"I picked up a kitty, did her a good deed — now treat her for free" — vets face such complaints regularly. But sometimes a wave of outrage over prices at veterinary clinics sweeps through social media. Recently, MART took notice of the problem and conducted a survey that showed: more than half of pet owners consider clinic prices inflated. After letting the painful topic simmer, we asked cat and dog owners what they think about the cost of treating their pets and the quality of service. We also found out from a representative of a state veterinary clinic why the number of pets, as well as the number of vet clinics, is growing in the country — and why this trend will only continue.

What this text is about

Treating "little tails" is always expensive

Vet: "It's not just rare operations that are done as promotions"

"Some doctor you are, if you don't want to treat for free"

"There are queues everywhere"

"Ask people in the corridors of vet clinics whether they like it here or not"

"Don't like the price — find another place"

MART: half are dissatisfied

Treating "little tails" is always expensive

We asked three pet owners from Minsk and Brest who had visited vet clinics whether they consider the prices for their services high.

Veronika, owner of 15 pets (Minsk): "Where that amount came from, I don't understand"

The young woman has 15 pets: roosters, chickens, a rabbit, a parrot, and dogs. She took some from a "kill shelter," others from irresponsible owners. And to house everyone comfortably, she even moved out of the city.

— I took both of my dogs from a "kill shelter," both with serious chronic diseases: one had a herniated intervertebral disc, the other had breast cancer. Both have since died. So, I spent about 9,000 rubles over six months on treating one of them at vet clinics, — Veronika recalls. — The largest single bill, when surgery was urgently needed, was 3,800 rubles. It was literally a matter of days, even hours. And I was given a condition: to get into an unscheduled surgery, I had to pay — and pay under the table, that is, on top of the bill for the surgery itself. And the amount was quite substantial — 500 rubles.

Photo from the heroine's archive

And while Belarus has enough specialists for cats and dogs, only a few treat exotic animals. In such cases, prices for the same services can be inflated 15 times over. I had a case with one of my chickens with a chronic condition that causes eggs to get stuck: the chicken is small, ornamental, and that happens with them.

One clinic took her in even after closing time, performed the necessary procedures, brought the little hen back to life — and charged only 20 rubles. And six months later, when there was a relapse, I had to go to another clinic. There I paid the equivalent of almost $100 — I have no idea where that amount came from. I only know that anesthesia was included in it. Although “our” doctor (the one who saved the pet for 20 rubles) always performs procedures without anesthesia, because she does everything quickly and painlessly.

And there was also a case when a rabbit needed a CT scan. He is old and very small in weight. Both Minsk doctors and Russian doctors immediately told me: doing a CT scan in Belarus on a rabbit of that weight is throwing money away. But my boyfriend and I still started calling around clinics. In one, they said they wouldn’t take it on, because the result would be such that we wouldn’t see anything. And in another — come, they say, the service costs 500 rubles, but we’ve never done this before, and the result will be unpredictable.

Overall, Veronica’s general position on prices is this:

— Let veterinarians charge whatever they want, the main thing is that it helps in emergency situations. If this money, roughly speaking, goes to their salary, for God’s sake, in a difficult case I’m always ready to chip in extra on top. But the problem is that many take money even knowing that their competence won’t be enough. You pay several thousand rubles, and then you go to another clinic, waste precious time and money again — and so on in a circle.

Now my animals have such a professional doctor that if she charges 1000 rubles just for an examination, I will pay, because I am 100% confident in her competence. And it’s for vets like that that I don’t begrudge anything.

Anastasia, Pixie’s owner (Brest): “Official amounts for operations are far from final. For sterilization I paid 450 rubles.”

— In the list of services, you can see amounts of 120–200 rubles for a standard high-volume sterilization operation. But, perhaps, only a few fit into that. Two and a half months ago, I picked up a street cat of the Sphynx breed. It turned out she needed to be sterilized: there were problems with her reproductive system.

Pixie. Photo from the owner’s archive.

When I called the clinic, I was told that a preoperative examination (ultrasound plus blood test) was mandatory. They also offered two options: laparoscopy (minimally invasive, with quick recovery) and abdominal surgery (with long healing and rehabilitation time). Accordingly, there is also a difference in price.

