A pet emergency can cost $8,000. For millions of Americans, that bill is now a ‘life and death’ decision

Having a sick pet is emotionally a lot to handle. But now with the skyrocketing costs of emergency vet care, it can mean Americans are looking at their bank accounts first before making important decisions about their pet’s care. It’s because many households haven’t or don’t have the capacity to financially plan for that moment. New 2026 data from Rover’s Cost of Dog Parenthood Report shared with Fortune found 38% of pet parents couldn’t cover an emergency vet visit without taking on debt—even though nearly nine in 10 said they’d felt financially prepared before bringing a pet home. Meanwhile, only 10% of pet parents have set aside any savings specifically for emergencies. “Younger owners think of their pets like family, but often have to delay vet care or defer their own personal financial responsibilities to service the costs of taking care of their pets,” Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, a veterinary medical advisor for Rover, told Fortune. A typical emergency visit, Rover found, starts around $300 and can run to $4,000 once diagnostics and an overnight stay get added in. These stats also don’t even take into account surgeries, which can cost $5,000 to $8,000 or more at some specialty centers, Greenstein said. Getty Images That’s the new reality for pet parents: Veterinary costs are climbing faster, leading to a quiet financial anxiety that leaves millions of people without the cushion to absorb a four-figure emergency. “It’s absolutely heart-wrenching when financial ability can literally make the difference between life and death,” Greenstein said. As of 2025, more than 75 million U.S. households owned a dog or cat, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Pet parents skipping needed veterinary care Other data backs up what Greenstein is describing. More than half of U.S. pet owners (52%) skipped needed veterinary care in the past year, according to a 2025 PetSmart Charities-Gallup State of Pet Care study of nearly 2,5