High-risk breeds
French bulldog insurance: eligibility first, then price
By Bradley Jacobs · Published Aug 31, 2026
Frenchies can usually still get a quote. They are a high-risk breed with expensive breathing and spine bills, which is why prices climb. A quote is not a promise that breathing surgery or a slipped disc will be covered if signs are already in the file.
9-year-old Frenchie, prior ACL
Quote: usually available at Embrace, Fetch, Pets Best, Spot, Trupanion. Lemonade: verify age cap on the form.
The prior ACL: not covered, and the other knee is often excluded under both-sides ligament rules. Details on the pre-existing page.
Breed-typical conditions (not the same as already there)
Inherited and born-with conditions are generally eligible if they have not shown signs yet. Lemonade’s pug example: wait until the limp is in the record and luxating patella is pre-existing.
Lemonade’s breathing problems (BOAS) article: breathing problems (BOAS) is covered on the base accident-and-illness policy if it is not pre-existing; snoring, labored breathing, or heat intolerance already noted can put breathing problems (BOAS) on the excluded list.
| Breed | Issues carriers themselves flag | What that means for a quote |
|---|---|---|
| French bulldog | Lemonade: breathing problems (breathing problems (BOAS)), spinal issues, skin allergies. Fetch: breathing issues as a inherited example. | Eligible to quote. Those conditions are covered only if they develop after waits. Already noisy breathing in the chart is the risk. |
| Pug | Lemonade: pug encephalitis, luxating patella, breathing problems (BOAS) (brachycephalic airway article). | Same rule. Signs before the wait ends = exclusion. |
| Golden Retriever | Lemonade lists hip/elbow dysplasia, lymphoma, skin allergies, ear infections, cataracts, a stretched weak heart (dilated cardiomyopathy), cruciate tear, dental disease, with illustrative treatment-cost ranges on that page. | Large-breed bone-and-joint and cancer risk is why early, continuous coverage matters. A late-life Golden quote will exclude what is already there. |
Published prices we could verify
We do not invent premiums. Only Lemonade published breed-level average monthly premiums on pages we fetched.
Those are Lemonade’s internal averages (Golden Retriever page: analysis as of October 2025), not a quote for your ZIP code.
| Source | What they published | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Lemonade: Golden Retriever | Illustrative average monthly premiums: about $50–$55 at ages 1–3, $55–$60 at 4, $65–$70 at 5, $75–$80 at 6, $85–$90 at 7. | Lemonade averages as of Oct 2025. Verify on the quote form. |
| Lemonade: French Bulldog pages | Illustrative averages in the $80s for young adults, rising past $100 by ages 6–7 (two Lemonade URLs list slightly different age-6/7 bands). | Stale-prone. We did not treat either table as a live rate. Get a quote. |
| Embrace: dog insurance | “Most of our Embrace dog parents pay between $20 to $70 per month” with sample mixed-breed and small-breed rows, none of those rows is a Frenchie. | Not a Frenchie rate. Verify on the quote form. |
| Pets Best: Accident Only starting prices | Accident Only “start at just $6 per month for cats and $9 per month for dogs, regardless of your pet’s age and breed” ($7 / $10 in WA). | Accident-only, not accident-and-illness. Not a Frenchie illness quote. |
| Fetch, Spot, Trupanion | No public Frenchie rate card on the pages we fetched. | Unknown. Verify on the quote form. |
Honest read of Lemonade’s two published tables: a Frenchie is priced well above a Golden of the same age in Lemonade’s own averages. That is consistent with brachycephalic risk.
It is not a ranking of carriers.
Get a Frenchie quote from the carrier
General carrier rules (waits, age limits, pre-existing) come from official carrier pages. The full list of those sources is on what counts as pre-existing.