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There’s a few factors at play, which the article rather rambles around a bit.
- vet clinics are increasingly owned by private equity groups. This is primary in recent years, and linked neatly to the “untapped market potential” of the next item
- people are more willing now than ever to spend money on their pets - “pets are family”, “I’m a pet parent”. I heard about a hip replacement in a senior Guinea pig, an animal with a lifespan around 6 years.
- medical costs are expensive, and in countries with single payer or public healthcare, a lot of those costs can be transparent (for humans) which leads to sticker shock “how can the blood tests be £150, my GP doesn’t charge!”
People forget vets are doctors, and doctors of many species, not just one species. All that training, staff, equipment and supplies, building costs are expensive.
Corporate owned vets though, they can EFF off
I heard that a vet is more medically qualified to work with humans than a human doctor is to work with animals
Getting cancer treatment for an animal is a bit ridiculous unless you are actually very wealthy. Whenever one of my pets had cancer, I did just opt for euthanasia. It was sad of course but that’s life.
I think cost transparency and better regulation is a good idea, though.
