Agria PET

Agria is a specialist pet insurer that sells lifetime pet insurance for cats, dogs, rabbits and horses in the UK. It has been providing pet insurance since 1890 and came to the UK market in 2009, and it is also the firm behind Lloyds Pet Insurance, Kennel Club Pet Insurance and Crufts Pet Insurance¹. Everything it sells under its own name is lifetime cover, which means the vet fee limit refreshes each year you renew, rather than running out after one claim or twelve months⁴.

All Agria policies include 24/7 vet advice and free vet video calls through the Agria app⁵. There is no upper age limit for starting a lifetime policy, which matters if you have an older pet, since many insurers refuse new customers beyond a certain age⁴. Agria says it is trusted and recommended by over 40,000 vets, animal rescues and breeders². This page explains what the policies cover and exclude, how the excess and payments work, how to claim, and where to go if you need to complain. For how pet insurance works in general, see our guide to insurance.

What Agria pet insurance covers: lifetime policies for cats and dogs

Agria sells lifetime cover only, which it describes as "for the very best cover"⁴. A lifetime policy is the most comprehensive type of pet insurance: the vet fee limit resets each policy year, so an ongoing condition such as diabetes or a skin problem keeps being covered year after year, provided you renew without a break in cover⁸. That is the key difference from cheaper time-limited or maximum-benefit policies, where cover for a condition stops after a set period or once a pot of money is used up.

For dogs, Agria sells three lifetime levels: Lifetime, Lifetime Plus and Lifetime Premium¹⁰. The levels differ in the vet fee limit that renews each year and in the third-party liability limit, with the higher levels offering more of each; Agria's own site sets out today's figures for each level. There is also a Lifetime Lite level with a lower vet fee limit and a lower liability limit¹⁰. For cats, the range runs from Lifetime through Lifetime Premium, plus Home and Home Plus products designed for indoor cats, and Agria confirms its policies cover veterinary fees for both indoor and outdoor cats². A kitten policy is also available, and Agria notes lifetime policies are generally more expensive because they offer a higher level of cover¹⁴.

Covered conditions include dental illness and injury, diabetes and hyperthyroidism, as long as there were no symptoms or signs before the policy started². Agria also insures horses on a lifetime basis, which it says makes it the only provider in the UK offering lifetime equine insurance, and it sells a dedicated gundog product in association with BASC⁶. For puppies and kittens, it is worth knowing that pregnancy is generally not covered unless you have a specific breeder policy, as Which? has reported¹⁶.

Extra cover: lost pets, boarding, holiday cancellation and travel abroad

Beyond vet fees, Agria policies can include or add cover for the things that go wrong around a pet's health. Cat policies include lost or stolen cover as standard⁷. Boarding fees cover helps pay for looking after your pet if you or someone in your immediate family is hospitalised, and Agria requires that you added this section to the policy before you became unwell in order to claim under it¹⁷.

Overseas travel cover is an optional extra rather than part of the standard policy. It includes emergency expenses while abroad, help towards quarantine kennel costs, and a contribution towards replacing a lost pet passport³. There is a timing rule to be aware of: to claim under the Overseas Travel section, you must have added it to your policy at least 10 days before you travel¹⁷. Holiday cancellation cover can also pay out if your vet believes your pet needs emergency treatment in the days before or during a holiday.

Third-party liability cover for dog owners

Dog policies include third-party liability as standard, which covers you if your dog injures someone or someone takes legal action against your dog³. The limit varies by cover level: the entry-level Lifetime Lite product carries the lowest liability limit, the mid-range Lifetime product more, and Lifetime Plus and Lifetime Premium carry the highest, up to £3 million per claim¹⁰. Agria's own site lists the exact limit for each level.

There are two important exceptions. Third-party liability is not covered on the Service Dog product; Agria says it is included for assistance dogs on its pet policies only⁵. And where Agria administers Lloyds Pet Insurance, that policy excludes working dogs and service dogs altogether¹⁸.

What Agria policies do not cover

The exclusions matter as much as the cover, because a claim can be turned down for something the policy never promised. Across Agria's cat and dog policies, the main exclusions are:

• Pre-existing conditions: conditions that began or showed symptoms before your policy started are not covered¹³.
• Routine pet care: vaccinations, check-ups and grooming are not covered as standard¹³.
• Routine and elective dental treatment: routine check-ups including descaling and polishing, elective or cosmetic treatment, crowns and root canal procedures are excluded, though there are some exceptions to these dental restrictions³.
• Weight-loss clinical diets: not covered on cat policies¹³.
• Racing dogs: dogs used for racing are not covered on either the standard or the Service Dog policies³.
• Racing horses: Agria does not insure horses that race under British Horse Racing Authority rules, though it does cover point-to-point racing⁶.

Independent analysis by Which? is worth bearing in mind here too: it has found that a fifth of dog policies it examined ruled out paying for euthanasia, so check the policy documents for how Agria treats this before you buy¹⁹. Agria's terms and conditions set out the full list of exclusions for each product⁸.

