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Practically purrfect pet insurance revealed
We unveil our latest litter of pet insurance Which? Best Buy policies
It's always great to welcome a paw-fect new addition into your family, but in the absence of a pet NHS, paying for vet fees can be a headscratcher.
Pet insurance could be the solution, potentially shielding you from bills running into the thousands of pounds.
It doesn't just cater for vet visits - it can also help with unexpected travel issues involving your pet, and help you recover it if it goes missing.
However, pet insurance policies aren't easy to compare, are often riddled with small print, and can be painfully expensive.
Having scoured nearly 250 policies, we've uncovered 38 Best Buys, plus we have tips on the small print to look out for.
Update: This article was first published in December 2022. We have amended it to reflect the fact that six Napo policies were awarded Best Buy status in February 2023.
Pet insurance Best Buys
To choose our Best Buy policies for cats and dogs we examine how much the policies will pay out for trips to the vet and under what conditions they'll do so.
We also analyse 34 additional areas of cover - including excesses, liability cover, holiday cancellation and support available if the pet goes missing or dies. Each policy is given a 'policy score'. The higher this score, the more comprehensive the cover.
Of the 248 policies - or versions of policies - rated, this year we gave Which? Best Buy status to 20 covering dogs and 18 covering cats. Only lifetime policies are eligible for consideration.
The table below shows the 11 providers offering Best Buy policies and how their highest-scoring Best Buy performed. Click on the insurer name to find out more:
| Napo Pet Insurance (£16k) | £16,000 | 83% | 83% | yes | |
| Complete | £15,000 | 82% | 83% | yes | |
| Lifetime | £16,000 | 78% | 78% | no | |
| Ultimate | £12,000 | 77% | 77% | yes | |
| Pet insurance | £12,000 | 77% | 76% | no | |
| Standard Policy | £10,000 | 73% | 73% | no | |
| Lifetime | £10,000 | 74% | 72% | no |
You can see all 38 Best Buy policies in our online guide. Policy details in this table are correct as of November 2022. We recommend checking policies before buying.
What makes a Best Buy policy?
As well as having a high policy score, each Best Buy policy provides at least £2,000 of cover each year for vets costs (and at least £1,000 for any single condition per year), while also covering dental illnesses and injuries.
We haven't been able to evaluate customer service levels for every provider. However, we've not included providers that we were able to rate and received poorer than average customer service or claims service.
Best Buy status isn't awarded to providers that, at the time of the analysis, had a poorer than average complaints record with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We've also examined data published by the Financial Conduct Authority on how often pet insurers have accepted claims and how often those making claims complained to the insurer. We've withheld Best Buy status from providers shown to be poorer than average in either of these areas.
Pre-existing medical conditions
If you own pet insurance already, it's quite likely you're not enamoured with its price. With most pet owners seeing rises in their premiums as their pets get older, many have been looking for ways to reduce insurance costs - including ditching their cover altogether.
Switching for a cheaper policy is notoriously difficult with pet insurance - at least if you don't want to lose significant portions of your cover during the transition.
Most providers we surveyed won't cover medical conditions that began before the new insurance was taken out - meaning anything in your pet's history automatically gets excluded.
We found pre-existing conditions cover available in 49% of policies from just under half of the firms we surveyed - though not necessarily for all conditions.
It's usually decided on a case-by-case basis when you apply and disclose the pet's medical history. In many cases, an 'exclusion period' - typically two years - is implemented. This means the pet must have shown no symptoms, been treated for, or had their vet consult on the condition during this period before it will be covered.
Our table above shows which insurers offer policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions.
- Find out more: how to get cheap pet insurance
Teething troubles
Dealing with vets fees is the bread and butter of pet insurance, but problems concerning its dental health are trickier.
Some 95% of policies include cover for dental treatment - but while all of these cover injuries (for example, resulting from Fido overenthusiastically biting down on a pebble) about one in five exclude cover for dental illness.
It's an easily overlooked detail in the policy small print.
Holiday costs
Recent weather woes and industrial actions have led to travel chaos for many would-be seasonal travelers. Your four-legged companion also has the potential to throw a wrench into your holiday plans - but pet insurance can help out where this is the case.
Holiday cancellation cover comes as part of - or can be added to - 79% of policies we looked at. These pay towards holiday cancellation costs (between £250 and £5,000) if you've been forced to change plans because of an emergency involving your pet at the last minute.
However, in practice, the policy wording can lead to big differences in when this insurance can be used.
While 79% of policies can pay towards your costs if your pet falls seriously ill, with over seven in 10 (72%) of these, the small print specifies that the condition must be 'life threatening' or that 'life-saving treatment' must be required.
This stipulation potentially rules out various ailments that can leave your pet seriously distressed, while also being difficult to judge in many cases without having consulted a vet.
Illness isn't the only way Mittens can scupper your holiday. If your pet pulls off a vanishing act at around the time you were packing your sun cream, you could spend much anticipated beach time instead plastering your local neighbourhood with posters.
Unfortunately, under half of policies pay out travel cancellation costs because of missing pets.
- Find out more: the different types pet insurance explained
Pets abroad
Some good news is that if you decide to take Buster with you on your travels, most pet insurance policies - some 93% of those we looked at - have your back if he or she falls ill overseas and requires emergency veterinary treatment.
However, this usually won't apply to all countries (for example may not include those outside the EU) and typically a time limit per trip will apply (often 30 days).
Meanwhile, if a spate of ill health slows up your pet's return journey, it's a different story, with only 65% of pet policies covering unexpected quarantine costs.
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