Pet insurance for pre-existing conditions

Cat and dog insurance that covers pre-existing conditions

We're the only pet insurer that covers pre-existing conditions your pet has recently suffered from.

We have a unique policy called Pre-Existing that covers medical conditions your dog or cat has experienced in the past as long as they have not received treatment, medication or advice for them in the three months before your policy starts.

You’ll also receive up to £7,000 of lifetime vet fee cover for new conditions.

Why we created Pre Existing Medical Conditions Pet Insurance?

We listened to tens of thousands of pet owners to design a product that people want.

We provide £500 of cover in total for all pre-existing conditions in the first year of your policy. If you do not make a claim for any conditions we’ll increase your vet fee limit to £1,000 in the second year and if you still haven’t claimed we’ll up the limit to £7,000 from year three onwards.

If you do have to make a claim in the first two years for a pre-existing condition that reoccurs, your vet fee limit will remain at or drop to £500 for pre-existing issues.

The policy includes up to £7,000 of lifetime cover for any new conditions you need to claim for.

Our Pre-existing insurance is designed to cover conditions your pet has suffered from in the past two years (but not the three months before the policy starts) because other insurers do not offer cover for recent illnesses.

If your pet experienced a condition longer than two years ago and it has not needed treatment or advice since, all of our pet insurance policies should cover it.

We think the industry can do better, so our policy aims to offer comprehensive insurance for pets of any age that is fair for all owners.

What do other pet insurance companies do about pre-existing conditions?

There are three other companies that cover pre-existing conditions. However, two only cover pets that have not had symptoms or received treatment for the condition in the past two years and the other one will only cover you if your pet has not been to the vet more than three times for anything else other than a routine check-up in the last 24 months.

Our policy includes cover for nearly all past medical condition issues as long as your pet has not received treatment or advice for them in the three months before the start of your policy.

• VetsMediCover's Gold, Platinum, and Diamond policies will cover pets aged under 8 who have not had symptoms or received treatment for their condition at any time in the past two years.
• Lifetime Pet Cover also covers pets who have been symptom-free for two years and will insure pets up to any age
• Waggle's pre-existing conditions policy only covers pets under 3 years of age and will not cover any pets who have been to the vet more than 3 times in the last two years for anything other than a routine check-up.

As well as our Pre-Existing insurance we offer a range of other policies, all of which cover conditions pets have been treatment-free of for two years. You can find out about our other pet insurance policies here.

Our policy covers pets of any age.

Most other pet insurance companies in the UK refuse to cover medical conditions a pet already suffers from at the time the policy is taken out. They might refuse to insure the pet altogether, or only offer insurance that excludes treatment relating to the condition because they believe the pet is too risky to insure.

The effect of insurance companies' collective failure to cover existing conditions is that many customers end up trapped with the same insurer, unable to change to another pet insurance provider, and hence exposed to whatever future price increases the insurer might see fit to impose.

We feel pets can recover quickly and owners should have some way to get cover for past issues. Our solution is the Pre-Existing policy; it offers some cover for previous medical issues and if the pet stays healthy for two years we'll upgrade the vet fee limit for the pre-existing illnesses. We hope it gives pet owners more choice and stops them being trapped in an insurance policy.

This issue was covered by a BBC Watchdog investigation into pet insurance.

What about older dogs and cats with medical conditions?

As pets get older, it becomes more likely that they will be affected by medical conditions. Our policy is open to dogs of any age and we also have a group for older dogs that offers more policy options.

Check out our clear and simple policy documents and policy summary to find out what our insurance does and doesn't cover.

By Ronny Lavie