Hey 👋 we’re Fetch, a team of vets, techies, and insurance pros building amazing insurance 💚 and a go-to pet health app 📲. With experience caring for 1,000,000+ pets, all our team have backgrounds in pet health as vets or vet nurses, or with leading insurers around the world. We launched in 2023 and have already become the highest-rated pet insurance on Google with a 4.9 ⭐️ rating.

We’re backed by a strong team of Aussie and international investors, including Airtree, vets, insurance CEOs, pet retailers, brand and marketing experts, start-up founders, and tech leaders. We have our own Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL No 540762), and our insurance is underwritten by Pacific International Insurance Pty Ltd (ABN 83 169 311 193).

When you make a claim, you’ll need to pay an amount towards the claim, called your contribution. This includes your excess, the remaining cover percentage, and any items which your pet’s plan doesn't cover.

1. Condition excess: is the fixed amount you pay as part of your contribution towards a claim. You only pay once per condition, while their plan remains active. For example, a cruciate rupture with subsequent arthritis in the knee would be one condition with one excess.

2. Cover Percentage: is the amount Fetch covers after the excess is applied. For example, if you claim $1,000 with a $100 excess and 90% cover, you pay $190 ($100 excess + 10% of $900), and Fetch covers $810.

3. How it works: If your vet allows direct payments, and during opening hours, we can cover the invoice directly with them after you pay your contribution in-app. This includes the excess, remaining cover percentage, non-covered items, and amounts over your limit. If you’ve paid the vet already, we’ll reimburse you our share of the treatment costs. 💵

For more details and examples, check our PDS.

Unfortunately, we can’t cover pre-existing conditions 🙁.

We don’t cover any costs related to pre-existing conditions that were present before cover was active, including during any waiting periods ⏱️.

A pre-existing condition is any injury, illness, dental, or behavioural issue where their first signs or symptoms were noticed by you or your vet before your pet's cover started (including during waiting periods) whether or not a diagnosis was made at that time. Pre-existing conditions aren't covered.

Signs or symptoms include:

• Changes you noticed at home (e.g. behaviour, appetite, drinking, weight, mobility)

• Anything a vet diagnosed, treated, recorded, investigated, or recommended for investigation

• Test or scan results indicating an underlying issue, such as:

  • Results outside normal range (e.g. blood tests, urinalysis, biopsies)

  • Structural issues found during examinations (e.g. narrowed airway)

  • Findings on imaging (e.g. hip dysplasia on X-ray)

Pre-existing conditions also apply to:

• Conditions that started earlier and come back over time, even if symptoms settle for a while (e.g. seasonal allergies, intermittent limping)

• Congenital or hereditary conditions you or your vet knew about before cover started

• Bilateral conditions affecting paired body parts (e.g. knees, hips, eyes, ears) – if one side showed symptoms before cover started, both sides count as pre-existing

• Conditions linked to, caused by, or resulting from a pre-existing condition (e.g. arthritis after a joint injury, ear infections linked to underlying allergies)

Why can’t we cover pre-existing conditions? 🤷‍♀️

Like most pet insurers, we’re unable to cover pre-existing conditions because our cover and prices assume your pet has a normal chance of having any issues for their breed.

Where can I see my pet’s pre-existing conditions?

You’ll be able to view any confirmed pre-existing and linked conditions in the plan section of your app 📲.

To check your pet's pre-existing conditions:

• Request a pre-existing condition check or start a new claim in-app. When requesting a pre-existing check, you agree to give Fetch permission to collect vet records from any vet you've taken your pet to. This helps us to check your pet's health history quickly and efficiently.

• Our veterinary team will check your pet's records using clinical knowledge and the latest veterinary information on how conditions usually develop.

• We'll let you know of any pre-existing conditions and list them in-app

• If we later receive new information showing a condition started before cover started, we'll update your pet's pre-existing conditions

• We can recheck a condition if the treating vet provides updated clinical records with a clear explanation of what's changed

Examples of pre-existing conditions ⚕️

These are usually considered pre-existing:

• Seasonal allergies 🤧 – if your pet has recurring skin flare-ups each spring that need treatment every year, and these were noted before your pet's plan started, this is considered a pre-existing condition because it’s regular and ongoing.

