10 Most Expensive States for Emergency Veterinary Care

According to the national pet health insurance provider PetPlan, one in three pets requires unexpected veterinary care each year. What’s more, every six seconds a pet owner is faced with a whopping $3,000 veterinary bill.

The American Pet Products Association is anticipating a huge increase in veterinary health care spending among pet owners this year — an estimated $16.6 billion compared with last year’s spend of $15.9 billion — and it seems that a good bit of that money will be spent on emergency care.

So, just how much do pet owners spend per year on unexpected veterinary visits? A good bit, it turns out. And where your practice is located has a lot to do with it.

PetPlan evaluated its 2016 claims data to determine the average amount that pet owners in each state pay to provide emergency veterinary care for their insured pets. Petplan found that its clients in California, where costs for emergency care were highest, paid more than $1,500 out of pocket annually on unexpected care.

Here are the 10 states with the highest costs of unexpected veterinary care for insured pets:

• California: $1,521
• District of Columbia: $1,516
• Hawaii: $1,480
• Louisiana: $1,472
• New Mexico: $1,460
• Colorado: $1,434
• Maine: $1,418
• Maryland: $1,417
• Delaware: $1,414
• Pennsylvania: $1,402

“When you consider that the average Petplan policy costs $440 annually, and that pet parents in all 50 states spent much more than that on trips to the veterinarian, the numbers truly speak for themselves,” said Natasha Ashton, co-founder and co-CEO of Petplan. “It all adds up to what’s best for pets, and having a pet insurance policy in place to cover these costs is one of the easiest ways to ensure your furry family will always get the best.”

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The costliest conditions requiring emergency care in dogs and cats? Cruciate injuries ($3,480 national average), foreign body ingestion ($1,755 national average) and cancer ($2,033 national average).

Pet owners spend the least on emergency care in North Dakota and Arkansas, which average about $770 per year.