What does pet insurance cover?

Depending on the sections you choose: surgery, hospitalisation and out-patient treatment for accidents and illness; lump sums for terminal illness, long-term care and death; third-party liability; and theft or straying.

Does pet insurance cover my pet if it bites someone?

Yes, if you have taken third-party liability cover. It pays compensation you are legally liable for plus legal defence costs, up to the sum insured, and usually has no waiting period.

What is not covered by pet insurance?

Generally preventive, cosmetic, elective and breeding-related care, routine procedures such as spaying and dental surgery, prosthetics, and injury from neglect or occupational use, among others set out in the wording.

A guide for dog & cat parents

Pet insurance for your dog or cat in India, explained plainly.

Written by Susheel Agarwal, Founder of Ethika — an IRDAI-licensed insurance broker. Reviewed by Sandeep Mukka, Principal Officer.

Last reviewed: July 2026

A sudden accident or a serious illness can turn into a large, unplanned vet bill overnight — long before you’ve had time to weigh what treatment costs. Pet insurance is the cover that stands between that bill and your savings. What it covers, who’s eligible, and how the waiting periods and sections work — in plain English, for Indian pet parents.

For dogs and cats from 90 days old — indigenous, cross-breed and exotic breeds alike.

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Quick answer

Pet insurance reimburses the cost of treating your dog or cat after a covered accident or illness — and, depending on the sections you choose, pays lump sums for terminal illness, death or theft, and covers your third-party liability if your pet harms someone. Every section is optional, so you build the policy from the covers you want, on an individual or group basis. What a policy pays always depends on its wording.

What is pet insurance?

Pet insurance is a policy that helps with the cost of caring for a dog or cat when things go wrong — a broken limb, an illness that needs surgery or a hospital stay, a chronic condition that needs managing for years. It reimburses treatment within the limits you choose, and can also pay set amounts for serious events like terminal illness, death or the loss of your pet.

The idea is simple: veterinary care can be sudden and expensive, and a policy spreads that cost. You decide which sections to take and how much cover to buy under each; the policy then pays within the sum insured and limits you picked, less any co-payment or deductible.

You’ll see it called pet insurance, pet health insurance or pet medical cover — they describe the same protection. It can be taken as a short-term policy of less than a year, an annual policy, or a long-term policy of up to three years, with all the sections you opt for sharing the same start and end dates.

Nothing here is a compulsory bundle. You build the policy from the covers that match your pet and your budget — and the right combination differs for a Giant-breed puppy, a senior indoor cat and a working dog.

Which pets can be covered?

Cover is for domesticated dogs and cats that are at least 90 days old. Breed is rarely a barrier — pets of indigenous origin, cross-breeds and exotic breeds all qualify. What matters is the age band, which differs by pet type and, for dogs, by size.

Age and breed

Entry and exit ages by pet type and breed size
Pet	Breed type	Entry age	Exit age
Dogs	Small · Medium · Large	3 months to 7 years	10 years
Dogs	Giant	3 months to 4 years	6 years
Cats	All breeds	3 months to 7 years	12 years

A higher entry or exit age may be allowed at the insurer’s discretion where the pet’s good health can be established, subject to extra conditions in the schedule.

Identifying your pet

Because a policy attaches to one specific animal, you confirm identity through one or more of: clear photographs or video, tagging (digital or non-digital, including RFID), a written description that uniquely identifies the pet, or another method the insurer accepts. The exact requirement can vary with the pet, the breed, and whether the policy is individual or group.

What does a pet insurance policy cover?

A policy is built from eight optional sections. They fall into three families — medical covers for everyday treatment, benefit covers that pay a lump sum on a serious event, and protection covers for liability and loss.

Medical

Surgery, hospitalisation and out-patient (OPD) treatment for accidents and illness — reimbursed within your limits.

Benefit

Lump sums for terminal illness, long-term chronic care, and mortality — paid on a defined event, not against bills.

Protection

Third-party liability if your pet harms someone, and cover for theft, loss or straying of your pet.

