The Cost of Veterinary Care & Getting What You Pay For

Getting what you pay for in Veterinary care is not always a deal. But you can prevent being ripped off or not getting the best bang for your buck.

I've been working in the veterinary field a long time and I have seen all kinds of veterinarians. I have worked for private practices as well as corporations and I have seen good and bad veterinarians at both. Let's make one thing clear. All veterinarians and veterinary staff love animals. That's why they are in this field. None chose this profession for the money, but admittedly some have discovered or  invented ways to make it the most profitable. Just because your veterinarian seems to be more than reasonably priced does not mean you are not being over charged.

Case scenario: Your dog breaks it's leg. It either fell or got tangled up with something or worse case was hit by a car but there are no internal issues at least that are visible with the naked eye but it's leg is broken. You take it to your veterinarian and they give you and estimate for $1200. Wow! that's a lot of money. Not really, a 24 hour critical care specialty facility would give you and estimate of $5000 or more. Your friend call to tell you she knows a veterinarian that will do it for $600. Now you need to decide which is the best deal. Believe it or not the $5000 estimate is probably the best deal. More likely it is a complete estimate and includes all necessary days of hospitalization, medication to go with and more times than not some routine follow up care.  And although no medicine is 100% guaranteed, they are more likely to do the best procedure possible and stand behind there work. The critical care specialty hospital is also going to have critical care nurses. These nurses or veterinary technicians have a degree and a license similar to an RN in human medicine. A lot of RVTs(registered veterinary technician) have special interests in study. The critical care specialty facility has the latest a greatest equipment to monitor your pet before, during, and after surgery. They can offer the best medicine possible. The estimate is high because the overhead is also high. The profit margin is actually not as high as you would think.

The estimate for $600 most certainly does not  include a board certified orthopedic specialist nor RVTs who put in hours of continued education annually(usually unpaid) to keep their license current. The best anesthetic techniques and monitors are not used or available and even their standards of disinfecting and sterile techniques are low if not poor. The risk of something going wrong is much higher. But the thing that really gets my goat is the profit margin for these low cost procedures is often very high. They did not spend the money so they make more money. And when something goes wrong they are more likely to blame it on the pet or even and act of God. I have seen routine procedures go wrong and then the veterinarian will label the pet with a condition to have caused the problem when really it was lack of safe anesthesia protocols and well trained RVTs or veterinary nurses who can recognize and correct a situation prior to it becoming a crisis. Not to mention cheap low quality medicine used. No diagnostics were done to discover the pet had a problem prior and no diagnostics were done to confirm a disease or condition related issue post. Because that lower the profit margin . But wouldn't you have rather paid extra to make sure your pet was safe? Probably so if it was explain correctly to you.

I can do a cat spay rather cheaply with non-sterile instruments and archaic anesthesia protocols on a table in a room cleaned with Windex from Costco and 90% of them will turn out fine. But 10% will be drastic failures. But if my profit margin is 100% then I still make a lot of money. I can even "cut you a break" and you think I am wonderful. But I am still making 90% profit and sometimes if I cut corners  even more I can make up that lost profit on yours or another clients pet.

Now don't be confused. I am not charging you for things I haven't done. I am doing things as cheaply as possible so it doesn't cost me as much to do it. Nor am I paying staff much above minimum wage and if I maintain less than 8 staff members I do not have to abide by most employee regulations. This saves me even more money and maintaining that higher profit margin. But if I have to buy updated equipment, pay an RVT, and use proper sterilization and sanitation techniques, then I not only have to charge you more, I also make less profit. Now are you getting the picture?

Now realistically, the $1200 estimate is probably the best "bang for your buck". They are using proper techniques, good monitoring practices, have qualified RVTs or at least well experienced and trained veterinary nurses, and most likely will have a successful outcome. They aren't going to be as prepared or have the most expensive equipment if things star going seriously wrong, but they will be able to handle most situations. The reality is every business has to be profitable, but they are not making a large profit based on your estimate and the care they provide. Their profit margin is probably in the 25% range. A lot lower than 90% to 100% and the quality of medicine and care is probably 80% to 90%  better. No  care is 100%. People are fallible and as the saying goes, "shit happens" no matter where or who and what expensive equipment is available.

The $5000, as said previously, is probably more complete. Plus if you are at a specialty critical care facility it is probably because your pet needs specialized care with an orthopedic specialist with the most recent techniques and equipment. Even if you pet is not critical, they have it available and it is part of the overhead. They won't charge you for what they don't do or use, but their higher price is based on monthly cost to maintain a high quality staff & keep up to date equipment and medicine.

So when I see a veterinarian like Dr. Pol who if giving low quality medicine and making a huge profit it make me cringe. And let's be honest; it's the value of the available medicine not the cost that you should be looking for when it comes to your pet. Pick a veterinarian with values that meet yours. Be prepared by having pet insurance and a pet emergency credit card or savings plan so you can afford the cost of quality veterinary medicine and not rely on the cheapest estimate. It means better pet care for your furry loved one.