Wellness plans claim to help manage vet bills and the ongoing costs associated with pet ownership. These schemes are not new, but given the rising costs of vet care, we decided to look into them to see what they actually cover, how they fit with pet insurance and whether they’re worth considering.
Research from Animal Medicines Australia in 2025 found that ongoing costs are the main challenge that pet owners face, with more than one in five dog and cat owners admitting to taking their pets to the vet less frequently or delaying vaccinations due to concerns about affordability. The same survey also found that pet owners are trying to reduce the money they spend on pet food.
These are exactly the ongoing costs that pet wellness plans claim to help with, but will they actually save you money and can they can justify their monthly subscription fees?
Pet wellness plans are membership-style subscriptions that cover routine, preventative care for your pet – think annual vaccinations, health checks, flea and worming treatments, and dental cleans – in exchange for a fixed monthly or annual fee.
A couple of the big veterinary care providers offer plans tied to their network of providers. Greencross offers Healthy Pets Plus, and VetPartners offers Best for Pet. The Best for Pet plans are often offered by vets that seem like small, independent practices but you might be surprised to discover that veterinary practice is actually part of the VetPartners network, one of the largest veterinary networks across Australia and New Zealand.
There are also independent options available such as Thriving Pets, which allow you to use any vet clinic.
Wellness plans cost about $50– $60 per month and contribute to the cost of vet consultations, annual check ups, vaccinations and preventative medicines like flea and tick treatments. Some give you free access to tele-vet or emergency clinics, while others restrict their reimbursements to regular clinic hours. Some also give you access to discounts on food and other products and services.
Vet plans compared: Greencross vs VetParner vs Thriving Pets
We compared three wellness plans: VetPartners’s Best for Pet and Greencross Healthy Pets Plus, which restrict you to their own vet networks, and one independent plan called Thriving Pets, which you can use at any veterinary clinic.
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Price (monthly): Greencross Healthy Pets Plus costs $55 for dogs under 8, rising to $58 for dogs 8 and over; Best for Pet costs $50; and Thriving Pets costs $54.50.
Discount for paying annually: Greencross offers no discount for paying annually; Best for Pet also offers none; Thriving Pets offers 10% off.
Standard vet consultations: Greencross includes unlimited consultations of up to 20 minutes; Best for Pet includes unlimited consultations of 20 minutes or more; Thriving Pets includes unlimited consultations capped at $75 per visit.
Emergency consultations: Greencross includes unlimited emergency consultations; Best for Pet does not include this benefit; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Annual vaccinations: Greencross includes annual vaccinations; Best for Pet includes annual vaccinations; Thriving Pets covers vaccinations up to $100.
24/7 virtual vet access: Greencross includes this benefit; Best for Pet includes this benefit; Thriving Pets does not.
Annual blood test: Greencross includes an annual blood test; Best for Pet includes an annual blood test; Thriving Pets includes an annual blood test.
Annual urine test: Greencross includes an annual urine test; Best for Pet includes an annual urine test; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Annual faecal test: Greencross includes an annual faecal test; Best for Pet does not include this benefit; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Dental: Greencross caps dental cover at $200 for a scale and polish only, and excludes it from the Puppy Plan; Best for Pet caps dental cover at $250; Thriving Pets caps dental cover at $100 and excludes puppies and kittens under 1 year old.
Desexing: Greencross offers 25% off, available only on the Puppy Plan; Best for Pet offers 20% off at any age; Thriving Pets offers a flat $100 off, available only for pets up to 1 year old.
Nail trims: Greencross includes unlimited nail trims; Best for Pet includes up to 4 trims per year; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Microchipping: Greencross does not include this benefit; Best for Pet includes microchipping; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Flea/tick/worm prevention: Greencross offers 20% off products and 30% off vet-administered injectable prevention for adult and senior dogs; Best for Pet offers 10% off parasite and heartworm control products; Thriving Pets provides monthly home-delivered prevention rather than a discount.
Food discount: Greencross offers 20% off food in-clinic; Best for Pet offers 10% off food and accessories; Thriving Pets offers 10% off at the PetPA online store.
Other vet discounts: Greencross offers 10% off other services, script fees waived and 50% off anal gland expression for adult dogs; Best for Pet offers 10% off professional services including surgery, anaesthetic, sedation, imaging, cytology, and anal gland expression; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Grooming/bathing: Greencross offers 50% off DIY dog washes at Petbarn; Best for Pet includes 4 DIY hydrobaths per year at select clinics; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Boarding: Greencross does not include this benefit; Best for Pet includes 2 nights of boarding for cats only at select clinics; Thriving Pets does not include this benefit.
Other: Greencross offers 10% off Pet Academy classes; Best for Pet offers an additional 10% pet discount; Thriving Pets offers multi-clinic flexibility (usable at any vet, not just a partner network).
Pet wellness plans versus pet insurance
A pet wellness plan isn’t insurance. Unlike pet insurance, which is designed to cover unexpected accidents and illnesses, wellness plans are built around costs you know are coming.
There are two main types of pet insurance; accident cover and illness cover. If your pet gets injured in an accident, or develops a medical condition, pet insurance is designed to cover this type of big, unexpected cost. You need to pay the excess you agreed to when you signed up (usually around $200), then the insurance will cover the rest of the bill, up to the benefit limit.
Pet wellness plans work more like dental cover in human private health insurance. They’re a budgeting tool. The wellness provider pays the fixed amount, or gives you a discount, and then you pay the rest. Also, like with extras insurance, you need to be mindful of using your plan to its full potential in order to get value.
Pet wellness plans work more like dental cover in human private health insurance. They’re a budgeting tool
If you’re looking for something to help you budget for these types of pet expenses, and you already have pet insurance, it’s also worth looking into a routine care add-on that most pet insurers offer in conjunction with pet insurance. Like the wellness plans, these vary a lot in what they cover and for how much, so you’ll need to take time to work out what is likely to work for you.
Probably not… However, it really depends on how much veterinary care your pet needs in a given year. According to MoneySmart, Australians spend about $354 for dogs and $234 for cats on vet services, medicines and alternative healthcare, on average. Wellness plans cost over $600 per annum and have strict conditions around the vet consultations they cover, so you would need to make sure you’re going to get your money back on other things too for them to be worth it.
You’ll be more likely to break even with a wellness plan in the first year of a kitten or puppy’s life
If you have a pet with higher dental needs, a wellness plan might sound tempting, but be mindful that they only cover between $100 and $250 per year in dental costs, with conditions, so you also need to be getting value from another part of the plan too for it to be worth your while.
You’ll be more likely to break even with a wellness plan in the first year of a kitten or puppy’s life than for an older pet, particularly with Best for Pet, as they offer cover for microchipping and a discount for desexing – in addition to the extra vet visits and vaccination benefit that the other providers offer.
Wellness plans also offer some discounts on worm, flea and tick prevention, and some discounts on food, but keep in mind that with so many competing pet stores around these days there always seem to be discounts available for those who shop around.
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Jane Bardell is a Content producer in the Insurance and utilities team. She writes about home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously at CHOICE, she checked facts, figures and statistics as a Verifier with the Editorial and investigations team.
Jane has a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales. LinkedIn
Jane Bardell is a Content producer in the Insurance and utilities team. She writes about home, car, pet and health insurance.
Previously at CHOICE, she checked facts, figures and statistics as a Verifier with the Editorial and investigations team.
Jane has a Bachelor of Science from the University of New South Wales. LinkedIn
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