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How we picked theseWhat is pet insurance?
Pet 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.
How does pet insurance work?
Pay for protection
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.
Visit a vet
If an unexpected event occurs and you need to visit the vet, you can go 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.
Get reimbursed
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.
Real life case studies
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."
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."
Pet insurance guides and resources
Specific pet needs
Popular types of cover
How much does pet insurance cost?
A Finder survey has found nearly half of Australian pet owners (45%) have cut back spending on their pets to save money. An easy way to save on your pet insurance is to compare deals. There's a difference of more than $1,100 a year between the cheapest and most expensive policy.
How much are Australians spending on pet insurance?
Every month, we ask a bunch of Aussies what they're paying for their pet insurance. Here's what their bill looked like in September 2025.
$125
Price based on 500+ responses about their monthly premium in September 2025.How to find the best pet insurance
Compare annual benefit limits
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.
Compare policy sub-limits
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).
Compare reimbursement rate
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.
Expert insight
"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."
Our expert says
"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."
Frequently asked questions
The lowdown on Finder Score
We look at more than 20 providers and assess them for their prices and features, which are weighted and scaled to come up with a Finder Score for each product. We calculate an average price for each product using quotes for various pet profiles (dog and cats included!)
The Finder Score methodology is designed by our Insights team. Commercial partners carry no weight and all products are reviewed objectively.
Digging deeper into the Finder pet insurance score
- 9+ Excellent - These products tend to offer the most competitive mix of price and features.
- 7+ Great - Well balanced products that still pack a punch.
- 5+ Satisfactory - While these products offer coverage, they can often lack in features or tend to be pricier.
- Less than 5 – Basic - The lease competitive products, either expensive or lacking features, or both.
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