Some sections are available whether you take a short-term or a long-term policy; the two lump-sum illness covers are long-term only:

The eight sections and their availability by policy term
Section	What it covers	Short term	Long term
Surgery expenses	Surgical treatment after an accident or illness, plus fracture care that doesn’t need surgery.	Yes	Yes
Hospitalisation	In-patient treatment, with a per-day and an annual aggregate limit.	Yes	Yes
Mortality benefit	A lump sum if your pet dies from illness, accident or humane euthanasia.	Yes	Yes
Terminal diseases	A lump sum on diagnosis of a listed terminal illness, if the pet survives 30 days.	No	Yes
Long-term care	A lump sum for listed chronic illnesses needing ongoing management.	No	Yes
OPD cover	Out-patient treatment at a vet clinic for listed illnesses.	Yes	Yes
Third-party liability	Compensation and legal costs if your pet injures a third party or their property.	Yes	Yes
Theft / lost / straying	A lump sum for permanent loss, plus advertising and reward costs.	Yes	Yes

Surgery expenses

Reimburses surgical treatment at a vet’s clinic or hospital when it’s needed because of an accident or illness. Fracture treatment that doesn’t need surgery is paid within a sub-limit, and diagnostics in the 7 days before and the first 15 days after a covered surgery are included.

Hospitalisation

Covers reasonable in-patient charges, subject to a per-day limit and an annual aggregate limit. It normally needs at least 24 hours of in-patient care; where that facility wasn’t available, a claim may still be accepted with prior consent, subject to a higher co-payment. For any one event, you claim under surgery or hospitalisation, not both.

Mortality benefit

Pays the sum insured if your pet dies from illness or accident, or is put to sleep humanely to end incurable suffering, with a small additional amount towards cremation or burial. Availability tapers with age — it isn’t offered for Giant dog breeds over 4, other breeds over 7, or cats over 8, unless renewed without a break.

Terminal diseases & long-term care

Two long-term-only covers that each pay a lump sum: terminal-diseases cover on diagnosis of a listed serious illness (if the pet survives 30 days), and long-term-care cover for listed chronic conditions that need ongoing management. Each pays once in the pet’s lifetime.

OPD cover

Reimburses out-patient treatment at a vet clinic for a list of common illnesses, with a compulsory deductible on every claim and certain eye conditions excluded.

Third-party liability

Pays if you become legally liable for injury, property damage, sickness or death caused to a third party by your pet — and covers the legal costs of defending the claim, even where you’re ultimately absolved. This is the one section with no waiting period.

Theft, lost or straying

Pays a lump sum for the permanent loss of your pet where no recovery is made after 45 days despite genuine efforts to trace it, and reimburses advertising and a pre-agreed reward. You must lodge a police FIR, notify the insurer within 24 hours, and claim within a year; if the pet is later found, the amount paid must be repaid.

Not sure which sections your pet actually needs? 20 minutes with a Growth Advisor — no obligation.

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What pet insurance doesn’t cover

Knowing the exclusions matters as much as the cover. The main things that fall outside the medical sections:

Elective and cosmetic procedures — tail docking, declawing, ear cropping and experimental surgery.
Breeding-related treatment — pregnancy, whelping, grooming and skin diseases.
Routine procedures — spaying, castration, hysterectomy and dental surgery, unless treating a complication.
Tumours and growths — removal of warts, abscesses or tumours; this exclusion is waived after 2 consecutive renewals.
Preventive care — vaccination and micro-chipping, except treating complications from them.
Prosthetics and artificial parts, and non-medical costs.
Neglect or intentional harm — injury from abuse or persistent neglect by the owner or household.
Occupational use — racing, coursing, guarding, organised fighting or business use, unless the commercial-use extension is taken.
Hip dysplasia, unless specifically added for an extra premium at first inception.

Each protection section has its own exclusions too. Third-party liability won’t pay where liability isn’t established by a court, or where the injured person is family, a paid carer or a trainer; theft cover won’t pay without evidence of advertising, or a reward paid to your own household.

