Insurance broker / Insurance questions / Pet health insurance

Surgery cover or full cover for your dog or cat?

In short

Surgery-only cover (OP-Schutz) is cheap and pays only when your pet is operated on, but then it includes the pre-operation check, the anaesthetic and the aftercare. Full cover (Vollschutz) costs about two to three times as much and also pays for treatment, diagnostics and medication. For a healthy pet with savings for small bills, surgery cover is enough.

Request a quote +49 3375 29 12 77

Surgery cover or full cover for your dog or cat?

What it costs

Premiums and treatment costs from published German tariff overviews, tests and price lists, as of September 2026.

Example	Typical range
Surgery cover, young small dog	about EUR 4 to 8 a month
Surgery cover, large breed dog	about EUR 7 to 12 a month, up to EUR 30 with good benefits
Full cover, dog	about EUR 11 to 35 a month, large breeds up to EUR 70
Surgery cover, cat	about EUR 7 to 25 a month
Full cover, cat	about EUR 16 to 50 a month
Cruciate ligament tear with diagnostics, surgery and aftercare	about EUR 2,500 to 4,500
Foreign body in stomach or intestine, surgery	about EUR 1,500 to 3,500
Dental treatment with anaesthetic, X-rays and extractions	about EUR 300 to 2,000
Caesarean section	about EUR 1,300 to 2,600
Usual reimbursement rates and deductibles	80 to 100 percent reimbursement, deductible of EUR 0, 150, 250 or 500 or 20 to 30 percent

Guide values as of September 2026 from published tariff overviews, tests and cost lists. The chronic course in the worked example is a guide value from our quoting practice, because such annual totals are rarely published. Your premium depends on the animal, its age, breed and the cover chosen; we obtain the exact quote for you.

Worked example

The same dog, two courses of illness over one year

Calculated with surgery cover at EUR 10 a month and full cover at EUR 28 a month, both reimbursing 90 percent.

Case 1, cruciate ligament tear: bill with diagnostics, surgery and aftercare	about EUR 3,500
Case 1, paid by surgery cover	EUR 3,150 on a premium of EUR 120 a year
Case 1, paid by full cover	EUR 3,150 on a premium of EUR 336 a year
Case 2, chronic skin condition: examinations, allergy test, check-ups and daily medication over one year	about EUR 1,400
Case 2, paid by surgery cover	EUR 0, because there was no operation
Case 2, paid by full cover after a EUR 150 deductible	EUR 1,125

In the first case surgery cover does exactly what full cover does and costs EUR 216 less a year. In the second case it pays nothing, while full cover reimburses EUR 1,125. So the choice does not turn on price, but on which of the two courses you think more likely for your pet.

What surgery cover pays for and what it does not

Surgery cover responds when your animal is operated on under anaesthetic. It then pays the examination that leads to the operation, the anaesthetic, the procedure itself, the clinic stay and the aftercare up to a period named in the contract, usually a few weeks to a few months.

Anything that stays short of an operation is not covered. An ultrasound scan, an allergy test, long-term medication for arthritis or dental work without an extraction all fall outside. This is not fine print, it is the core of the product: you are insuring the risk of surgery, not your pet's health.

What full cover adds

Full cover contains the operations and adds outpatient treatment: examination, X-ray, ultrasound, laboratory work, medication and often physiotherapy. Many tariffs include a preventive care budget for vaccination, worming and scale removal, typically EUR 50 to 150 a year.

You pay for that through three settings: the reimbursement rate of 80 to 100 percent, the annual limit (Jahreshöchstgrenze) and the deductible (Selbstbeteiligung). Always read those three numbers together. Full cover at 80 percent with an annual limit of EUR 2,000 is weaker on a EUR 3,500 operation than good surgery-only cover with no limit.

