Yes, vet prices have surged higher in the UK recently because they want to make more money. It is as simple as that. And they want to make more dosh because the unprofitable, independent vets owned by a partnership of veterinarians have been bought up by big business and big business always has an eye on the profit margin and not so much on the quality of the treatment.
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| Fictional MRI scan for a dog at a vet clinic. |
Having said all that there is a big obstacle in the UK to citizens' perception of medical treatments: the National Health Service (NHS) which is free at the point of delivery.
It is not actually free but paid for out of taxpayer revenue - over £100 billion annually - but it feels like it is free to the citizens who rely on it for the health needs.
In the UK, health care for humans can be free unless the person can afford and selects private health care while health care for pets is never free but sometimes damnably expensive.
Pet health care is as expensive or more expensive than private human health care sometimes in the UK. But let's say that they are on a par, it is still a lot of money when paying for vet services and products.
And it all goes back to perception. Private pet health care as it always is in the UK seems beyond the means of many because they are used to walking into A&E at a local hospital or a walk-in unit for minor injuries and being seen to free of charge.
I am not condoning some of the rip-off vet prices but I think Brits need to put things in perspective. Health care for pets is an important and expensive business with ever more sophisticated diagnostic and treatment machinery. They are expensive.
The third factor is that more pet owners take out pet health insurance which pushes up the quality and price of treatments. It is a virtuous or unhelpful circle which ends up making veterinary care too expensive for many which in turn results in many pets not receiving the care they need and deserve.
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