Purely Pets Insurance Review: Lots of Choice, but a Co-Payment From Age 6

Purely Pets is worth a quote for a young dog if you want to set your limit precisely, but its co-payment starts earlier than any other insurer in our top ten. You can choose any limit from £1,000 to £15,000 a year in £1,000 steps, and dogs can join at any age. The catches are a 20% co-payment on every claim from your dog's 6th birthday that never comes off, cruciate cover capped per leg for life, and around 50 breeds excluded, including Staffies. It ranks eighth in our guide to the best pet insurance providers in the UK.

Purely Pets at a glance

	Purely Pets lifetime cover
Best for	Young dogs, when you want to set the limit to the nearest £1,000
Skip it if	Your dog is nearly 6, is a Staffie or Rottweiler, or is prone to knee problems
Vet fees	£1,000 to £15,000 a year, in 15 levels, reset every renewal
Co-payment	20% from your dog's 6th birthday, the earliest of the ten insurers we rank, and it cannot be removed
Cruciate cover	£1,000 or £2,000 per leg for your dog's whole life
Excess	Your choice, once per condition each policy year
Joining age	From 8 weeks, no upper age limit
Breeds excluded	Around 50, including Staffordshire Bull Terriers and Rottweilers
Trustpilot	3.9 out of 5, among the lowest of the insurers we rank

Checked against Purely Pets' website and full policy document on 12 October 2026, Trustpilot on 28 October 2026.

Our verdict

Purely Pets is a reasonable lifetime policy with a lot of flexibility on the limit. It offers 15 cover levels from £1,000 to £15,000 a year, there is no upper age limit to join, and Purely Pets says its Silver and Gold levels carry a Defaqto 5 star rating.

The catches come with age and with breed. A 20% co-payment applies to every claim from your dog's 6th birthday, even if that falls mid-year, and it never comes off. Cruciate cover is capped per leg for your dog's whole life, and around 50 breeds are excluded, including Staffies and Rottweilers. If your dog is young, on the breed list and you want a high limit, it is worth a quote. If your dog is nearly 6, look at the co-payment first.

What you get

Every policy is lifetime cover. One annual limit covers all your dog's conditions and resets in full every year you renew:

Cover level	Vet fees per year	Dental	Cruciate (per leg, for life)	Third party liability
Bronze	£1,000 to £5,000	£500	From £1,000	£1 million
Silver	£6,000 to £10,000	£2,000	£2,000	£2 million
Gold	£11,000 to £15,000	£2,000	£2,000	£2 million

The dental, cruciate and scan limits sit inside your vet fee limit, not on top of it. Every level also includes:

• Complementary treatment (including hydrotherapy and physiotherapy) up to £500 on Bronze, £750 on Silver and £1,000 on Gold, if your vet recommends it and Purely Pets approves it first
• CT and MRI scans up to £1,000 on Bronze and £1,500 on Silver and Gold
• Unlimited 24/7 vet video calls through the Joii app
• Direct payment to your vet, with your permission
• Cover abroad for up to 180 days a year, up to your vet fee limit
• Extras for death, loss or theft, advertising and reward, boarding fees and holiday cancellation, each up to £1,000, £1,500 or £2,000 depending on your level

Puppies can be covered from 8 weeks. Purely Pets says it paid 98% of eligible claims in 2024, a figure that leaves out claims for pre-existing conditions, claims inside waiting periods and claims over the limit. It has a 3.9 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot from more than 19,000 reviews.

What it costs

Purely Pets lets you choose your excess when you buy, and it is shown on your policy schedule. The fixed excess is charged once per condition, per policy year. A higher excess lowers the premium, as Purely Pets' own dog insurance page explains.

The co-payment is the bigger cost to plan for. From age 6 you pay 20% of every claim after the excess. The policy's own worked example shows how it adds up: on a £500 vet bill with an £80 excess and the 20% co-payment, you pay £164 and Purely Pets pays £336. You can choose to add the co-payment before age 6 to bring the price down, but once added it cannot be removed.