Initially, the operation itself was supposed to cost 280 rubles — that's what they said on the phone. The contract had different prices: from 320 to 380 rubles.

But with all the additional services, I paid 450 rubles, of which 90 were for the examination. Simple calculations show: that comes to 360 rubles for the operation, not 280. To be fair, I should emphasize: the cat was brought out of anesthesia with a special injection, kept in a heated oxygen chamber, and given a postoperative recovery suit, so everything was done with care.

Pixie. Photo from the owner's archive.

Do I think it's expensive? This is not my first pet. I have rats, a dog, fish, and two cats. So I know that the care required after such procedures takes a lot of time and effort on the owner's part. So I'll say this: I knew what I was getting into.

Yulia, owner of Gufi and Smog (Minsk): "I have never had any complaints about the price"

The Minsk resident has more than once had to visit clinics with her dogs, and different ones: she lived in two districts of the capital and visited both public and private ones.

— If I had to choose between a private clinic and a public one, I would choose the former. Gufik had a problem common to unneutered dogs, with the paraanal glands. But this wasn't discovered right away: the state clinic didn't help, said he was whining because he had eaten something wrong, and didn't even take his temperature. But the private clinic examined him thoroughly and found a small tumor, performed surgery — quickly, without consequences. Yes, it cost money, but everything was according to the contract.

Yulia took her second dog, Smog, straight to a private clinic.

— Operations were performed twice: first (he wasn't even a year old) a tumor was removed, and more recently, already at another clinic, they cleaned the paraanal glands, which kept getting blocked. We were satisfied with everything: everything was fast and precise.

On the left — Gufi, on the right — Smog. Photo from the owner's archive.

Yulia also vaccinates her dog and cat every year.

— We do it at a private clinic, and the total amount, including gloves and the vaccine, is about 100 rubles. I think that's not expensive, but I buy my own vaccine, a different one, because I can save 10 rubles — it's a little, but why not?

Some procedures were not cheap for Yulia, but she doesn't even think of complaining about the cost of private clinic services.

— Although sometimes it turned out expensive, I never had any complaints about the price, because everything is spelled out in the contract. I take my dogs to a private clinic based on experience. But not all of them are good: I've heard a lot of bad things about one of the most hyped private clinics in the country, that it's unreasonably expensive there. The one we've been going to in recent years, we really like.

Elena Ivanovna, Timofey's owner (Brest): "A dozen visits in a short time is a sensitive blow to the wallet"

The Brest resident brought a sick kitten from the dacha, which a "common" cat had given birth to and abandoned — and along with her, the problem she had given to the domestic cat.

— We went to a state clinic — first with her alone. It turned out she had ringworm. First we dealt with that problem, then we took the cat too. The kitten wasn't getting better, there was a follow-up appointment, a third one, and in the end she died. They said it was probably from a viral disease.

At the same time, the domestic cat got worse.

— I thought Timosha would die too... We had an ultrasound and a cardiogram done, we looked for the cause of the problems for a long time, we found it — we also had to take him for IV drips. We visited the clinic with him at least five times in a month. Then they also prescribed pills and injections — in total, the treatment was not cheap. At least they gave us discounts on the last two visits.

Timofey. Photo from the owner's archive.

According to Elena Ivanovna, with a small pension and the need to constantly buy a substantial set of medicines, the costs for veterinary services came to 150–200 rubles.

— If we had had to visit the clinic two or three times, it might not have been so noticeable. But as it is, probably almost a dozen visits in a short time — a sensitive blow to the wallet. And this is a state clinic, not a private one. Everyone strives to go there — pensioners and young people alike. There were always queues, as all the doctors are very attentive — thank them.

Andrey, Monika's owner (Minsk): "They present you with a choice: pay or euthanize"

Mona, a 9-year-old Bolognese, fell ill at night.

— When they were taking her to the nearest 24-hour veterinary clinic, the dog's heart almost stopped. She was dying right in my wife's arms. And at the clinic — just like in a movie: they immediately put her on a gurney and wheeled her out of our sight. Mentally, we had already said goodbye to Mona. We spent two hours on tenterhooks, expecting the worst," Andrei recalls. — Then a doctor came in and said that they had managed to pull Mona back from the brink of death. He explained that her condition was very serious and she needed intensive care. But he said: "It is possible to save her, but one day in intensive care with examination and treatment will cost 700 rubles. And how many days will be required is unknown." In effect, we were faced with a choice: either we pay, or she dies.

