u/lochnessie03

Tl;dr- support small privately owned clinics if you want to help battle the (ridiculous) rising costs of veterinary care.

I am a veterinarian and I just want to let everyone know that it breaks my heart to see costs of care going up (doubled) since COVID. (In addition to living costs rising in general). The reason for that is because corporations bought out most of the local offices and are driving up costs- mirroring what they do in human medicine but without the insurance buffer (which also just money grubby businesses).

Corporations achieve this via pricing out small clinics on lab testing, pharmaceuticals, and decrease their quality of care by making clients do pointless testing and medications (aka bundles plans that actually don't save you any money but you cannot back out). Clinic owners sold to corporations out of necessity as they cannot keep up with this competition (aka multi-million/billion business investors vs just a few vets).

The smaller and privately owned clinics are rare in cities nowadays.... and corporations work with each other to keep small practices down. For example- we send lab testing to centralized labs that have now been bought out by corporations. They give corporate owned clinics discounts while small private practices have to pay for more per test. That trickles down to the pet owners- hence why lab tests are significantly more expensive each year for privately owned clinics.

Same for drugs. The reason corporate online pharmacies can provide that one medication for $10 less is because they do NOT pay a pharmacist or veterinarian to approve their scripts... us vets are too nice to say no and will approve scripts for your pets without getting paid by these companies. Because we want your pets to get care. But that $10 could have helped privately owned clinics to pay their staff living wages and decrease burnout...

The prices corporations are asking are getting out of hand. I just want to urge pet owners to consider going to clinics that are privately owned (assuming they offer equivalent/better care). Most corporations do not change the clinic names after buying them- but you can ask when you book appointments. Paying a little extra to get more personalized care at privately owned clinics is worth it- and the money goes directly to staff that are passionate. No overhead corporate fees.

I get everyone wants to save money. Truly if it's gonna be a breaking point for you, do what you must. But just remember that sometimes the extra $10 is enough difference to help the smaller clinics fight corporations. As long as corporations are in charge, they will continue to prioritize profit over the care your pets can get and drive up the costs for everyone (aka the entire industry). If you can- buy the meds through your vet directly and do not fall for bundle "deals". Every pet is different and the care should be tailored to what they need.

Thank you if you've read thus far. I became a vet to help people with their pets' care.... not to make money for corporations that see all of us as just mere numbers on paper and to help them fill their pockets with more money than what they need.