Why Does It Cost So Much To Go To The Vet? Part 3

#1 is a qualified staff.  Not only do you need a Doctor of Veterinary (DVM or VMD) but you need a Licensed Veterinary Technician (LVT).

#2 is that you probably don't have insurance and veterinarians are not subsidized the way medical doctors are.

Now, #3 is the cost of equipment needed for a state-of-the-art hospital or medical center.
Veterinary hospitals are like fully equipped hospitals.  When you go to your general physician and need some bloodwork the nurse might draw blood, but likely it will be sent out to a lab to actually run the blood and they will send the results back to the doctor.  If you need x-rays, the doctor will send you off to a hospital or radiology office to get them taken, the radiologist will "read" them, and your doctor will be sent the results.  If you need a prescription, your doctor writes one and you take it to a pharmacy to get it filled.

At a veterinary hospital all of this is done in one place.  Most bloodwork, x-rays, urinalysis, fecal tests, ultrasounds, surgeries, electrocardiograms, dental cleanings, dental x-rays, and other miscellaneous procedures are done in the same building as the physical examinations and vaccinations.

So, a standard veterinary hospital, not offering any specialty services, might have a machine to do a complete blood count, a machine to run blood serum chemistry tests, a centrifuge to spin down blood to separate the serum or plasma, and a microscope.  And that's just to run bloodwork.  The centrifuge and microscope can also be used to perform the urinalysis and fecal tests.

To take x-rays, the hospital has likely upgraded to a digital radiograph machine.  If not, the traditional film-based radiograph machine requires a developer to print the x-rays.  To take dental x-rays - those small, detailed radiographs they take of your teeth - they need a special small, portable radiograph machine.

To perform an ultrasound, the hospital needs the ultrasound machine, a table and usually a special stand to enable better access to some organs like the heart.

To perform a dental cleaning, the hospital needs to have an anesthesia machine; anesthesia monitoring equipment such as a pulse oximeter (measures the amount of oxygen in the blood), an EKG, respiratory monitor, and a capnograph (measures the amount of carbon dioxide that is being exhaled); a dental scaler (for cleaning); a dental polisher (for polishing after the cleaning); hand instruments for cleaning and evaluating the health of the teeth and gums; instruments for removing unhealthy or damaged teeth; a special table for the dental cleaning that is basically a large drain with a wire top; and a special light so you can see what you're doing inside the animal's mouth.

To perform surgery, the hospital needs the anesthesia machine and monitoring equipment, a surgical table, heating pad, surgical scrub sink/area, surgical lights, surgical instruments (many sets to do more than one surgery per day), surgical instrument stand, a sterilizer (autoclave), and other miscellaneous things like sterile gauze, sterile saline, etc.

None of this stuff is cheap, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some other pricey items.  Most of this equipment is of the same technology and quality that you would find in a human hospital.

So, isn't it surprising that procedures performed on animals don't cost more than they do now?
(Remember - if you have health insurance, check the real price of things on those sheets they send you that say "This is Not a bill.")

And veterinarians and veterinary technicians earn half of what medical doctors and nurses earn for performing the same procedures.