Retail & consumer services

Pet care & boarding

Pet groomers, boarding kennels, and doggy daycares handling animals in their care.

Why it needs cover

The exposure

Standard GL excludes injury to animals in your care, custody, or control, so animal bailee coverage is essential; boarding adds fights, escapes, illness outbreaks, and facility exposure.

What we place

Coverages this class usually needs

General liabilityOften (lease/contract)

Third-party injury and property damageClient/public contact

Animal bailee (care/custody/control)Often

Vet bills/injury/death of pets in careGL excludes it

Business owners policy (BOP)Optional

GL + property bundleFacility/equipment

Professional liabilityOptional

Grooming/handling errorsService-related harm

Workers' compensationRequired (with employees)

Staff injuriesBites and lifting

What it costs

National benchmark premiums

Rated on: Annual revenue and number of animals

General liability

pet boarding $53/mo

Animal bailee

often bundled; standalone policies start as low as $16/yr for minimal limits

Total annual (typical)

a small grooming business pays $500-$2,000/yr for GL + professional liability; adding bailee, property, and WC brings totals to $2,000-$6,000+

Pricing figures are national typical or median ranges for small operators at commonly quoted limits, drawn from the published sources named on each page. They are budgeting benchmarks, not quotes. Your premium depends on state, payroll, revenue, limits, deductible, and loss history.

Sources: Insureon (Pet & Dog Boarding cost); Tivly; Insurance Pro Agencies.

When it goes E&S

Where this risk gets hard to place

Large-capacity boarding, aggressive-breed handling, and prior injury/death claims can require specialty animal-care markets.

Contact

Talk to us about Pet care & boarding.

Send the basics once. Our team and our AI agents route your risk to carriers with genuine appetite, package the submission, and handle the carrier follow-up.