Thinking About Adopting a Pet? There's a Lot to Consider, Including the Yearly Costs

You can’t put a price on the love that a pet brings you. But you do have to shell out to keep your little sidekick happy and healthy.

If you get a dog, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates yearly spending on food to be $300, $225 for routine medical cost; $185 for preventative medication, $97 for treats and toys and don’t forget the license fee, bedding, crates and grooming supplies. 

And you may be considering pet health insurance.  But is it a good investment?

The non-profit Boston Consumers’ Checkbook analyzed the policies offered by a dozen insurers and found pet insurance is not necessarily a money saver in the end. 

"The real reason here that pet insurance often is a bad deal for pet owners is that most of the plans are priced to get really expensive, $250 a month or more is what they'll cost when your pet reaches age 10 or so,” said Executive Editor Kevin Brasler.  "And that's by design.  That's when your pet actually might need expensive veterinary care."

None of the policies that Checkbook looked at were determined to be a good deal for pets that had low or moderate levels of health problems.  But if your pet needed a high level of medical care, you may benefit from insurance.

"For a dog that was really unlucky, the less than 5% chance of having a pet that just needed a lot of expensive care, we  found that that was really the only case where any of the pet insurance plans made sense for us," said Brasler. "On our analysis, we found that the vast, vast majority of pet owners, they'll do better without insurance than with it."

If you are buying pet insurance, read the fine print, because not all plans are created equal. Avoid companies that charge high premiums and copays.  And realize most plans don’t cover pre-existing conditions.

Consumers’ Checkbook also evaluated more than 150 veterinary practices in the Boston area and found big price differences.

"Veterinarians have very big price differences from practice to practice for the exact same care," said Brasler. "So spaying of a 6-mont-old cat, the lowest price we could find in the Boston area was around $200 for that procedure and the highest price was nearly $1,100. We often see five-fold price differences in terms of lowest cost versus the highest price among veterinary practices here in the Boston area. And so it does make sense to look for a low cost vet."

And Checkbook found that there is no correlation between quality and price.  Some of the lowest priced vet practices they looked at received very high ratings from customers.  So you can save money without sacrificing the quality of your pet's care.

Another insurance option to consider is Accident Only pet insurance. It is typically more affordable and will cover large unpredictable veterinary bills related to injuries or conditions that are the result of an accident. 

But again, always read the fine print before signing up!

You can find  Consumers’ Checkbook ratings of Boston-area veterinary practices as well as their report on pet insurance by clicking here.