How pet insurance cover is sized

There’s no fixed price and no standard cover. Each section carries its own sum insured — the most the policy will pay under it — and you choose it up front. What you pay depends on your pet’s type, breed and age, the sections and sums you pick, any co-payment you take, and the discounts and no-claim bonus you qualify for.

Co-payment and deductibles

Several sections let you take a co-payment of 10%, 20% or 30% — you agree to bear that share of each claim in exchange for a lower premium. OPD additionally carries a compulsory deductible on every claim. A higher co-pay lowers the premium but raises what you pay at claim time, so it’s a trade-off, not a free discount.

Typical sum insured options

As a rough guide, the standard options in the policy wording this guide draws on run:

Typical sum insured options by section
Section	Typical sum insured range
Surgery expenses	₹10,000 to ₹3,00,000 (fracture sub-limit ₹1,000 to ₹5,000)
Hospitalisation	Annual ₹5,000 to ₹50,000 · per-day ₹250 to ₹2,500
Mortality · Terminal · Long-term care	₹5,000 to ₹50,000
OPD	Up to ₹30,000
Third-party liability	₹10,000 to ₹15,00,000
Theft / lost / straying	Within your chosen sum insured (advertising to ₹1,000, reward to ₹5,000)

These figures are illustrative. They are the standard options in one policy wording, not an insurer-neutral market range, and your actual limits, sub-limits and co-pay are whatever appears on your own policy schedule.

When does cover start?

This is the feature most owners get wrong, so it’s worth getting right. Cover doesn’t behave the same way for accidents and for illness. Accidents are covered from day one. Illness claims usually wait out a short waiting period after the policy starts — and third-party liability has no waiting at all.

Accidents are covered immediately; illness cover starts after the 20-day waiting period; third-party liability has none.

The standard waiting periods

Most sections carry a waiting period of around 20 days — surgery, hospitalisation, mortality, OPD, terminal diseases, long-term care and theft. Third-party liability has no waiting period, and any claim arising from an accident is payable from the start.

Older pets and health checks

For a new pet over the age of 4, the insurer may either ask for recent medical test reports (from the last few days) or apply a three-month waiting period on illness claims. Anything found to be pre-existing through those tests isn’t covered. Pets under 4 don’t usually need such reports.

Why continuity matters

Renewing without a break keeps your waiting periods behind you and keeps age-based cover open — several sections stay available past the usual age caps only if the policy has run continuously with the same insurer.

What a claim looks like

Third-party liability is the section owners find hardest to picture, so here’s how it settles when your dog or cat bites someone and you’ve taken a ₹25,000 sum insured under that section:

Third-party liability claim settlement example
Step	Amount
Sum insured you opted for	₹25,000
Compensation the third party demands	₹15,000
Settlement the insurer recommends	₹15,000
Insurer’s liability if you accept it	₹15,000
If you contest and a court awards more	Capped at your ₹25,000 sum insured

If you choose to contest after the insurer has recommended settlement, its liability is limited to what the claim could have settled for, plus claim expenses incurred with its consent up to that point.

How to make a pet insurance claim

The path from incident to payout is straightforward, but notice deadlines matter — tell the insurer as soon as an insured event happens, and within 24 hours for loss or theft.

Notify and register. Contact your broker or the insurer’s claims line as soon as the event happens; the claim is logged and initial details collected.
Get your pet treated. Obtain the services of a qualified vet and keep every bill, report and certificate.
Submit the claim form and documents. Complete the form and share it with the supporting papers — in person, by email, or via the app or website.
Assessment. The claims team reviews the file and refers it to the pet underwriting team, who decide whether it’s admissible.
Decision. You’re told whether the claim is approved or rejected, and why.
Payout. Once you accept the amount and provide bank (NEFT) details, the payment is processed.

Cover applies to claims occurring in India, decided under Indian law, and paid in rupees. If the insurer disclaims a claim and you don’t take it to court within 12 months, it’s treated as abandoned.

