Engagement with vets to continue to ensure stricter rules don’t raise costs, say industry players

“I think we have to be very cautious. We don’t want the industry to end up being very defensive,” he added.

Dr Teo, who sits on the Veterinary Council, said efforts are underway to ensure that this does not happen.

“Many engagements have been, and will continue to be carried out with the industry to ensure practicality, balance, and minimise impact to cost,” he added.

The concern comes amid already rising vet bills, which have become a growing issue for some pet owners.

Ms Kerrine Chan, for instance, now compares fees across clinics and prioritises preventive care for her pet dog, Mochii.

“As much as we can, we try to do prevention now with the vet and then to avoid future, maybe expensive medical bills,” she said.

Ms Chan has become far more cost-conscious after facing hefty vet bills. She was quoted about S$12,000 (US$9,400) on cancer treatment for her previous dog Ruby, and had to forego the treatment.  

As lymphoma can often relapse, she said one big factor is not knowing if she was going to have to spend a similar amount again in the future. Ruby died six months later.

“We see it every day, where we are not able to perform a certain standard of care due to cost,” said Dr Teo.

“It’s actually one of the unique stressors, where we’re in a profession where we can help, we have been trained to help them, dedicate our lives to help, but we cannot help because of the financial constraints.”

He said many tend to falsely compare animal healthcare with the human healthcare sector, which has the support of robust government subsidies and private insurance plans.

“Insurance is picking up a little bit (for pets), but really, everything else is absent. Most vet clinics are SMEs (small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises), bearing the burden of what people see as a public good,” he said.