Why Veterinary Costs Have Risen

[sandgrubber]

Good podcast on the subject.  US based, but the trend is happening in all wealthy nations

[The Daily] Loving Their Pets to Debt #theDaily 
https://podcastaddict.com/the-daily/episode/179198857 via @PodcastAddict

 

P.s.  just find The Daily on your podcast app if you don't have Podcast Addict.  It's this Friday's edition (arrives on Saturday).

[tdierikx]

Vets are regularly expected to provide gold standard care, but then the cost of that is baulked at. Doesn't help that young vet students are taught to use all of the diagnostic tools at their disposal (blood tests, xrays, etc), but not much actual hands on diagnostics, so when those young vets hit the workplace, they tend to want to rely on the tools, rather than developing good hands on diagnostic abilities. Unfortunately all those tools are expensive to provide and to maintain, and staff need to be trained in their operation also... all extra expenses.

 

Try mentioning "shelter medicine" to any vet nowadays, and you'll be met with some pretty strong resistance in favour of the expensive diagnostics... but in most cases, those diagnostic tests may not be completely necessary, especially if the vet has any reasonable idea of what to look for with common ailments.

 

Also factoring into vet servicing costs are staff wages, rent or maintenance of the premises, cost and ongoing maintenance of equipment, consumables like syringes/needles, bandages, medications, etc, and other sundries. That said, vets and vet nurses are paid ridiculously low wages for the services and experience they provide - nurses in particular are usually on minimum wage, and are only casually employed, which keeps costs lower there - vets don't generally make a heck of a lot more than nurses unless they have quite a few years of experience.

 

Then there are the corporate group owned clinics... those are generally much more expensive than smaller practices, and their whole goal is to make money for shareholders. Unfortunately many of the 24 hour and emergency clinics are corporate owned nowadays, so an already more expensive service is corporatised and costs more than it really should.

 

All that said, if one has a gripe at the expense of medical care for their pets, hurling abuse at vet clinic staff certainly doesn't make their lot any easier, and as a result many are leaving the industry, which just means less of these services available, and drives up costs of those that remain - simple supply and demand...

 

Don't get me started on the pet food / pet supplies industry... but let's just say all of those things are purely designed to maximise profit, and may not necessarily be all they are claimed to be. "Complete and balanced" on paper doesn't mean much when said "balance" consists of chemical supplements to "balance" the product... note that chemical versions of natural vitamins and minerals are not processed the same way as the natural version, and as such may be as healthy and "balanced" as a junk food meal for us.

 

T.