Name: Pet insurance can help cover costly vet bills
Uploaded: 2026-01-19T16:35:53.617Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: Pet insurance can offer some peace of mind when a veterinarian visit is necessary, but owners are being reminded to read the fine print before purchasing a policy.

Pet insurance can offer some peace of mind when a veterinarian visit is necessary, but owners are being reminded to read the fine print before purchasing a policy.

San Diego

Visiting a veterinary hospital can result in significant expenses for pet owners, with costs for exams, dental work, and vaccines adding up quickly. Pet insurance is available to help cover these expenses, with millions of pets insured in the U.S. and average monthly premiums of $52 for dogs and $28 for cats. 

However, coverage varies between policies, with some only covering preventative care and others focusing on emergencies. Exclusions, such as those for certain breeds or routine care, are common. Rising premiums can also make insurance unaffordable for older pets, leading some owners to seek alternative payment options such as pet-specific credit cards.

Pet insurance can help cover costly vet bills

Ending up at a pet hospital like this isn't just stressful, it can be expensive. But there are insurance policies out there that can help protect your wallet. Each day is different at the San Carlos Animal Hospital. Patients come in for different reasons. We see everything from general maintenance to emergencies that come in. Rattlesnake bites, hit by cars, sometimes bloat, cases like that. What remains the same, pet owners are responsible for payment of services, which can add up. On an average ballpark figure, you're probably looking at exams anywhere from $70 to $100. Non-specialty, of course, you could look at $1,200 to $2,500 for dental work. Vaccines, depending on what you're getting, probably anywhere from $25 to $75 per vaccine. But you can get financial coverage if you purchase pet insurance. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, in 2025, 6.4 million pets were covered under pet insurance in the U.S. On average, the monthly cost of pet insurance for dogs is $52. For cats, it's $28. Ron Westberg is the practice manager for the hospital. He says pet owners need to do their homework and read the fine print before purchasing a policy. Because not everything is covered, as some policies only cover preventative care, while others only cover emergency care. And often there are exclusions. Certain companies will have breed exclusions. So if your particular breed has a known genetic flaw somewhere, they may not cover that. Lori Mariano experienced this firsthand. She purchased pet insurance for her German Shepherd. She was pretty healthy. Our pet insurance did not cover preventative or normal routine things, only kind of out of the normal type of things, kind of accidental things or strange occurrences or illnesses. And as she got older, they ended up dropping their coverage because the premium kept increasing. She was like 13. Her premiums were almost $1,000 a month. And we thought, well, we just couldn't afford it. And that was around the time we needed some extra care for her, and we didn't have it. So in the end, it wasn't as helpful as we had hoped it would be. Maybe it was the pet insurance we had. Ron says while many vets don't offer payment plans, pet owners can look into certain credit cards that can specifically be used for pets. Marie Cornell, ABC 10 News.

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