Many Americans struggle to pay for health care for themselves and other members of their families, even if they have insurance coverage.
Some very big bills arise when the furriest members of their households get sick or just need an annual checkup: their dogs. Americans spend an average of about US$1,700 annually on their dogs’ food and care, including $580 for veterinary bills.
All told, Americans spent more than $41 billion on their pets’ veterinary care in 2025, primarily on dogs and cats. Veterinary costs have soared in recent years, rising much faster than inflation in the past decade.
The average cost of any visit to a veterinarian for a dog is about $214 today. Appointment costs for a routine examination for a dog range from $70 to $174, depending in part on the vet’s location and your dog’s conditions.
Estimating future costs
Aidan Vining, a Canadian public policy scholar, and I, a public policy researcher based in the U.S., considered the extent to which economics can explain our canine relationships in our 2024 book “Dog Economics.”
Our own love of dogs helps us understand how people bring dogs into their lives without fully taking account of future costs. One of these often unanticipated costs is for veterinary bills that may break the family budget.
Indeed, a Gallup survey of dog and cat owners conducted for PetSmart Charities in 2024 and 2025 found that 42% of respondents had declined veterinary care for their pets because they could not afford it. In the same study, an additional 38% declined care because they did not believe it was worth the cost.
I think that people should consider the risk of bearing these costs before bringing a dog into the family.
Part of the family
Between 60 million and 68 million U.S. households include at least one dog. That means that as many as half of all occupied U.S. homes include a dog.
Most families with dogs revere them. A survey I conducted with colleagues in 2018 found that 73% of people with pet dogs strongly agreed with the statement “I consider my pets to be part of the family.”
A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 51% of pet owners viewed their animals as being as much a member of their family as their human relatives.
Because many of us will spend whatever we can to save the life of our family members, being unable to afford lifesaving care for dogs can be very upsetting.
Steep veterinarian bills
But sometimes dogs require very expensive care. And veterinarians in cities where the costs of living are high tend to charge more than elsewhere.
Treating some fairly common dog ailments can cost a bundle: as much as $3,000 for gastroenteritis, $7,000 for intestinal obstruction surgery, $5,000 for severe pancreatitis and $8,000 for stomach bloat.
The tab for canine cancer treatments involving chemotherapy or radiation can set you back more than $10,000.
The initial phase of treatment for immune-mediated hemolytic anemia for my family’s poodle, for example, cost more than $10,000 in veterinary costs. She is doing well but needs continuing medical care.
Dave Weimer
Sometimes pooches require overnight veterinary supervision. That can cost you as much as $1,500 per night they spend in an animal hospital on top of those other expenses.
Many Americans cannot afford to pay for such expensive care – only 41% could cover a $1,000 unanticipated expense of any kind from their savings.
Although only a stopgap,there are charities that provide free or lower-cost veterinary care for the pets of low-income people?
Insurance coverage is rare and often falls short
Pet insurance can help make these expenses more manageable, but it covers only about 4.9 million dogs – about 8% of all American dogs.
Most of those policies have deductibles you have to meet before they’ll reimburse you for at least part of the cost of your animal’s care. Some policies cover treatment only for accidents. Many exclude routine checkups and impose caps on total claims, typically at $5,000.
Ironically, people who can most easily afford pet insurance are also the most likely to have enough money to pay for veterinary expenses.
Insurance premiums for dogs, which depend on breed, where you live, their age and coverage terms, average about $62 per month. Premiums that cover well visits and either have high caps – annual limits on what you can be reimbursed through pet insurance policies – or no caps at all cost more than that.
And pet insurers may exclude preexisting conditions. That is, unlike human patients protected by the Affordable Care Act, insurers can decline to cover dogs with prior illnesses.
To be sure, some claims of over $60,000 have been paid by insurers through policies without any claim caps.
But in most cases, it’s clear that having a dog can mean you’ll bear substantial financial risks when your dog gets injured or ill. And that’s true whether or not you’re paying pet insurance premiums throughout its lifetime – which on average lasts about a dozen years.
Going into debt to pay the vet
Americans who do pay big veterinary bills often have to borrow to do so – 39% of pet owners say they have gone into debt to pay for veterinary care, according to a survey conducted by MetLife’s pet insurance division.
Even when they can afford those bills, many families often find providing care demanding and difficult to accommodate, given their work schedules and the caregiving that other relatives require.
People who cannot afford the cost or lack the time to provide their dogs with the veterinary care required may choose to euthanize, give their dogs to someone else – known as rehoming – or surrender them to shelters. There’s no reliable data about this but I’m certain that veterinary issues contribute to the 6% of the pet surrenders that happen for financial reasons.
And these surrenders contribute to the over 330,000 dogs that U.S. shelters euthanize each year.
3 considerations before acquiring dogs
Although dogs can enrich your life with their devotion and companionship, I urge anyone considering bringing a dog into your home to think through these financial issues first.
1. The potential cost of veterinary care for dogs is high and likely to increase.
Veterinary science will continue to develop new treatments, and some inevitably will be very expensive. As a result, dog owners will more often face heartbreaking choices between extending the life of an animal they consider to be a family member and destabilizing their own finances.
2. Like your human relatives, dogs tend to have more medical problems as they age.
Most people with dogs will outlive their pets and will eventually have to confront canine medical problems. In other words, veterinary costs will at some point challenge almost all pet parents.
3. Whether or not our relatives want to get expensive medical care, we usually err on the side of providing whatever we can afford unless they demand a switch to palliative care only.
Despite our emotional bonds with our dogs, they cannot tell us how they feel about the trade-off between quality of life and longevity. We should not ignore their suffering even when we can afford extensive veterinary care. Sometimes, euthanasia is the most loving decision.
Those facing these difficult end-of-life decisions may benefit from seeking out veterinary palliative and hospice care, which is increasingly available.
