Pawp Review 2024: A Pet Insurance Alternative

Pawp review

Pawp, a telehealth service for your pet, is an alternative to traditional pet insurance. For an annual fee, your pet can have unlimited virtual visits with Pawp’s network of vet professionals. These vets can provide advice, reminders and a personalized care plan for your pet. You can also add Pawp’s Emergency Fund, which pays up to $3,000 per year for emergency care.

Keep in mind that telehealth Pawp vets can’t take the place of your in-person veterinarian. They can’t do things like prescribe medication, perform surgery or run diagnostic tests on your pet. If you’re looking for a plan that will pay for these services on a non-emergency basis, consider standard pet insurance instead. (See our list of the Best Pet Insurance Companies.)

How Pawp works

Pawp’s main product is a 24/7 telehealth subscription service, with an add-on for emergency care.

Pawp telehealth

Pawp’s base membership plan provides unlimited virtual visits with a network of veterinary doctors and nurses. Although the vets generally can’t prescribe medicine or make diagnoses, they can recommend an in-person consultation, answer questions and develop an ongoing care plan to keep your pet healthy.

Pawp Emergency Fund

Pawp’s Emergency Fund add-on is a bit like a pet insurance plan in that it can help you pay for sudden, unexpected vet expenses. It’s available for a monthly fee on top of your annual subscription.

The Emergency Fund offers up to $3,000 for one life-threatening emergency per year, per household. So if you have two cats on your plan, for example, it can pay for emergency care for one or the other — but not both — in a single year.

The Emergency Fund can cover scenarios like bloat, poisoning or a car accident. It can also pay for euthanasia and cremation if necessary. However, it covers only the initial emergency visit, not any follow-ups.

In order to be reimbursed, you typically must start a video call with a Pawp vet so they can determine whether your pet needs emergency care. If so, you must take your pet to a licensed clinic for treatment within eight hours.

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What’s not covered

Pawp’s base telehealth service doesn’t pay for anything other than the consultation itself. For example, if the Pawp vet suggests that your dog may need a diagnostic test or a certain course of treatment, you’ll have to arrange and pay for those services yourself.

If you add the Emergency Fund to your Pawp subscription, it won’t cover:

• Emergencies that happen during your initial waiting period.

• Emergencies related to breeding or pregnancy.

• Treatment for follow-up care after the initial emergency.

• Preventive or other non-emergency care.

• Illnesses that could’ve been prevented by a vaccine that a vet recommended but you chose not to get for your pet.

• Scheduled procedures.

• Situations that weren’t deemed emergencies by a Pawp vet.

• Treatment for conditions caused by neglect or endangerment of your pet.

• Boarding or day care for your pet. 

Pawp vs. pet insurance

The main difference between Pawp and pet insurance is which services they cover. Pawp’s base subscription includes virtual exams and advice only, while traditional pet insurance plans reimburse you for a wide range of services such as surgeries, medication, hospitalization and diagnostic tests. Learn more about pet insurance coverage.

Pawp’s Emergency Fund could be an alternative to pet insurance if you’re worried about paying for unexpected expenses, but it’s fairly restrictive. The emergency must be sudden and life-threatening, so the fund won’t help if your pet is diagnosed with a chronic long-term illness, for example. Pet insurance generally has higher annual coverage limits available than the $3,000 Emergency Fund, too.

That said, one thing we like about the Emergency Fund is that it can cover problems related to conditions your pet had before you signed up for Pawp. Most pet insurance policies won’t cover pre-existing conditions.

» MORE: Is pet insurance worth it?

Restrictions and waiting periods

Age restrictions: Pawp doesn’t have any restrictions on how old or young your pet can be when enrolling.

Waiting periods: A waiting period is the time between when you buy your plan and when your coverage starts. While you’ll have immediate access to Pawp’s telehealth vets as soon as you sign up for the base plan, the Emergency Fund has a 14-day waiting period.

Pawp cost

The cost of Pawp’s telehealth membership is $99 per year. If you want to add the Emergency Fund, you’ll pay an additional $19 per month.

» MORE: How much does pet insurance cost?

State availability

Pawp’s telehealth services are available in all U.S. states.

Pawp consumer experience

Website: Pawp’s website offers information about how the plan works, but to sign up for the service you’ll need to download the mobile app. It’s difficult to find pricing details on the site.

App: You’ll use the Pawp mobile app to sign up for membership, access telehealth services, add or remove pets from your plan, see your account information and contact customer support.

Claims: To file a claim for the Emergency Fund, you’ll use the mobile app to provide a medical record and paid invoice along with details about your pet’s emergency. Pawp’s staff may request more documentation if necessary.

Customer service: You can email [email protected] or reach out through the app. Although Pawp has a phone number at 833-365-0001, it doesn’t appear to have anyone staffing it. When we called, we got a recorded message saying that Pawp would send us a text message with a link to chat with the company. We clicked on that link and interacted briefly with a chatbot that said someone would respond within three business hours. Over the course of our conversation, responses took anywhere from 15 minutes to the full three hours to arrive.

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What Reddit users say about Pawp

Reddit is an online forum where users share their thoughts in “threads” on various topics. The popular site includes plenty of discussion on financial subjects like pet insurance, so we sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check on how users feel about insurers. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.

Pawp gets mixed reviews from commenters on Reddit. One common complaint is having emergency claims denied, in some cases even after the pet owner spoke with a Pawp vet and was told to go to the emergency room. Some commenters express concern about how effectively a veterinarian or vet tech can identify an emergency in a video call. However, a few posters report more positive experiences, including helpful telehealth vets and emergency claims that were approved.

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Questions from Reddit: Our experts answer

Is Pawp good for pets with pre-existing conditions?

It may be. If your pet’s condition could potentially turn into a life-threatening emergency, you could benefit from having Pawp’s Emergency Fund, which can cover pre-existing conditions. Having access to a virtual vet could also be helpful in managing your pet’s ongoing conditions, with the caveat that the vet won’t be able to prescribe medication.

Is Pawp good for people with multiple pets?

You can add up to six pets to your account for the same price, making it relatively affordable compared to the cost of separate pet insurance plans. Having unlimited telehealth visits for multiple pets could save you money on the cost of in-person vet visits. But keep in mind that you can only use the Emergency Fund once per year, regardless of how many pets you have.

Is Pawp worth it?

It depends. Having 24/7 access to Paw’s vet professionals could provide peace of mind if a minor health issue arises and you’re not sure it’s worth an in-person vet visit. And the Emergency Fund could pay off if something more serious goes wrong, assuming you don’t have any issues getting your claim approved.

If you’re looking for a service that will cover more of your vet bills, pet insurance may offer better value. An insurance plan can pay for things like medicine, diagnostic tests, surgeries and hospitalization even in non-emergency situations.

Pawp may be a useful option for pets who aren’t a good fit for an insurance plan — for example, if they’re older and very expensive to insure, or they have pre-existing conditions that wouldn’t be covered.

» MORE: How to get pet insurance quotes