How Much Does Pet Insurance Cost in 2025?

Pet insurance is a great way to help make your pet’s veterinary care more affordable. It can help cover routine wellness care as well as unexpected illness or injury during your pet’s lifetime. 

When choosing the right plan for your beloved pet, the cost of pet insurance is certainly something to consider along with the benefits it can provide them.  

Pet insurance cost can certainly make or break your ability to provide this benefit to your furry family member.  

Let’s discuss everything you need to know about how much pet insurance costs. 

Average Cost of Pet Insurance

In 2025, the average pet insurance cost is $10–$53 per month, or $122–$640 annually. There are several elements of cost when it comes to pet insurance, such as: 

• Premiums. These are the monthly or annual costs you pay to keep the policy active. 

• Deductible. This is the amount you must pay the vet before the insurance policy kicks in. 

• Reimbursement percentage or copay. This is the percentage you pay for covered expenses even after the deductible is met.   

The cost for each of these depends on the type of policy, your budget, and your pet’s needs. 

The right choice, however, isn’t purely a financial decision.  

Older pets may benefit from more comprehensive coverage, as they are more likely to require treatment for a disease. Younger pets may be healthier making a wellness plan a good option, but also prone to more accidents. 

How Much Is Pet Insurance for Dogs? 

When caring for their new pup or a senior dog, pet parents may wonder—how much does dog insurance cost?  

Let’s look at average premiums for accident-only and accident and illness plans for dogs, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA): 

Insurance for Dogs: 2024 Average Premiums (U.S.) 

A&I (Accident and Illness) 

• Annual:  $749.29 

• Monthly:  $62.44 

AO (Accident Only): 

• Annual:  $193.29 

• Monthly: $16.10 

How Much Is Pet insurance for Cats? 

Overall, insurance for cats tends to be less expensive than insurance for dogs. 

Insurance for Cats: Average Premiums (U.S.) 

A&I (Accident and Illness) 

• Annual:  $386.47 

• Monthly:  $32.21  

AO (Accident Only) 

• Annual:  $110.03 

• Monthly:  $9.17 

In terms of pet wellness plans, there are usually two options: a basic and a premium.  

Factors That Affect the Cost of Pet Insurance

Pet insurance cost depends on several factors. Here are some of the most common ones. 

Age 

The younger the pet, the less likely they will be diagnosed with a chronic medical condition.  

Older pets that are at higher risk of diseases, such as diabetes, kidney disease, joint disease, or heart disease, may have higher premiums. 

Breed 

Certain breeds are prone to certain medical conditions.  

For example, French Bulldogs and English Bulldogs tend to experience chronic skin and eye conditions, which can expensive to treat over time.  

Some policies will exclude certain breed-specific issues or charge more to cover your pet. 

Location 

Pets that live in more populated cities may have higher premiums due to access to advanced medical care. 

Pre-Existing Conditions 

Most pet insurance policies will not cover any pre-existing conditions (issues related to diagnosed medical conditions). The premium will also likely be higher to cover the pet. This is another good reason to consider pet insurance at a young age. 

Spayed or Neutered 

Your pet’s neuter or spay status may affect the premium.  

Pets that are intact (not spayed or neutered) are predisposed to more medical conditions thus making them more expensive to insure.  

Having your pet spayed or neutered can vastly lower the cost of the pet insurance for them. 

Deductible 

Depending on the plan, you can select the level of deductible. In general, a higher deductible means a lower monthly premium. 

A deductible is the amount you must pay to the vet before the insurance company will start reimbursing you for eligible veterinary expenses. There are two types of deductibles: 

• Annual deductibles are applied yearly before any veterinary treatment costs are reimbursed. Usually, any covered issues can be applied to your deductible. 

• Per-incident deductibles are applied to each new diagnosed condition. For example, if your pet breaks a leg, becomes sick, or ingests a foreign object in one calendar year, each incident will have its own deductible. This type of policy is often recommended for older pets that need coverage over many years to treat a chronic condition. 

Most policies allow you to choose the deductible level, usually up to $1,000. 

In general, the higher your deductible, the lower your premium.  

While it is important to choose a deductible that fits within your budget, choosing a lower deductible may save you money over the lifetime of your pet. 

Reimbursement Percentage 

This is the amount you will be responsible for paying even after the deductible is met. Copays are usually given as a percentage of the bill. They often range between 10–20%. This means the “reimbursement percentage” paid by the insurance company would be 80%–90%. 

For example, let’s say your dog needed a $3,000 surgery and your deductible is $200: 

• You pay the bill at the vet (usually) and send the receipt (claim) to your insurance company. 

• The pet insurance company will subtract the $200 deductible, so remaining amount is now $2,800. 

• If your copay was 10%, that’s another $280. That leaves $2,520 for the insurance company to pay. 

• If everything on the bill was a covered item, then that’s the amount you would be reimbursed. Your total out-of-pocket expenses in this scenario would be $480. 

• You would have also met your deductible, so any additional eligible expenses would be covered at 90% for the rest of the year.   

If your insurance company is set up to pay the vet directly (only a few currently do this), then you would pay your vet $480, and the insurance would pay the vet the rest. You would not need to submit a claim. 

Depending on the policy, you might be able to select a higher or lower copay to help lower or raise your premium and/or deductible. 

Coverage 

Accident-only plans generally have lower premiums than plans that cover accidents and illness and/or wellness. 

This is because accident-only plans cover much less than other plans. They don’t cover hereditary conditions, routine care/wellness, or illness.  

Accident-only plans also do not cover long term disease management or pre-existing conditions.  

These policies are also less expensive because they might not cover the entire cost of treatment, especially in severe accident cases.  

For young dogs, they might only need a wellness plan to cover their vaccines, spay/neuter, and routine annual testing such as a fecal and heartworm test.  

Older dogs would likely benefit from an accident and illness plan to cover conditions like arthritic or ongoing medical treatment such as special diets, X-rays, medication, blood work, and recheck examinations.  

For the most comprehensive coverage and to protect you from a sudden financial burden, having a combination of wellness plus accident and illness insurance is best.

How To Find Affordable Pet Insurance

Finding affordable pet insurance can take some time and research.  

Your veterinarian, groomer, dog trainer, and fellow pet parents are also great resources to help you learn the different plans offered to cover your pet’s health.  

You can also consider speaking to a licensed pet insurance agent like the ones available through CarePlus by Chewy who can go through options with you to find the best fit.