As with every insurer, your dog's breed and age and your postcode affect the price, and so does the cover level you pick. With 15 levels, it is worth getting quotes at two or three of them to see where the price jumps.

The catches

• The co-payment starts at 6. That is early. A 20% share of a large bill in your dog's later years is a real cost, so build it into your budget.
• Cruciate cover does not reset. The £1,000 or £2,000 cruciate limit is per leg for your dog's whole life. Cruciate surgery can cost more than that, and a second claim on the same leg in a later year has nothing left to draw on.
• A long list of excluded breeds. Around 50 breeds and their crosses are not covered, including Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Rottweilers, Bullmastiffs, Akitas, Shar Peis, Dogues de Bordeaux, XL Bully types and most pointers. Working dogs are not covered either.
• Some cover only starts later. Dental illness is covered after 12 months, behavioural treatment after 24 months and cremation after 36 months.

The small print, in short

We read Purely Pets' full lifetime policy wording (version 15.0, March 2025), the Bronze, Silver and Gold policy summaries and its Terms of Business (July 2024). These are the points most owners will miss.

• Behaviour cover is narrow. Behavioural problems are only covered if they are a direct result of an insured accident or illness, the policy has been running for 24 months and the problem did not start before then. Treatment must be approved first and given by a vet or an approved behaviourist.
• Prescription food is barely covered. Only food to dissolve bladder stones or urine crystals, up to £100 for up to 60 days a year. Every other prescription diet, including weight loss food, is excluded.
• End-of-life limits. Euthanasia is capped at £100. Cremation is capped at £100, only after 36 months on cover, and not at all if your dog is 9 or older. The death from illness benefit also stops at age 9.
• Price checks on your vet's bill. Purely Pets compares every claim with local charges and will pay no more than a 100% mark-up on the wholesale price of medicines.
• Out-of-hours and blood tests. Out-of-hours consultation fees are capped at £100, and pre-surgery blood tests for dogs under 6 are not covered unless your dog's history suggests a risk.
• Both sides count as one. Conditions affecting both eyes, ears or legs are treated as a single condition.
• Liability needs a court ruling. The third party liability section only pays if a court finds your dog to blame, has a £250 excess, and does not apply at shows, agility events or working trials.
• Yearly check-ups and vaccinations are a condition. If your dog misses them, diseases the vaccines protect against are not covered and Purely Pets can cancel the policy.
• No refund after a claim. If you cancel after making a claim in the same policy year, the rest of the year's premium is still due.
• Waiting periods: 48 hours for accidents and 14 days for illness. Pre-existing conditions are excluded.
• Hidden perk: hip, elbow and knee joint replacements are covered, including care before and after the operation.

Check the claim deadline. The policy wording gives you 12 months from treatment to send invoices and clinical history, and asks you to report anything likely to lead to a claim within 60 days. The older policy summaries (January 2023) still say 90 days. The policy wording is the contract, but registering a claim quickly avoids the argument.

Should you buy it?

If you have a young dog of a breed Purely Pets covers and want to set your limit precisely, from a small pot up to £15,000 a year, Purely Pets is worth a quote. Choose a Silver or Gold level if you can, for the higher dental and cruciate limits. If your dog is close to 6, Waggel never forces a co-payment and Petplan waits until 10 for most dogs. If you want a similar budget lifetime policy with a higher limit, Animal Friends goes to £18,000 a year. Our guide to pet insurance co-payments compares every insurer's co-payment age, and the full UK pet insurance guide compares all ten.

Sources

• Purely Pets: dog insurance, including cover levels, excluded breeds, the Defaqto rating and the claims paid figure
• Purely Pets: policy wording, including the lifetime policy wording for policies taken out from 29 August 2019 (03.25 V15.0)
• Purely Pets: policy summaries (IPIDs), including Bronze, Silver and Gold (V2.5, January 2023)
• Purely Pets: Terms of Business, including the Terms of Business Agreement (V23.0, July 2024)
• Trustpilot: Purely Pets

Details and the full policy document checked on 12 October 2026. Insurers change their policies often, so always read the policy documents before you buy.