Veterinary Costs in 2024
Introduction
The state of veterinary costs in 2024 is not good. I just got back from an annual visit to my vet and was charged a whopping $585.60 for an annual check up, vaccine update, and 6 months of flea and tick and heart worm medication. Some caveats: he is a big (slightly overweight now dog at 106lbs) which means higher doses on some of these things like the medications, I did elect to get several optional vaccines such as Lyme disease and Canine Flu and I elected to get the blood panel which added significantly to the costs. I do think all of these are ideal for him since he is a big dog from a not so healthy breed (Doberman) and is in public and around a lot of people and animals and also goes in the forest and on hikes frequently so he is maxed out on all vaccines and preventative measures. Even with all of that, this is a significant vet bill for just a routine annual exam and related items. So that led me to ask the question – is this normal and just where veterinary costs are now?
Pet Cost Data
Rover.com, which I assume has done a lot to vet the data they use, lists the average annual costs of basic veterinary care for dogs in 2024 as between $275 to $435 which you can check here. In 2023, Forbes published an article which you can read here that listed the average cost of a vet visit at $61 (this includes cats and dogs). Frankly, I don’t think this information is reflective of the total annual costs. What can you even get at a vet clinic for $61? Maybe one vaccine or just the physical exam with no medications or anything else. Maybe a nail trimming? I’ve never been to the vet for less than $300.
Scanning listing of average costs for veterinary care seems to run the gamut but the range from Rover seems to be about right especially factoring in various ages and sizes of dogs. The more authoritative data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which you can find here shows a 78% increase in spending for pet and pet services from 2013 to 2021 (the most recent available data as of the publishing of that article in November 2023) which significantly outpaced overall entertainment of expenditures of 43% during the same period which is the relevant benchmark since pets are included in the entertainment spending.
Reason for increase in pet costs
So why the increase in pet costs? As an accountant, I look at this as a simple case of the quantity of pets multiplied by the increase in pricing of pets and pet care services. Now the actual data around the increase in the number of pets is speculative and really so is the pricing information since there does not seem to be a central data source besides the BLS (which groups too many things together) but the consensus from known data sources and anecdotally is that the number of pets has gone up and so has the cost of pet products and services. The increase in the number of pets is thought to be partially pandemic related and in conjunction with the increase in work from home arrangements which have put families in a better position to care for pets. The pricing increases are driven by inflation. Pet products are impacted by a lot of the same inflationary pressures as all other products; pet services are primarily driven by wage rate increases and scarcity of individuals willing to do a lot of the lower paying jobs which has increased the base amount of pay.
Combating increased prices
How do you combat these increases in prices? Apparently most consumers don’t. It is notable that pet care spending is up even over the overall spending increases which means that even with inflation and the population of pet owners deciding to cut spending in other areas, they have not cut spending for their pets. Further, the dog food (raw and prepared foods) market continues to push out new brands which shows an increased demand for tastier/healthier(?) food options for pets. Many of these brands are far more expensive than traditional kibble which shows an insistence from the dog owner population on finding higher quality foods which are more expensive even with the current economic conditions.
The only thing I can really recommend is either being ok with the increases in prices or having fewer pets. I expect to spend no less than $1,000 this year on veterinary and related costs for my Doberman and no less than $3,000 on food. The median household income in 2022 which is currently the most recent available data was approximately $75,000, so those pet costs in my situation are more than 5% of that and that’s assuming no pet emergencies and no routine surgeries or teeth cleanings which would run several hundreds to several thousand dollars.
So why do people keep paying these prices?
Look at this face:
You can’t say no to that giant face with the huge nose. People want non human companionship and pets are that so the spending goes beyond simply having a pet. People want companionship to help deal with the continued work and other stressors in their lives as well as to deal with increased loneliness as the world continues to move online.
In my opinion, if pets are providing all of that, they are well worth the few extra thousand dollars. Just make conscious decisions about the numbers of pet you have, the expected costs, especially veterinary costs, and make sure they are adding to your life and not subtracting.
