Lifetime Pet Insurance

Depending on whether you have a dog, cat or rabbit, we have slightly different age limits, which will apply when you're taking out Pet Insurance.

For dogs, you can start insurance from 8 weeks up to their 8th birthday. However, for certain breeds of dogs (see below), insurance can start from 8 weeks up to their 5th birthday. For cats, you can start insurance from 8 weeks up to their 10th birthday.

For rabbits, you can start insurance from 8 weeks up to their 5th birthday.

Dog breeds: Beauceron, Bernese Mountain Dog, Bulldog, Bullmastiff, Deerhound, Dogue de Bordeaux, Estrela Mountain Dog, Giant Schnauzer, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound, Leonberger, Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff, Newfoundland, Old English Bulldog, Old English Sheepdog, Poodle (Standard), Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, St Bernard, Standard Poodle, Tibetan Mastiff, Utonagan.

Once insured, you may continue your pet's cover for life, provided you continue to pay your premiums.

Contact the rescue centre, as most reputable centres will vaccinate their pets and should be able to tell you for certain. If they haven't vaccinated your pet or don't know its vaccination status, we recommend taking it to the vet. They’ll be able to tell you what course of action is recommended.

Yes, an excess is payable per condition. It'll be payable per condition, per year, for Lifetime Pet Insurance. It forms part of your quote, and as with your premium, the excess is a fixed amount.

Your excess is fixed until each annual review but can change if your circumstances change. We'll let you know your excess change before it's applied when you contact us to change your details. Also, please remember when your pet reaches a certain age (see below), it'll change from a defined amount to a sum greater than the specified amount or a percentage contribution.

Cats - 10 years

Dogs - 5 or 8 years, depending on the breed

Rabbits - 5 years

We'll write to give you more information a year in advance of the change.

Illness, including poisoning and accidental injury, is covered after the first 3 days of the policy.

These policies offer cover per condition with a time limit on claims. A particular condition will become excluded under the policy either when the maximum amount has been paid out or 12 months from first date of treatment, whichever is sooner. 

These policies impose a maximum benefit per condition. For example, once the maximum benefit is reached for an ongoing illness such as diabetes or dermatitis, that condition will be excluded from further claims, and you’ll need to be prepared to fund ongoing treatment yourself.

It's the most comprehensive form of Pet Insurance and covers vet fees up to a maximum amount, which is reinstated each year. If your pet develops a long-term chronic illness such as diabetes or an ongoing skin condition, provided it didn't pre-date the policy, it'll be covered for the rest of your pet's life.   

Pet insurance policies vary. A Post Office Pet Insurance policy will typically cover:

• vet fees
• death from an accident or illness
• holiday cancellation in the event your cat or dog is unwell
• advertising fees and reward money if they go missing, are stolen or strays
• boarding fees if you have to stay in hospital
• overseas travel for cat and dog policies
• access to a veterinary helpline

You’ll find more information on the levels of cover for each of the above and exclusions in the policy document.

The way claims are processed depends on how they are submitted.

Claims submitted by your vet in Vet Pawtal go through the following steps:

1. Claim submitted: Once your pet has received treatment, your vet will submit the claim in Vet Pawtal. 
2. Claim received: Your vet will have provided us all the information, medical records and invoices to process the claim.
3. Pending approval: Our assessors will review the claim and come to a decision. On average, it takes 5 days to assess a claim.
4. Claim processed: Once your claim is processed, we’ll let you know the outcome. 

When you submit a claim in My Account Pet, it goes through 5 steps before it’s completed. Our summary below outlines our online vet fees claims process:

1. Claim submitted: Once your pet has received treatment, you can submit your claim. All you will need to do is answer a few questions, give us your vet's details, and tell us who we need to pay.
2. Awaiting vet completion: We'll contact your vet to confirm the treatment and costs. On average, vets come back to us in 8 days, depending on your vet. We'll chase your vet at days 5, 10, and 15 if we haven't had a response.
3. Claim received: Your vet will have supplied us with information we need to move forward.
4. Pending approval: Our assessors will review the claim and come to a decision. On average, it takes 5 days to assess a claim, but sometimes this can take longer if we need more information.
5. Claim completed: Once your claim is fully assessed, we'll let you know the outcome. If you submit a paper vet fees claim form, the process is different and can take longer. Once you’ve downloaded and completed your part, you will need to pass it to your vet to fill in. Once they have completed their section, they will post it to us to review.

If your claim is submitted via Vet Pawtal or in My Account Pet, you can track it straight away in our Claims Tracker. For paper claim forms, you will only be able to see their progress in the Claims Tracker once we’ve received it and uploaded the information to our system.

If you’re signed up for SMS, we’ll also send you text messages with claim updates.

For customers who receive their documents in the post, we’ll keep you updated by letter. However, if your claim was submitted by your vet in Vet Pawtal, we will update you with text messages and emails because Vet Pawtal claims can be processed so quickly. Please be aware, this doesn’t affect your chosen preferences for all other communications.

Visit our Pet Insurance support page

No, we're unable to cover pre-existing conditions that are known before you take out your policy.

When you get a quote, we'll ask if your pet has seen a vet for any reason other than their annual health check, routine vaccinations or other preventative care. We'll request a few details about their condition from you and your vet and explain what we'll cover and any exclusions that might apply to the policy.