From £4,000 scans to £30 painkillers – how millions of Brit pet owners are being ripped off by greedy vets

WHEN Jennifer Shoubridge’s cat got sick, she wanted to do everything possible to help him.

She knew her daughter Reese, away at university, would be devastated if anything happened to 11-year-old Finley.

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Vets were at first unable to figure out why the family pet was breathing so heavily, so they suggested an in-depth CT scan.

But Jennifer was floored when she was charged £3,800 for the procedure — more than twice the £1,500 average for a human CT scan.

Jennifer, 49, a photographer from Devon, said: “I ended up having to put the bill on my credit card then go home and raid the savings.”

Britain’s vets are now facing a probe into pricing after it was revealed this week that pet owners could be paying over the odds for medicines, prescriptions and care, with six big companies dominating the UK market.

The Competition And Markets Authority, which is launching a formal investigation, has found customers are not being given basic information on pricing and are not always told the full costs before agreeing to treatment.

There were 56,000 responses to the CMA review, including an unprecedented 45,000 from the public.

Pet owners have told The Sun how prescription charges in some areas have more than tripled in recent years, from £9 to £29, and how a small dose of paracetamol can cost up to £30. One vet tried to charge £1,400 to remove a dog’s teeth.

Jennifer’s cat Finley was eventually found to have cancer and died last March, six months after his CT scan.

She said: “When I was told he needed the scan, the vet said it would cost between £2,000 and £4,000 but that it was most likely to be at the lower end.

‘Got you by throat’

“I was a bit like, ‘That’s a lot of money’, but he’d been struggling for a long time and sounded like Darth Vader when he breathed.

“I wanted to do everything I could to help him but was so shocked by the final bill. I don’t know the ins and outs of scanning because I’m not a vet and don’t have their training or experience, but it feels like an awful lot of money.

“We then had to pay £120 a month for chemotherapy for nasal cancer.”

Mum-of-two Abby Summerville pays £120 a month for injections to stop her two-year-old Hungarian vizsla Csaba from itching with allergies.

She found the same dog medication online for less than half the price.

Abby, 45, who lives near Bedford, says she is charged a £50 consultation fee every time her dog gets the medication — even though the vet knows what is wrong with him.

Abby, who runs a business selling earrings, said: “Csaba was scratching a lot and came out in huge hives last March.

“The lumps on his skin were so bad he looked like one of those CGI images you see in films.

“The vet saved us money by telling us we could give him human Piriton for the hives but he needs Cytopoint injections to calm the itching, which costs us £120, plus a £50 fee just for a consultation.

“I’ve found I can get two vials of the medicine at an online-registered vet retailer for £89. The vets have agreed to show us how to administer it, but they didn’t offer that up first.

“I’m a small business owner and I get that there has to be a mark-up but when I see that I can get vials for half the price, and the vets probably get it for even less than that, it’s an unnecessary mark-up.

“Your pets are part of the family and, like when your children are sick, you’re going to do everything you can when they are ill. I feel the vets have got you by the throat because they know you’re going to pay.”

Many pet owners are turning to online firms such as VetUK and 365 Vet to get cheaper medicines for their animals, but they must first get a prescription from their own surgery.

Owners complain that prices for prescriptions have soared too, and a quick online check reveals vets across the country are charging anything from £10 to £30.

The Sun found vets selling worming tablets for as much as £47.50, while a different brand can be bought online for as little as £3.76.

Combined flea and tick worming tablets that sell for up to £60 in the surgery can be found for £33 online.

One cat owner, who asked not to be named, said: “It seems vets can charge whatever they want, there’s no clear set pricing policy.

“You still have to pay a pricey consultation fee to see a vet if there’s something wrong with your pet before they will write a script and you can get medicine online. Why don’t they just charge a lower amount so people don’t go elsewhere?”

The Competition And Markets Authority — a watchdog set up to ensure fair play in business — fears Britain’s 16million pet owners could be being overcharged.

It carried out a review which found consumers may not be being given enough information, including price lists, to choose the best practice and treatment for their pets.

Eight in ten practices checked by the CMA had no pricing online, even for basic services, and 25 per cent of people were not aware they could buy their medication elsewhere with a prescription from their vet.

The CMA also expressed concerns about weak competition in some areas because big-name companies have bought up many local surgeries.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said: “We launched our review last September because this is a critical market for the UK’s 16million pet owners. The unprecedented response we received from the public and veterinary professionals shows the strength of feeling is high.”

She added: “Our review has identified multiple concerns with the market that we think should be investigated further.”

Since 2013, the number of practices owned by the big six — CVS, IVC, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets At Home and VetPartners — has gone up from ten per cent to 60 per cent.

Independent vets say the corporate ownership of practices has seen prices rise dramatically.

£1,400 for checking a dog’s teeth

Vet Doug Paterson, of Apex Veterinary Centre in Denny, near Falkirk, wrote on Facebook: “I have seen prices skyrocket as shareholders must be paid.

“I also see changes to out-of-hours (night-time emergency) provision.

“When I first qualified, each vet in each practice did a share of on-call and saw to their own patients, day or night. We still do that at Apex Vets because we passionately believe that is the best service for our patients and their owners.

“On the flip side, we regularly hear from disappointed clients at other vet surgeries who have to take their pets to centres in Edinburgh or Glasgow for overnight care, and there is a link here with corporate ownership of vet practices and increasing costs of care, day and night.”

One dog owner said vets tried to charge him “from £1,400” for checking and taking out some of his pet’s teeth. He said: “In the end I went to another vet that charged me £400.”

Rabbit owner Rachel Pennington, 33, of St Helens, Merseyside, found out just how expensive vets could be for even small pets. She spent more than £1,000 of her wedding gift money to save her rabbit Phoebe after the animal became desperately ill in 2021. Writer Rachel also shells out up to £700 every time her second rabbit, Hans, suffers from the recurring, potentially deadly, gastro condition GI stasis.

She said: “Hans can get a bout of stasis every few months so it feels like having a second mortgage.

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“We paid for one of the best vets in the country to save Phoebe and had another very happy 18 months with her before she died last April.

“I don’t regret spending a penny of our money on our rabbits but I do wish someone had advised us to take out proper insurance on them when we bought them.

“We had no idea how much cost these tiny creatures could stack up.

“I would say to anyone thinking about getting a pet that you have to be willing to make big sacrifices for them to keep them well and happy and sometimes to save their lives.”

British Veterinary Association president Dr Anna Judson said: “Rising prices are a concern for everyone but it’s vital to recognise there is no NHS for pets.

“Whether they are employed by corporate or independently owned practices, vets deliver highly specialised, tailored care. And the cost is a fair reflection of investment in medical equipment, supplies and medicines, and the time vet teams dedicate to the care of each patient.

“We are keen to see healthy competition and consumer choice and so we are already taking steps to support vet practices to be more transparent in both terms of costs and practice ownership.”

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk