Insuring your pet with PDSA Pet Insurance

Insure your pet and protect yourself from expensive vet bills. We are the UK's leading veterinary charity and we know our pets deserve the very best. But vet bills can be costly, that's why it is important to insure your pet should the worst happen.

What is the Purpose of pet insurance?

It is your responsibility to cover the cost of healthcare for your pet. When welcoming a pet into our lives, we need to make sure we can afford the cost of any treatments they may need during their lifetime. Pet insurance supports you should you need to pay for vet bills.

Insuring your Dog Protect your dog or puppy with a woof guide to PDSA Dog Insurance.

Insuring your Cat Cover your cat's nine lives with PDSA Cat Insurance.

Policies Choose a policy to suit your pet's healthcare needs and your budget. Every policy sold contributes to our life-saving work.

Customer Information Find out all the information you need, from customer service and claims, to accessing our 24/7 veterinary helpline.

What does pet insurance cover?

• Veterinary fees, including:
• MRI costs
• CT scan costs
• Complementary therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Overseas veterinary treatment
• Dental crowns, root canals and fillings
• Third party liability for dogs***
• Death from illness, accident or injury
• Theft or straying
• Holiday travel cover
• Your hospitalisation and boarding fees (lifetime cover only)
• Claims can be paid directly to your vet**
• And your policy can be used at any vets so you can continue to use your own registered vet as usual

Things to consider when buying pet insurance

When to take out a policy

You can take out a new PDSA Pet Insurance policy from when your puppy or kitten is as young as 8 weeks old. As there’s an age limit for older pets starting a new pet insurance policy, it’s best to insure your pet as soon as possible.

PDSA Pet Insurance is available to purchase for dogs under 8 years old (under 5 for some breeds) and cats under 10 years old. However, once your pet is covered, you can continue their existing insurance beyond these ages – just keep in mind that this will be dependent on the terms and conditions of your policy.

For more information, take a look at our Cat Insurance and Dog Insurance pages.

The right type of cover for your pet

We offer two types of cover to help you get the right insurance for both you and your pet, meaning you can choose a policy that suits your needs and budget. Our two types of cover are Lifetime and Time Limited – each one bringing different benefits.

Lifetime cover

Our Lifetime policy is the most comprehensive cover-type you can get for your pet. It covers vet fees for new illnesses and accidental injuries, including both one-off and long-term conditions. It covers you up to the maximum amount that you choose for each year for accidents and illnesses combined, and has a limit that renews each year. As it covers conditions for the rest of your pet’s life for as long as your remain insured with us, Lifetime Insurance is more expensive than other policies. If you’re looking for cover that can protect your pet from ongoing conditions, Lifetime pet insurance may be your best option.

Time Limited cover

With our Time Limited policy, your pet will only be covered for illness and accidents for 12 months from the date of treatment, or once the maximum amount chosen for fees has been reached. Once either limit has been met, your pet will no longer be covered for that condition or any related issues. Because of this, Time Limited policies tend to be cheaper than other options, and are a good choice if you’re looking for protection against short-term illnesses and sudden accidents.

For more in-depth information on our pet insurance policies, take a look at our policy page.

How much does pet insurance cost?

PDSA Pet Insurance provides policies to suit all budgets. This means that the cost of pet insurance depends on the type of policy that you choose, the level of cover and even your pet’s breed and age.

While it’s important to find a policy that suits your budget, you also need to think about which cover is best for your pet. There are different levels of cover, which all offer their own benefits to suit different needs. Some policies will cost more than others, but this means that you can always find a level of pet insurance cover that suits you.

To find out more about the different levels and types of PDSA Pet Insurance cover available, take a look at our policy page. To get an accurate price for your pet, you may find it useful to get a pet insurance quote.

Know what's not covered with PDSA Pet Insurance

• Vaccinations
• Worming
• Flea treatment
• Neutering

Pet insurance also does not cover pre-existing conditions. A pre-existing condition would be a condition, symptom, illness or injury your pet is suffering or has suffered from before you take our a policy. Any conversations that you've had about your pet's health or behaviour with a vet or other professions would also be taken into consideration and would be considered as a pre-existing condition, even if your pet did not receive treatment at the time.

Remember to keep preventive treatments (such as vaccinating and de-worming your pet) up-to-date, as this will help protect them against nasties. If you're worried about cost, speak to your vet – they may offer a package to cover these treatments, along with your pet's annual health check.

Will PDSA Pet Insurance cover my pet if they go missing?

Yes, PDSA Pet Insurance can help you with costs if your pet goes missing, however, the benefits you receive will depend on your level of cover.

Theft and straying

Should your pet go missing due to theft or straying, both Lifetime and Time Limited policies can help. If your pet goes missing and is not found within 30 days, PDSA Pet Insurance can provide a reimbursement.

Finding your pet (Lifetime Pet Insurance only)

Lifetime Pet Insurance can also help you with the cost of expenses you may incur when trying to find your pet. This includes local advertising expenses and rewards.

Remember, in order to receive any of these benefits, your pet must be microchipped in line with legal requirements. In the unfortunate event that your pet does go missing, you must report it is soon as possible to the vet, rescue centre or local authority warden closest to where your pet went missing.

Can I visit a PDSA Pet Hospital with PDSA Pet Insurance?

No, every PDSA Pet Insurance policy sold contributes to our life-saving charity work to help us treat poorly pets in need, but you’ll continue to use your own registered vet practice as normal.

What does PDSA do

PDSA is a veterinary charity – saving pets’ lives is what we do. We want a lifetime of wellbeing for every pet.

With 48 Pet Hospitals across the UK, our veterinary teams carry out over 2.8 million treatments a year, meaning that every day our vets are caring for sick and injured pets – saving lives, and keeping pets happy and healthy.

Pets are part of the family – they give unconditional love and are even sometimes our only companion. They don't deserve to suffer because of financial difficulty or social hardship. That’s where we can help – but we can’t do any of it without you. Your support is invaluable in helping us be there when pets need us most.

Every pet insurance policy sold contributes to our life-saving charity work, keeping our doors open and helping vulnerable, poorly pets in need.

To read about the life-saving veterinary care that our team provide to poorly pets, and to see how your help supports us, meet our pet patients.

**Subject to availability

***Subject to eligibility
^^Based on PDSA Pet Insurance claims data from May 2023 to June 2024
PDSA Trading Limited is an introducer appointed representative of Pinnacle Insurance plc which is authorised by the Prudential Regulatory Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (register number 110866). Registered Office: Pinnacle House, A1 Barnet Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 2XX. PDSA Pet Insurance is a trading style of and arranged, administered & underwritten by Pinnacle Insurance plc. PDSA Trading Limited and Pinnacle Insurance plc are not part of the same corporate group.