We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
How we picked thesePet insurance helps with the cost of diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries to your furry pal.
Comprehensive plans typically cover surgery, hospital visits and medicines – up to as much as $30,000 per year.
It can also help out with routine visits to the vet but this is usually only available as an add-on. Pet insurance is primarily designed to protect against expensive and unexpected events.
Since there's no Medicare for our dogs and cats, having insurance can help you make decisions based on your pet's health, not your bank account.
You pay your pet insurance premium monthly or annually. Policies typically cost around $120 per month but can be more or less, depending on the type of pet you have and many other factors.
If an unexpected event occurs and you need to visit the vet, you can do knowing that your visit will likely be covered by insurance. In some cases, you'll have to pay the bill first and be reimbursed later. For other instances, you'll only have to pay the gap.
You get between 60% and 100% of vet costs reimbursed. You can usually claim between $12,000 and $30,000 per year, depending on the policy you choose, which is why it's worth shopping around.
Paige and Billy the pup
Luckily, we bought pet insurance for Billy (our lab retriever) when he was young. Within the first couple of months, he had stomach problems and we had to take him to the vet several times. In the end, the bill came to $2,900. Our policy reimbursed us for 100% of the costs. It's already saving us money.— Paige Green, Sydney-based dog owner
Nicola and her pup
I have access to VetAssist, a free vet helpline, through my Everyday insurance policy with Woolies. It recently saved me a trip to the emergency vet (and likely hundreds of dollars) after my dog bit into a plant and reacted badly. Her behaviour became erratic, she was rubbing her face, and drooling excessively, clearly irritated. I contacted the helpline, they checked that the plant wasn't poisonous and gave me tips on making her more comfortable. In the end, washing her mouth out with a wet cloth did the trick.— Nicola Middlemiss, insurance specialist and dog owner
I'm new to pet insurance
Specific pet needs
Popular types of cover
To help you find the best pet insurance, Finder's insurance team gathered quotes from 23 different pet insurance providers. From there, we compared the features of each policy to understand which policies offered the best value cover. See our award winners below.
Bow Wow Meow's Ultimate Care pet insurance policy won this year's Finder Award for value because it provides a similar level of cover to other insurers but at a lower price.
Petinsurance.com.au's Platinum Cover won this year's Finder Award for comprehensive because it covers more than other insurers but is still a comparatively cheap policy.
This is the amount you can claim every year. It varies from around $12,000 to $30,000 (but some policies now offer unlimited cover). Good to know – a lower limit usually means a cheaper policy, but surgeries can exceed $20,000.
Some pet insurance policies have a cap on how much you can claim for certain injuries, such as paralysis tick treatment. A common sub-limit for this is $1,500 but treatment often costs $2,000+ (so maybe look for a higher limit).
This is how much you get back when you claim. Some will pay you 60% of the vet bill while others pay the whole lot. You'll likely have to pay an excess when you claim. This is typically around $100-$200.
Pet insurance saves lives. Without it, as a veterinarian, it can sometimes feel like bargaining over life and death with a family who want to do what they can within their means to help their animal friend. Pet insurance allows me and my team to do what we know we need to do to make sick pets better and to make healthy pets live longer. It makes animal health more in line with human health and that means better outcomes for patients.
Dr Sam Kovac
Sydney-based vet and founder of Southern Cross Vet
We chat to a lot of vets. Treatments have improved substantially but it's not cheap. In my opinion, pet insurance is a small price to pay knowing you don't need to make tough decisions based on your bank account. Some policies will cover you for up to $30,000 per year now.
Gary Ross Hunter
Insurance and innovations editor
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