• Cushing’s disease – if diagnosed before your pet's plan starts, it becomes an ongoing hormonal condition that needs lifelong medication and monitoring.

• Limping after a jump from the car 🚗 – if the limping was found to be from a ruptured cruciate ligament that occurred before cover began, that cruciate injury (and any related knee issues) would be pre-existing. Any condition (bilateral) affecting a paired structure within their body (such as the knees, eyes, ears, hips or elbows) we'll consider this as a single condition. This applies even though it may affect each side at different times.

• Elbow arthritis 🦴 – if arthritis in a specific joint was diagnosed or noted before your pet's plan began, it’s considered pre-existing because it’s progressive and will worsen over time.

• Hip dysplasia🦵 – if diagnosed before your pet's plan starts or during any waiting period, treatment for hip dysplasia and any related conditions (like hip arthritis) won’t be covered.

These are not usually considered pre-existing:

• Vomiting after eating something on a walk 🌳 – if your dog ate something inappropriate and became sick before you took out your pet's plan, and later vomits again after eating something else, these are separate incidents with different causes, so they’re not pre-existing.

• Diarrhoea due to overeating 🍗 – if your pet overate before joining Fetch and later had a one-off upset stomach again, it wouldn’t be considered pre-existing, as long as it didn’t cause any lasting organ damage (like to the liver or kidneys).

A waiting period ⏱️ is the period of time you’ll need to wait for your pet’s cover to begin after their plan starts.

Fetch Pet insurance waiting periods

At Fetch, we have specific waiting periods:

• Injury: 2 days

• Illness, dental disease, and behavioural conditions: 30 days

• Any cruciate ligament issue, patellar luxation, hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, BOAS, cherry eye, IVDD, FLUTD: 90 days

Waiting periods are the time from your pet's plan start date until cover starts for each type of condition. Your pet's plan covers conditions that start after the applicable waiting period ends.

Skip waiting periods with Fetch ⏭️

Fetch allows you to skip the waiting periods through a simple in-app process. 📲 After signing up, you need to follow the instructions to show your pet looking healthy. If everything checks out, Fetch can skip the waiting periods ✅. This review is usually completed within 1 working day.

Waiting period and pre-existing condition checks 👩‍⚕️

Even if you skip the waiting periods, any injury, illness, dental, or behavioural issue where the first signs or symptoms were noticed by you or your vet before your pet's cover starts (including during waiting periods) is considered a pre-existing condition and isn't covered

Fetch offers an upfront check for pre-existing conditions. After signing up, let us know your vet’s details in the app. We’ll contact them for your pet’s records and inform you of any pre-existing conditions that aren’t covered. This process usually takes a few weeks depending on when we hear back from your vets.

There are two ways, depending on whether your vet is on FetchPay™.

If your vet is on FetchPay™

1. Nothing to lodge: Your vet sends the claim straight to us from their system or the FetchPay™ Portal on your request. As long as your pre-existing checks are done and it's within business hours, we'll work out the cover in real-time, usually in around 15 minutes.

2. Settle it with us: Once we've checked your pet's claim, we'll let you know what your contribution is in-app.

3. We pay your vet: Once you've paid your contribution in-app, we pay the full bill straight to your vet.

If your vet isn't on FetchPay™ yet

1. Start a new claim: In-app 📲, go to treatments and tap 'new claim'. Let us know which vet your pet visited.

2. We contact your vet: We'll ask them for an invoice and clinical notes. We'll let you know if we need anything more.

3. We process your claim: Once we've checked your pet's claim, we'll reimburse you any covered amounts.

Fetch pre-existing checks is designed to make the claims process quick and easy for you and your client. Here’s how it works:

1. When a pet joins Fetch, we ask the pet parent every vet they've visited and collate their vet history to identify any pre-existing conditions. This helps you know your pet’s cover upfront.

2. Sometimes this process can take a little time while we gather your pet’s medical records. You can always check in with us for an update.

To use your pet’s plan you’ll need the Fetch app 📲, here you can:

📄 See and manage plan documents (including PDS)
🐾 Update you and your pet's details
⏳ Skip wait periods and set up pre-existing checks
📋 Submit and track claims
🏥 Update vet details
💬 Contact us or our 24/7 pet emergency line