Pet insurance plans typically cover surgeries for your dog or cat if they get hurt or sick — including MetLife Pet. But what’s covered specifically depends on the type of coverage you have. Since high-cost surgeries can throw a wrench in your financial plans, read on to learn more about what kinds of surgeries and related expenses can be covered.
Types of Pet Insurance That Cover Surgery
If you’re looking for pet insurance that covers surgery, you can purchase an accident-only policy or a comprehensive coverage policy that covers both accidents and illnesses. Depending on your policy, there are differences in which surgeries are eligible for coverage. Let’s take a look.
Accident-only policy: With this kind of policy, your pet’s surgery can only be covered if it’s related to an accidental injury. This is not a policy that is offered by MetLife Pet.
Comprehensive coverage policy: With a policy that covers accidents and illnesses, surgeries related to accidents, injuries, health conditions, and other illnesses can be covered.
Common Pet Surgeries That Can Be Covered
MetLife Pet offers coverage for pet surgeries related to accidents and illnesses — even some that are hereditary, chronic, or congenital (present at birth). These can include:
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery |
Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery |
Foreign body extraction |
Periodontal disease and related tooth extractions |
Intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) surgery |
Hip dysplasia and luxating patella surgeries |
Cherry eye, cataract, and entropion surgeries |
Tumor removal or cancer surgery |
Urinary obstruction surgery |
Broken bones, fractures, or dislocations |
Bloat or gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV) surgery |
Emergency surgeries |
If you’re unsure whether a specific surgery might be covered by a MetLife Pet policy, give us a call at (877) 653-5585 to discuss coverage and customization options.
Surgeries not covered
Many pet insurance providers, including MetLife Pet, won’t cover surgeries related to pre-existing conditions or breeding, or if they’re cosmetic or elective procedures.
Since spay or neuter surgery and routine teeth cleanings are generally elective procedures, they won’t be covered by an insurance policy. However, optional wellness plans — like MetLife Pet’s Preventive Care add-on — can typically help you cover these costs.
MetLife Pet Can Help Cover Surgery Costs for Your Dogs & Cats
How Does MetLife Pet Insurance Surgery Coverage Work?
Pet surgeries are part of your standard MetLife Pet Insurance coverage — eligible expenses are reimbursed after you visit the vet, pay your bill, and submit a claim. Depending on your policy, different factors can affect whether your vet bill is eligible for reimbursement.
- Waiting periods: To be eligible for reimbursement,1 you’ll need to be past any waiting periods spelled out in your policy.
- Exclusions: Your policy has specific exclusions, like pre-existing conditions or types of surgeries. You can likely get your pet’s surgery reimbursed if it’s not on the exclusions list.
- Deductible: Once you’ve met your policy’s deductible,2 you can start receiving reimbursements for your pet’s surgery if it’s eligible.
- Reimbursement rate: After your deductible is met, surgery bills can be reimbursed at your policy’s reimbursement rate, up to any maximum limits.
- Maximum limits: If you’re below your annual limit,3 per-incident limit, or any other maximum in your policy, you can be reimbursed for eligible surgeries.
Let’s take real MetLife Pet policyholders, Lulu and her family, as an example of how this works. Lulu’s family enrolled her in a dog insurance policy when they adopted her. Just 1 week later, while she was still getting used to her new home, Lulu ate a roll of dog poop bags and needed surgery to remove the blockage.
After paying the $10,000 vet bill, they submitted a claim to MetLife Pet. Because it was past their waiting period and not a pre-existing condition, they were reimbursed for 90%1 of Lulu’s surgery after their deductible.2 That’s a total of over $8,800 back in their pockets.4
What surgery expenses are included in coverage?
With a MetLife Pet Insurance policy, we can typically cover the cost of the surgery, as well as associated expenses like:
- Exam fees
- Blood work and diagnostics
- Prescription medications
- Hospitalization
- Follow-up appointments
- Routine complications
Check your policy for more details on your exact coverage.
Does pet insurance cover anesthesia?
MetLife Pet Insurance policies typically cover the cost of anesthesia. A lot goes into making sure the correct dosage is used for your pet’s specific needs, which can make the cost of anesthesia pricey.
But ensuring your dog or cat is pain-free and calm during a surgical procedure is crucial. Pet insurance can help give you and your pet peace of mind knowing necessary anesthesia will be more affordable.
Can You Get Pet Insurance Before Surgery?
Yes, you can get pet insurance before your pet has a surgical procedure. You just need to make sure the surgery doesn’t fall into your policy’s exclusions.
For example, if your vet diagnoses your pet with a health condition that needs surgery and then you enroll them in a policy to help cover it, the condition would likely be considered a pre-existing condition. The surgery to treat this condition would be excluded from coverage.
Even if you purchased a policy before your pet was diagnosed with a condition needing surgery, if the surgery happens during your policy’s waiting period, it won’t be covered.
To increase the chance that your pet’s surgery is covered, it’s a great idea to get pet insurance while your pet is young and healthy. Plus, take advantage of MetLife Pet’s 0-day waiting period so accidents needing surgery can be covered starting at midnight after you enroll in a policy.5
MetLife Pet Can Help You Save on Surgeries
If your dog or cat needs surgery, MetLife Pet is here to help you get your furry family member back in good health! With reimbursements up to 90% on covered surgical expenses1 and a free 24/7 vet chat6 to help when you have middle-of-the-night questions, a MetLife Pet policy can be a useful purchase for your pets.
When a 10-year-old dog named Ophie tore her ACL and needed emergency surgery, MetLife Pet covered nearly $6,300 of the $6,900 vet bill thanks to her dog insurance policy.4
Mable, a kitten from California, needed entropion surgery to correct her eyelid. It cost over $1,700, but with her cat insurance policy, MetLife Pet reimbursed her family more than $1,600.3
When 6-year-old dog Dylan needed a growth removed, MetLife Pet reimbursed her pet parents more than $3,000 of the $3,300 vet bill.4
Find out how much you could save with MetLife Pet’s insurance that covers surgery and other vet expenses by getting a free, personalized quote today.
