Editorial Standards

If you've ever wondered how a calculator like this arrives at a dollar figure, or what to do if you think one of ours is wrong, this page is for you. It also spells out exactly what we mean when we say our guides aren't insurance advice.

Where the numbers come from

Two sources feed everything you see here. The calculator's price ranges are our own model: we built it around 2026 US premium patterns by breed size, age, and coverage tier, and it stays labeled as our estimate rather than something borrowed from a third party. Separately, when we quote an industry statistic, such as NAPHIA's reported average accident-and-illness premium, the citation sits right next to the figure in the sentence itself, not tucked into a footnote nobody reads. No insurer, agent, or company we link to for a quote has ever paid for a better spot on this site or a friendlier writeup.

What "not insurance advice" means here

Jessica Martinez writes the guides on this site, and her background is in consumer finance and cost reporting, not insurance underwriting or veterinary medicine. This site never tells you which specific policy to buy, and it never tells you whether your dog needs a particular treatment. The first call belongs to a licensed agent reviewing your actual plan documents; the second belongs to a vet who has examined your dog in person. When a guide describes how claims, waiting periods, or exclusions generally work across the industry, it says plainly that it's describing a general pattern, and when we're genuinely unsure whether something holds true for every provider, the guide admits that uncertainty rather than smoothing it over.

Corrections

Think we got something wrong, whether it's a stale figure, a dead link, or a claim that doesn't hold up? Send it through our contact form and describe what you found. Jessica traces it back to the source material before touching the page. Once she's confirmed there's an error, the copy gets fixed and the page's revision date moves forward; for a change substantial enough to affect a premium range or a coverage claim, we add a short note on that page explaining what shifted and why, rather than quietly swapping the old number for a new one.

What we won't do

• Guarantee that a specific claim will be approved, or write a guide that functions as an advertisement for one insurer.
• Let a provider pay us to move up in a ranking or get described more favorably than a competitor.
• Attach a guide to an invented name or an unnamed "team." Head to the authors page if you want to know specifically who wrote and edited what you just read.