SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Each day brings different challenges at the San Carlos Animal Hospital, where pets arrive for various reasons ranging from routine care to emergencies.
"We see everything from general maintenance to emergencies that come in, rattlesnake bites, hit by cars, sometimes boats, cases like that," said Ron Westberg, practice manager for the hospital.
What remains consistent is that pet owners are responsible for payment of services, which can add up quickly.
"On average ballpark figure, you're probably looking at exams anywhere from $70 to $100 non specialty of course," Westberg said.
Dental work can be significantly more expensive.
"You could look at $1,200 to $2,500 for dental work," Westberg said.
Even routine vaccines carry costs.
"Vaccines depending on what you're getting anywhere from $25 to $75 per vaccine," Westberg said.
Pet owners can get financial coverage by purchasing pet insurance. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, 6.4 million pets were covered under pet insurance in the U.S. in 2025. On average, the monthly cost of pet insurance for dogs is $52. For cats, it's $28.
Westberg says pet owners need to do their homework and read the fine print before purchasing a policy because not everything is covered. Some policies only cover preventative care while others only cover emergency care, and often there are exclusions.
"Certain companies will have breed exclusions so if your particular breed has a known genetic flaw somewhere they may not cover it," Westberg said.
Laurie Mariano experienced this firsthand when she purchased pet insurance for her German Shepherd.
"She was pretty healthy. Our pet insurance did not cover preventative or normal routine things, only out of the normal type of things, kind of accidental things or strange occurrences or illness," Mariano said.
As her dog got older, they ended up dropping their coverage because the premium kept increasing.
"She was 13 and her premiums were almost $1,000 a month. And we thought we just couldn't afford it. And that was around the time we needed some extra care for her. And we didn't have it in the end. It wasn't as helpful as we had hoped it would be maybe it was the pet insurance we had," Mariano said.
While many vets don't offer payment plans, Westberg says pet owners can look into certain credit cards that can specifically be used for pets.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
