Like human health insurance, pet insurance covers the cost of medical care. Pet insurance is designed to cover unexpected costs, so it may not pay for routine care or conditions your pet had before you bought the policy.

There are three main types of pet insurance plans:

Accident and illness: The most common type of pet insurance, these plans cover treatment for illnesses and accidental injuries.

Accident-only: These plans tend to be more affordable. They’ll pay if your pet swallows a toy or is hit by a car, but not for any illnesses such as diabetes or arthritis.

Wellness or preventive care: This type of coverage is usually an add-on to one of the policies above. It’ll pay for well visits, vaccines and other routine care.

The average cost of an accident and illness policy in the U.S. is $640 per year for dogs and $387 for cats, according to 2022 data from the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. That translates to about $53 a month for dogs and $32 a month for cats.

For an accident-only policy, the average cost is $201 per year for dogs (about $17 per month) and $122 per year for cats (about $10 per month).