How Much is Your Pet's Health Worth?

All pet owners hate to think about it, but when the family pet gets sick, money matters. New results of the AP-Petside.com poll reveal just how much.All pet owners hate to think about it, but when the family pet gets sick, money matters.

For Nancy Gates, whose dog, Arabella needed a $500 heart surgery, the only option was to put her dog down.

"It was pretty straight forward because I had four young children to feed. The vet said surgery was my only option. I did not want my dog to suffer," said Gates, 41, who lives in Cotati, about 50 miles north of San Francisco.

Money is something to consider for the majority of pet owners dealing with animal health care, according to a new AP-Petside poll.

Most pet owners, 62%, say they would be likely to get vet treatment if the bill exceeded $500. But for a bill of $1,000, that figure drops to 42%. If the cost is $2,000, 35% would pay, and if the cost reaches $5,000, 22% would foot the bill.

Surprisingly, people earning below $50K answered about the same way as those earning $50K and up.

But even with examples like Nancy and Arabela, only 20% of pet owners say they worry a lot about being unable to afford the vet. Dog owners, women and low-income pet parents are among the biggest worriers. However, 95% of pet owners lack pet insurance.

When asked if they thought pet insurance was a good way to save money on vet bills, 27% did say it was a good idea: That's five times the number of people who actually have it.