Compare Pet Care

The RSPCA is easily the best known of all animal welfare charities. However they do not run their own insurance; it is handled by a French company called Covea Insurance Plc. This is a major insurer; there said to generate premiums of more than £700 million with nearly 2 million policyholders.

Rumour has it that they do in fact contribute towards RSPCA funds and about 15% of the cost of each policy is said to be donated to the charity.

They have different levels of cover available for their pet plans. Cover can be arranged for not only costs of veterinary treatment but also third-party liability. You can also get cover for the cost of advertising for a lost pet if you wish.

The lowest level of cover is for accidents only, but this also covers third-party liabilities in case your pet is responsible for an accident.

This company makes a bold claim; that it is the biggest insurer of pets in Britain, with around 1.3 million policies in force. You cannot insure just anything with Petplan; there will provide cover only for cats, dogs, rabbits or horses so forget about insuring your pet alligator!

Like many insurers Petplan is part of a larger group; in this case it is a subsidiary of the Allianz Insurance Plc group.

Animal Friends Pet Insurance first saw the light of day in 1998 when it was set up to not only provide pet insurance, but to make substantial donations out of profits to animal charities. Up-to-date they claim to have donated somewhere in excess of 5.6 million spread amongst various charities, and they claim to insure around 1 million pets in the United Kingdom. They can cover dogs, cats and horses.

There underwriter is a company called Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd, which is based in Gibraltar.

A particular advantage of insuring with Animal Friends Pet Insurance is that you can take advantage of their free video consultations with a vet if you are worried about your pet. These are available 365 days a year and you can, theoretically, have unlimited online consultations..

The lowest level of cover is for accidents only, but this also covers third-party liabilities in case your pet is responsible for an accident.

PDSA is an animal welfare charity which relies 100% on public donations. There is no regular government support and so they do not have money to burn!

Nevertheless they managed to provide cheap or even free treatment for sick and injured pets from around 48 pet hospitals.

They cannot of course afford to carry out expensive treatments but they have an insurance arrangement for this which is called PDSA Petsurance. This is run by an insurance broker called Insurance Factory Ltd, part of the Markerstudy insurance group. Policies are underwritten by Liverpool Victoria.

This company originated in Sweden back in 1890 and a UK branch was opened in 2009. They specialise, not in normal household pets, but animals that work and are kept for breeding purposes and their policies last for the entire lifetime of the animals they insure.

They offer ongoing advice on keeping animals healthy, behavioural training, and suitable diets.