- Have YOU overpaid for your pet’s medicine? Email: [email protected]
Pet owners may be paying too much at the vets for their animal’s medicine, prescriptions and care, the competition watchdog has warned.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) received an ‘unprecedented’ 56,000 responses to their review and have decided to ‘provisionally’ launch a market investigation into the veterinary sector.
The review found that consumers may not be given enough information – including price lists – to enable them to choose the best practice and treatment for their pet.
It also found that the regulatory framework for the sector is ‘outdated’ and ‘may no longer be fit for purpose’ and that there may be an overconcentration of vet ownership in certain areas.
And those working in the sector – which is worth £2billion after the covid pandemic saw pet ownership rise to two-thirds of British households – raised concerns about pressures arising from staff shortages.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has raised concerns that consumers in the veterinary sector may be paying too much for their pet’s medicine
![CMA boss Sarah Cardell said the watchdog has made the 'provisional decision' to launch a market investigation into the veterinary sector](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/12/09/82352531-13186377-image-a-11_1710235016287.jpg)
CMA boss Sarah Cardell said the watchdog has made the ‘provisional decision’ to launch a market investigation into the veterinary sector
Have YOU overpaid for your pet’s medicine? Email: [email protected]
The market investigation, if the findings are upheld, would give the CMA the power to compel companies to give consumers their full list of prices, impose limits on costs for things like prescription fees and potentially even enforce the sale of businesses in areas of overconcentration of ownership.
It was revealed that 80% of vet practices checked by the watchdog had no pricing online – even for the most basic of services.
Vets are required to use signs in their reception or treatment rooms telling customers that they can get their prescriptions filled elsewhere.
However, the CMA review found that 25 per cent of pet owners were not aware this was an option – meaning they could be missing out on savings.
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said they launched the review last September because the veterinary sector is a ‘critical market’ for the UK’s 16 million pet owners.
She said: ‘The unprecedented response we received from the public and veterinary professionals shows the strength of feeling on this issue is high and why we were right to look into this.
‘We have heard concerns from those working in the sector about the pressures they face, including acute staff shortages, and the impact this has on individual professionals. ‘
Ms Cardell added that the competition watchdog has made a ‘provisional decision’ to launch a market investigation due to the concerns for consumers raised by the review.
‘But our review has identified multiple concerns with the market that we think should be investigated further,’ she said.
‘These include pet owners finding it difficult to access basic information like price lists and prescription costs – and potentially overpaying for medicines.
‘We are also concerned about weak competition in some areas, driven in part by sector consolidation, and the incentives for large corporate groups to act in ways which may reduce competition and choice.
‘Given these strong indications of potential concern, it is time to put our work on a formal footing. We have provisionally decided to launch a market investigation because that’s the quickest route to enable us to take direct action, if needed.’
Previously, a dog owner said he would sell his house to cover the costs of a £20,000 vet bill.
Last year, Jaxon Feeley said his two-year-old Weimaraner called Rambo went into hypovolemic shock – a state in which severe blood or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body.
Mr Feeley, from Wigan, said: ‘She began vomiting throughout the night over 30 times and by Saturday morning we were in the emergency vets.’
On top of the condition, Rambo had also contracted stomach flu , or gastroenteritis, and her health rapidly declined.
Have YOU overpaid for your pet’s medicine? Email: [email protected]
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