Since venture capital companies entered the Swedish veterinary market and bought up animal clinics, veterinary costs have skyrocketed, according to the Swedish Competition Authority. A survey that the authority presented this spring shows that bills for emergency care have increased by 50 percent between 2020 and 2025. For planned care, the increase is 40 percent.
Between 2022 and 2023 alone, turnover in the industry increased by 35 percent, from 9 billion to 12.2 billion. A year later, the turnover was 13.3 billion.
The survey shows that the price increases were greater at the venture capital-owned chains than at comparable, independent clinics.
The fact that the price has jumped is partly due to the fact that care has become more advanced, according to KKV. The animal is now seen as a family member, which you want to provide good care for, and the willingness to pay is high.
But Leif Nordqvist, investigator at the Swedish Competition Authority, also points to other explanations. It's about the veterinary chains' lack of transparency - they don't report how much different treatments or interventions will cost. This means that the animal owners cannot decide on it, or find a cheaper alternative. So there is no competition to speak of.
An example in the Swedish Competition Authority's report is a dog owner who tells us that one year it cost 26,000 kroner for a caesarean section, the next year 64,000 kroner, for the same bitch. The explanation given was "that prices have increased". A hysterectomy can cost between SEK 21,000 and SEK 80,000, depending on the clinic and time.
- Once a course of care has begun, large costs are often added. Various types of emergency supplement, enrollment fee and care fee are charged. One can think about how ethical it is. Many are also fixed costs, equipment and premises, which they should not have to pay an extra emergency fee for, says Leif Nordqvist.
One such thing is, for example, that you often charge for the whole day even if the animal was put in late in the evening, something that Leif Nordqvist believes is a kind of "creative bookkeeping".
Swedish Veterinary Medicine, the industry organization that represents the companies, does not deny the problem. A few weeks ago, they wrote on DN Debatt that the organization should push through that their member companies, already before the turn of the year, should, among other things, introduce public price lists and provide clear care options to the owner before treatment begins.
The Swedish Competition Authority has not been tasked with investigating whether the veterinary chains are inflating costs with the help of unnecessary investigations. But in an appendix in KKV's report there is a survey with over 2,600 people, where several testify about how this happens.
"I was offered chemotherapy for my bitch with lymphoma even though the prognosis was lousy," says one animal owner.
Another dog owner writes that "The total cost was 350,000 kroner... nevertheless, the dog died shortly after. The insurance only covered a fraction and I emptied my pension savings. I felt persuaded: 'Look at her, she really wants to live. She can grow old if we succeed'. In retrospect, I have been told that the expected survival time after the extensive operation is 5-6 months, but no one told me that."
"They added diagnoses and treatments as they went along without ever mentioning the costs. It ended up with a bill of over SEK 30,000 after the insurance's compensation," says a third.
A veterinarian writes: "Before, we charged for the time worked. Now we also charge for each gadget used during the same examination."
Dog owner Freja Busby also has experience in Swedish animal health care. When her French bulldog Lotta, who has multiple illnesses including allergies and heart defects, needed surgery, the animal hospital charged SEK 60,000 for the knee surgery. At an independent clinic, the same operation had cost 30,000, she checked.
- The veterinary chains are always much more expensive, the costs have gone up much more there. But because Lotta has a heart defect, the vet strongly recommended that I operate on her at the hospital, in case something goes wrong, she says.
Freja Busby has had Lotta for four years, and her many illnesses have meant that Freja maxed out her insurance a couple of years in a row. For its own part, this means tens of thousands of kroner in healthcare costs every year, in addition to what the insurance covers. She has also had to raise the maximum amount, to have room for more unexpected bills, if Lotta were to be bitten by a viper, for example.
- It was difficult when it was the beginning of the year and I had already maxed out the insurance. But there is probably no limit to how much I am prepared to pay, it gives me so much to have Lotta in my life, she says.
One of the most recurring opinions in KKV's survey is that animals that could previously be treated are now euthanized because of the costs, when animal owners are forced to make decisions based on their own financial ability.
"I was threatened that I had to pay the full amount in cash upon delivery, otherwise the dog would be euthanized. It was a terrible experience," writes one of the interviewees.
Some abandon their animals or leave them to organizations such as Hundstallet and Djurskyddet.
- Cats have always been abandoned, but now we see that they are older animals that have been kept for a long time. When you can't give them the care they need, and the alternative is euthanasia, it happens that you abandon them or dump them outside an animal shelter and hope you give them a chance, says Åsa Hagelstedt at Djurskyddet.
Others call and plead for a financial contribution from a fund that the association refers to, but it takes time to process and usually the money is urgently needed.
- Many people borrow money from family or friends, you get into debt.
The veterinary-related debts that are registered with the Kronofogden are around SEK 20 million annually. Between 2024 and 2025, they increased from 19.1 to 20.8 million. In 2023, there were 19.8 million. What it looks like further back is not visible, because the Swedish Enforcement Agency thins out the numbers.
To try to remedy the situation, the Competition Authority wants to use the state district veterinarians to contribute to greater price competition. The district veterinarians must be present throughout the country, to guarantee that there is animal care even in areas where it may not be profitable. Unlike the private veterinary chains, they have a national price list for a wide range of commonly planned procedures and measures. In most cases, the cost of care there is significantly lower than in the private sector, especially for simpler measures such as chipping cats and dogs, x-rays or euthanizing an animal.
