A study published in Veterinary Record has found that lower-income UK pet owners are less likely to have insurance, with cost being the main reason given for not taking out cover1.

The study, led by Svenja Springer from the Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, used an online questionnaire in March 2022 to investigate dog and cat owners in Austria, Denmark and the UK, with a final sample of 2,117 owners.

The survey found that differences in insurance uptake across income groups were seen only in the UK, where 65.6% of owners in the high-income group (more than £44,800 a year) had insurance compared with only 35.1% in the low-income group (less than £22,400 a year).

Overall, 51.5% of UK households in the sample had insurance and 48.5% did not.

Among owners without insurance, UK respondents were much more likely to say policies were too expensive (48.9%) compared with 28.1% in Denmark and 29.9% in Austria.

However, when it comes to how much owners are prepared to spend on veterinary treatment, the paper concludes that emotional attachment to a pet was the most important factor, over and above income or insurance status.

Nevertheless, only around 20% of UK dog owners said they would spend over £3000 of their own money — that is, over and above any insured sum — on treatment.

Some 24.8% of the owners of uninsured dogs and 34.7% of the owners of insured dogs said they would spend £101 to £1000 of their own money.

Around 11% said they would spend £1001 - £3000 and 19.8% of insured vs 27.1% of uninsured said they didn't know.

Reference

  1. Springer S, Lund TB, Sandøe P, Corr SA. Investigating dog and cat owners’ uptake of pet health insurance and spending on veterinary treatment. Vet Rec. 2026;e1–e16. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.70621