Big cats enter pet insurance: Why global giants are turning to Lassie

In the US, Zurich North America has underwritten TrustedPals since 2019, a Marsh-built program targeting more than 183 million cats and dogs and distributed direct, via affinity, and through employer-sponsored voluntary benefit programmes brokered by Mercer. In Germany, Zurich’s direct-to-consumer arm DA Direkt launched the petolo brand in 2021 with telemedicine baked in; the platform’s parent, getolo, has since pushed into France with a sister product, patolo. The German operation has also embedded itself in retail, partnering with European pet superstore Fressnapf and hardware chain hagebau for in-store digital sales. In the UK and parts of Europe, Zurich-owned Cover-More distributes pet cover through the Insure Your Paws brand. And in March 2026, Zurich Australia launched its own pet proposition under the Virgin Money brand in partnership with consumer underwriting agency Honey, founded by Richard Joffe.