How the excess works: fixed or variable

When you claim, you pay part of the bill yourself. Agria's excess has two parts, and the exact amounts are set out in your schedule of insurance¹. The first is a fixed excess, a set amount you pay for each condition in each policy year. The second may be a percentage excess, which is a share of the remaining bill rather than a flat amount².

The timing rule to understand is this: when your pet's treatment falls into two or more periods of insurance, you pay the fixed excess for each period of insurance and also for each separate illness or injury². So a long-running condition treated across a renewal date can mean paying the fixed excess more than once. For horses, the fixed amount is applied once per period of insurance for the veterinary treatment your horse receives, and you may only increase your excess at renewal⁶.

Where Agria administers Lloyds Pet Insurance, the structure is similar: a fixed excess per condition per policy year, paid only on the first claim for that condition in a year, plus a variable excess you choose when setting up the policy, from 0%, 10% or 20%. Lloyds notes you might not be able to choose your own variable excess for older pets and some breeds²⁰.

Paying for your policy and how premiums change

Agria gives the option to pay monthly or annually, with payments spread over 12 months at no extra cost, so there is no interest charge for paying monthly rather than upfront⁸. That is worth checking on any pet policy, because some insurers charge for the privilege.

On pricing, Agria states there is no increase in your premiums when you claim³. Premiums can still rise for other reasons, such as your pet's age, and the equivalent Lloyds-branded policy says the same: the price will not go up if you make a claim, but it might go up for other reasons like your pet's age²³. Lifetime cover also tends to cost more than time-limited cover in the first place, because it offers a higher level of cover¹⁴.

If you insure more than one pet, a multi-pet discount is applied automatically to all your policies⁸. Each pet has their own policy, there is no limit to the number of dogs, cats or rabbits you can add, and dogs, cats, rabbits and horses can all be covered under the same arrangement⁷. The discount on existing policies applies from your next renewal and continues each year as long as your policies are live and premiums are up to date⁷. Agria's site shows the current discount level.

Agria behind other brands: Lloyds, Kennel Club and Crufts pet insurance

Agria Pet Insurance Ltd is the firm behind three other names you may recognise. The FCA Register lists its current trading names as Lloyds Pet Insurance, Kennel Club Pet Insurance and Crufts Pet Insurance⁹. So a policy bought from Lloyds Bank for a pet is in fact arranged and administered by Agria, and when you get a quote online you are taken to a Lloyds Pet Insurance website hosted by Agria²³.

The Lloyds-branded policies are lifetime insurance with benefits renewing each year, and they work in much the same way as Agria's own: monthly payment at no extra cost, premiums that do not rise because you claim, 24/7 vet advice through video calls, and most claims sorted within 7 working days of submission²³. Existing Lloyds Banking Group customers get a discount on new pet insurance policies²³. The differences are in the detail: the Lloyds dog policy excludes working dogs and service dogs, which Agria's own policies can cover, and the underwriting differs, as explained below¹⁸.

Making a claim with Agria

Agria says the easiest and fastest way to make a claim is for your vet to do it on your behalf, via an online form, with Agria paying the vet directly¹⁰. Your vet can fill out the claims form for you, which means you do not have to find the full bill yourself and then reclaim it⁵. There is a deadline: you must submit your claim by the end of the period of insurance or within six months from the first date of treatment, whichever is later¹⁷.

A few claim types have their own requirements:

1. Death benefit: Agria requires confirmation from your vet of your pet's death, along with the purchase receipt¹⁷.
2. Medication from an online pharmacy: the pharmacy must be listed in the VMD accredited internet retailer scheme, but as long as the medication was prescribed by the vet treating your pet, you can claim for medication sourced at alternative accredited pharmacies¹⁷.
3. Boarding fees: you must have added the section to the policy before you became unwell¹⁷.
4. First equine claim: Agria needs a full clinical history since ownership, your horse's passport including ID pages, microchip number and vaccination pages, and a vetting certificate if you had one²⁴.

Agria says 90% of its claims team hold an animal-related or veterinary qualification¹. Where Agria administers Lloyds Pet Insurance, you can manage your policy online, make and track claims and check policy documents through My Pet Account²¹.

Regulation and how to complain

Agria Pet Insurance Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, with Financial Services Register number 496160⁹. Its parent company is Agria Djurförsäkring in Sweden, and Agria's own policies are underwritten by Agria Försäkring⁸. Where it administers Lloyds Pet Insurance, that cover is underwritten by Agria Försäkring, with Ecclesiastical underwriting the dog insurance only¹⁸. Pet insurance is not a deposit-based product, so FSCS deposit protection does not apply to premiums in the way it does to savings; the protections that matter here are the FCA's rules and the free Financial Ombudsman Service.

To make a complaint, you can contact Agria by phone, email, complaint form or post²⁵. Agria will acknowledge your complaint promptly by email or post, and if it is not handled and resolved within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with the outcome, you have the right to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge²⁵. The ombudsman publishes complaint data by product: in the first quarter of 2025/26 it recorded 509 complaints about pet insurance, of which 49% were upheld in the consumer's favour²⁶. If your complaint is about a Lloyds-branded policy, the same route applies, since Agria administers the cover.

For free, impartial help with any insurance dispute, the Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted directly, and MoneyHelper offers general guidance on insurance complaints.