am starting this petition because my dog Koko, a 10-year-old Boston Terrier, has been fighting diabetes and Cushing’s disease. He nearly died after developing severe jaundice and vomiting caused by medication, and when I rushed him to the vet, I was told:

 

Pay £900 immediately or leave with him untreated
Or consider euthanasia because I couldn’t afford admission

 

 

This is not healthcare — this is financial coercion.

 

When a child is sick, hospitals do not say:

“Pay £900 now or we stop.”

So why is a family pet treated as disposable depending on cash?

 

In the UK, pets are family, emotional companions, and sometimes the only source of support for people living alone. Veterinary pricing has become:

 

unregulated
unpredictable
exploitative in emergencies
and often demands upfront payments that many cannot produce

 

 

This system forces owners into trauma decisions:

💔 Re-mortgage

💔 Borrow

💔 Abandon care

💔 Euthanasia because of cost

 

We demand regulation:

 

✔️ Price caps for life-saving treatments

✔️ Mandatory payment plans for chronic/urgent conditions

✔️ Transparency of medication mark-ups

✔️ Ban on pressuring euthanasia when financial options exist

 

UK vets should not be allowed to charge:

 

£230 for insulin that costs £82 online
hundreds for medication trials without refund options
thousands for overnight stays without alternatives

 

 

We are calling on:

 

DEFRA
RCVS
UK Parliament
Competition & Markets Authority

 

 

to regulate emergency vet pricing, standardize treatment costs, and protect owners from predatory billing.

 

No family should be cornered into choosing death because they cannot produce cash at 10am on a Monday.

No animal should suffer because profit comes first.

 

Please sign to demand change.

 

📍 Location: Ipswich, UK