If you’re a pet owner, you know it takes about five minutes to fall hopelessly in love with your pet because they’re so adorable. No matter how hard it is to train them or how much destruction they do to your home, they quickly become an important member of your family. So when your cat or dog is diagnosed with a serious disease or needs expensive surgery, the decision to spend the money to save their life can be agonizing. In fact, every six seconds, a pet owner is faced with a vet bill of more than $1,000.
Keeping a pet in good health can be expensive. In addition to the cost of vaccinations and checkups, here are just a few examples of things that can go wrong throughout pet ownership and what you would pay for a veterinarian to treat these issues:
- If your cat or dog eats grapes or raisins, which are toxic to them, it could cost you $2,000-$5,000.
- If your pet is hit by a car and survives, it could cost you $250-$8,000 to get them the care they need, depending on the severity of the accident.
- If your pet is a big chewer and chews through and gets shocked by an electrical cord in your home, it could cost you $500-$3,000.
- If your pet gets a dog bite wound, it could cost you $1,000-$10,000, depending on the severity of the wound.
- If your pet experiences a urinary tract obstruction, it could cost you $1,500-$3,000.
On top of that, the U.S. Consumer Price Index shows veterinary services went up roughly 7% in the 12 months ending in November 2024.
Is pet insurance the solution?
It’s very hard to predict whether your pet is going to remain healthy or not, so more and more owners are opting for pet health insurance. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), the total number of insured pets has seen double-digit increases in the last four years, with an average annual growth rate of 22.6%.
Regardless of this growth, today only about 3%-4% of pets in the U.S. and Canada are covered by pet insurance. The majority of pet parents either do not want to spend the money, or they remain hopeful that their dog or cat will stay healthy. Additionally, some pet owners simply don’t even think about pet insurance or know it exists.
Shari and Brent Kludt of St. Petersburg, Florida, are the proud owners of two dogs who so far have remained in good health. “We looked into pet insurance, but then heard about one company who started dropping a lot of their customers. This put pet owners in a bind, because now their dog or cat may have preexisting conditions that wouldn’t be covered if they tried to purchase insurance from another company. Instead, we chose a veterinarian who charges very reasonable prices.”
Scott and Kristin Becknell of Columbus, Ohio, came to a different conclusion. “Our financial adviser highly recommended pet insurance for our two rescue dogs, even though she wasn’t receiving any commission. Sure enough, one of the dogs developed a brain tumor and we decided to do a cyber knife laser procedure costing $8,354, of which insurance covered $6,683. ‘Beast’ lived for another six years, so we were so glad we had insurance.”
Is the expense of pet insurance worth it?
Ricky Walther, DVM, is a small animal general practitioner in the Sacramento, California area. Realizing the positive financial and medical impact that pet insurance can provide for pet parents and the profession, he lends support and advice to companies like Pawlicy Advisor, which provides a free, personalized, breed-specific analysis to help find the pet insurance policy that is right for you.
Walther explains, “In my experience as a general practitioner, finances play a role in the ultimate decision to euthanize a pet about two to three [times] per month…. Many considerations go into a family’s decision to say goodbye to their pet, but finances are perhaps one of the most challenging factors for both the pet family and the veterinary team because of the guilt that these considerations can generate.”
“As with any insurance, there is always the possibility that you will spend more than you save, and the same is true for pet insurance. But the peace of mind of having coverage in the case of unexpected emergencies is often a more than worthwhile investment for pet owners,” Walther says.
Currently, the major players in pet insurance are Trupanion, ASPCA, Nationwide, Fetch, Lemonade and Embrace. You can get one-stop-shopping quotes from a variety of insurance companies from Pet Insurance Review.
The average annual cost for an accident and illness policy is about $676 for dogs and $383 for cats, according to NAPHIA data from 2023. That works out to about $56 per month for dogs and $32 per month for cats.
Remember, the younger your pet is when you enroll, the lower the premium will likely be.
What pet insurance does not cover
Most pet insurance plans won’t cover spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, annual checkups and teeth cleaning unless you’ve purchased a plan for wellness and preventive care. However, these plans can be a lot more expensive than the accident and illness plans, and your out-of-pocket costs are usually less than the insurance premium.
But preexisting conditions are perhaps the most important exclusion in just about every pet insurance plan. Pet insurance generally covers only new injuries or illnesses, not conditions the cat or dog has before the policy takes effect. That’s another good reason to purchase insurance while your pet is young and healthy. However, in some cases you can find a policy that may cover preexisting issues that can be resolved.
Alternatives to pet insurance
If you can discipline yourself to put aside money every month in a high-interest savings account, this could be an alternative to paying for pet insurance. Then, if you end up not needing it, you can spend it on other things or save it for your next pet. But Walther warns that this will usually only cover one emergency. “What happens when you have another before you’ve had time to save up a second time… [or] the emergency comes before you’ve saved up enough?”
Your vet may be willing to work with you on a payment plan, and CareCredit is another financing option to pay for out-of-pocket expenses over time.
You can always roll the dice and hope your pet will not have any serious accidents or illnesses throughout their lifetime. But responsible pet parents will ask themselves, “What would I do if I suddenly had a $3,000 vet bill?” A reasonably priced pet insurance policy with as low of a deductible as you can afford might be your best bet to keep your furry companion healthy without draining your bank account.
Photo by fast-stock/Shutterstock
