£150 for a dog’s injection. £900 to monitor a rabbit overnight. Thousands for cat surgery. How did pet care become such big business?
One crisp Sunday afternoon in late February, Louise Taylor noticed that one of her family’s two pet rabbits, Honey, couldn’t stand up properly. “We got an appointment at the emergency vet and they gave her painkillers and drugs,” says Taylor, a 46-year-old civil servant. “But she still couldn’t stand. The vet said he thought she should stay in overnight, and it would cost £900, or we could take her home, and it would be £200. It didn’t feel like much of a choice.” She believes it was presented as: you have to, if you care about your rabbit.
Thinking back on it now, Taylor says the family, which did not have pet insurance, had been prepared to be pragmatic. “She was eight and a half years old; that’s quite old for a rabbit. They tend to live eight to 10 years. But we did what the vet said.”
