To make life a little easier

Please see our Make a Claim page.

Petwise specialise in older pets only, therefore we are unable to insure pets under the age of seven years old, however our sister company Purely Pets offer 15 levels of lifetime cover helping you find the right cover for you and your pet. Purely Pets are rated Excellent by Trustpilot and offer 5* rated Defaqto products for our 5 Lifetime Gold levels of cover.

Your documents will be sent to you by email. When your policy renews, your renewal letter, along with your schedule of insurance and policy wording, will be emailed to you a minimum of 14 days before your renewal date.

As we offer specialist pet insurance for senior pets, your pet has to be at least seven years old at the start of your policy. There is no upper age limit, so we don't stop providing cover when your pet gets older, as long as you've been continuously covered by us.

If your pet is under seven years of age, although you cannot purchase a policy from Petwise; our sister brand Purely Pets offer insurance for dogs and cats of any age as long as they are over eight weeks of age.

This depends on whether you previously held insurance for the pet you are insuring with us or not.

If you held insurance for your pet with another provider and are moving to Petwise with no gap in cover, we will waive our standard waiting periods (the first 10 days for illness and first 48 hours for accidents) and your policy will be continuous with no gaps in cover. If this scenario applies to yourself and you need to claim within the early days of your Petwise policy starting, we will ask for evidence to be provided to demonstrate your previous cover before processing your claim. If you cannot provide evidence of this, the usual waiting periods will apply to your policy.

Any condition covered under the policy terms that has not shown signs or symptoms or received treatment for, within two years of your Petwise policy starting will be covered under your Petwise policy. Please see policy wording for full details on any exclusions.

An excess is the contribution you make towards your claim. Your excess will be shown on your policy schedule.

We are currently experiencing very high volumes of claims which is impacting our ability to process claims within our target of 10 working days. We’re so sorry if you’re currently experiencing a delay.

In the short term we are aiming to process all claims within 4 weeks from receipt of all required information. Ensuring you and your vet have provided all relevant supporting information will help us to reduce handling times and speed up the assessing time.

We’re sorry for any stress or inconvenience this may cause you and we hope to return to our normal service levels very soon. Please do call us or use our LiveChat service if you still need to discuss your claim with us or require any support in submitting a claim to us.

Thank you for your understanding.

You can cancel your policy at any time. If you want to cancel in the first 14 days, providing you have not made a claim you will receive a full refund of your paid premium, minus an administration charge of £30. If you want to cancel after this time, then you will be charged for the time your pet has been insured. If you have made a claim on your policy and you want to cancel then the full premium for the year will become due. In all cases there is an administration charge of £30.

You can use the Petwise 24hr Vet Helpline to speak to someone now. Call us on 0333 001 5153 or CLICK HERE to chat to us online.    

If the veterinary nurse deems it necessary, there is also a video calling service where the veterinary nurse can initiate a video call to assess your pet closely.

You can use the Petwise 24hr Vet Helpline to speak to someone now. Call us on 0333 001 5153 or CLICK HERE to chat to us online.  

If the veterinary nurse deems it necessary, there is also a video calling service where the veterinary nurse can initiate a video call to assess your pet closely.

We welcome any comments on the services we provide – in the form of both compliments and complaints. We accept that things can occasionally go wrong and would encourage you to tell us about any concerns you may have so that we can take the necessary steps to make sure the service you receive meets your expectations in the future.

Please CLICK HERE to find out how you can make a complaint.

Petwise insurance policies are underwritten by West Bay Insurance Plc.

For policies purchased under Petwise Senior Insurance dental cover is provided as standard. Please refer to your policy wording for full details.

Our policies do not cover dogs used for working, trade, profession or business.

No, the claim form will need to be signed and dated after the treatment has taken place. If we receive a claim form that has been signed and dated before the treatment end date, it will be necessary for us to follow our process and return the claim form to you which will result in unnecessary delays. The reasoning behind this is that you are signing to confirm that the treatment claimed for is correct. Whilst we are happy to accept direct claims from your vet, the claim form still needs to be signed after the treatment has ended.

