MetLife Pet Insurance Review

MetLife's ratings land in the middle tier of our pet insurance study, ranking sixth for dogs (4.42 out of 5) and eighth for cats (4.10) out of 18 insurers. It's among the strongest options for customer experience, but if you're looking for the most competitive rates or the most flexible coverage, you need to consider better alternatives.

Below, I've summarized MetLife's strongest and weakest performance across coverage, affordability and customer experience.

• Coverage (17th for dogs and cats): Although MetLife has no waiting period for accidents and offers unique coverage like boarding fees and lost pet advertising and rewards in its base plan, it falls to 17th place for coverage due to very limited flexibility, with only three reimbursement rates, four deductibles and annual limits capping at $10,000 online.
• Affordability (6th for dogs, 7th for cats): MetLife has average savings of 5% nationally, offering the lowest rates for select breeds, particularly Bloodhounds and Abyssinians. However, the company gets more expensive for medium- to large-sized dog breeds and East Coast states.
• Customer experience (3rd for dogs and cats): MetLife has the third-best customer experience overall, providing an app that's the easiest to use and navigate in our evaluation. While claim appeals is its weakest area, the company remains in the top five for this sub-category, so pet owners still have a good chance of overturning decisions depending on the dispute involved.

The ranks presented here are for our standardized profiles of a 6-year-old Labrador Retriever and 7-year-old Ragdoll, each with a $5,000 annual limit, $500 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate, which may not reflect your particular situation.

Four kinds of pet owners get the most out of MetLife: budget-conscious Abyssinian and Bloodhound owners, anyone who prioritizes customer experience above all else, and pet parents who need accident coverage starting immediately.

Look elsewhere if you're chasing the absolute lowest rate, or wanting maximum flexibility to customize a policy.

• Abyssinian and Bloodhound owners looking for the lowest rates: For these two breeds specifically, nobody beats MetLife's pricing, 26% to 34% under the national breed average.
• Pet owners who value excellent customer experience: MetLife holds up well when buying coverage, running the app day-to-day and filing a claim.
• People who want immediate coverage for accidents: Most insurers make you wait out an accident waiting period. MetLife doesn't. A covered accident on day one of your policy is eligible for reimbursement immediately.
• Exotic pet owners: MetLife is among the few insurers that will cover reptiles, rabbits, ferrets and birds. But only 22 states have access, and getting a quote means picking up the phone.

• Pet owners who value flexibility when customizing their policy: MetLife has three reimbursement rates, four deductibles and three annual limits topping out at $10,000 online. A purebred with expensive hereditary risk can outgrow those limits fast in a single bad policy year.
• People who want competitive pricing for pet insurance: Abyssinians and Bloodhounds are the exception. Cheaper options exist elsewhere for most breeds.

See MetLife's overall performance across breeds and states:

Compare MetLife with other major pet insurers to determine the best option for your pet's needs.

MetLife lands in 17th place out of 18 for pet insurance coverage overall. It doesn't have as much flexibility for policy customization, with only four deductibles, three reimbursement rates and three annual limits up to $10,000 available online. You'll need to call its customer service to see if you can get additional options. Pet owners should consider how the company's maximum coverage can serve them as their pets grow over time, especially as chronic conditions that require ongoing management become more likely.

As for MetLife's standard coverage, the company covers hereditary conditions, exam fees, holistic care and alternative treatments beyond new accidents and illnesses, so you have a broad enough base plan without any added cost to your premium. If you're admitted to a hospital, MetLife also covers the cost of boarding your pet during your stay, and if your pet goes missing, advertising and reward costs are reimbursed.

MetLife is among the few pet insurers to cover exotic animals, including birds, rabbits, ferrets, small mammals and amphibians, in 22 states. However, you have to call to get a quote or a policy.

The company's coverage starts at the policy's effective date for accidents, and after 14 days for illnesses and orthopedic conditions, all of which are shorter compared to most insurers in our analysis. That said, MetLife doesn't cover curable pre-existing conditions after a specific symptom-free period like many competitors do. It also only covers pre-existing conditions if you switch to a MetLife group policy and the conditions were all covered by your previous insurer.

The table below further breaks down MetLife's coverage options and terms:

*Coverage varies by state and policy terms. Review your policy documents and contact your insurance provider to understand coverage terms, exclusions, limitations and waiting periods before enrollment.

MetLife offers one optional add-on focused on routine care. It comes in two tiers, Preventive 365 and Preventive 575, reimbursing various preventive services up to their respective annual limits. What's different about MetLife's add-on is that it also covers the cost of behavior training for any reason in either tier, which comes rare in the wellness add-ons of other pet insurers.

Learn more about MetLife's coverage add-on below.

Before enrolling with MetLife, you need to know how its pet insurance works in practice. Below, I'll walk you through getting in touch with its customer support, submitting claims, changing your coverage and canceling your policy.

