Cat insurance remains a smaller market than dog insurance, but coverage for cats has expanded steadily. In the United States, insured cats grew 23.5% from 2023 to 2024, and cats represented 23.5% of all insured pets in 2024. The same year, the average annual U.S. premium was $386.47 for accident-and-illness coverage and $110.03 for accident-only coverage. These figures sit alongside a large cat-owning population and rising veterinary costs.
Contents
- Cat ownership and veterinary spending
- U.S. insured-cat growth
- Cat and dog shares of insured pets
- Average U.S. cat insurance premiums
- Canadian cat insurance statistics
- How cat owners spend and care for pets
Cat ownership and veterinary spending
The American Veterinary Medical Association’s U.S. pet ownership statistics report 42.2 million U.S. households owning cats in 2024. Cats were present in 32.1% of U.S. households, and the U.S. cat population reached 73.8 million. The average cat-owning household had 1.8 cats.
Those figures provide the population context for cat insurance. A household may insure one cat, several cats, or none, so the number of cat-owning households is not the same as the number of insured cats. Still, the size of the ownership base shows why even a relatively modest insurance penetration can represent a substantial market.
The AVMA also reported average spending of $433 per cat-owning household on veterinary care in 2024. This is a household average, not a premium and not a per-cat medical bill. It is useful as a broad measure of routine and unexpected veterinary-care exposure, while insurance premiums measure the cost of purchasing coverage.
APPA’s 2025 Dog & Cat Report gave a different ownership estimate: cat ownership rose to 49 million U.S. households in 2024, with ownership rising 23% in that report’s measure. The two household totals should not be combined or treated as interchangeable. They come from different industry reports and measurement frameworks. The APPA estimate is also the source for the reported 23% increase.
U.S. insured-cat growth
The NAPHIA State of the Industry Report 2025 recorded 6,405,541 insured pets in the United States in 2024. Total U.S. insured pets grew 12.7% from 2023 to 2024. The report also recorded annual growth of 17.2% from 2022 to 2023, 22.1% from 2021 to 2022, and 28.0% from 2020 to 2021.
Cat-specific growth was faster than the overall insured-pet market in each of those reported year-over-year comparisons:
| Period | Growth in U.S. insured cats | Growth in all U.S. insured pets |
|---|---|---|
| 2020–2021 | 36.7% | 28.0% |
| 2021–2022 | 32.9% | 22.1% |
| 2022–2023 | 26.3% | 17.2% |
| 2023–2024 | 23.5% | 12.7% |
The pattern is clear without requiring an estimate of the underlying cat count: growth rates declined across the four comparisons, yet insured cats still grew faster than insured pets overall in every listed period. The figures describe year-over-year changes reported by NAPHIA; they do not establish why the changes occurred.
NAPHIA also reported that insured cats represented 18.3% of insured pets in 2021, 19.9% in 2022, 21.4% in 2023, and 23.5% in 2024. In 2020, cats accounted for 17.1%. The report separately described the 2024 U.S. insured-cat share as showing a 23.5% year-over-year share change versus 2023. That share-change figure is retained as reported and should not be read as a new count of cats.
Cat and dog shares of insured pets
In 2024, cats accounted for 23.5% of insured pets in the United States, while dogs accounted for 75.6%, according to the NAPHIA State of the Industry Report 2025. These category shares do not need to total 100% when the published report includes other pet categories or rounding.
The five-year share history shows cats taking a larger portion of the insured-pet mix:
- Cats: 17.1% in 2020, 18.3% in 2021, 19.9% in 2022, 21.4% in 2023, and 23.5% in 2024.
- Dogs: 75.6% in 2024.
This is a market-share description, not a statement that nearly one-quarter of U.S. cats had insurance. The denominator is insured pets, while the AVMA’s ownership figures describe households and the total cat population. Those measurements answer different questions and should remain separate when evaluating coverage.
