Adopt vs. Shop: How Does It Affect Pet Insurance?

Don't shop. Adopt.

The ultimate debate in the world of pets is the best way to acquire them. Should you purchase a dog or cat from a breeder, or should you adopt one from a local shelter or rescue?

I'm of the latter camp. With so many pets in need of good homes, adopting is always the way to go, in my opinion. Not to mention the dearth of responsible breeders out there; it can be tough to know if you're purchasing from someone who's in it for the right reasons.

But even if you take a purely practical outlook on the whole thing, purchasing a dog or cat from a store or breeder can be a lot more expensive than adopting -- and in more ways than the initial cost. Your pet's medical bills could also be much larger, starting with your pet insurance premiums.

Most policies don't ask about origins

All right, to be fair, how you acquired your pet typically won't directly impact your pet insurance costs. In general, pet insurance applications don't ask about the origins of your pet.

So, whether you adopted your pet or purchased them from a store or breeder isn't something your insurance company will know or care about.

However, there are other factors that usually vary between purchased versus adopted pets that could influence your insurance costs. The most important? The breed.

Purebreds can be more expensive to insure

One of the key variables that influence the cost of pet insurance is the breed of your animal. This is especially true when it comes to dogs, though cat breeds can also cause insurance costs to change.

Why? For one thing, it's generally accepted that mixed-breed pets tend to be healthier overall than purebred pets. This is often attributed to the greater genetic diversity in mixed-breed pets over their purebred counterparts.

Whether this is true or not is often debated. A major study from 2013 on the prevalence of inherited disorders in dogs did show that, for things like hip dysplasia and common heart problems, mixed-breed dogs and purebred dogs had similar susceptibility. However, the study also showed that at least 10 genetic disorders are more prevalent in purebred dogs.

And regardless of the public data available, most insurance companies will have their own internal data on which they base their pricing decisions. Since pet insurance companies typically charge less for mixed-breed pets, it's probably safe to say they have the data to back up their decisions.

Insure early for best results

If you have a dog or cat, you should probably also have pet insurance. Even if your pet has been perfectly healthy until now -- the sad fact is that they won't stay that way forever. And when the inevitable happens, your finances will appreciate your foresight.

Regardless of whether you buy or adopt, it's important to insure your pet as early as you can. The best pet insurance policies will come with lifelong guarantees; in other words, once you get pet insurance, the company won't drop your pet for age or illness. So long as you pay your premiums, your pet stays covered.