Does pet insurance cover respiratory infections?
Lemonade Pet is not sold in every state.
Yes. Respiratory infections are covered as ordinary illnesses on every plan we review once the illness waiting period passes, typically about 14 to 15 days after enrollment. Healthy Paws names respiratory infections among its curable pre-existing examples, so even an earlier resolved bout can be re-covered later by insurers with reinstatement paths.
Get a Lemonade quote
Lemonade is the one insurer on this site we can send you to for a live quote. That does not make it the right plan for every pet. As of October 2, 2026, Lemonade Pet is not yet available in Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, or Wyoming.
Get a quote from LemonadeThe exclusions cheat sheet
A plain-English guide to waiting periods and key exclusions across eight insurers, with links to the full reviews.
What a policy pays for
Treatment for a new respiratory infection, the exam, diagnostics, and prescribed antibiotics or supportive care, claims under illness terms on all eight plans we review. Illness waiting periods run about 14 days at Lemonade (official Lemonade accidents at 0 days nationwide), Embrace, Spot, Figo and Pets Best, up to 15 days at Fetch and Healthy Paws, and 30 days at Trupanion.
These infections move fast, which makes the waiting period the whole decision for newly adopted pets. A sniffle documented during the wait is not payable and goes on file as pre-existing.
Curable history is not a life sentence
Respiratory infection is another condition insurers cite in their own curable-condition examples: Healthy Paws lists it (with conjunctivitis and kennel cough) among conditions that may be re-covered after full resolution for a continuous 365 days, and Embrace’s 12-month symptom-free path applies. Lemonade offers a curable path in most states.
The exception is chronic respiratory disease. Ongoing conditions such as feline asthma stay excluded once documented, and repeated infections attributed to that underlying problem can be denied under its exclusion.
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