Discounts & no-claim bonus

Several discounts can bring the premium down, and staying claim-free is rewarded over time:

RFID tagging — 5% if you tag your pet with RFID.
Health report — 5% if you provide a fitness or complete medical report (not older than 30 days) for a pet aged over 4 at first inception or renewal.
Cumulative bonus — 10% a year for each claim-free policy year, up to 50% in aggregate, on eligible sections taken yearly or long-term.
Multiple-pet discount if you insure more than one pet (not on group policies).
Long-term discount for taking a multi-year policy.
Direct-business / employee discount where applicable.

Extensions & restricted cover

Commercial use of pet (extension)

For an extra premium, cover can be widened to pets used for occupational, professional or business purposes. It isn’t available where pets are used in hazardous activities, sport or hunting, or by breeders raising pets solely to sell — and where a business insures pets, all of them must be covered, not a hand-picked few.

Restricted cover (for a discount)

You can opt out of certain cover in exchange for a discount — for example, no cover for death due to kidney failure, no cataract surgeries, or no terminal-diseases cover, typically applied past age 5 for Giant dog breeds and past age 7 for other dogs and all cats. It lowers the premium by removing protection you may later wish you’d kept, so it’s worth weighing against your pet’s breed-specific risks.

Cancellation & refunds

You can cancel an individual annual policy at any time with at least 15 days’ written notice. If no claim has been made, the refund follows a short-period scale:

Short-period refund scale
Policy in force for	Refund (% of annual premium)
Up to 15 days	100%
16 to 60 days	67%
61 to 90 days	59%
91 to 120 days	51%
121 to 150 days	43%
151 to 180 days	35%
181 to 365 days	Nil

Short-term policies (under a year) can’t be cancelled, and no refund is due once any claim has been lodged. Multi-year policies apportion each year separately, and a 30-day grace period applies at renewal for waiting-period continuity, though claims during a break aren’t payable.

Why work with a broker?

Pet policies look similar on the surface and differ where it counts — the sum insured that’s actually adequate for your breed, the co-pay you can live with, the age caps, and the exclusions that quietly narrow a section. A broker’s job is to line those up against your pet and read the wording so you don’t have to.

Benchmarks the cover for a pet like yours — breed, age, and the sections worth taking.
Compares wordings, not just headline sums insured, so you see where cover really begins and ends.
Explains the trade-offs on co-pay, deductibles and restricted cover before you commit.
Stands with you at claim time, which is when the difference between policies shows.

A broker’s duty of care is to you, the client, not to the insurer.

Common myths about pet insurance

There’s a lot of confusing — and sometimes plain wrong — information online. Here are the ones we end up correcting most often.

Myth“Once you buy it, pet insurance covers everything.”FactCover begins only after the waiting periods, and pre-existing and congenital conditions — plus routine, cosmetic and breeding-related care — are usually excluded. Read the exclusions before you buy.
Myth“It’s cashless, like my health insurance.”FactPet cover in India works on reimbursement. Cashless settlement is not available, so you pay the vet first and claim the eligible amount back.
Myth“My pet is healthy, so I’ll buy when something comes up.”FactA condition that first appears during the waiting period is usually treated as pre-existing — and excluded for good. Buying early, while your pet is healthy, is what avoids that.
Myth“Only pedigree pets can be insured.”FactIndigenous, cross-breed and exotic dogs and cats are commonly covered, within the policy’s entry and exit age bands.
Myth“Third-party liability isn’t worth taking.”FactIf your dog injures someone or damages property, liability cover can meet the compensation and legal costs — often the least-expected bill an owner faces.

Key terms, explained

Pet insurance comes with its own vocabulary. Here’s the plain-English version of the words you’ll meet.