Average U.S. cat insurance premiums
NAPHIA reported three U.S. cat premium categories for 2020 through 2024: policies with embedded wellness, accident-and-illness coverage, and accident-only coverage. The categories are not interchangeable. Embedded wellness includes a wellness component, while accident-and-illness and accident-only describe different coverage scopes.
| U.S. cat premium type | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded wellness | $542.52 | $559.08 | $613.67 | $625.99 | $651.30 |
| Accident and illness | $366.69 | $369.57 | $387.01 | $382.92 | $386.47 |
| Accident only | $121.38 | $121.03 | $122.19 | $116.11 | $110.03 |
The 2024 average annual premium was therefore $651.30 per U.S. cat for coverage with embedded wellness, $386.47 for accident-and-illness coverage, and $110.03 for accident-only coverage. These are averages reported by NAPHIA, not quotes for a particular cat. Actual prices can differ by policy design and other underwriting factors, but those factors are not quantified in the supplied report facts.
The time series shows different movement by category. The embedded-wellness average rose from $542.52 in 2020 to $651.30 in 2024. Accident-and-illness premiums moved from $366.69 in 2020 to $386.47 in 2024, with a reported 2022 value of $387.01 and 2023 value of $382.92. Accident-only premiums moved from $121.38 in 2020 to $110.03 in 2024 and were reported at $116.11 in 2023.
These premium averages help separate the price of broader coverage from the price of accident-only protection. They do not measure claims paid, reimbursement rates, deductibles, exclusions, or the total cost of veterinary treatment.
Canadian cat insurance statistics
Canada provides a second national comparison in the NAPHIA report. Total Canadian insured pets reached 619,303 in 2024. Canadian insured pets grew 7.2% from 2023 to 2024, following growth of 13.6% from 2022 to 2023, 17.6% from 2021 to 2022, and 22.7% from 2020 to 2021.
Cats made up 23.3% of insured pets in Canada in 2024, while dogs made up 74.7%. Canadian cat insurance units grew 10.7% from 2023 to 2024, after growth of 20.6% from 2022 to 2023, 20.8% from 2021 to 2022, and 11.1% from 2020 to 2021.
| 2024 Canadian cat premium type | Average annual premium |
|---|---|
| Embedded wellness | $1,229.70 |
| Accident and illness | $550.35 |
| Accident only | $221.63 |
The Canadian 2024 averages were higher than the corresponding U.S. averages in all three categories reported by NAPHIA. The comparison is descriptive only: the figures are country-level averages in their respective reports, and the supplied facts do not explain the difference.
How cat owners spend and care for pets
Insurance sits within a broader pattern of spending and involvement in cat care. The APPA 2024 Dog and Cat Owner Insight Report found that 32% of cat owners gave their cats vitamins or supplements in 2024. It also reported that 46% trained their cats, 31% owned leashes, and 23% owned harnesses.
Travel was common among the owners covered by that APPA report. Ninety percent of cat owners traveled with pets in the car in the past year, while 80% traveled with pets by plane. Thirty percent took cats on three or more car trips, and 22% took cats on three or more plane trips. APPA also reported that 36% tailored travel plans to their pets.
The APPA 2024 Dog and Cat Owner Insight Report recorded 32% of cat owners purchasing birthday gifts for their pets and 20% hosting holiday or birthday parties. The APPA 2025 Dog & Cat Report recorded 34% purchasing pet-themed merchandise, 34% giving cats vitamins or supplements, 38% purchasing premium food, and 19% purchasing mixers or toppers in 2024.
The two APPA reports contain overlapping measures with different reported percentages. For example, vitamins or supplements were reported at 32% in the 2024 Insight Report and 34% in the 2025 Dog & Cat Report. Both figures are retained with their source labels rather than merged. The same report-specific approach applies to training: the 2024 Insight Report reported 46% of cat owners training their cats, while the 2025 Dog & Cat Report reported 48% using some type of training method in 2024.
APPA’s The Year of the Cat Has Arrived report described a shift in household composition between 2018 and 2024. Single-cat households fell from 64% to 58%. Households with two cats increased 8%, and households with three or more cats increased 36%. These are changes reported for the 2018-to-2024 period, not annual growth rates.
Together, the ownership, insurance, premium, and care figures describe a market in which cats are common household companions, insurance enrollment has grown, and owners report substantial involvement in health, travel, food, training, and celebrations. Each statistic still needs to be read within its own geography, year, denominator, and source category.