07/05/2025
Understandably, veterinary fees can be a concern for many pet owners. They differ between practices, as businesses have various pricing structures with the aim to cover wages, bills, tax and other overheads (as well as making some profit).
In the UK, broadly, we have Independent practices or groups, joint venture partnerships and corporates. There are also some charities and not for profit organizations too. Some out of hours care will be transferred to a different overnight emergency hospital. Sometimes your pet may require referral to a specialist veterinary center.
You have autonomy over where you register, you are allowed to move practice. The CMA did note that in some areas, the distribution of corporate practices did reduce people's choice, so that may be a consideration when you register. In general we find that the best place to register us with a team who you trust and can build a good open rapport with, making tough conversations more easy.
It is always worth financially planning for a pet. Pets are, without doubt, a privilege to own but also can be a financial pressure. Savings, insurance, or putting aside some money for your pet is always essential if you can. We understand it can be hard. Equally, being balanced and pragmatic about what is within your financial capabilities is important too. Having a calm discussion about how much you have is always helpful, as veterinary practices can try to work within a budget. There are often other options available, some may have a lower chance of a good outcome, which is why they may not be offered first line, but they might be right for your circumstances.
Contextualized care should take into consideration many factors from the pet, age, health status, behaviour, owner ability and financial situation (and more!). Most veterinary practices have the ability to work within certain budgets, but they can't work with nothing.
There is no National Health Service (NHS) for animals. The NHS has made most people in the UK unaware of medical costs, but check out other countries such as the USA to see how much medical care can cost humans! Thank goodness for the NHS. Whilst veterinary teams care deeply for their patients, a veterinary practice is a business with associated costs, for example equipment, medicines, VAT, vehicles, staff salaries, rent and utilities, which all factor into client costs.
Nobody wants to pay for veterinary fees in a cost of living crisis, veterinary professionals are also aware of how hard the financial climate is at the moment (we feel the pinch ourselves ), and are aware that some unexpected veterinary bills add considerable pressure on owners.
Veterinary bills can be high. What the definition of 'high' is can depend on how you are currently feeling financially. For some £30 is high, for others £3000.
One of the most common responses to an unexpected bill is anger and frustration, often directed at veterinary teams who have no direct say over costs. We understand the frustration, we've been in that position too. No one likes a broken down car, or a broken boiler, or a burst pipe. These are all distress purchases we didn't want to spend. But with animals, it's different. We also have the emotional connection, the love, the fear, the guilt the alive, and loved, entity.
When you pay for a vet bill you're paying for so much. Bills, tax, wages, consumables, medicine, the skill of the professionals time, and variable profit of the business (profit which is generally low in UK practices in comparison to other businesses).
💬 Lennon from Amity stated: Did you know that 54.5% of vet practices have a below-average profit margin of 8-12% (SPVS September 2016)? This means more than half of vet practices in the UK (corporate and independent) are working on an average of 10% profit margin. To put this in real terms, if you are charged £120 and £20 is VAT, only about £10 is profit and the rest are expenses it takes to generate the £120 in the first place. We consider ourselves lucky to be running a profitable business so we can continue serving our clients.
It's important to recognize that when journalists write articles, that have started with the question about 'extortionate' vet bills, this isn't always going to tell the whole story or be balanced.
Are veterinary bills expensive? For some things, yes. Are they extortionate? Most of the time, probably not. They're probably representative of the time and skill of the team working on your pets.
💬'reporters should not only approach issues in an unbiased manner but also with a dispassionate and emotionless attitude. Through this strategy, stories can be presented in a rational and calm manner, letting the audience make up their minds without any influences from the media'
If we are going to tackle this discussion, we need to do so in a balanced way, not by producing material that causes further ostracism and divide.
We care deeply, and we understand how difficult unexpected bills of any nature are. There is always more to a situation that is worth sharing.
Over the coming months, we will look to pull some information together to help understand this more, alongside investigations from the CMA.
Best wishes
Veterinary Voices UK