Feature	Surgery cover	Full cover
Premium for a dog per month	about EUR 4 to 12	about EUR 11 to 35, large breeds up to EUR 70
Premium for a cat per month	about EUR 7 to 25	about EUR 16 to 50
Operation, anaesthetic, aftercare	yes	yes
Examination and advice without an operation	no	yes
X-ray, ultrasound, laboratory without an operation	no	yes
Medication for a chronic illness	no	yes
Preventive care, vaccination, worming	no	often with an annual budget of EUR 50 to 150
Dental work without extraction	as a rule no	depends on the tariff
Suits	healthy pet, savings for small bills	breed with known conditions, predictable costs wanted

The cases where surgery cover pays nothing

Three courses of illness cost a lot of money and contain no operation. First the chronic condition: allergies, arthritis, thyroid, heart disease or epilepsy are treated for years with medication and check-ups, not with a scalpel. Second the long diagnostic search: when nobody knows yet why the animal limps or vomits, X-rays, ultrasound, laboratory work and referrals add up before anyone decides about surgery.

Third, dental work without extraction. A dental clean-up under anaesthetic with X-rays, where in the end only scaling and polishing happen, does not count as an operation in many contracts. Ask explicitly before you sign from which point teeth count as a surgical procedure, and get the answer in writing.

Who each one suits

Choose surgery cover if you can carry small bills of EUR 100 to 500 yourself and only fear the one large one. That fits many healthy mixed-breed dogs and indoor cats. You pay much less premium and keep the protection against the case that really hurts.

Choose full cover if the breed brings known inherited conditions, if the animal already needs the vet regularly, or if you want predictable costs. For a pet prone to allergies, full cover is the only one of the two contracts that pays anything at all.

What neither contract does

Pre-existing conditions are excluded in both forms, and both have waiting periods: usually 30 days in general, up to six months for certain illnesses, often none for accidents. Signing up after the first diagnosis no longer helps for that particular illness.

Both also band the premium by age. Moving from surgery cover to full cover after five years is possible, but it is priced at the age you have reached, and everything treated until then stays out. If you think full cover is likely, take it from the start.

Step by step

Check your savings: could you carry small bills of EUR 500 a year yourself?
Look up the breed's known inherited conditions and ask your vet about them.
Get both quotes with the same reimbursement rate and the same deductible.
Read in the surgery-cover contract how long aftercare is paid for.
Project both premiums over eight years and set them against one major operation.

Checklist

You have read how the contract defines an operation and its aftercare
Reimbursement up to the fourfold GOT rate
Annual limit covers one major operation in full
Dental treatment expressly regulated
Waiting periods known, ideally none for accidents
Age-banded premium scale compared for both forms

Common mistakes

Treating surgery cover as full cover and expecting medication to be reimbursed
Comparing monthly premiums without putting reimbursement rate, annual limit and deductible beside them
Signing up only after the first diagnosis and getting nothing for that illness
Downgrading from full cover to surgery cover to save money and losing the ongoing treatment

Questions and answers

Frequently asked

What is the difference between surgery cover and full cover?

Surgery cover pays only for operations, including the pre-operation check, the anaesthetic and the aftercare. Full cover also pays for treatment, diagnostics and medication without an operation.

Does surgery cover pay for diagnostics?

Only the examination that leads directly to the operation. X-rays and laboratory work that end in no operation are yours to pay.

Is a dental clean-up an operation?

It depends on the contract. An extraction usually counts as an operation, scaling under anaesthetic often does not. Ask before you sign.

How much more does full cover cost?

For a young dog about two to three times as much: roughly EUR 11 to 35 a month against EUR 4 to 12. For cats the gap is similar.

Can I move from surgery cover to full cover later?

Usually yes, but at the age you have reached and without anything treated until then. If you think full cover is likely, take it straight away.

Which pets does surgery cover suit?

Healthy animals with no known breed conditions, provided you can carry small bills of EUR 100 to 500 yourself.

Does full cover include preventive care?

Many tariffs include an annual budget of about EUR 50 to 150 for vaccination, worming and scale removal. That is a contribution, not full reimbursement.