Increased costs for veterinary treatments: "Urgently necessary" or "Utopian"?

Created: 12/28/2022, 08:00

By: Theresa Kuchler

Dog and cat owners have to dig deeper into their pockets at the vet.

(Iconic image) © Guillermo Spelucin/imago

The cost of veterinary treatment has barely increased in over 20 years.

Until now: In winter, the new fee schedule for veterinarians (GOT) came into force.

A price adjustment that was long overdue for veterinarians - but made many pet owners swallow.

District – Regina Thoma knows well how expensive a pet can be.

The woman from Penzberg, who mainly trains young four-legged friends at the “Funny Dogs Maxkron” association, has a seven-year-old lady dog ​​by her side herself.

In the spring, the bitch was seriously injured in a training accident, says Thoma.

In order to pep them up again, an operation and many hours of therapy were necessary - treatment costs: a good 4000 euros.

Luckily, Thoma had already taken out comprehensive health insurance for the animal, which covered most of the costs.

“I would also advise everyone to take out insurance,” she says.

After all, veterinary treatment has become even more expensive in the meantime.

At the end of November, the fee schedule for veterinarians (GOT) was adjusted.

According to the Federal Chamber of Veterinarians, this is a federal statutory regulation that determines how high the costs for individual treatment steps by a veterinarian are.

The GOT was last fundamentally revised in 1999, and in 2017 there was another cost increase of twelve percent.

Now the fees for veterinary treatment have risen by an average of 20 percent.

Vet welcomes fee adjustment

An adjustment that veterinarian Christina Hank deems "urgently needed."

The vet runs small animal practices in Schongau and Steingaden and also treats animals on farms.

There, in the large animal area in particular, it was high time that the cost centers were tweaked, she thinks.

After all, the effort and work for a large veterinarian who often has to travel long distances and spends a lot of time in the car must pay off.

Otherwise, "at some point we will no longer have any large veterinarians," says Hank, who knows how difficult it is to find young people.

At the moment, Hank cannot say whether the increased fees are sufficient to break even.

To do that, she has to calculate everything first, she says.

But one thing is clear: the new GOT will not be able to compensate for the "price explosion" in the energy sector.

Finally, the adjustment was calculated before inflation took effect.

The vet is aware that many pet owners have quite a hard time owing to the higher cost.

"The farmers also have to work economically and get their money's worth." If the veterinary costs rise, it's all the more difficult.

According to Hank, it would be a relief if farmers were generally more valued - and consumers were willing to dig deeper into their pockets for animal products.

Farmers are concerned about the increased costs

The Hohenfurcher farmer Jürgen Fischer points out that an animal owner cannot pass on the increased treatment costs to the consumer.

"Nobody pays you for that." Fischer, who keeps poultry and cattle, considers parts of the new fee schedule to be "utopian".

As an example, he cites the pregnancy test for cattle.

This is an ultrasound scan that determines whether an animal is pregnant before it is slaughtered.

The costs for this examination have increased fourfold, says Fischer.

Emergency services have also become more expensive.

While the cost of giving birth to a calf used to be around 150 euros, Fischer now pays a good 250 euros.

Fischer fears that the costs could be higher than the income that livestock farmers get from selling a calf.

He surmises that the higher costs could encourage some farmers to "do as much as possible themselves" and perhaps not call the vet as quickly as before.

Dog owner Regina Thoma understands the increased fees.

"The vets have to survive too," she says.

At the same time, she knows that some pet owners have to struggle with the higher costs: Especially in the last years of a four-legged friend's life, visits to the vet and thus the costs incurred would increase significantly.

Thoma therefore advises pet owners to take out insurance as early as possible.

Because “the older the animal is, the more expensive it becomes”.

You can find more current news from the region around Schongau at Merkur.de/Schongau.