What is dog insurance?
Dog insurance helps you cover the cost of veterinary treatment if your dog falls ill or gets injured.
Some policies will also pay out if your dog is lost, stolen or needs to go to a kennel because you’re in hospital.
We’ve analysed dog insurance policies to give you a shortcut to finding the best deal for your four-legged friend.
And for more on how to get the best products for your dog, check out Which?’s dog harness and dog food reviews.
- Find out more: our individual pet insurer reviews
Types of dog insurance
There are three main types of policies that cover dogs:
To find our more about what pet insurance covers, and what’s likely to be excluded, read our guide on pet insurance explained.
What are the best dog insurance policies?
There is a vast array of dog insurance policies on the market, making it tough to figure out which one is right for your pooch.
Which? members can log in to see the results of our analysis. If you’re not already a member, join Which? to get full access to these results and all of our reviews.
Which? members can see:
- The full results from our analysis of dozens of different dog insurance policies, including our unique policy scores.
- A full breakdown of how each pet insurer is rated for customer service, value for money, transparency of charges, experience with making claims and much more.
- Individual overviews of each provider, revealing everything from the deals they offer to how thousands of real customers rate different aspects of their service.
Each table relates to a type of dog insurance policy (see explanations above). Policies are ranked by policy score, which is our rating of the comprehensiveness of cover offered by the policy.
For more information on how this score is put together, see our guide to the best and worst pet insurance.
Annual lifetime cover policies (1-30)
How can I save money on dog insurance?
Here’s how to stop your four-legged friend from emptying your wallet:
1. Find out the needs of your dog breed
According to the Association of British Insurers, the average pet insurance claim paid in 2020 was £817. Factoring in the possibility of you needing to make multiple claims, we’d wouldn’t recommend policies that would pay less than £2,000 annually.
But all pets are different, which means it will pay to understand your dog’s needs to be sure you get adequate cover.
Dogs are generally more expensive to maintain (and insure) than cats, and certain breeds are more susceptible to chronic conditions than others. For example, Labrador retrievers can be prone to cruciate ligament problems and dachshunds to back problems, both of which can set you back thousands of pounds in treatment costs.
Talk to your vet about common conditions and what level of cover they recommend.
2. Buy insurance when your dog is healthy
This might seem counterintuitive, but as most policies exclude pre-existing conditions, buying early means you’re maximising the cover your pet will get.
3. Make sure your dog is up to date on its jabs
Make sure your dog gets the appropriate inoculations and injections, including boosters, to minimise its chance of getting an illness that could lead to expensive premiums.
4. Pay annually (if you can afford it)
Paying monthly usually means you’re also paying interest, and this can be surprisingly expensive.
5. Haggle at renewal
If your insurer increases your dog’s premiums without good reason (for instance by claiming some routine treatment was an indication of an underlying condition), seek advice from a vet and complain.
- Find out more: how to find cheap pet insurance
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