2026 breed risk report: The pets most likely to need emergency care in Orange County

From inherited health conditions to unexpected emergencies, every pet comes with risks that owners may not fully recognize. AVSG Internal Medicine Emergency & Critical Care and Veterinary Surgical Specialists of Orange County surveyed 337 California dog and cat owners to learn how well owners understand their pets' breed-related health risks.

Throughout this report, figures describe all 337 California respondents unless an Orange County comparison is stated. Where Orange County residents are called out separately, that subset is 151 respondents.

We also explored which emergencies are most common and how prepared families are when urgent veterinary care is needed. The results highlight both the region's unique emergency trends and the financial challenges many owners face when a pet needs advanced care.

Key takeaways

• Mixed-breed dogs are the California pets with the highest need for emergency care (76%).
• Over half of California pet owners (51%) can't name their pet's biggest breed-related health risk.
• Two of Los Angeles's five most popular dog breeds are flat-faced, and flat-faced dogs file breathing-problem claims at nearly 3 times the rate of other dogs.
• Flat-faced pets' emergencies require a specialist at 54%, well above the 33% for other pets.
• Severe allergic reactions accounted for more than 1 in 5 local dog ER visits (21%).
• 43% of owners have already delayed or skipped vet care because of cost, and 70% have no money set aside.
• Orange County owners are twice as likely as other Californians (22% vs. 11%) to believe popular breeds are healthier.
• 73% of mixed-breed pet owners have no emergency savings.

Half of California owners are guessing at their pet's risks

Local owners are split evenly between those who know their pet's vulnerabilities and those working from instinct.

About half of California owners (51%) couldn't confidently name their pet's biggest breed-related health risk; 16% were very confident, 34% somewhat, 29% not very, and 21% not at all. That includes owners of mixed-breed pets, who were less confident than owners of a specific breed (60% versus 47%). Gen Z struggled the most (60% not confident), while baby boomers came in at 31%.

Poodle owners (62%), mixed-breed cat owners (61%), who have no single breed profile to draw on, and Chihuahua owners (60%) topped the least-sure list. Mixed-breed cats here include Domestic Shorthairs and Domestic Longhairs, the standard terms for cats without a specific documented breed, alongside owners who described their cat as a mix. The route into ownership likely played a part, as 42% had adopted or inherited without choosing by breed, and just 14% had researched a breed's health risks first.

Most owners (88%) knew that flat-faced breeds face a higher risk of breathing problems. Beliefs blurred from there; 55% thought mixed breeds are healthier than specific breeds, and Orange County owners were twice as likely as other Californians to believe popular breeds are healthier (22% vs. 11%). Even so, OC owners were more confident overall than the rest of the state (44% not confident vs. 56% among other Californians). We also asked whether a breed's built-in health risks are mostly out of an owner's control, and 37% said they are. In practice they aren't. Weight management, breed-specific screening, and knowing which symptoms warrant an ER visit all change how a predisposition plays out.

The American Kennel Club's (AKC) 2025 registrations rank the French Bulldog, Golden Retriever, Dachshund, Bulldog, and Pomeranian as Los Angeles's five most popular dog breeds, the nearest metro ranking to Orange County.

Two of the top five are flat-faced, and Nationwide's analysis of more than 50,000 brachycephalic dogs found flat-faced dogs nearly three times as likely to file a breathing-problem claim, with Trupanion putting Pugs and French Bulldogs at eight to 10 times the average for brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) claims.

Chest shape matters more than size. The Merck Veterinary Manual lists Basset Hounds among the breeds most frequently affected by bloat, and published surgical guidance notes deep-chested small and medium breeds can develop it as well.

Golden owners should be aware that the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study has logged more than 1,700 confirmed cancer diagnoses among its 3,000-plus goldens. And on the cat side, Persians are among the breeds with a described heritable component for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Allergic reactions set Orange County dogs apart

Local pets often reached the ER, and one canine cause stood out from the usual suspects.

