Pet insurance is worth it if a surprise vet bill of a few thousand dollars would force you to borrow, run up a card you can’t pay off or say no to treatment. If you could cover a bill that size from savings without much pain, keeping the premium money yourself can make more sense. The rest of this page is the math behind that answer.
In 2025 the average accident and illness policy cost $836 a year for a dog and $435 a year for a cat, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), the industry group that tracks what pet owners pay. Here’s what that adds up to, what it buys you, and how to tell which side of the line you’re on.
What pet insurance costs, per year and over your pet’s life
There are three main kinds of plan, and they’re priced very differently. Here’s what the average pet owner paid in 2025:
| Plan type | Dogs, per year | Dogs, per month | Cats, per year | Cats, per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accident only | $190 | about $16 | $112 | about $9 |
| Accident and illness | $836 | about $70 | $435 | about $36 |
| Accident and illness with wellness | $1,414 | about $118 | $859 | about $72 |
Most people comparing pet insurance are looking at the middle row. Here’s what it adds up to if you paid 2025’s average price every single year:
| Years of coverage | Dog, accident and illness | Cat, accident and illness | Dog, accident only | Cat, accident only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | $4,180 | $2,175 | $950 | $560 |
| 10 years | $8,360 | $4,350 | $1,900 | $1,120 |
| 15 years | $12,540 | $6,525 | $2,850 | $1,680 |
Treat those totals as a floor. Prices have been climbing fast. The average accident and illness premium for a dog went from $625 in 2021 to $836 in 2025, up about 34%. For a cat it went from $370 to $435, up about 18%. In 2025 alone, the averages jumped 11.5% for dogs and 12.6% for cats. Your own premium can also go up as your pet ages. In states that follow the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Pet Insurance Model Act, insurers have to tell you whether they raise premiums based on your pet’s age, so look for that before you buy.
The premium isn’t the only cost either. You’ll pay your deductible before the plan pays anything, and after that you’ll pay your share of each covered bill based on your reimbursement rate. Our guide to how much pet insurance costs explains how those settings change your price.
What a big vet bill looks like
The worst bills hit $66,600 for a dog and $51,600 for a cat in 2025, NAPHIA’s largest claims, and neither pet was old.
This is the other side of the math. The largest single claim NAPHIA recorded for a dog in 2025 was $66,600, for a 3-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog with a chronic illness nobody could diagnose. For a cat it was $51,600, for a 4-year-old American Shorthair with cancer.
Those are extremes. They’re the biggest claims NAPHIA recorded all year, and most pets will never come close. But they show what insurance is really for. The dog’s bill is about 80 years of the average dog premium. The cat’s bill is more than 100 years of the average cat premium. And notice the ages: neither pet was old. A huge bill can come at 3 or 4 just as easily as at 13.
What people actually claim for
Digestive trouble, ear infections and skin conditions top dog claims, while digestive trouble, dental disease and urinary infections top cat claims, NAPHIA says.
Most claims are for everyday illnesses rather than disasters, the kind that send you to the vet, sometimes more than once. According to NAPHIA, these were the conditions insurers paid claims for most often in 2025:
For dogs, it was stomach and digestive problems, ear infections, skin conditions, anxiety and behavioral issues, allergies, growths and masses, eye problems, diarrhea, urinary tract infections, muscle and joint problems, exams and wellness visits, and vomiting.
For cats, it was stomach and digestive problems, dental disease, urinary tract infections, anxiety and behavioral issues, breathing problems, kidney disease, ear infections, an overactive thyroid, vomiting, arthritis, diabetes and eye problems.
That list matters for two reasons. First, a policy that only pays for accidents would miss nearly all of it. Second, some of these, like diabetes, are what state regulators call incurable, which means care and bills that keep coming.
A simple way to decide: could you pay the bill tomorrow?
Ask what vet bill you could pay tomorrow without borrowing, and be honest: only 63% of adults could cover a $400 expense with cash.
Forget averages for a second and ask yourself one question: if your vet handed you a bill tomorrow, what’s the biggest amount you could pay without borrowing, or without putting it on a card you couldn’t pay off at the next statement?
For a lot of people, that number is smaller than they’d like. In the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of household finances, 63% of adults said they’d cover a surprise $400 expense with cash or its equivalent. So more than a third of adults wouldn’t cover even $400 that way.
The Alabama Department of Insurance, passing on tips from the NAIC, puts the same idea this way: “Estimate the health costs for your animal’s expected life. Take into consideration how much you could afford for emergency treatment or a long illness.”
Once you have your number, here’s how to read it.
Your number is a few hundred dollars
Pet insurance is probably worth it for you. An accident and illness plan turns a bill you couldn’t pay into a monthly cost you can plan for. If the full plan is too much for your budget, accident-only coverage at about $16 a month for a dog or $9 for a cat is better than nothing.
Your number is a few thousand dollars
You can handle the smaller stuff, but a surgery or a cancer diagnosis could still wipe you out. Insurance still makes sense here, and you can lower the premium by choosing a higher deductible, since you can absorb more of the first part of a bill yourself.
Your number is tens of thousands
You can afford to insure yourself. Insurance is optional for you, and the case for it is mostly about convenience. Some people would rather pay a steady amount each month than decide on a treatment with their bank balance in mind.
There’s one more question to be honest about: would you actually pay for expensive treatment if it came to that? If you know you’d stop at a certain point no matter what, insurance is worth less to you, because you’d be paying for protection you’d never use.
The alternatives to pet insurance
Insurance isn’t the only way to prepare for vet bills. Here’s how the main options compare.
Put the money in a savings fund instead
Say you set aside $70 a month, about what the average dog owner paid for accident and illness coverage in 2025. That’s $840 a year, $4,200 after five years and $8,400 after ten, before any interest.
