Data sources and methodology
Where every number on Pet Insurance Cost Guide comes from: the federal datasets, the state-level rule citations, and how each one was checked - with a link to the original source.
Every figure on Pet Insurance Cost Guide traces back to a primary source: 2 federal and national datasets are used across Canada, each named below with the agency that publishes it.
The state-by-state rule layer across Canada cites 21 official statutes or regulator pages, each one opened and verified on 2026-08-13.
Corrections are applied across Canada, usually within 7 days of verification, and every source link on this page is re-checked whenever the pages are rebuilt.
How a number gets onto this site
Every published figure starts at a primary source - a federal dataset, a state statute or regulator page, or a published industry survey. We record which agency publishes it, the vintage of the data, and the exact page the number came from, then link to that page below so you can check it yourself. We do not copy figures from other comparison sites, and no partner sees or approves a figure before it is published.
Federal and national datasets
These are the datasets behind the pet insurance figures on this site. Dataset names link straight to the publisher's own page - 2 of 2 resolved to a live official page when last checked.
| Dataset | Published by | Vintage | What it supports on this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| State of the Industry Report 2026 (Canadian section, CAD) - average annual accident & illness premium, accident-only premium, insured-pet counts and penetration rate | North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) - industry association covering ~99% of Canadian and U.S. written premium; not a government source | 2026 report, 2025 data year | The CA$1,176/yr dog and CA$601/yr cat averages (and the ~$98 / ~$50 monthly equivalents), the accident-only CA$251 / CA$212 figures, the 3.72% penetration rate and the per-province share of insured pets (data/petins_ca_national_research.json, data/guide_specs/pet_insurance_ca.json). |
| GeoNames cities1000 gazetteer, Canada extract (name, province code, latitude, longitude, population) | GeoNames - public-domain community gazetteer; not a government source | Every Canadian town page's population, the 40 km community counts, distances and neighbour lists, and the province-level town rankings (data/world_places.json, data/pop_by_slug.json). |
State-by-state rule citations
Per-province agent verification against provincial government pages and the statutory insurance regulator of each province/territory, merged by scripts/merge_petins_ca_facts.py; nothing invented, unsourced values left null (file header, data/petins_ca_state_facts.json). No _parts_meta was recorded for this file, so the header date is the verification date. All 21 citations below were verified on 2026-08-13; a row is only published once its official page has been opened and confirmed to load.
| Province or territory | What the rule governs | Statute or regulator page |
|---|---|---|
| AB | insurance regulator / complaints - Office of the Alberta Superintendent of Insurance (Treasury Board and Finance) | alberta.ca |
| AB | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | alberta.ca |
| BC | insurance regulator / complaints - British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) | bcfsa.ca |
| BC | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | www2.gov.bc.ca |
| MB | insurance regulator / complaints - Financial Institutions Regulation Branch, Manitoba Finance | mbfinancialinstitutions.ca |
| MB | premium tax on insurance - 7% consumer tax added to premiums | gov.mb.ca |
| NB | insurance regulator / complaints - Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick (FCNB) | fcnb.ca |
| NL | insurance regulator / complaints - Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Digital Government and Service NL | gov.nl.ca |
| NL | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | gov.nl.ca |
| NS | insurance regulator / complaints - Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Nova Scotia Department of Finance and Treasury Board | novascotia.ca |
| NS | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | beta.novascotia.ca |
| NT | insurance regulator / complaints - Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Department of Finance, Government of the Northwest Territories | fin.gov.nt.ca |
| NT | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | fin.gov.nt.ca |
| ON | insurance regulator / complaints - Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) | fsrao.ca |
| ON | premium tax on insurance - 8% consumer tax added to premiums | ontario.ca |
| PE | insurance regulator / complaints - Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Financial and Consumer Services Division, PEI Department of Justice and Public Safety | princeedwardisland.ca |
| PE | premium tax on insurance - none charged to the buyer | princeedwardisland.ca |
| QC | insurance regulator / complaints - Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) | lautorite.qc.ca |
| QC | premium tax on insurance - 9% consumer tax added to premiums | revenuquebec.ca |
| SK | insurance regulator / complaints - Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) | fcaa.gov.sk.ca |
| SK | premium tax on insurance - 6% consumer tax added to premiums | sets.saskatchewan.ca |
What this data cannot tell you
Canadian premium and penetration figures come from an industry association (NAPHIA), not from Statistics Canada - there is no StatCan or federal dataset behind this site, and no federal regulator either: pet insurance is regulated province by province, so every regulatory and tax fact below is a provincial government or statutory regulator page, verified per province on 2026-08-13. Averages are national industry averages in CAD; your quote depends on species, breed, age and the plan's deductible, reimbursement rate and annual cap, not on your town. Town population and distance figures come from the public-domain GeoNames gazetteer, and this site never publishes summed populations because that gazetteer lists city neighbourhoods as separate entries. Not an insurer and not advice.
Corrections
If a citation is out of date or a link has moved, email contact@petinsurancecostguide.com with the page address and the source you believe is correct. Verified corrections are applied to every affected page, and the page's 'Updated' date changes with them.