Pet Insurance for Multiple Pets (2024)

FAQs

Is pet insurance worth it with multiple pets? ›

Having more than one pet significantly increases your risk of financial burden. If you're one of many with a few four-legged family members at home, then pet insurance is an important investment that can protect you from unexpected and often unaffordable costs at the vet.

Some insurers will allow you to add multiple pets to one policy, though most may require you to buy separate policies for each pet instead. Note that many pet insurance companies will only provide coverage for cats and dogs, so you may be out of luck with other pets like birds, hamsters, snakes, and rabbits.

Insuring your pet twice is perfectly legal, as long as you don't claim for the same thing with both pet insurance companies. However, having more than one pet insurance policy isn't recommended. Not only will you have to pay for two policies but you could also face problems if you need to make a claim.

Multi-pet insurance allows you to cover more than one animal under the same pet insurance policy. Usually, you get a discount by adding multiple pets to a single insurance policy. But this does not always work out as cheaper than getting individual coverage for each animal.

The average cost of pet insurance for a dog is $51 a month and $27 a month for a cat (for a policy with $5,000 of annual coverage, a $250 deductible and 80% reimbursem*nt level). The factors that affect pet insurance costs are breed, age of pet, where you live and the amount of coverage you choose.

Based on our research, the most expensive breeds to insure include the French bulldog, Labrador retriever and golden retriever, while the cheapest include chihuahuas and shih tzus.

Our lifetime pet insurance is our most comprehensive cover. It helps with the cost of one-off illnesses and recurring conditions over an unlimited amount of time.

An annual limit is the maximum amount of money your pet insurance provider will reimburse you for within one year and varies dramatically depending on your pet insurance plan. Some pet insurance plans offer “unlimited” annual coverage limits, which will prevent you from ever hitting a reimbursem*nt cap.

All pet insurance companies have waiting periods. That's the amount of time between when you bought your plan and when coverage begins. The accident waiting period typically ranges between one to 15 days and the average illness waiting period is 14 days.

Does Fetch pet insurance offer multipet discount? ›

Fetch plans don't cover microchip implantation in their base accident and illness plans. Fetch plans don't offer a multi-pet discount.

This is not included as standard with every policy but is very common with insurance for older pets. It is a contribution you will pay towards vet bills and is typically 10-20% depending on your policy.

Pets Keep Each Other From Becoming Bored or Lonely

Two pets also mean more companionship for the people in your family. Each pet has its own personality. You and your family will enjoy getting to know each one as an individual. Dogs and cats can become attached to more than just one owner.

Insurance companies calculate premiums based on a risk assessment. Many factors can drive up your homeowner's insurance — and pets are one of them.

About half, or 44.6%, of pet owners stated they currently have pet insurance in our survey. On a larger scale, NAPHIA's 2022 State of the Industry Report found that more than 4.41 million pets were insured in North America in 2021, up from 3.45 million in 2020.

"Insurance helps cover the unanticipated costs of pet ownership and can be a huge relief for owners as they typically cover 80-90% of the costs, depending on the plan," says Dr. Sarah Gorman, managing veterinarian at Small Door Veterinary in New York.