Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
10+ years in insurance and personal finance content
30+ years in media, PR, and content creation
Evelyn leads Insurify’s content team. She’s passionate about creating empowering content to help people transform their financial lives and make sound insurance-buying decisions.
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
15+ years in content creation
7+ years in business and financial services content
Chris is a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more.
At Insurify, our goal is to help customers compare insurance products and find the best policy for them. We strive to provide open, honest, and unbiased information about the insurance products and services we review. Our hard-working team of data analysts, insurance experts, insurance agents, editors and writers, has put in thousands of hours of research to create the content found on our site.
We do receive compensation when a sale or referral occurs from many of the insurance providers and marketing partners on our site. That may impact which products we display and where they appear on our site. But it does not influence our meticulously researched editorial content, what we write about, or any reviews or recommendations we may make. We do not guarantee favorable reviews or any coverage at all in exchange for compensation.
Why you can trust Insurify: Comparing accurate insurance quotes should never put you at risk of spam. We earn an agent commission only if you buy a policy based on our quotes. Our editorial team follows a rigorous set of editorial standards and operates independently from our insurance partners. Learn more.
Taking care of one’s best friend is getting more expensive. The average lifetime cost of caring for a dog is $60,602, according to a new study by Synchrony. For cats, the lifetime cost is $47,106.
That’s a nearly 12% increase for dog care since 2022, and just over 19% for cats.
Though owners appear to generally know that pet care is expensive, nearly 80% underestimate the actual lifetime costs, according to the study, which analyzed data from CareCredit, Synchrony’s pet and vet financial product.
“Our research shows that while 60% of dog owners, 61% of cat owners, and 59% of ‘pocket-pet’ owners see [pets] as family, many are unaware of the true financial commitment,” Jonathan Wainberg, senior vice president and general manager at Synchrony, said in a press release.
Pet parents struggle to understand and manage costs
More than 75% of pet owners consider their pets to be family members, best friends, or their children, the study found. But many severely underestimate how much it will actually cost to take care of their pets over the animals’ average lifespans.
Type of Pet
Average Lifespan
What Pet Parents Expect Care to Cost
What It Actually Costs
Dog
15 years
$8,158
Up to $60,602
Cat
15 years
$5,735
Up to $47,106
Small companion animals
6 years
$2,977
Up to $14,938
Source: Synchrony’s 2025 Pet Lifetime of Care Study
Nearly half of pet owners in Synchrony’s study said an unexpected pet-related expense caused financial concern in 2025. Roughly one in 10 pet parents who faced a surprise cost struggled to pay for it. And the same ratio had to seek financial assistance to care for their pets.
In fact, 26% of pet owners said an unexpected $250 pet care expense would cause them stress. For 23%, their threshold would be a $1,000 emergency expense.
Yet while 20% said they worry about future unexpected expenses, less than one-quarter have savings or insurance to help cover emergency pet care costs. But the vast majority — 92% — would do whatever it takes to cover their pets’ unexpected costs.
How pet parents pay for emergency vet costs
By all accounts, debt is a problem for Americans — and paying for emergency pet care is adding to the burden.
A recent Insurify survey found that more than 68% of double-income couples with no kids (DINKs) have worked more hours, racked up credit card debt, or put less into their savings accounts in order to pay for their pets’ needs. This parallels Synchrony’s findings that 50% of dog owners and 61% of cat owners put unexpected pet care costs on their credit cards. And 36% of small companion animal owners said they’d borrow from family or friends to pay a surprise veterinary bill.
Synchrony’s study found low rates of pet insurance adoption across all pet types. Overall, less than 25% of pet parents had savings or pet insurance to help pay for emergencies.
Pet
Percentage of Owners With Pet Insurance or Savings
Percentage Who Considered Pet Insurance
Dogs
20%
47%
Cats
20%
49%
Small companion animals
24%
32%
Synchrony’s 2025 Pet Lifetime of Care Study
What’s next: Pet insurance costs rising, too
Along with food, toys, and veterinary care, pet parents must also consider the rising cost of pet insurance.
Synchrony’s study found that dog owners are spending more annually for pet health insurance and wellness plans: $198–$313 and $422–$701, respectively.
The average annual cost of an accident and illness pet insurance policy was $386 for cats and $749 for dogs in 2024, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. That’s up 11% for dogs and 1% for cats since 2023, NAPHIA’s data indicates. Since 2020, average premiums rose 22% for dogs and more than 5% for cats.
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
Evelyn Pimplaskar is Insurify’s director of content. With 30-plus years in content creation – including 10 years specializing in personal finance – Evelyn’s done everything from covering volatile local elections as a beat reporter to building fintech content libraries from the ground up.
Before joining Insurify, she was editor-in-chief at Credible, where she launched and developed the lending marketplace’s media partnership’s content initiative and managed the restructuring of the editorial team to enhance content production efficiency. Formerly, as tax editor for Credit Karma, Evelyn built a library of more than 300 educational articles on federal and state taxes, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth in e-files from organic search.
Her early career included work as a content marketer, vice president and managing officer of a boutique public relations agency, chief copy editor for 14 weekly Forbes publications, reporting for large and mid-sized daily newspapers, and freelancing for the Associated Press.
Evelyn is passionate about creating personal finance content that distills complex topics into relatable, easy-to-understand stories. She believes great content helps empower readers with the information they need to make important personal finance decisions.
Edited byChris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
15+ years in content creation
7+ years in business and financial services content
Chris is a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more.
)
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
