the average cost of Animal Friends policies to average prices in the UK market. Keeping in mind that cover amounts and excesses differ, you can see that Animal Friends polices come in cheaper which can help those not sure if they can afford pet insurance.

chart showing price comparison of dog insurance for Animal Friends vs the market average premium
How Animal Friends Dog Insurance Premiums Compare to the Market

Animal Friends Notable Features

Here is a brief overview of the notable features of Animal Friends dog and cat insurance. For a complete rundown of the details and exclusions, please refer to the policy documents.

Animal Friends Pet Insurance Features
Unlimited Annual Cover on some plansOn max benefit and some lifetime policies there is no annual policy cap on vet bill reimbursement; There are per condition caps, however—a lifetime condition limit for max benefit and an annual condition limit for some lifetime policies; This sounds confusing at first, but means that the per condition cap resets each year on the Prestige, Superior Plus, Superior and Super lifetime policies, giving you a fresh pot of money from which to claim each year for each condition
Complementary TherapyAcupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, Chiropractic manipulation, osteopathy, physiotherapy, laser therapy and hydrotherapy (performed by a recognised party)
PawtalReimbursement times can be sped up if your vet is signed up with Animal Friends and can bill the insurance company directly
Vet video callsFree, unlimited vet video calls 24/7 through the joii app, which includes access to a comprehensive symptom checker, preventative care with vet nurses and free health clinics
Cover for Holiday Cut ShortCover if you have to cancel or curtail your holiday because your pet needs emergency life-saving surgery within 14 days of departure; trips booked last minute, within 28 days of departure, are excluded.
Emergency BoardingCover for boarding costs if you need to spend more than 4 days in the hospital
DentalNo cover on most plans; dental accidental injury only (excluding root canals) on £5k lifetime; dental injury and illness on Lifetime £10,000 and Lifetime £18,000
TravelVet fee cover for up to 90 days each for all policies except Accident Only
EuthanasiaCovered up to £100 as long as the vet confirms the euthanasia was necessary and it is because of a condition that Animal Friends would normally cover under the vet fee benefit
Cremation and burialNo cover except up to £200 in certain cases on Lifetime £10,000 and £18,000 plans

Types of Animal Friends Policies

Animal Friends, through underwriter Red Sands, offers a wide array of policies from which to choose. We've broken them out according to type of policy (listed in order of least to most cover): Accident Only, Time Limited, Max Benefit and Lifetime.

Animal Friends Accident Only Cover

The simplest and least expensive cover, Accident Only policies over covers accidental injury—not for illnesses (e.g., tumours, ear infections, digestive trouble, rashes, etc.). Additionally, there's no provision for public liability, personal accident, accidental damage, etc. Accident Only is a very basic level of pet insurance.

Policy Name:Accident Only Cover Amounts
Annual Condition Limit£2,500
Lifetime Condition Limit£15,000
Public Liabilityn/a
Transport Costsn/a
Personal Accidentn/a
Accidental Damagen/a
Theft & Strayingn/a
Advertising & Rewardn/a
Holiday Cancellationn/a
Boarding Kennel / Catteryn/a
Death Of Petn/a
Overseas Travel Covern/a

Animal Friends Time Limited Cover

Animal Friends sells three Time Limited pet insurance products that cover vet bills for injuries and illnesses for up to one year per condition. Cover ranges from £500 up to £4,000 of vet bills (per condition, for up to one year of cover). The annual policy limits (which you'll notice are higher) enable you to claim on multiple conditions within the same year.

Time Limited pet insurance policies have a significant limitation—bilateral conditions start the 12-month clock ticking for BOTH sides of the body. For example, if your pet has an ear infection in the left year, you only have one year to claim for ear infections on BOTH ears. After a year is up, you will not be reimbursed for ear infections again, in either ear.

Policy Name: LimitsBasic Plus LimitsPrime LimitsPrime Plus Limits

Annual Condition Limit
£1,000£2,000£4,000

Annual Policy Limit
£4,000£7,000£10,000

Public Liability
£2m£2m£2m

Transport Costs
n/an/an/a

Personal Accident
n/an/an/a

Accidental Damage
n/an/an/a

Theft & Straying
£500£750£1,000

Advertising & Reward
£200£200£200

Holiday Cancellation
n/a£1,000£1,500

Boarding Kennel / Cattery
£500£750£1,000

Death Of Pet
£500£750£1,000

Overseas Travel Cover
£750£1,000£1,500

Animal Friends Max Benefit Cover

Animal Friends offers three levels of Maximum Benefit pet insurance cover, with £1,000, £2,000 or £4,000 of cover per condition. You're able to claim this amount for a condition over the course of your pet's life (so long as the policy remains in force)—there is no time limit.

Max Benefit policies have the same bilateral condition limitation. For example, let's say you have the £1,000 max benefit policy and your pet has a complicated ear infection requiring multiple trips to the vet and prescription meds, costing £450 in total. This ear infection depletes your "ear infection pot" (aka "otitis") by £450, leaving you with £550 for all future ear conditions. As your pet has two ears, ear infections are considered a bilateral condition and this remaining £550 is the amount available for treatment of both ears.

