I’ve gone to the same veterinary clinic for 8 years now. In the past few years, I’ve noticed a marked increase in fees. I almost plotzed when I was told it would cost $250 to extract my cat’s bad tooth. This was in addition to the $188 I’d already spent on a urinalysis that revealed nothing more than my cat is a freaking neurotic. I contrast this experience with the one I had recently with the feral cats and a different clinic. Catnippers (an offshoot of Best Friends) paid to have 5 cats I trapped spayed or neutered, vaccinated, flea prevention applied, and in one case, the extraction of 3 teeth for nothing extra.

I started wondering what was going on in the vet world, and found this:

The report mentions that the veterinary profession has long had a high standard of honesty and ethics. I remember times when I was particularly pressed for cash, and the vet clinic worked with me to break the fees down into several payments. Now they won’t even consider it. A routine visit that used to cost me ~$20 now costs nearly 40. Vaccination costs are out of sight. And I have a sneaky suspicion that my vet is padding his costs – considerably. Sadly, the only cost comparison guide that I could find costs $150! I think it should be a little easier (and cheaper!) to do a cost comparison for veterinary services.

It also mentions what I’ve always believed – pet insurance is pretty much a ripoff (see tables here).

I’ve always had multiple pets, and I don’t know how I’d live without them, but 2006 was a bad year for vet bills. With Merlin’s terminal illness and Apollo diagnosed with cancer before he died, and upper respiratory infections that made the rounds of my remaining 3 kitties, I’d be willing to bet I spent nearly $8K in vet bills. I think my vet is “padding” their bottom line by hugely increased fee rates, recommending unnecessary treatments, and/or medications, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Challenging the vet always gets me the guilt treatment. I want to take good care of my animals, but I don't want to be made to feel guilty for not being able to afford $400 or $500 every time I walk in their door!

If you have pets, do you feel veterinary costs have increased more than they should?

Do you think vet costs should be held to some uniform standard (regulated), or at least made available for comparison with other vets?

Are veterinary costs a factor in whether you have a pet, or how many pets you have?

I live with fifteen cats, so this has some impact on my life. (No children though; I suspect that even one would be much more expensive than several pets.) I haven't noticed this increase in price myself, but I'm hearing a lot of anecdotes about people having to pay multiple hundreds of dollars for veterinary care for one animal. You have presented good evidence that this isn't just their imagination.

My experience has always been that vets have been highly skilled and compassionate professionals. Perhaps what is going on is that, as with human medicine, the technology of veterinary medicine and pharmacology is driving up costs, and everyone has to pay more.

I'm not sure what the best way to deal with this might be. Maybe it's time to have animal care follow some of the same guidelines as medical care. I realize that this opens up a whole can of worms, as the medical care system for people is often a mess. If nothing else, veterinary professional organizations should set some standards.

I think that veterinary costs are very expensive.
2 yrs ago our dog got deathly ill. I brought her to a animal hospital that was open 24 hrs. This was 5:00A.M. in the morning. They fed her intervenious and she came some what around. That cost me 500. Then we had to bring her to our veterinary at 7:00 to have them read over the x-rays etc. Well unfortunalty nothing could be done for her and it cost me an additional 80. to put her down.
I wonder maybe there should be health insurance for animals.
All I know is I will never have another animal because of the cost to maintian one. I love animals just can't afford them

Compared to hospitals the cost is minor.

I had or we had to take one of our dogs in a few months back for fox tails, don’t know if its one word or not. Three of them had to be taken out. The cost overall for everything I found to be reasonable overall, then again it could also be management or the vet itself of course that makes the calls on price.

There is, but it isn't much of a bargain. You may end up actually paying more. In a few cases, a bit less.
Your second statement is what makes me sad, and angry about vet costs. Millions of pets are killed every year because there aren't enough good homes for them. There are good homes out there, but sometimes the cost of maintaining a pet is prohibitive. And some rescue groups are being so incredibly picky (I had to fill out a 6 page application and submit to a home visit for my dog). There are some that insist the adopter be at home with the dog 24/7. Like all of us live lives of leisure or work from home?

Gordo, of course the cost of veterinary care is less than human hospitals, but the difference there is if the human is insured, the out-of-pocket costs are minimal. Not insured? Well, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. But very few people will quibble about cost when it's Mom/Dad/Sis/Bro/Daughter/Son. When it's Fido or Fluffy, they either surrender them to a shelter or have them put to sleep. You can't do that with Mom/Dad/Sis/Bro/Daughter/Son... even if you wanted to. (ok, that was 'my bad' )

Maybe some areas of the country are still reasonable - I don't know. I do know that my vet's rates have at least tripled.

I do believe improved technology and treatments is a factor. I just wish routine care hadn't suffered as a result.

I did read some interesting bits about veterinary pharmaceuticals. There is a surprising lack of regulation. And a lot of the medications vets use, people use, and you can get them at a pharmacy, which would allow you to price compare and shop around. It was going to cost $75 to have Punkin's anti-anxiety medicaction made in liquid form. Turns out I can get it in pill form at Costco for about 1/2 the cost. The office manager at my vet's office is more understanding than the vet when it comes to trying to keep costs down.

I take our dog to the vet at PetsMart, and have found them fairly reasonable. They have provided me prescriptions a couple of times to be filled at a regular pharmacy, and have not prescribed certain things because they knew they were too expensive. They also have a program where you pay up front for 1 year of expected care at a reduced cost, which also includes discounts on care not covered by the program. Kind of an HMO plan for pets.