Veterinary Costs for Senior Pets in Japan: How Much to Budget

Last updated: August 12, 2026

Once a pet turns 7 or 8, a lot of owners start thinking harder about veterinary costs. If you're looking into the financial side as a starting point for broader end-of-life planning, here we've pulled together real lifetime and annual cost figures, concrete examples of senior-year expenses, and how preparing with and without insurance compares.

Annual spending, by the numbers

Per a survey Anicom Sonpo runs among its policyholders, total annual spending has moved as follows:

Anicom Sonpo's most recent figures, released March 2026 for full-year 2025, show ¥413,416 for dogs and ¥195,427 for cats. Treatment costs specifically stood out: ¥89,120 for dogs (up 110.9% year-over-year) and ¥47,130 for cats (up 145.2% year-over-year). Cat treatment costs alone rose more than 40% in just one year.

A Pet Food Association survey shows the same upward trend on the food side: monthly spending for dogs rose from ¥14,814 in 2021 to ¥18,041 in 2025, while lifetime cost for cats rose from ¥1,498,728 in 2023 to ¥1,796,075 in 2025. Both food costs and treatment costs have been drifting steadily upward in recent years.

A 2024 spending breakdown from Anicom Sonpo shows dogs spending ¥80,371 on treatment, ¥82,747 on food, ¥15,281 on supplements, ¥52,353 on grooming and similar, ¥46,354 on insurance premiums, ¥35,280 on vaccines and preventive care, ¥24,384 on transport, and an additional ¥21,125 on utilities. For cats, it was ¥32,458 on treatment, ¥61,283 on food, ¥29,791 on insurance premiums, and ¥13,977 on vaccines and preventive care. Treatment is only part of total spending, but as the next section shows, it takes up a growing share as pets age.

Where costs jump in the senior years

Veterinary costs rise with age

Per Anicom Sonpo's 2025 Household Pet White Paper (based on 801,127 insured dogs and 269,938 insured cats), annual veterinary costs climb steadily with age.

By median, pets 10 and older cost roughly 4.5x more than ages 0–4 for dogs, and roughly 3x more for cats. Among conditions common in pets 10 and older, valve disease in dogs averaged ¥156,244 (median ¥101,981), gallbladder sludge in dogs averaged ¥104,598 (median ¥63,118), diabetes in cats averaged ¥185,402 (median ¥141,883), and hyperthyroidism in cats averaged ¥109,981 (median ¥84,226). These are all real figures from Anicom Sonpo's own policyholders, and may not reflect typical costs for uninsured pets or the wider population.

Surgery and hospitalization: tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen

A Japan Veterinary Medical Association survey of 1,096 clinics nationwide (fiscal 2021, figures are medians) found hospitalization running ¥2,500–¥6,250 per day, a fracture surgery (excluding anesthesia) at ¥62,500, and spay/neuter procedures at ¥12,500–¥27,500. These are medians among clinics that offer the given procedure and reported a figure, so actual costs at any individual clinic can vary.

Insurers have also published real payout examples: a fracture surgery and hospitalization that totaled ¥308,700 (Chihuahua, age 0), a pyometra surgery and hospitalization that totaled ¥137,000 (mixed-breed dog, age 7), and a herniated disc surgery and hospitalization, including an MRI, that totaled ¥337,650 (Miniature Dachshund, age 3). Depending on severity, costs can run even higher — one complex fracture case involving hospitalization, surgery, and follow-up visits totaled ¥401,900 (Scottish Fold), and one acute pancreatitis case involving hospitalization, treatment, and follow-up visits totaled ¥149,100 (Toy Poodle).

End-of-life costs, and cremation

Costs you may not have planned for can appear near the end of a pet's life. Oxygen therapy rental, for instance — used when breathing becomes labored — typically runs several tens of thousands of yen per month at most providers, once you combine the base fee and daily or monthly rate. We compare 10 providers on our oxygen room rental cost guide.

And after your pet passes, there's the cost of cremation. Prices vary widely by provider and municipality, so we haven't included figures here — a full comparison is on our pet cremation cost guide.

Insurance as one way to prepare

The figures above are averages. In practice, years where nothing happens sit alongside years where a single surgery costs several hundred thousand yen. Insurance converts that swing into a fixed annual premium. It doesn't necessarily lower what you pay in total — you pay in the years you don't use it, and in exchange the expensive years hit less hard. Framing it that way makes the decision easier.

Two things are worth knowing about how it works. First, there's an age limit at enrollment. This varies enormously by company — some cap enrollment under 7, while others have no upper limit at all (our pet insurance age limits page sets out the conditions). Second, insurance generally only covers conditions that develop after enrollment. If a pre-existing condition is disclosed at enrollment, the policy may come with a rider excluding that specific condition from coverage.

Neither route is the correct one. If your household can absorb a large bill out of savings, preparing without insurance is a legitimate choice. We don't recommend any company or plan here. Read the figures above alongside the self-funding approach below, and pick whichever fits your situation.

Preparing without insurance

If you're not using insurance, or your pet has aged past the point of new enrollment, we found no single answer for how much to save instead. Here's an alternative: a way to estimate a monthly figure for your own pet, based on published average costs by age.

For example, a Pet Food Association survey put average annual veterinary cost for dogs 13 and older at ¥108,823 (versus ¥58,255 at age 0). Divided over 12 months, that works out to roughly ¥9,000 a month in an average year. For cats 16 and older, average annual veterinary cost was ¥114,857 (versus ¥28,500 at age 0) — roughly ¥9,600 a month.

These are averages. As shown above, a year with surgery or hospitalization can run into the hundreds of thousands of yen, while other years may bring no major cost at all. Use your own pet's size and any existing conditions to judge how wide a range to plan for. One approach is setting aside a fixed amount each month into a dedicated account, kept separate from food and everyday supplies, so any leftover balance stays visible and it's easier to track how much you've actually saved.

Searching for a Japanese "pet kyōsai" (mutual aid) option, we found no legally regulated mutual-aid scheme comparable to Kokumin Kyōsai or JA Kyōsai. One NPO operates something it calls a "pet kyōsai," though its page doesn't list a supervising authority or governing law. A consumer co-op's "pet insurance" turned out to actually be a reselling arrangement for an Anicom Sonpo policy. We found no dedicated pet savings product either — the only comparable option we located was a bank medical loan (from 3.0% annual interest). As things stand, there's no established alternative to insurance.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Pet Food Association, National Dog and Cat Ownership Survey, FY2025 (dogs): PDF, (cats): PDF (in Japanese)
• Anicom Sonpo, "Household Pet White Paper 2025": Part 1 PDF, Part 2 PDF (in Japanese)
• Anicom Sonpo press release (March 11, 2026, full-year 2025 results): anicom-sompo.co.jp (in Japanese)
• Japan Veterinary Medical Association, "Survey of Veterinary Fees for Household Pets (Dogs and Cats)," published September 2023: PDF (in Japanese)
• Dai-ichi Ipet Sonpo, "Reference Treatment Costs for Common Insurance Claims": ipet-ins.com (in Japanese)
• au Sonpo treatment cost examples (via i-Hoken): i-hoken.info (in Japanese)
• Pet insurance comparison site, explainer on "pet kyōsai": pet-hoken-hikaku.jp (in Japanese)
• Nihon Pet Kyōsai (NPO): petlife.or.jp (in Japanese)
• Seikatsu Club Kyōsai Consumer Co-op Federation, "Pet Insurance" (states it is a reselling arrangement): seikatsuclub-kyosai.coop (in Japanese)
• Suruga Bank, "Animal Medical Loan": surugabank.co.jp (in Japanese)

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