Policy Name:Max Value LimitsMax Plus LimitsMax Extra Limits
Annual Condition Limitn/an/an/a
Lifetime Condition Limit£1,000£2,000£4,000
Public Liability£2m£2m£2m
Transport Costsn/an/an/a
Personal Accidentn/an/an/a
Accidental Damagen/an/an/a
Theft & Straying£500£750£1,000
Advertising & Reward£200£200£200
Holiday Cancellation£1,000£1,000£1,500
Boarding Kennel / Cattery£500£750£1,000
Death Of Pet£500£750£1,000
Overseas Travel Cover£1,500£2,000£2,000

Animal Friends Lifetime Cover

Broadly speaking, Lifetime policies offer the best cover because the limits reset each year when you renew, even if you have claimed. Prestige policy being Animal Friend's most premium product.

Some of the Lifetime policies by Animal Friends work a bit differently than other Lifetime products in the UK market—specifically, there is an annual condition limit on four of the options (Super, Superior, Superior Plus and Prestige), but no annual policy limit on those plans. Usually it's the other way around. For these policies, each year you have a certain amount (£1,000, £2,000, £4,000 or £6,000) to use for a given condition—and this renews each year. You can claim for as many ailments in a year as necessary, however, as there is no overall annual limit.

Recently Animal Friends changed their lifetime options, doing away with the Assure and Assure Plus plans, but expanding their "Lifetime" line with more tiers of cover. Now you can choose between £1,000 and £18,000 of traditional 'lifetime' pet insurance per year.

Policy LimitsSuperSuperiorSuperior PlusPrestigeLifetime £1,000 - £4,000Lifetime £5,000Lifetime £10,000Lifetime £18,000
Annual Condition Limit£1,000£2,000£4,000£6,000n/an/an/an/a
Annual Policy Limitn/an/an/an/a£1,000 - £4,000£5,000£10,000£18,000
Public Liability£2m£2m£2m£2m£2m£2m£2m£2m
Transport Costsn/an/an/a£200n/an/an/an/a
Accidental Damagen/an/an/a£750n/an/an/an/a
Theft & Straying£600£600£600£1,500£600£1,200£2,000£3,000
Advertising & Reward£200£200£200£1,000£200£200£200£200
Holiday Cancellation£1,000£1,000£1,000£2,500£1,000£2,000£2,500£2,500
Boarding Kennel / Cattery£600£600£600£1,500£600£1,200£1,500£1,500
Death Of Pet£600£600£600£1,500£600£1,200£2,000£3,000
Overseas Travel Cover£2,000£2,000£2,000£2,000£2,000£2,000£2,500£2,500

FAQs

You can buy Animal Friends plans from a comparison engine (try here!) or direct from the Animal Friends website. When we checked, prices were the same from both websites.
Should you need to visit the vet out of hours, it is best to first call Animal Friends (0344 557 0300, option 2) if possible. Be aware of the policy exclusion stating that they'll "only cover house calls, out-of-hours fees, emergency fees or hospital costs if your vet says your pet needs to be seen straight away".
The waiting periods on new pet insurance policies are a bit longer for Animal Friends than average. Here are the Animal Friends waiting times:
  • Illnesses after 14 days of the commencement date
  • Accident or injury that occurs after 2 days of the commencement date
  • Accident or injury affecting the Cruciate ligament after 14 days of the commencement date
Note: "If you’ve switched from a full, annual pet policy with another insurer, cover for illnesses starts straight away and cover for accidents starts after 2 days. You must be covered up to the start date of your new Animal Friends policy – there can be no gaps in cover or payment. The policy you switch from can’t be a free short-term or trial pet insurance policy. Remember, we won’t cover your pet for any pre-existing conditions, even if you’ve switched from another annual policy."
Apparently, Animal Friends tries to process claims within 5-7 working days of receipt. This, of course, assumes the claim form and all necessary documents and signatures are included. If your vet is signed up with the Pawtal claims system, they may be able to collect payment directly from Animal Friends—currently thousands of vets have signed up with Pawtal, so it may be worth asking your vet. Reimbursement via Pawtal can be as quick as the same day.
Claims MUST be submitted within 90 days of the first date of treatment or else they won't be paid. And if vet fees are likely to exceed £1,000 you may want to notify Animal Friends immediately for pre-authorization. They say, "If your vet doesn’t use Pawtal and the treatment will cost more than £1,000, you can give Animal Friends a call on 0344 557 0300. This will give you the chance to find out whether you’ll be covered before agreeing to the treatment. Be aware, it could take up to 5 working days to get an answer this way."
According to their online quote system, they say, "We can cover for any pre-existing conditions which have been treatment and symptom free for more than 2 years." The policy wording implies this only works for "some" conditions. You may also want to consider other pet insurance companies that cover pre-existing conditions, especially if you're looking for cover for a pre-existing condition right away.
Animal Friends does not cover cremation except on the Lifetime £10,000 and £18,000 plans. Click here to find out how much pet cremation might cost.
Animal Friends will cover euthanasia up to a £100 limit as long as the vet confirms the euthanasia was necessary and it is because of a condition that they would normally cover under the vet fee benefit.
Animal Friends £10,000 and £18,000 lifetime plans cover dental illness and accidents; also their £5,000 lifetime plan covers dental accidents (but not illness).
Good news for owners of older pets looking for a new policy—Animal Friends has no upper age limit for new applicants, even for Lifetime policies. Be aware that any pre-existing conditions are likely to be excluded from coverage. Owners of older pets are expected to contribute more towards vet bills—which is quite common—a fixed excess PLUS 20% of the remaining vet bills.
Yes, Animal Friends now does have a vet helpline.
Animal Friends dog and cat insurance is underwritten by Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Limited, which is registered in Gibraltar under company number 87598; their registered office is Level 3, Ocean Village Business Centre, 23 Ocean Village Promenade, Gibraltar.
Animal Friends has great customer reviews and comparatively cheap prices, but there are some limitations to be aware of.
Animal Friends can pay your vet directly, if they're set up on the Pawtal payment system.
You can call Animal Friends at 0344 557 0300 to discuss claims, amendments, general queries or to cancel your policy.

