PetCare and AcciPet Policy changes 1 March 2025

We’re extending our cover to include hydrotherapy provided by a vet clinic, as well as a member of the New Zealand Association of Canine Hydrotherapists.

We’ve added a new definition of ‘medication’ that includes a list of the types of over-the-counter medication that we cover (see below) and clarified that this does not include supplements, so that it’s easier to understand.

This new definition of ‘medication’ means any drug or other form of medicine provided or prescribed by a vet to treat or cure an illness or accidental injury (for PetCare), or accidental injury only (for AcciPet). This includes all prescription only and restricted veterinary medicines, and some over-the-counter medicines such as:

• Laxatives
• Pain-relief (analgesics)
• Antihistamines
• Anti-fungals
• Antacids
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• Steroids
• Decongestants
• Antidiarrheals/Antinauseants

We still do not cover most supplements and we have added a new definition of ‘supplements’ to clarify what they are, being over-the-counter health improvers intended to support your pet’s diet or wellness, such as vitamins, minerals and probiotics.’

The small number of supplements that we do cover are listed in the Supplement Schedule.

We have also clarified in the definition of ‘Additional expenses’ that we don’t cover medicated baths and shampoos.

We’ve changed this exclusion to make it clear that it’s just the cost of treating conditions related to a declared epidemic or pandemic that are excluded, and this applies even if your pet is vaccinated.

Separately, as vaccinating your pet is part of your responsibility as a pet owner we have now added that to the list of ‘Your responsibilities’ in section F. This means we may decline a claim for treatment of a health condition if your pet is not up to date with their vaccinations and that condition could have been avoided or mitigated by vaccinating your pet.

Also, as the cost of vaccinations can only be claimed if you have day to day extra, we have added ‘vaccinations’ to the ‘Everyday care exclusion’ for clarity.

We still don’t cover treatment that your pet receives outside New Zealand, including web services, however we have amended the wording of this exclusion to recognise situations where New Zealand based vets may use international services. Going forward, we will cover the costs of services provided outside New Zealand if they are requested, used and invoiced by a New Zealand-based vet. For example, diagnostic reporting services used by your vet as part of qualifying treatment will be covered.

We’ve narrowed this exclusion so that it’s clear that this is limited to treatment of preventable parasites only, such as fleas, ticks, worms and mites. We have also clarified that this exclusion extends to health conditions resulting from these parasites such as Lyme disease and flea allergy dermatitis.

Vet standards oppose dewclaw removal unless performed in response to existing disease or injury, as it’s seen as cosmetic. We have therefore removed ‘Dewclaw removal’ as an option from day-to-day care extra and it’s no longer listed in the ‘Everyday care’ exclusion. We will still cover removal of dewclaws if they are injured or diseased.

In addition to the above changes there have also been the following three (3) minor wording changes:

• We’ve removed the word ‘registered’ before ‘vet nurse’ in the exclusion for ‘Treating your own pet’ to clarify that we mean any vet nurse here.
• We’ve added ‘biting’ to the explanation of dental treatment we will cover (‘if it’s needed due to an accidental injury’) and the exception to that cover (‘accidental injury that results directly from your pet eating, biting or chewing an object’).
• We’ve clarified the wording in the ‘Changing your policy’ section, removing ‘adding extra cover’ and ‘removing extra cover’ as its already provided for in the ‘Adding or removing extra cover’ section.
• We’ve changed references to ‘policy premium chart’ to ‘tax invoice’ to reflect changes to our renewal pack.