Many pet owners complain of increasingly high bills when it comes time to have their pet treated. Data compiled by The duty show that they are not wrong: the increase in veterinary costs exceeds, in many cases, the rate of inflation.
In the same veterinary center in Laval, the price of an enterotomy performed on two cats of similar weight 11 months apart increased by 17.5%. One invoice, from December 2022, shows that fees of $1,394 were collected for this bowel operation, while another invoice, from November 2023, shows an amount of $1,639 for the same procedure. Inflation in Quebec from December 2022 to October 2023 (latest data available) was 4.3%.
These two invoices, obtained by The duty from two different clients, demonstrate that an increase of 17.5% was also applied to other costs related to the operation, including the preoperative evaluation (from $285 to $335) and general anesthesia ( from $557 to $655). Other fees remained the same.
Increases exceeding inflation have been noted on other bills than The duty has amassed in several regions.
In a Montreal clinic, the cost for an ovario-hysterectomy (sterilization) increased from $220 in December 2021 to $252 in November 2023, an increase of 14.5%. In a Laval clinic, the price of basic feline and rabies vaccines increased from $25 in December 2021 to $31 in February 2023, an increase of 24%.
In a clinic in Estrie, the price for an internal hemato-bioch-T4 laboratory (blood test), which was $170.94 in February 2021 jumped to $239 in June 2023, a variation of 40%. In a clinic in Montérégie, the cost for a basic consultation increased from $50 in 2015, to $59 in 2019, then reaching $77 in 2022 and $88 in 2023. An increase that represents 49% between 2019 and 2023. Overall consumer price inflation has been around 16% in four years in Quebec.
Not framed
Veterinary costs are not regulated by the government or a regulatory body. “Each veterinary establishment can charge fees commensurate with the services offered,” explains Gaston Rioux, president of the Order of Veterinary Physicians of Quebec. But the code of ethics for veterinarians requires that their fees be “fair and reasonable” and that they be “proportional to the services rendered”.
He says he has noticed that an increase in costs has occurred recently – without being able to quantify it – and agrees that this can affect accessibility to care. “But we have neither the financial resources, nor the human resources, nor the mandate to carry out this type of investigation (on the extent of the increases),” he adds.
Meanwhile, public concern is growing. A significant increase in calls or emails from the public regarding “high veterinary prices” was noted in 2023 by the Office of the Syndic of the Order. From 2013 to 2021, an annual average of 57 calls or emails on this subject were received. That number climbed to 156 in 2023. And the year isn’t over yet.
Recommendations guide
The Association of Quebec Veterinary Doctors in Small Animal Practice (AMVQ) also says it does not collect data on variations in veterinary costs. Each year, the AMVQ distributes to its members a guide which recommends rates to apply for each procedure. “But to say that we know the average fees in establishments, we don’t have that. This is not the kind of monitoring we do,” explains Eve-Lyne Bouchard, president of the AMVQ.
This pricing guide has been produced for about twenty years by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA). The recommendations, “which are generally implemented within a range of 80 to 100%”, take into account a series of factors aimed at ensuring the good financial health of clinics, including inflation, salary increases and variations in the price of medications, indicates the president of the CVMA, Trevor Lawson, who did not want to send this guide to the Duty. “It is only accessible to our members. »
Shortage and specialized care
According to the veterinarian, before the pandemic, veterinary costs were indexed by 2 to 4% annually in the country. “Over the last couple of years, I think most veterinary hospitals have increased their rates, probably 6 to 8 percent, in an effort to keep up with rising costs. » The Dr Lawson also points out that a labor shortage is hitting the veterinary medicine sector hard, which is creating upward pressure on salaries.
“The cost of labor is about 50% of the cost of bills at a veterinary hospital. So it’s major,” said the Dr Sébastien Kfoury, veterinarian and president of Vet et nous, a brand which includes around thirty establishments in Quebec. In the last four years, a salary catch-up of around 30% has been granted to veterinarians and veterinary technicians at Vet et nous (the salary of a veterinarian fluctuates around $100,000 to $120,000 per year, estimates the Dr Kfoury). To offset this increase, the brand has increased the fees billed to customers by an average of 10% over the past year.
On a North American scale, Trupanion, the largest animal insurer in Canada, noted an increase in bills of around 15% in 2023. An upward surge which can be explained as much by higher fees as by the more advanced care requested by pet owners, underlines Laura Bainbridge, senior vice-president of communications. “There are new treatments, new surgeries (…), specialists like cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists, and pet parents (owners) are looking to access these services. »
According to the Dr Kfoury, care is overall much better and safer than before. But this entails a higher cost, particularly with regard to equipment. He says he is doing everything to keep prices at a minimum in his clinics, including reducing staff, using technological means to perform certain tasks and offering telemedicine appointments.
Trevor Lawson, of the CVMA, assures that veterinarians are “very sensitive” to the question of the cost of care. “We are very conscious of the need to find a balance between sustainable practice and a price that does not limit the number of cases that come through the door, because we are there to care for animals,” he says.
To read tomorrow: Destitute and forced to have their pet euthanized