Over half of local owners (56%) said their pet has already needed an emergency or urgent-care visit. Stomach emergencies led at 39% of those trips, with injury or trauma at 26%, toxic ingestion at 16%, severe allergic reactions at 14%, and breathing trouble, foreign objects, and urinary blockages at 11% each.

Severe allergic reactions stood out for dogs, driving more than 1 in 5 of their ER trips (21%), while cats leaned toward urinary blockages (19%) and breathing trouble (17%). Per their owners, mixed-breed dogs led the emergency ranking at 76%, followed by Chihuahuas (60%) and mixed-breed cats (54%), and mixed-breed cats reached the ER more often than specific-breed cats overall (54% vs. 45%).

About 22% of owners admitted brushing off a symptom that later turned serious, including 1 in 4 baby boomers (25%). Millennial-owned pets had a 59% emergency rate, compared to 31% for baby boomers' pets. Dogs also outpaced cats (61% vs. 50%). Mixed-breed dog owners admitted it at 41%, nearly double the 20% among specific-breed dog owners.

Fleas and ticks top California's worry list, but Orange County's order differs

The hazard owners feared most was also the one they felt least equipped to catch.

Fleas and ticks worried 45% of owners, ahead of toxic foods (40%), extreme heat (34%), and wildlife encounters (21%). ASPCA Poison Control logged more than 376,000 reported exposures nationally in 2025, with food and drink second at 16%, supporting local worry about toxic foods at 40%. And the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reports a high occurrence of rattlesnake bites between April and October, and foxtails turn rigid and barbed as they dry through the same months.

Within Orange County, the order of hazard worries flipped, with toxic foods leading at 43% and fleas and ticks at 39%. Fleas and ticks also topped the list of hazards California owners felt least prepared for, at 13%. Within Orange County, fleas and ticks and extreme heat tied at 11%.

Recognition gaps ran deeper than hazard worry; 28% of owners weren't confident they could spot bloat early, 21% said the same for poisoning, and 20% for heatstroke. Half of owners (50%) knew exactly where they'd go in an after-hours emergency, 41% had a rough idea, and 9% wouldn't know.

The cost of care catches owners off guard

Owners understood that emergencies can require a specialist. Far fewer were ready to pay for one.

Among owners whose pet has been to the ER, just over a third (36%) said the visit required a specialist, in fields such as surgery, cardiology, oncology, neurology, or internal medicine. Flat-faced pets made that move at 54%, well above the 33% for other pets. Most owners (70%) already knew that a visit can involve several specialists, and while 26% believed specialty care is only for rare catastrophes, 44% disagreed. About 63% felt emotionally prepared, and 61% said rising costs had changed their pet budget.

The financial picture was weaker. Some 42% of owners couldn't cover a $1,000 pet emergency without going into debt, 70% had no money set aside for pet emergencies, and 72% had no pet insurance for this pet. Some owners had one but not the other, which leaves 57% with neither a cushion nor a policy.

Advanced cases require advanced care, and that carries higher costs. A hospital staffed around the clock with board-certified specialists is a different operation from a primary care practice, with different equipment, staffing, and overnight capability. Take one of the most common stomach emergencies. Surgery to clear an intestinal blockage in a dog averages $5,842 in California, one of the highest figures in the country and well above the $4,383 national average, according to CareCredit, drawing on a 2025 Synchrony procedural cost study. For cats, foreign body removal averages $3,159 in the state. Those are cost-research figures, not pricing at any Veritas hospital. That's why we asked owners how they would pay a bill in that range, and even the band we asked about sits below what the average California case runs.

Facing a sudden $3,000 to $5,000 bill for emergency or specialty care, 26% of pet owners said they would use credit. Others would turn to savings (23%) or insurance (15%), while 17% weren't sure they could cover it at all. Cost had already shaped care for 43% of owners, who had delayed, declined, or downgraded treatment. A PetSmart Charities-Gallup study also found that 52% skipped needed care in the past year, which puts the share here who delayed care in the national context.

