[QUOTE=Justmyluck;7381290]
Also people lets think about your location in the U.S. my house in a college town in Florida, completely redone cost me 61K. In California that same house would be probably over 300K. You have to think about the cost of living. To the person who said a C-section was cheaper in Oklahoma, serious no duh.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think anybody argues the cost of living issue.
It definitely differs from place to place.
Businesses and this includes veterinary business have right to charge what they think people in the area are willing to pay.
The same businesses cannot then complain that the customers adjust, too.
Unfortunately, animals get caught in the middle, for that adjustment is sometimes detrimental to the health of the pets.
I think, that is the main reason, why “subsidized” clinics are on the rise. People need break and looking for cheaper options.
People in many areas are being priced out of pet ownership at the very same time, as we face the major problem with dog/cat overpopulation.
We have just discussed it a couple of days ago, when many suggested multiple animal ownership. Well, who can afford that with prices posters have been quoting here today?
So far, we lived in five different states in the USA. Most of these states were average cost of living. Vets were very reasonable. We could afford our animals comfortably.
Fast forward, we live in NoVA and, let me tell you, the vet price sticker was a shock, when we first moved in.
Not the equine care, mind you- that one is very much in a line of other places (except really advanced work).
For instance, dog’s basic teeth cleaning is approximately 3-4 times more expensive than in other four states, we have lived throughout the years.
As a result, we only do it once in two years and not annually, as we used to.
I was even talking about it with the vet and suggested, she cut the price, because that would mean a) better preventative care for animals b) more business and, thus, more $$$ for the office. She said, she could not do it.
Taking into consideration rising costs and pressure to spend on advanced treatments, we are seriously considering to not commit to another dog after our old trooper passes away.
I wonder, whether veterinary offices ever think about what they are going to do, when more people start pulling out of pet ownership.
PS: High income/high cost of living area does not unfortunately mean, there are no middle class struggling/poor people there. We probably have majority of those, but they get “averaged out” with large land owners and extremely rich, so then, the average income is, let’s say, $100K, but most do not make that kind of money even here. Yet, services are priced accordingly.
