Pet insurance with routine care

What does routine care cover?

Every policy is different but you can expect to find the following in your routine care policy:

How does routine care work?

A routine care plan is broken into categories and sub-limits. This means you get a certain amount towards a set of benefits annually. The annual amount will change per provider, we've just used $50 for the example below. Typically it is split out like this:

1. $50 towards vaccinations or health checks. It's not $50 for both, just $50 towards one of them.
2. $50 towards one of the following:
   • Desexing
   • Microchipping
   • Heartworm
   • Behavioural therapy
   • Teeth cleaning
   • Council registration fees

   • Alternative therapies
   • Prescription diets
   • Dew claw removal
   • Cremation or burial
   • Dog training at a recognised training centre

Every provider is different and you may find that some have more inclusions than others. Some may even include an amount for blood screening, urinalysis and flea control.

It's important to understand how this works because if you're spending more money on having the cover in place but you aren't claiming back the benefits, then you can find yourself out of pocket.

How much does routine care cover usually cost?

Routine care is not usually covered as part of your pet insurance policy as standard, it's normally an optional extra. We've demonstrated what it costs to have regular pet insurance and what it costs to have routine care added below. These are example quotes only, yours will differ.

To know if there's value for money in this, you need to look at the price difference in the cost of routine care vs the total annual benefits amount. On top of that, you need to then ensure you're claiming back your total annual benefit to stay ahead.

This information is accurate as of February 2025.

• How we got these quotes

  • Dog / female / 6 month old / desexed / Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
  • DOB: August 1, 2024
  • Owner - Male 35 yrs old DOB: March 15, 1989
  • 2000 NSW - Shop 2 1 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW, 2000
  • $0 excess whenever possible
  • Policy start February 28, 2025

Is routine care worth it?

Our expert says

"If you find yourself regularly booking your pet in for routine care treatments like dental cleaning, vaccinations etc then it can be worth the additional annual expense. As you can see above, some offer better value than others so researching is critical. If you choose to add this cover, it can be good to review it after a year and reflect on whether you used it and if you saved any money."

Peta Taylor

Associate publisher

FAQs

• What does routine care mean in pet insurance?

  Routine care helps pay for common vet expenses your pet typically needs, such as desexing, teeth cleaning and vaccinations. It's an add on with many pet insurance policies.

• Is desexing a dog covered by pet insurance?

  Yes. Desexing is included with many routine care policies. In most cases, you'll need to add routine care cover to your pet insurance policy.

• Why doesn't everyone offer routine cover?

  Some more comprehensive insurance policies will offer routine care cover as standard, but others won't even give you the option to add it.

  This might be because their policies already cover much of what is included in routine care, or it might be because they don't think they can provide a policy that's of value to you, for a price that is appealing.

  Remember to check if a certain provider has routine care included as standard; it could explain why the monthly premium is slightly higher.

Written by

Peta Taylor

Publisher of Insurance

Peta Taylor is a publisher at Finder, working across all of insurance. She's been analysing product disclosure statements and publishing articles for over 2 years. Peta is passionate about demystifying complex insurance products to help users make well educated decisions with confidence. Peta is part of Finder's insurance awards team and works alongside editorial and insights experts to bring users the best insurance products every year. See full bio

Co-written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Journalist

Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 589 Finder guides across topics including:

• Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
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