The real reasons your vet bills have shot through the roof

Prices for vet services increased by 10.7pc in February – more than double Britain's inflation rate at the time - Monty Rakusen/Digital Vision

Britain has long prided itself on being a nation of pet lovers, but the price of keeping our furry friends healthy has reached a breaking point.

Over the past decade, veterinary care in the UK has become staggeringly expensive, leaving some families facing five-figure bills for treatments – and the cost is still rising.

An investigation by consumer group Which? found that inflation for vet services was at 10.7pc in February – more than double the headline rate of 3.8pc at the time. In March, the competitions watchdog launched an investigation into vet pricing, amid frustration over high bills and confusion about treatment options.

Meanwhile, one pet owner’s petition calling for regulation on vets bills has been signed by more than 91,000 people. If it reaches the 100,000 mark, the debate could go to Parliament.

Last week The Telegraph reported that the RSPCA had stepped in to offer cash-strapped pet owners free checkups and vouchers for vet treatments. One dog owner remarked that vital medication for her pet cost £80 a month in Britain, but just €3 in Spain.

Rise of big business

So how exactly did affordable vet care in Britain unravel so spectacularly? Experts point towards a change in the law introduced in 1999, which allowed people other than qualified vets to legally own veterinary practices.

The effect of this change took roughly a decade to take shape. In the past decade, the share of independent vets in Britain has dwindled from 98pc to 40pc, according to official figures. The remainder are steadily being bought by the same six corporate entities, said Axel Lagercrantz, of pet rehoming website Pets4Homes.

He added: “This lack of competition allows existing practices to charge higher prices. Additionally, VAT rates on veterinary services differ between countries, which can affect the final cost for pet owners.”

Pet owners will know this all too well: according to the Office for National Statistics, veterinary and other pet services have increased by 60pc between 2015 and 2024. Much of this, the sector claims, is because vets’ costs themselves have soared.

Emily Norton, of Woodgreen Pets Charity, said: “Veterinary pharmaceutical companies have increased the price of some of their products as a result of raw materials becoming more expensive – therefore, medications are being bought in at a higher price.”

The RSPCA has had to step in with free checkups and vet vouchers to help pet owners manage the rising fees - Asadour Guzelian

Pet medication has a short shelf life, and thus cannot be stored in bulk, upping costs even further. Practice overheads have also skyrocketed due to stricter regulation and high energy costs.

Ms Norton said: “They are expensive buildings to maintain and run because of the complex systems within, such as piped oxygen and laboratory machines, which enable many procedures to be performed ‘in-house’.”

She added: “It’s worth noting there are a lot of expensive legalities that veterinary and medical industries are governed by, which inevitably come with quite a large price tag.”

The situation is far less bleak in Europe, where the cost of pet ownership is generally lower.  Market data from Pet Media Group, which operates several pet rehoming platforms across the UK and Europe, shows British consumers on average paid £1,147 for a puppy in May 2024, compared to an average of £697 in Spain, £995 in the Netherlands and £565 in Italy in the same month.

In some cases, European pet owners are also paying less for treatments – but more for overall pet care. This is because pet insurance is less common or extensive abroad, resulting in lower per-treatment costs but higher overall expenses.

Nick Horniman, veterinary surgeon and founder of online pet pharmacy My Pets Vet, said some British pet owners were seeking treatment abroad to get around eye-watering bills at home. But, he warned, “This approach is not without its risks, including varying standards of care and the stress of travel.”

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Escalating medicine prices

Much of the frustration with vet care stems from the price of the medication itself, and a suspicion that some practices are profiteering off households’ devotion to their pets. Medication accounts for roughly 20-25pc of veterinary businesses’ revenue, according to evidence seen by the Competitions and Markets Authority.

The CMA said that while it was convenient for owners that vets sell prescription medicines as part of consultations and treatments, “consumers can also buy prescription animal medicines from a third-party pharmacy, including online retailers, often at a lower price.” However, the watchdog added that sourcing third-party medication still requires a prescription from a vet, for which they charge a fee, in addition to a consultation charge.

The steep rise in pet medication and treatment costs is in part also attributable to genuine advancement in drugs designed for animal use.

Caroline Allen, the RSPCA’s chief veterinary officer, said some of these drugs were “genuinely exciting” and revolutionised treatment. But there are questions over how necessary such advancement really is.

Ms Allen said: “We used to use generic drugs for pets, but regulations have since been tightened up. Sometimes I feel like there was a perfectly good generic version we were fine using, but then a big pharmaceutical company somewhere decided to come up with a veterinary version of it. These drugs are expensive because they have to go through all sorts of testing.

“There’s this question of, do we need to do this? Just because we can, does it mean that we should?”

Vets say their running costs have increased, from complex machines to perform procedures in-house to expensive specialist drugs - Monty Rakusen/Digital Vision

Are pet owners partly to blame?

Experts argue that in some cases the pet owners themselves could be to blame for soaring costs.

An expectation of high-quality care and a reluctance to euthanise beloved animals mean vets often commit to expensive scans and operations they might not have done in the past.

Ms Allen said: “We have to find a space to have that conversation, and owners need to think about whether keeping their animal alive is what’s best for them.

“Vets feel they have to offer expensive treatments because they think that’s what people want.”

Poor breeding practices, driven by a desire for particular breeds and an explosion of demand in lockdown, is also a factor.

“Obviously these breeds are costly and it is really important that people choose their pet carefully and avoid animals with health problems baked in,” Ms Allen said.

“More and more of the popular breeds are unhealthy by design and it is really important that we challenge that, as it is a serious welfare issue.”

Meanwhile, veterinary practices are battling staff shortages. Droves of talented vets are leaving the profession, MPs warned in May, due to high stress levels and feeling undervalued.

Salaries for vets are not as competitive as the five years’ mandatory training would suggest. The National Careers Service puts the typical starting salary for veterinary surgeons at £30,000, rising to £50,000 for experienced vets.

Recruitment issues have been exacerbated by Brexit restricting the number of vets travelling to Britain from overseas. In 2018, some 1,500 vets travelled to the UK, while just 884 qualified here, according to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

While it is true that more British vets qualified last year than five years before, with 1,150 entering the workforce in 2023, it has not compensated for the drop in overseas vets. Just 960 travelled here last year.

Ms Allen said: “We haven’t seen the spike in salaries you’d expect with staff shortages. These people leave university with £100,000 of debt. They’re earning a decent wage but when you think what these people could be doing instead given they’re bright people. For some it’s not worth the abuse they get from pet owners.”

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