Pet Insurance Germany: Essentials
- By investing in pet health insurance, you can ensure that the financial burden of veterinary treatment, vaccinations, and routine examinations is lifted, allowing you to focus on your pet’s well-being.
- Taking out health insurance for your pet as early as possible is best. You’ll be pleased to pay lower premiums for young and healthy animals, making it a financially savvy and responsible decision.
- Pet health insurance is available as a surgical tariff or with comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive pet insurance is usually significantly pricier.
- As a dog owner, you should also consider dog liability insurance, as your private liability insurance will not cover damage caused by dogs.
- Many insurance companies offer pet insurance. Our recommendation for expats in Germany is pet health insurance and dog liability insurance from the two FinTech insurers Feather and Getsafe. A big plus point for expats is that all benefits and services are available in English, ensuring a smooth and comfortable experience.
Pet health insurance in Germany
Healthcare costs for your cat or dog can quickly add up to significant sums. Pet health insurance relieves you of all or most of the costs of vet visits and medical treatment for your pet.
How pet health insurance works
Pet health insurance works on the same principle as private health insurance for humans. You choose an insurance company and a tariff — most insurers also offer several tariffs in their pet insurance policies. If your cat or dog needs veterinary treatment, your vet will issue you an invoice for the treatment costs, which your pet insurance will reimburse.
Two tariff types for pet health insurance
In principle, there are two types of tariffs for pet health insurance, although the scope of benefits can differ significantly depending on the insurance provider.
Surgery insurance
Surgical tariffs only cover medically necessary operations. When selecting your insurance and tariff, you should ensure that the policy covers the operation, diagnosis costs, and post-operative care, including your pet’s inpatient stay in a veterinary clinic.
Full insurance tariffs
This type of pet health insurance covers the costs of surgical and non-surgical treatments.
Insurance companies independently determine the scope of benefits of their animal insurance. Reasonable tariffs also cover preventive examinations and measures, vaccinations, emergency treatment, and pet hospitalization.
Pet health insurance cost
Pet owners’ premium for their pet health insurance depends on various factors.
Health insurance for cats is generally cheaper than dog health insurance.
Your pet’s breed, size, weight, age, and health also affect the insurance cost. Some providers also stipulate age limits for their insurance policies. Pre-existing conditions are usually excluded from insurance coverage. Therefore, taking out pet health insurance as early as possible makes sense. Not only will you benefit from lower premiums, but you will also offer your pet the best possible health protection.
Dog liability insurance in Germany
If you own a dog, you should take out pet liability insurance. These policies cover personal injury, property damage, and financial loss caused by your dog to third parties. Without insurance, your liability for such damage is unlimited. Additionally, it offers passive legal protection by defending you against unjustified third-party claims.
Particularly in the case of personal injuries, this can quickly lead to remarkably high amounts of damage. You are then not only liable for the medical treatment of the affected person but also for loss of earnings, insurance benefits that the injured party has already received, and the financial consequences of permanent incapacity to work.
Info: Personal liability insurance does not pay for damage caused by dogs!
Private liability insurance does not cover damage caused by dogs. However, it does cover damage caused by cats, birds, and small animals.
Dog liability insurance — compulsory in some federal states of Germany
Liability insurance must be taken out for all dogs in some federal states of Germany, currently Berlin, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt. In most other federal states, liability insurance for dogs is only compulsory for dog breeds classified as potentially dangerous and, in some cases, for large dogs. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently the only state without regulations on dog liability.
You can find the legal requirements for dog liability insurance in your federal state from your local public order office.
Sums insured and benefits in liability insurance for dogs
A good dog liability policy should cover personal injury and property damage for at least €5 million and financial losses for at least €1 million. However, higher sums insured make sense, especially for personal injuries.
The policy should cover damage to rented property and liability cases abroad. Reasonable tariffs also offer insurance cover for damage caused by puppies — the insurance contract must then contain a “puppy cover” clause.
Your dog liability contract should ideally include a “best coverage guarantee”. In this case, you can save yourself detailed insurance comparisons about the scope of benefits of the tariff. The insurance then covers every claim covered by other dog liability insurance in Germany.
Costs for dog liability policies
The premiums for dog liability policies vary greatly. In addition to the insurer’s particular conditions and the coverage amount, the size, breed, and place of residence (city or countryside) play an important role. You can reduce the premium amount by agreeing on an excess. Some insurers offer additional services for this insurance for a fee.
