24-05-2025
Most expensive pet to insure revealed after claims hit record £1,200,000,000
Pet owners claimed a record £1.23 billion from insurance firms to help cover vets' bills for sick and injured animals last year.
Dogs led the pack, making up £933 million in claims, followed by cats at £232 million, and £61 million for other pets.
The 2024 total figure was 4% higher than the previous 12 months and marked the third straight year that total payouts by members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) topped £1 billion.
It said members received 1.8 million claims last year – amounting to nearly 5,000 every day.
The ABI's data also indicates that a record 4.6 million pet owners took out insurance – a 3% increase since 2023 and a third (33%) higher than before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019.
Many people acquired new pets during the coronavirus lockdowns.
Two years ago, Metro's Deputy Editor Claie Wilson's three-year-old cat Nelly got run over and the vets bill went into the thousands. Thankfully, she says, her pet insurance covered it, as the alternative wasn't worth thinking about.
'When Nelly had her accident it was just awful. She went missing for hours and when she finally showed up, she was in a real mess,' remembers Claie. 'She had to have her eye removed and her jaw was shattered, so had to be stapled back together. It meant Nelly had to stay at the vets for a few days and when she came home, she had to be fed by a feeding tube, with special cat food.'
As well as the initial operation, the vets fees for the black and grey tabby included scans, x-rays and medication, which meant that by the time the bill came in, it was just under the maximum of Claie's policy of £5,000.
'Our vets are fantastic and their first question was how much the policy was, so they could work within my financial limits as much as possible,' she explains.
'I didn't want them to skimp on any treatment Nelly might need, but I also knew that it could end up being even more eye-wateringly expensive if I wasn't careful.
'I've had cats for years and shelled out a fortune on insurance I've never needed to use. But with Nelly I'd paid about the equivalent of about £250 when she had her accident, so it was definitely worth having,' adds Claie.
'Of course, it means the premiums have gone up – but it's just bonkers not to have insurance if you can afford it and definitely not worth the financial risk. No one wants to be in a position where they can't save their pet if they need to.'
The average claim cost is £685, the ABI said, but some costs can be much higher. More Trending
The price of treatment for elbow dysplasia, a common cause of forelimb lameness in young, large and giant breed dogs, can cost over £50,000, the body said.
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The average cost of care needed when a pet eats something they should not, whether it is food which is poisonous to them or a small household item, is around £4,000, the ABI said.
Jonathan Purvis, senior policy adviser, general insurance at the ABI said: 'You can't pull a rabbit out the hat when it comes to paying for veterinary bills, so it's promising to see more people making sensible choices to protect themselves and their pets financially.
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'Insurance provides peace of mind that costs will be covered if your pet is ill or injured.'
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