The real costs of owning a pet in 2024

Adopting a pet is often framed as an emotional decision: You scroll past an adorable dog or cat on a rescue’s website or spontaneously drop into an animal shelter, then instantly fall in love with those sweet eyes. Of course, pet ownership does come with a lot of responsibility — including the financial burden of paying for everything your new dog or cat needs.

But in one 2022 survey, nearly half of pet owners said they underestimated the costs of lifetime care for their pet. Veterinarian Dr. Evan Antin said he sees it in his practice, as well. “Even with a healthy pet, you do want to look at the fact that you’re going to be spending, even on just the veterinary care, probably a couple hundred bucks a year at least,” he said.

Dr. Antin said most pets require at least one wellness visit a year for a standard physical exam, as well as vaccines and preventative care like flea, tick, and heartworm medication. You can’t overlook more routine, day-to-day expenses either. The ASPCA estimates the average annual costs of owning a cat or dog ranges from $700 to more than $1,000, depending on the size and breed of the animal. “Even just the diet can be quite expensive,” Dr. Antin said. “Every month, that’s another legitimate expense that’s right up there with your utility bills.”

And those estimates assume your pet is healthy and doesn’t require any specialist visits or emergency care. Dr. Antin said new pet owners often overlook dental care — although many pets will need it at some point during their lifetime. “It’s one of the most important components of veterinary health,” he said. “Roughly 70 to 75 percent of dogs and cats at two years old have some degree of dental disease.” He said the cost of a routine cleaning with X-rays and polishing could easily exceed $1,000 without pet insurance, and goes up if your pet needs any extractions or dental surgeries.

Though no one wants to think about the worst case scenario, pet parents have to be prepared for emergency vet visits, which also come with higher vet bills. “Most pets along the course of their life are likely to experience at least one emergency veterinary visit, if not several,” Dr. Antin said. “Typically, prices are increased for all emergency treatments. Especially if you’re in swing shift hours going into the night or the middle of the night, not during normal business hours, you can expect to pay more.”

Emergency visits, specialist care, or hospitalizations can easily rack up bills in the thousands — if not tens of thousands, Dr. Antin said: “Ten thousand and $20,000 problems are becoming far more common these days.” In fact, the cost of pet ownership has only increased in the past few years. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the price of veterinary care rose 11 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index — a trend Dr. Antin has noticed at the practice where he works, as well. The area where you seek care also impacts the price you’ll pay: For example, his practice in suburban Southern California is more expensive than practices in more rural parts of the country. And it’s important to remember that veterinary practices typically require you to pay the full cost of care up front — co-pays are much less common in the pet world.

Several factors are likely behind the increasing price for veterinary care, including increased demand from record rates of pet adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic and inflated cost for veterinary medical supplies. The veterinary industry is also undergoing a sea change. “Single practice owners and family practice owners are shrinking,” with more and more practices being bought up by large corporations, Dr. Antin said. The increased demand for veterinary care is also complicated by a veterinarian shortage, triggered in part by the steadily increasing cost of veterinary school tuition and the fact that there simply aren’t enough spots at those schools to fill the need for future vets. Dr. Antin said new veterinarians are in such high demand that many practices are luring them in with signing bonuses, which in turn lead to higher costs for pet owners.

“It’s becoming quite cost-prohibitive if you have a pet, especially if they’re not insured and they’re not protected,” Dr. Antin said — which is why he recommends every pet owner invest in pet insurance. Fetch Pet Insurance is the most comprehensive insurance product for dogs and cats in North America, and can be used at any vet in the U.S. or Canada. Fetch also covers many illnesses and injuries that other providers don’t, including sick-visit exams, breed-specific issues, and disease in every adult tooth — not just the canines. Plans can average just $35 a month for dogs and $25 a month for cats, but vary based on your pet’s age, breed, and location — which is a whole lot easier to budget for than a multi-thousand-dollar emergency bill.

Dr. Antin also recommended starting your pet’s insurance as soon as you bring them home, since most providers don’t cover pre-existing conditions. “If you have a two-year-old dog or cat, there’s a good chance that you won’t have expensive vet bills,” he said, so it’s a good time to start pet insurance before they develop conditions that might be considered pre-existing (and therefore not covered) later in life. Anything you can do to reduce your out-of-pocket expenses is worth it, especially because Dr. Antin doesn’t expect the price of veterinary care to go down anytime soon. “Until the demand isn’t there, I don’t see that going anywhere,” he said.

Choosing between paying their utility bill and paying for their beloved dog’s life-saving surgery is every pet owner’s worst nightmare — and Dr. Antin said the peace of mind that comes with avoiding that situation is another benefit of pet insurance. “It’s going to put you in a situation where you don’t have to think, ‘Can I budget for this? Can I continue to live my life? Can I afford my rent month to month and still treat my pet and get the medical care that it needs?’” he said. “That’s a huge weight off your shoulders.”