On average, MetLife's pet insurance costs $34 monthly for cats and $56 monthly for dogs, earning affordability ranks of seventh and sixth, respectively. As a mid-priced provider, MetLife's cat insurance costs are 5% higher than the national benchmark. However, it can be competitive for dogs, with 8% average savings compared to national dog insurance costs.

The average rates here are based on a 6-year-old Labrador Retriever and a 7-year-old Ragdoll with a $5,000 annual limit, $500 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate standard plan. To help you gain a better understanding of MetLife's affordability, I've broken down its cost by breed, location and age below.

MetLife offers various pet insurance discounts that can lower your rate if you join an eligible organization or an employer group plan, work in the health or animal care industry, or have a military or first responder background. Discounts can be combined, though they must not exceed 30%.

MetLife finishes third in customer experience for both dogs and cats, providing strong customer support at every stage of the policyholder experience, from buying to submitting claims and managing your policy. The company has the best mobile app experience, so pet owners can manage their policy without requiring agent support. However, the process of appealing claim decisions can take long and require heavy paperwork.

Based on my team and I's testing, MetLife's service quality can vary based on the situation:

My team and I evaluated each stage separately. MetLife provides great customer experience in policy management and buying, but it delivers its strongest performance in claims.

MetLife places fourth for buying experience, with onboarding as its strongest sub-category, though price transparency and sales support both remain in the top-five rankings. While getting a quote with MetLife is easy to complete and mostly self-serve, customer support is available to help when you need personalized guidance about your coverage options.

• Onboarding (3rd out of 18): Once you've enrolled with MetLife, understanding your policy and setting up your account are both simple tasks that you can quickly accomplish. You'll have access to your policy documents through the app or online portal, as well as guidance in managing your policy, so the overall experience is straightforward and clear.
• Price Transparency (4th out of 18): In our evaluation, MetLife doesn't reprice coverage after purchase due to additional medical records or underwriting review. The quoted rate you receive at enrollment is what you'll pay throughout the policy year.
• Sales Support (4th out of 18): MetLife's buying process is mostly online-based, with pet owners able to obtain quotes without needing to get in touch with sales representatives. Still, you can call its customer support for additional guidance. Based on our testing, representatives often provide helpful explanations about additional coverage options, family plans and employer-sponsored discounts.

MetLife earns third place overall for policy management, offering a standout mobile app experience in our testing, so managing your policy through your phone is seamless. We also found that reaching out for admin support, paying your premium and making changes to your policy at renewal are all relatively low-friction.

• Account Servicing (3rd out of 18): MetLife's app and online portal handle basics well, like updating pet information, pulling documents and managing policy details. Adding a pet or adjusting coverage still means picking up the phone, though.
• Admin Support (3rd out of 18): MetLife's reps are competent and reliable, especially on administrative questions around waiting periods and policy details. Complex issues occasionally get inconsistent answers between agents. Phone support beat email every time on efficiency.
• App UX (1st out of 18): Nothing else in our evaluation beat MetLife's mobile app. A clean, easy-to-navigate interface lets policyholders pull up policy information, submit documentation and handle basic account tasks without technical headaches.
• Billing and Renewals (3rd out of 18): Payments and renewals go smoothly with MetLife most of the time. Automatic payments are reliable. Coverage adjustments during renewal require a call to a rep, but even that step tends to stay frictionless.

Second overall for claims, and it shows at every stage of the process. MetLife usually keeps the added stress (like filing the claim, waiting on reimbursement and appealing a denial) to a minimum. This matters when you're already dealing with a hard vet visit.

• Submission Ease (4th out of 18): Both mobile and web work fine for filing a claim with MetLife, and document uploads go quickly. But additional documentation requests can pop up after the fact, sometimes for paperwork you already sent.
• Claims Speed (4th out of 18): For claims, expect weeks while MetLife builds a coverage history from your pet's medical records. Every claim after that first one moves quicker, both in processing and getting reimbursed.
• Claims Fairness (3rd out of 18): Policy terms get honored in most straightforward cases, and reimbursements typically match what you'd expect. Pre-existing condition interpretations are where disputes crop up, especially when an old symptom gets tied to a new diagnosis.
• Appeals (5th out of 18): A documentation error tends to get reversed. A pre-existing condition determination is a much harder fight, one that can take real effort from you and your vet, through records, physician notes and clarification letters, before MetLife budges.

To build our MetLife rankings, my team and I analyzed more than 67,000 pet profiles across breeds, ages and states, collecting quotes, testing the buying and claims experience firsthand and reviewing policy documents line by line. Our national scores are based on a 6-year-old Labrador Retriever and a 7-year-old Ragdoll, each with a $5,000 annual limit, $500 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate. This profile reflects the most common pet owner scenario but won't apply equally to every pet, so we encourage you to use the breed, state and age breakdowns in this review to find where MetLife lands for your specific situation.

We applied the same framework to MetLife as every other provider in our study. For a full breakdown of how we score each category, visit our methodology page.

Get back to the main review:

• Ratings
• Competition vs. MetLife
• Coverage
• Affordability
• Customer Experience