I’ve often considered purchasing pet insurance for my 2 dogs. It seems that whenever we have a large dog-related expense come up, I contemplate signing up for a pet insurance plan, but in the end, I always decide that pet insurance will end up costing more in the long run.

There are many pet insurance programs out there, and most of them range from $19/month to $50+/month. If you’re looking for a decent plan that covers just about everything (with the exception of pre-existing conditions) you’ll be looking at about $40/month, or $480/year. Now figure that your dog (or cat) has a life of 10 years, that’s $4,800 over the course of your dog’s life. The other thing that you need to consider is that when you have pet insurance, you’ll also have office visit copay and drug & medicine copay, which both will add to the total cost of pet insurance.

Let’s just put together some rough number of someone who goes without pet insurance. Let’s say about $100/year on veterinary visits, for a total of $1,200 over the life of the dog. And just to be fair, let’s just throw in $3,000 worth of emergency/surgical expenses. With these numbers, were only at $4,200, about $600 less than the pet insurance cost alone – not including the copay amounts that will be added in for pet insurance.

So after considering pet insurance multiple times, I’ve always decided against it. If you’re on the fence about pet insurance, take a look at this site, as they have a nice list of pros and cons of pet insurance. You can also read this pet insurance ebook if you’re seriously considering buying pet insurance; some of the stories in the book will make you a true believer in pet insurance.