How does Animal Friends Insurance Compare to Competitors?

To better understand the value of Animal Friends pet insurance you need to look at it in the context of other available options. We compared it to other plans in the market so you can see which may be more suitable for you.

Animal Friends Insurance vs Agria Pet Insurance

Agria Pet Insurance offers comprehensive Lifetime plans for lower-than-average prices. Many features are offered as extras, which means that you don't need to pay for certain features if you don't want to—if you never take your pet abroad to Europe, then you don't need to buy the Travel cover. Another way that Agria keeps prices lower is through a 10% copay/variable excess so pet owners contribute more towards vet fees—the pet owner is responsible for the fixed excess (£95 or £160 for dogs, £85 or £160 for cats) than another 10% of vet bills. We like that Agria is a specialist pet insurer with a long history, offering some desirable features such as dental, euthanasia and cremation/burial, sensible out-of-hours reimbursement and cover for congenital conditions. The cost for a young, healthy crossbreed dog is around £350 per year for a plan with £6,500 of vet cover and a £95 fixed excess + 10% copay; a British shorthair with an £85 excess + 10% copay would cost around £325 for the same level of cover.

Bottom Line: If you want a relatively low annual premium, but want longer to submit claims (6+ months), higher limits and dental cover, then Agria can be a good option—but even owners of younger pets will pay a larger share of any vet bills that arise due to the standard 10% copay.

Animal Friends Insurance vs John Lewis Pet Insurance

John Lewis Pet Insurance offers solid Lifetime plans and competitive prices, good for those who value a longer time to submit claims and features like EU travel cover, dental injury (but not illness), a 24-hour vetfone, euthanasia cover, cover if your holiday is cut short due to your pet being ill and boarding cover if you are hospitalized unexpectedly. Those hoping for a lower excess can choose a fixed excess as low as £60. Like many insurers, the excess will rise for older pets, however, becoming the greater of your fixed £ excess and 20% of the vet bill for each condition each year. You can chose a Lifetime plan for which you'll pay, for instance, around £375 for £3k of cover with a £60 excess or £550 for £7.5k of cover. A higher excess can lower the premium, if that's what you want—but you'll be on the hook for the excess should you need to claim.

Bottom Line: You may have to pay a bit more for a John Lewis plan, but there are no per-condition limits, you get access to a 24-hour vetfone and you have longer (up to a year) to submit claims.

Animal Friends Insurance vs Pet Protect Pet Insurance

Pet Protect Pet Insurance is another specialist pet insurer whose low-priced plans offer a host of features such as euthanasia cover, travel cover, dental illness and injury, prescription food and cover for congenital & hereditary conditions (e.g, heart murmur or hip dysplasia), plus owners have up to 6 months to submit claims. There are no per-condition limits. Owners of older pets should be aware that new policies are not available to dogs 6+ or 8+ (breed dependent) or cats 10+, plus the fixed excess and copay amount rise steadily as your pet ages. Our price check showed a range of £180 to £210 for £4k to £6k of Lifetime cover, respectively, for a healthy, young crossbreed dog, significantly lower than average.

Bottom Line: Those looking for a lower-priced Lifetime plan might want to consider Pet Protect since there are no per-condition limits and wide-ranging features, but be sure you're comfortable with the copay (which rises with age up from 5% to 25%).

Other Useful Information

Erin Yurday

Erin Yurday is the Founder and Editor of NimbleFins. Prior to NimbleFins, she worked as an investment professional and as the finance expert in Stanford University's Graduate School of Business case writing team. Read more on LinkedIn.

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The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.