You can save costs by taking out a joint policy if you have several dogs.
The best pet insurance in Germany
Many insurance companies in Germany offer pet insurance. To purchase pet insurance, you should compare different providers and tariffs.
Our editorial recommendation for expats in Germany is pet insurance from Feather and Getsafe. The two FinTech insurers offer various fully digital insurance policies for private consumers and English-language services.
The two companies impressed us with their transparent, favorable conditions, uncomplicated digital processes, and a broad range of services.
Feather pet insurance
Feather offers pet health insurance and pet liability insurance for dogs.
Pet health insurance
Feather’s cat and dog health insurance is available for animals aged eight weeks to nine years. The Feather pet health insurance policy offers worldwide insurance coverage. You can choose between the Surgical and Standard tariffs.
The surgical plan only covers medically necessary operations (without preventive neutering). The Standard plan covers operations including preventive neutering, regular vet visits, medication, dental treatment, and physiotherapy. Annual coverage limits apply to all treatments, except for operations.
The standard waiting period for both tariffs is one month. However, certain illnesses and procedures require extended waiting periods of six to 18 months.
You can select between full reimbursement or a 20% excess:
- You pay €14.25 per month for a one-year-old cat with an excess (surgery) or €41.80 (standard). With full reimbursement, the insurance for your cat costs €16.77 or €47.16 per month.
- For a one-year-old small or medium-sized mixed breed dog, feather pet health insurance with excess costs of €19.31 per month (surgery) or €55.06 (standard). The prices for full reimbursement are €22.70 or €63.67 per month.
Pet liability insurance for dogs
Feather offers the best coverage guarantee for its dog owner liability insurance. The coverage applies worldwide; you can keep the insurance even if you permanently leave Germany. The sum insured under the policy is €20 million. However, the policy cannot be conducted for potentially dangerous breeds.
The insurance premium is €6.90 per month without an excess and €5.58 per month with an excess of €150 per claim.
Getsafe pet insurance
Getsafe also offers pet health insurance and liability insurance for dog owners.
Pet health insurance
Getsafe pet health insurance can be taken out for cats and dogs in three tariffs:
- OP Protection Comfort: Surgery protection only. One-year-old cat, free-range: €6 per month/reimbursement of a maximum of €3,000 per year; one-year-old mixed breed dog, shoulder height up to 44 cm: €18.12 per month/maximum of €5,000 per year
- Full Cover Comfort: reimbursement of operations and all standard veterinary services, a lump sum of €100 for preventive care. Cat: €22.99 per month/maximum €3,000 per year, dog: €53.17 per month/maximum €5,000 per year
- Full Cover Premium: same as Full Cover Comfort, but without a benefit cap. Cat €30.57 and dog €70.72 per month.
The tariffs offer worldwide coverage for a maximum of twelve months. The waiting period is one month. It does not apply to accidents and telemedicine.
Pet liability insurance for dogs
Pet liability insurance for dogs can be taken out with Getsafe in the Comfort and Premium tariffs for all dog breeds:
- Sum insured: Comfort — €20 million, Premium — €50 million
- Unlimited insurance coverage in the EU, worldwide for a maximum of five years
- Insurance costs: Individual offer. Medium-sized mixed breed dogs €5 to €6 per month depending on the tariff, potentially dangerous dogs €10.50 to €12
Conclusion
With pet health insurance and dog owner liability insurance, you protect yourself against significant financial risks related to your pet. For expats in Germany, we recommend digital pet insurance policies from Feather and Getsafe. These companies offer their customers English-language services and fully digitalized insurance policies, making the process easy and convenient.
Frequently Asked Questions — FAQ
Pet health insurance is mainly offered for cats and dogs. Many pet insurance companies also provide health insurance for horses.
No. If you have private liability insurance, any damage caused by your cat is also covered. Private liability insurance covers damage caused by cats, birds, and small animals. It would help if you had pet liability insurance for your dog.
No. There are no legal requirements for pet health insurance. You decide for yourself whether you want to insure your pet. However, we recommend that you insure your cat or dog. This protects you against high veterinary costs and allows you to receive medical treatment for your pet without financial considerations.
Hamburg, Berlin, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt require liability insurance for all dogs. In the other German federal states, only potentially dangerous and sometimes large dogs must be insured. The decision on dog liability insurance is a matter for the federal states. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently the only federal state that has not made any regulations regarding pet liability insurance for dogs.