I can't recall the exact phrase, but it sounded rather matter-of-fact: "Are you ready, or do we put her down?"

Monica. Photo from the owners' archive.

Of course, parting with Monica that night was beyond our strength. We decided to fight for her life. Fortunately, after two days the pet came around. The illness turned out to be chronic, autoimmune, and incurable, but controllable. On the night of the flare-up, she fell into a hypoglycemic coma — hence such consequences. In the end, we spent about 2,000 rubles on all the treatment and care. For all my gratitude to the veterinary clinic staff, I don't consider that cheap. But obviously, at moments like that, you think about money less.

In veterinary medicine, it's just like with people: while you're healthy, routine health expenses are invisible and imperceptible, but when problems appear, there's immediately a hole in the budget. As an example, I'll cite our veterinary expenses over the past year: the last large amount — 888 rubles — was for removing diseased teeth.

Monica. Photo from the owners' archive.

Lilia, Umka's owner: "I shelled out a pile of money — it didn't help"

The cat, accidentally found by Lilia in her native parts, at her parents' place in a small town, had once moved to the capital and turned from a terrible skinny waif into a snow-white handsome fellow. But a year later, the pet fell ill.

— It was really bad. At the state clinic, they relieved the pain, we gave him injections, but he didn't get any better. They said Umka wasn't going to make it, put him to sleep — my daughter and I shed so many tears... Then I found a colleague, a volunteer with extensive experience, through whom I got in touch with a competent doctor at a private clinic. I shelled out a pile of money, even with a volunteer discount — it didn't help. We didn't give up, and again through my colleague, at a second private center, we had him operated on and saved the cat.

Umka. Photo from the owner's archive

Umka's owner recalled, not without a shudder, not only the surgeries and anxieties, but also the cost of saving the cat.

— I can't remember the exact amount, but it was expensive. Treating an animal is always expensive. Or maybe we had to pay a lot because the operation was unusual: he fell badly in the apartment and pinched some nerve in his spine. He had seizures similar to epilepsy in humans. And neurological operations always cost a lot of money. Good thing there was a volunteer discount — it was a bit cheaper, but the amounts were still large.

She also had to spend money on medications and a follow-up appointment, but Umka's owner has no complaints about the cost of services:

— Yes, it's expensive, but all the prices are listed in the contract, item by item, and they were announced to us before the operations, not after the fact.

Veterinarian: "Promotions cover not only rare operations"

We also spoke with a veterinarian about the cost and quality of services. Svetlana (name changed at the request of the heroine), as a veterinarian with extensive experience, immediately notes that prices in all state clinics are the same and can differ only slightly (by 2–5 rubles) for one reason: if a particular drug or consumable was purchased at different times.

— In a state institution, regardless of the clinic's location, the price list is uniform. Of course, it differs from private institutions, where there is no common procurement system or suppliers, and each one sets its own prices for services, — explains the interlocutor, noting that not all procedures and operations are performed in the capital's state clinics — for example, an MRI: it can be done at the Vitebsk Veterinary Academy, where it will, of course, be cheaper than in a Minsk private clinic. But you still have to get there — not everyone has the desire or time for that.

— But private clinics are not always more expensive. They regularly run various promotions. Recently, one of the capital's clinics performed complex orthopedic surgeries for free (only materials and anesthesia had to be paid for) as a promotion. And these surgeries are very expensive and quite unique for Belarus. But there's no need to be surprised by such a promotion: first, the clinic was attracting clients this way, and second, its specialists gained practice.

The specialist notes that promotions cover not only rare operations, but also the most popular procedures: spaying of female cats and castration of male cats. However, the specialist advises having them done in state clinics if you want to save money — and you won't have to go looking for a promotion.

"Some doctor you are, if you don't want to treat for free."

Speaking about the increasingly popular topic of the high cost of veterinary services, the interlocutor explains that for some pet owners