10/12/2026
“Why can’t every vet provide free or low cost care like you do?!?”
GREAT question. This is gonna be long. First, MANY privately owned vet clinics do have ways to help select hardship cases. There are just so many that they can’t help everyone. Same with us.
A standard, “brick and mortar” clinic costs a fortune to run. The lease/mortgage, receptionists, practice manager, software subscriptions, laboratory subscriptions, equipment, and all the supplies to handle almost every illness imaginable. Often open 6 days a week, so needing about 1.5 teams of people to cover all days and unplanned absences. It’s very expensive BUT provides services we simply can’t.
So how are we different? We have 4 techs and one vet (myself). My lead tech and I work ourselves silly. We are the receptionists. We are the practice managers. We are the on-call staff replying to texts up until we fall asleep. We basically work 7 days a week but really only get paid for 4. We sometimes book weeks out in advance and can’t take walk-ins due to having the bare minimum staff. Our clinic resides in a j***y old RV that is fully paid off. We are NOT a full service clinic and do not have the equipment to perform x rays or bloodwork, and do not stock the many many medications required to treat even some of the most common illnesses.
And finally, we were SO lucky to recieve some funding from the state of Texas that reimburses us for spay/neuter surgeries, so we can offer this at a “pay what you can” rate. Many of the deeply discounted surgeries (amputations, eye removals, etc) that we perform are combined with a spay or neuter (only when safe to do so!!) which means the Texas funds essentially cover the cost of anesthesia, allowing us to discount the other surgery.
So please don’t think poorly of traditional vet clinics that don’t appear to be as generous as we are. If your dog has diabetes, or your cat has a urinary blockage, that “expensive” clinic is going to save your pets life because they have the means to treat the disease! It costs money to receive that kind of care, so THANK GOODNESS for traditional vet clinics!! ❤️
(notice I said “privately owned vet clinics”…corporate owned can be a whole different story…)
