Are Vets Charging Too Much? Check Out the Results of the UK Investigation

These days, it seems as though the price of everything is going up, while salaries remain stagnant. With many families struggling to cover the costs of the basics, a hefty vet bill is never a welcome surprise. Although most pet owners accept that part of welcoming a pet into their home is being responsible for their healthcare costs, the soaring cost of living has had many claiming that vet fees have increased far beyond the realms of inflation. And according to a recent investigation in the UK, it would appear they are right.

However, before you grab your torch and pitchfork and start protesting outside your local animal hospital, you might want to take a few minutes to understand exactly what has been going on inside the veterinary industry, and why screaming at your vet about their prices is not the way to go.

Not Just A Job

After spending at least five years at university and thousands on student loans to work minimum 10-hour days in a highly stressful, mentally taxing, and emotionally draining job for half the salary of a human doctor, having an angry pet owner say that all you care about is the money can be pretty soul-destroying. Veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession, and many vets are walking away from what most would consider to be a calling. Being a veterinary surgeon is more than just a job; it is a vocation. But the shift in business strategies over the past couple of decades has led to a situation where people can’t afford pets, and vets struggle to face another day in a career they used to love.

Generally speaking, the type of people who dedicate their lives to being a vet are caring, empathetic, and more likely to put patient care before profits. In the past, when veterinary medicine was more basic and pet owner expectations were much lower, a lack of business acumen wasn’t a huge problem. But over the last thirty years or so, both pet ownership and the veterinary industry have experienced a dramatic shift.

Cats and dogs have stopped being ‘just pets’ and are widely regarded as four-legged members of the family. At the same time, veterinary medicine has undergone huge technological advancements, with many vet practices able to provide a standard of care that could rival many human hospitals. However, such advancements don’t come cheap.

Vets could no longer afford to be so laissez-faire about charging for their services, and many practices struggled to stay afloat.

Cat undergoing blood testing at the veterinarian — Image by: Maria Sbytova, Shutterstock

The Rise of the Corporate Vet

In the past, only veterinarians could own a vet practice. But in 1999, a change in the law in the UK meant that non-veterinarians could now buy up veterinary practices, with no need for any previous experience with vets, pets, health, or animals.

In most states of America, only a registered veterinarian can own a vet practice;¹ however, corporations can then purchase these vet-owned businesses through a process of consolidation. In fact, around 75% of emergency or specialty hospitals and 25% of first opinion veterinary practices in the US are now owned by corporate consolidators.²

Initially, this was a positive change for the veterinary industry, with struggling practices receiving the financial boost they needed to keep their doors open. People with a head for accounting were taking charge of the business side of things, leaving the vets to do what they do best. However, over time, corporatization of veterinary practices has led to a situation where decisions about treatment, billing, and medications are being made by people in a head office, many of whom have never even stepped foot in a veterinary practice, let alone dealt with the emotional strain of working in one.

Of course, we should expect to be paying appropriately for the treatment we are receiving, but many pet owners have questioned whether they are paying more than their fair share. So much so that in the UK, the number of complaints received by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) resulted in an investigation being launched into the veterinary services market in September 2023.

(Not So) Surprising Results

On October 15, 2025, the CMA published its preliminary results, showing that veterinary prices had increased by 63% between 2016 and 2023 – well above the rate of inflation – and that it believes there are competition problems in the market.

This has had many pet owners taking to the keyboards, gleefully throwing hate towards the ‘evil vets’ who are overcharging. This misinterpretation of the facts is both inaccurate and highly dangerous to the mental health of an industry that is already struggling.

What is quite clear from the CMA investigation is that the vast majority of the issues found relate to veterinary practices that are run by corporations, with a lack of transparency being a common theme throughout the report.

A Summary of the CMA Findings

The CMA report has highlighted 6 main areas that need to change:

1. Transparency of Practice Ownership

Pet owners are often unaware of whether their practice is independently owned or part of a corporation, as this is not usually advertised.

2. Transparency of Fees

Pet owners are often unaware of the prices of commonly used services, and have no effective way of comparing vet prices. Some owners reported that they did not receive written estimates for courses of treatment, sometimes running into hundreds or thousands of pounds.

Not all veterinary practices are this up front about their prices. Courtesy of beaconvetcare.co.uk

3. Overcharging For Prescribed Medications

Some pet owners may be paying twice as much for prescribed medication from vet practices as they could pay online, without being made aware that this is even an option. Some practices also charge excessive fees for the provision of written prescriptions.

4. Pet Care Plans

Pet owners are often unable to determine if they are getting good value for money from pet care plans

5. Individual Cremation Fees

Some vet practices are inflating the cost of individual cremation to increase profits.

6. Accountability

Some pet owners felt that there was no clear or effective means of complaining when things went wrong.

While there are likely to be many independently owned practices that are guilty of some of these issues, the overwhelming majority of these complaints are linked to the directives and policies imposed at the corporate level. Decisions made by people who never have to explain them to stressed, anxious, and grieving owners.

vet checking up a cat with the owner — Image by: Stock-Asso, Shutterstock

Support Your Veterinary Team

Based on the number of statements, comments, and pleas seen across social media over the last few weeks, it is obvious that many veterinary practices are feeling the backlash from the CMA report, meaning that pet owners are still targeting the wrong people. In fact, many veterinary professionals welcome the results, seeing it as a possible turning point in how veterinary practices are run.

Your veterinarians, veterinary technicians, nurses, and support staff are compassionate, hard-working, and dedicated individuals who deserve to be paid – and paid well – for the demanding jobs they perform. Medical equipment, continuing education, and medication are expensive, and we should expect to pay for the services we receive, not hurl abuse at veterinary staff.

The CMA report is an indication of a global problem in the veterinary industry, and pet owners should ask more questions about how their veterinary practice operates. However, it is vital that we look after the caring people who work there. Most of the time, you are not talking to the person responsible for setting fees or making policy, but someone who just wants to help you and your pet.