Yes, you can still buy a Petwise pet insurance policy if your pet is not vaccinated. However, we will not cover unvaccinated pets for illnesses that could have been prevented through vaccination unless there is a documented medical reason to demonstrate this.

You can select this when you make your claim. If your policy is being paid by Direct Debit from your account, then you have the option of being paid by BACS (Bankers Automated Clearing Services) direct into your bank account. Payment can also be made by BACS to your vet, if they wish; their payment details just need to be added to the corresponding section on the claims form. Please note that any excesses and items not covered under your policy will be deducted from settlement regardless of the payee.

Petwise customers have access to unlimited video consultations with FirstVet. FirstVet vets can help you solve your pet's health issues through simple at-home treatment recommendations. If your pet needs further treatment in a physical veterinary clinic we can help you find the best one in your area, and provide detailed clinical notes as part of the referral.For more information CLICK HERE

Most pet insurance providers will introduce what is commonly referred to as a co-payment excess when your pet turns a certain age. This can be anything up to 30% of the total claimed amount that you will need to pay, on top of your standard excess when claiming. This can leave you having to foot a large chunk of your vet bill. Petwise Insurance is one of the only providers in the UK to never introduce a co-payment excess, making it a good choice if you want a fixed excess only.

We will pay up to a maximum of £150 for costs incurred if your pet is put to sleep, cremated or towards burial costs. This is one overall benefit limit and is separate to your veterinary fee allowance. How you spend it, will be up to you.

We know that losing a pet is an extremely painful experience for many people. We provide an understanding, confidential and professional helpline service enabling you to talk for as long as you need about the death or illness of your pet. Help and advice is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Please call 0333 003 2258

You can claim up to £25 per period of insurance for your pet’s food, if it is specifically designed, formulated and advertised as food for senior pets. This contribution is a separate limit from your veterinary fee allowance. The fixed excess does not apply to this benefit; we shall just deduct what we count as your pet’s normal feeding costs as 25p per tin/pouch or 50p per kilo.

Insurer decisions are led by the statistics they hold. For Pet Insurance they will look at the following factors when deciding which risks they want to provide cover for; health profile of the breed, third party liability costs incurred for that breed as well as the specifics for your risk such as your dog’s age and where you live.  If any of these factors are deemed as too high of a risk in the insurers statistics, they may make the decision to either restrict cover, significantly increase the premium based on the risk, or simply not offer cover to certain breeds or certain ages of pets. Whist we do not cover your breed at the moment, this isn’t to say we never will. You may notice different pet insurance providers have different breeds they will and will not cover, which again will be the result of the individual insurers statistics.

There are multiple factors that will affect your premium. These include, but are not limited to;

1. The age of your pet, as your pet ages the risk of them becoming ill increases

2. Your claims history, if your pet has been unwell and you’ve had to make a claim this may indicate that you’re more likely to claim in the future and will impact your premium

3. Advancements being made in veterinary treatments and inflationary increases both impact the cost of treatment and medication, which inevitably have an impact on insurance premiums

Depending on where you have obtained your quote, some comparison sites will offer a new business discount which will apply to your policy in the first year – this discount will not apply at renewal.

Additionally, new policies generally contain a waiting period before your cover actually starts and will often exclude anything your pet has shown symptoms of, or has been treated for, prior to your policy starting. As renewals do not have these terms, the higher premium reflects the higher risk being carried by the insurer compared to a brand-new customer.

It is also important to check that all of the details you have entered match those on your current policy including your pets breed and date of birth, also check that the cover level and excess is the same.

Petwise offer a range of policies you can switch between so if you are looking to reduce your premium, but keep existing conditions covered, contact us now to see your personalised options and specific terms that would apply on 0333 003 2271

No, this ruling only applies to home and motor insurance.