Mixed-breed pets had the thinnest cushion: 73% of their owners held no emergency savings. Mixed-breed pets had the thinnest cushion: 73% of their owners held no emergency savings, and only 21% of those pets were insured, falling to 18% among mixed-breed cats. Income told the sharpest story (59% of owners earning under $25,000 couldn't cover $1,000, against 15% at $100,000 or more), and 75% of baby boomers had neither insurance nor savings.

Orange County residents were steadier than the rest of the state: only 35% reported they were unable to cover $1,000, versus 47% elsewhere, and only 34% had delayed care, versus 49%. The ASPCA reported this year that roughly 60% of U.S. pet owners lack confidence in affording a pet medical emergency.

Preparation beats surprise

Orange County pet owners are more financially prepared than many Californians, but the data shows there's still room to close important knowledge and planning gaps. Learning your pet's breed-specific health risks, taking early symptoms seriously, and having an after-hours emergency plan can improve outcomes when the unexpected happens. Pairing that preparation with pet insurance or emergency savings can make it easier to focus on your pet's health when every minute counts.

Methodology

To explore how well pet owners understand their pets' breed-related health risks and how prepared they are for veterinary emergencies, we surveyed 337 California dog and cat owners via online survey panels from June 22 to July 14, 2026. Of these, 151 respondents (45%) lived in Orange County, and the remainder lived elsewhere in the state. These regions reflect the markets served by AVSG Internal Medicine Emergency & Critical Care and Veterinary Surgical Specialists of Orange County.

Respondents who owned more than one pet were asked to answer about the single pet they would be most worried about in a medical emergency. Among respondents, 55% answered about a dog and 45% about a cat; 59% were women, 41% were men, and 1% were non-binary. All respondents were adults ages 18 and older. By generation, 20% were Gen Z (ages 18 to 29), 48% were millennials (ages 30 to 45), 27% were Gen X (ages 46 to 61), and 5% were baby boomers (ages 62 and older).

Questions about the causes of emergency visits and the escalation to specialty care were asked only of the 190 respondents whose pet had experienced an emergency or urgent-care visit. Percentages for multi-select questions are based on all respondents shown the question and may total more than 100. All figures are rounded to the nearest whole percentage, so some totals may not equal 100.

This report also draws on published U.S. data. Breed commonality reflects American Kennel Club 2025 registration statistics for Los Angeles, the nearest metro ranking to Orange County. Breed predisposition figures come from Nationwide's analysis of more than 50,000 brachycephalic dogs; Trupanion claims data; Morris Animal Foundation's Golden Retriever Lifetime Study, an ongoing cohort of more than 3,000 dogs; the Merck Veterinary Manual; the American College of Veterinary Surgeons; the Dog Aging Project's analysis of 47,444 dogs; and published research on feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy genetics. Seasonal and toxin figures come from ASPCA Poison Control's 2025 exposure data.

Emergency surgery costs come from CareCredit's published California averages, based on a 2025 Synchrony Average Procedural Cost Study conducted by ASQ360° Market Research, and are not pricing at Veritas hospitals.

Breed categories reflect what owners reported. "Specific-breed" means the owner identified a single breed rather than a mix; it does not imply registry documentation.

Affordability comparisons come from a 2026 ASPCA survey and the PetSmart Charities-Gallup State of Pet Care study. Predisposition data describes population-level risk, not a diagnosis or prediction for any individual pet. Rattlesnake season timing comes from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

About AVSG Internal Medicine Emergency & Critical Care and Veterinary Surgical Specialists of Orange County

AVSG Internal Medicine Emergency & Critical Care and Veterinary Surgical Specialists of Orange County provide emergency and specialty veterinary care for Orange County pets. Our board-certified specialists handle the surgical, internal medicine, and critical cases that go beyond what a primary care vet can treat. If you're ever facing a pet emergency, we're here for you.

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