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Average Cost of Common Pet Insurance Claims
With no NHS for our pets, dog and cat owners are responsible for footing the bill when their beloved pet needs to visit the vet. But how much are typical vet fees? It varies widely depending on the illness or injury from which your pet is suffering.
Vet bills can be especially problematic if you struggle with household debt. Understanding how much you'd need to pay in vet bills if your dog or cat falls ill or is injured can help you decide if pet insurance is worth the cost to you. With that in mind, we analysed data from Animal Friends, Argos Pet Insurance and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) on common health claims.
Average Costs of Pet Illness and Injury Claims
According to the latest data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the average pet insurance claim has risen to £685. The ABI notes this figure reflects a wide range of claims, with insurers processing a record 1.8 million claims across the year—an average of 4,900 claims every single day.
While claims vary from situation to situation, it's important to understand how much vet treatment can cost—especially if you're deciding whether or not to self insure, or how much vet cover to buy. To help with this, NimbleFins analysed data from the ABI and Animal Friends to calculate average treatment costs for common pet injuries and illnesses.
The most expensive-to-treat pet illnesses were related to knee and back issues, with a cruciate rupture costing around £2,800 on average for a medium size dog and £3,500 for a giant dog. Patella luxation in the knee costs an average of £2,000 - £4,000.
More minor, but still common, issues like ear infections or stomach problems can still cost a pet owner in the range of £700 to £1,000 to treat. Even a grass seed in a paw can cost many hundreds of pounds.
| Condition | Estimated Potential Cost |
|---|---|
| Accidental injury | £635 |
| Allergies | £997 |
| Atopy | £1,040 |
| Cherry Eye | £1,660 |
| Cruciate ligament damage | £3,142 |
| Diabetes | £1,553 |
| Entropion | £1,686 |
| Eye Ulcer | £1,008 |
| Foreign Body | £1,321 |
| Gastroenteritis | £1,168 |
| Heart Disease | £1,024 |
| Heart Murmur | £934 |
| Hip Dysplasia | £1,669 |
| Lameness | £1,365 |
| Mitral Valve Disease | £1,125 |
| Osteoarthritis | £945 |
| Otitis | £710 |
| Patella luxation | £2,960 |
| Seizures | £1,001 |
| Skin Disease | £906 |
| Swelling | £1,435 |
| Teeth/Dental | £686 |
| Toxic Ingestion | £618 |
| Tumour | £1,181 |
| Urinary Tract Infection | £704 |
| Vomiting and Diarrhoea | £996 |
| Wound | £791 |
Serious conditions can cost a significant amount to treat due to the cost of cutting-edge diagnostic imagery and complex surgery. For example, the ABI recently reported that treating elbow dysplasia—the most common cause of forelimb lameness in young, large, and giant breed dogs—can cost over £50,000. Even an emergency trip to the vet because a pet ate something poisonous (like chocolate or raisins) or swallowed a small household item costs around £4,000 on average to resolve. And the average cost of a dog MRI is around £3,000 in 2026.
Is Pet Insurance Worth the Cost?
We found that basic accident and illness pet insurance starts from around £125 a year for both dogs and cats. With the ABI reporting that the average pet insurance claim now sits at £685, a typical single claim is often significantly higher than the average annual cost of a policy. Furthermore, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting a 9.1% inflation rate for vets and other pet services recently, these out-of-pocket costs are only climbing.
As Jonathan Purvis, Senior Policy Adviser at the ABI, recently stated: “You can't pull a rabbit out the hat when it comes to paying for veterinary bills, so it's promising to see more people making sensible choices to protect themselves and their pets financially. Insurance provides peace of mind that costs will be covered if your pet is ill or injured.”
Given this, the typical pet owner would be better off financially buying pet insurance (vs. self funding) if they end up making a typical claim every few years or so. While it's impossible to predict if and when your pet will need vet treatment in the future, pet insurance can certainly help mitigate the financial shock if they do end up needing treatment.
Note: these estimated prices were gathered from a range of sources including Animal Friends and the ABI. For this reason, you may see multiple prices listed for similar conditions. Prices may vary significantly from those shown here. The information here is meant to communicate the potential scale of vet treatment costs.