The upside is that it’s your money. It covers anything, including routine care and conditions an insurer would call pre-existing, and whatever you don’t spend stays yours. The downside is timing. An emergency in year one arrives before the fund has built up, and a serious illness can cost more than years of saving. It also takes discipline to leave the money alone.
One middle path: keep a fund big enough to cover your deductible and your share of a bill, and buy a plan with a higher deductible to keep the premium down.
Accident-only coverage
At $190 a year for dogs and $112 for cats on average, accident-only pet insurance covers injuries like swallowed objects, cuts, car accidents and poisoning. It won’t pay for illness, and that’s where most of the common claims are. Both of the largest claims above were illnesses too. It’s a reasonable backstop if full coverage is out of reach, or if your pet is older and illness coverage is expensive or limited.
Wellness plans and discount plans
Some vet offices sell their own wellness plans for routine things like exams and vaccines, and some national programs offer discounts at member vets for a monthly fee, according to the Alabama Department of Insurance. Under the NAIC model law, a wellness program sold separately from a policy isn’t insurance. These can trim what you spend on routine care, but neither one is built to pay a surprise surgery bill.
When pet insurance is clearly worth it
It’s hard to argue against it if most of these are true for you:
- Your pet is young and healthy. There’s little medical history to exclude, and as the biggest claims show, young pets can run up enormous bills too.
- A bill in the thousands would mean debt or a hard choice about treatment.
- You’d want to pursue serious treatment, like surgery or cancer care, if your pet needed it.
- You’d rather pay a steady monthly amount than build and guard a savings fund.
When pet insurance isn’t worth it
It’s a weaker deal in these situations:
- You could pay a big bill from savings without much trouble, and you’d rather keep the premiums.
- Your pet’s main health problems started before you’d buy a policy. Those will likely be excluded as pre-existing, so you’d be paying for coverage that skips the thing you’re worried about. Our guide to pet insurance and pre-existing conditions explains how that works.
- You know you wouldn’t pursue expensive treatment.
- You mainly want help with routine care. In 2025, plans with wellness built in cost $578 more a year than accident and illness alone for dogs, and $424 more for cats. Add up what you actually spend on checkups and vaccines first. If it’s less than that, pay for routine care yourself. The same goes for cleanings, which we cover in does pet insurance cover dental.
If you buy, how to get the most out of it
Pick a deductible you could pay on a bad day, since that’s the part of every claim that’s on you. Choose a reimbursement rate and annual limit that would still leave you okay after a big surgery. Read the exclusions, especially how the policy defines pre-existing conditions, before you sign up.
Enroll while your pet is young, before any symptoms show up in the vet records. In states that follow the NAIC model law, you also get 15 days after you receive the policy to read it and return it for a full refund, as long as you haven’t filed a claim.
Your price depends on your pet and your ZIP code, so get more than one quote. You can compare pet insurance quotes for your pet, or head to our pet insurance hub for more guides.
Frequently asked questions
Is pet insurance worth it for dogs?
It depends on what you could pay out of pocket. Accident and illness coverage averaged $836 a year for a dog in 2025, and the largest dog claim that year was $66,600, for a 3-year-old. If a bill of a few thousand dollars would be hard to pay, insurance is usually worth it. If you could cover one easily, saving on your own can work.
Is pet insurance worth it for cats?
Cat coverage costs about half as much, $435 a year on average for accident and illness in 2025. Cats’ most common claims include dental disease, urinary tract infections, kidney disease, an overactive thyroid and diabetes. The largest cat claim in 2025 was $51,600, for cancer.
Is pet insurance worth it for an older pet?
It can be harder to justify. The NAIC notes that some insurers won’t accept pets after a certain age, premiums can rise with age, and an older pet has more history that may be excluded as pre-existing. Accident-only coverage can be a practical choice for a senior pet.
Is it better to save money instead of buying pet insurance?
It depends on whether you can build the fund before you need it. Savings cover anything and stay yours if you don’t spend them, but an emergency in the first year or two can outrun what you’ve saved. You can also combine the two: a small fund plus a plan with a higher deductible.
Does pet insurance pay the vet directly?
Sometimes. The Alabama Department of Insurance notes that some companies pay the vet, but often you’ll pay the full bill at the visit and then get reimbursed for the covered amount. Ask how claims are paid before you buy.
Does pet insurance go up every year?
Average prices have been rising. Accident and illness premiums went up 11.5% for dogs and 12.6% for cats in 2025, according to NAPHIA. Your own premium can also rise as your pet gets older.
What doesn’t pet insurance cover?
The NAIC says most insurers exclude pre-existing conditions and hereditary or congenital conditions, and many have waiting periods before benefits start. State regulators add that not all plans cover preventive care, dental care not associated with an accident or injury, behavioral treatment or elective procedures.
Sources
- North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), State of the Industry Report 2026, published June 2026 and covering the 2025 calendar year. Average premiums by plan type from 2021 to 2025, most common conditions claimed and largest claims paid.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2025, published May 2026. Share of adults who would cover a $400 emergency expense with cash or its equivalent.
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Pet insurance, consumer topic page last updated April 2025. Common exclusions, age limits and waiting periods.
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Pet Insurance Model Act (Model #633), adopted Summer 2022. Disclosure of age-based premium increases, the 15-day free look and the definition of wellness programs.
- Alabama Department of Insurance, consumer release on pet insurance, February 2018, built on NAIC tips. How to estimate what you could afford, how claims are paid, incurable conditions, wellness and discount plans, and common exclusions.
- Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Pet insurance, consumer page. Services that may not be covered.
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