The UK’s Vet-Market Shake-Up Is a Wake-Up Call for North America

What the CMA’s reforms reveal about the future of trust, transparency, and veterinary care and how FareVet is helping shape that future.

“Pet owners aren’t rejecting care because it’s too expensive.They’re rejecting it because the cost caught them off guard.”

A Global Shift Begins in the UK

This month, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed one of the biggest shake-ups the veterinary sector has ever seen.

The message was clear: pet owners deserve price clarity before they walk into the clinic.

After a year-long investigation into the £6.3 billion vet market, the CMA found that too many pet owners are making decisions “in the dark” unaware of what treatments cost, who owns their clinic, or what their options really are.

Their findings were stark:

• Veterinary prices have risen over 60 % since 2016.

• Large corporate groups now own a majority of clinics, often without clear public disclosure.

• Many clients said they only received price information after treatment began.

The CMA’s proposal includes 21 measures designed to make care more transparent: mandatory price-list publication, clear ownership disclosure, and tighter rules on prescription mark-ups possibly even caps on certain fees.

If approved, it would require every UK vet practice to post clear cost ranges and explain treatment options before proceeding.In short: trust through transparency.

This Isn’t Just a UK Problem

At FareVet, we’ve spent the past year speaking with pet parents across North America from Los Angeles to Montreal, from small towns in Georgia to suburbs in Alberta.And the same story echoes across every conversation.

People aren’t upset about what care costs.They’re upset because they didn’t see it coming.

They didn’t know that a routine visit in one city could be $60, while in another, it’s $180.They didn’t know an emergency could swing from $300 to $10,000.They didn’t know until it was too late.

That’s not a “budgeting” issue it’s an information issue.And it’s exactly what the CMA is trying to fix.

FareVet and the Transparency Gap

We built FareVet because pet parents needed a way to see costs upfront not by calling ten clinics or scrolling endless forums, but through verified, location-based data.

When you can see what’s normal in your area, you stop feeling blindsided.When clinics can show their cost ranges, they stop being seen as the “expensive one.”And when both sides share the same baseline of information, something powerful happens: trust replaces tension.

The CMA’s work validates what we’ve been hearing for years that cost transparency isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s the next frontier of client care.

Three Lessons for North American Clinics

1. Transparency isn’t a threat it’s a differentiator.The clinics that openly share cost ranges, ownership, and care options will gain trust faster than those who don’t. Clients reward honesty, not opacity.

2. Talk about cost early.When cost becomes part of the care conversation not an awkward afterthought anxiety disappears. It reframes the experience from “How much?” to “How can we make this work?”

3. Use technology to build trust at scale.Platforms like FareVet can help clinics publish cost ranges, showcase procedures, and even educate clients about what drives those costs. Transparency should live where pet owners already search online.

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The Cultural Shift Behind the Regulation

The CMA’s investigation may start in the UK, but its ripple effects will travel far beyond it.

In every market where prices rise faster than communication improves, regulation follows.But the smartest players don’t wait for mandates. They lead.

For North American clinics, this isn’t about bracing for oversight it’s about building the kind of clarity clients already expect in every other industry, from dentistry to auto repair.

When a pet parent walks in and says,

“I already saw your prices, I understand the range, and I feel comfortable with your plan,”that’s not a compliance win. That’s a trust win.

Looking Ahead

The CMA’s reforms are not just about economics they’re about empathy.They’re a reminder that transparency isn’t about lowering prices, it’s about showing value before the invoice appears.

At FareVet, we believe that the future of veterinary care belongs to those who make information as accessible as compassion.

And if the UK is any indication, the rest of the world is about to catch up.

How prepared is your clinic or your platform for the era of transparent care?

Because this time, the change isn’t coming from competition. It’s coming from trust.