When 10-year-old Hannah, a German Shepherd Dog, was diagnosed with a serious infection, her owner, Kathy Cook of Brownsville, Wis., had to make a difficult decision. Should she proceed with surgery or end Hannahs suffering? There was also an economic factor: The surgery would cost $1,000.

It wasn't any one thing, but everything combined that led me to the decision to euthanize her, Cook says. She was old, she was in pain, the surgery was expensive, and the doctor couldn't guarantee the surgery would help. Prolonging her life, knowing it might be a poor quality of life, didn't seem the right choice.

While she says her decision would have been the same, Cook got pet health insurance with her next dog Toby, a Dachshund. I didn't want money to be a factor in making healthcare choices for my dog, she says.

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