Sum insured: The most the policy will pay in one policy year, across the sections you’ve chosen.
Waiting period: The time after buying before a given claim becomes payable. Illness waits are common; accident cover often has none.
Pre-existing condition: An illness or condition that existed before the policy started, or that appeared during the waiting period. Where it is identified before the policy begins, it is not covered.
Reimbursement: You pay the vet first and claim the eligible amount back afterwards, with the bills.
Cashless: The insurer settles the bill directly with the provider, so you pay little or nothing up front. It is how much human health insurance works, but it is not available in Indian pet cover.
Co-payment: The share of each claim you agree to bear yourself. A higher co-pay usually lowers the premium.
Third-party liability: Cover for compensation and legal costs if your pet injures a person or damages their property.
Sub-limit: A cap on a specific condition or treatment, sitting below the overall sum insured.
No-claim bonus: A benefit — higher cover or a lower premium — for a policy year without a claim.
OPD cover: Out-patient treatment (consultations, minor procedures) that doesn’t need hospitalisation. Usually an add-on.

Common questions

What pets can be insured?

Domesticated dogs and cats at least 90 days old — indigenous, cross-breed and exotic breeds — within the entry and exit age bands.

Is any part of the policy compulsory?

No. It’s built from optional sections; you take only the covers you want, on an individual or group basis.

What does it cover?

Depending on the sections you choose: surgery, hospitalisation and OPD for accidents and illness; lump sums for terminal illness, long-term care and death; third-party liability; and theft or straying.

Does it cover my pet if it bites someone?

Yes, if you’ve taken third-party liability. It pays compensation you’re legally liable for plus legal defence costs, up to the sum insured, and usually has no waiting period.

How long is the waiting period?

Around 20 days for most sections, nil for third-party liability, and none for accident claims. New pets over 4 may face medical tests or a three-month waiting period on illness claims.

What isn’t covered?

Preventive, cosmetic, elective and breeding-related care, routine procedures like spaying and dental surgery, prosthetics, and injury from neglect or occupational use — among others in the wording.

Can I insure an older pet?

Within the exit ages, yes. For a new pet over 4, the insurer may ask for recent medical reports or apply a three-month waiting period on illness claims, and pre-existing conditions found through those tests aren’t covered.

How is it priced?

There’s no fixed price. The premium reflects your pet’s type, breed and age, the sections and sum insured you choose, any co-payment, and the discounts and no-claim bonus you qualify for.

What if my lost pet is found after I’ve claimed?

If your pet is later found or returned, the amount paid under the theft, lost or straying section must be repaid.

How do I get the right cover for my pet?

The right mix of sections and sums insured depends on breed, age, where you live and what you can absorb yourself. Talk to us and we’ll match it to your situation.

Go deeper: plain-English explainers

Longer reads on pet cover — written to be useful on their own. Still general; where the honest answer is “it depends on your policy,” they say so.

The right policy is a conversation, not a quote

Everything above is how pet insurance works in general. What’s right for your pet depends on its breed, age and health, how and where it lives, and what you could comfortably absorb yourself — and that’s a short conversation, not a form filled in blind.

If you’re bringing home a new puppy or kitten, insuring an older pet for the first time, renewing, or simply checking whether your sums insured and co-pay still make sense, that’s the moment to talk.

What happens when you talk to us

A 20-minute video call with a Growth Advisor — no obligation, and no hard sell. In that first call we usually look at:

Your pet — its breed, age and how it lives
Which sections earn their premium for you, and which you can skip
The trade-offs on sum insured, co-pay and restricted cover
What information the insurer will need to quote

You’ll leave with an honest read on the cover that fits your pet, and a straight answer on whether we can genuinely help.

Talk to us

20 minutes with a Growth Advisor. No obligation.

Related covers

Business insurance · Directors & Officers (D&O) · Professional indemnity · Group health insurance · Group personal accident insurance · Commercial general liability · Cyber insurance

A note on this page. This page is general information about pet insurance — not insurance, legal, financial or tax advice, and nothing on it is an offer of cover. The right policy for your pet is determined through a conversation and the formal placement process.

Sources. The coverage terms, ages, exclusions, claim example and sum-insured ranges on this page are paraphrased from a specific pet insurance policy wording. They illustrate how cover is usually structured rather than describing every insurer’s terms.