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I noticed how she gradually changed. She suddenly started biting when you pet her, vomited chunks of unchewed food, and seemed generally grumpy. The final straw was her repeatedly peeing on the morning paper that was lying on the hallway floor. The cultural supplement? Completely destroyed. Of course, we couldn’t let it go, so we took our beloved Siberian cat to the vet to see if there was a medical reason for her new moody behavior.
The breed is known to suffer from dental disease and the vet was able to confirm that our four-legged friend had a gum problem. However, it was impossible to say exactly which of the two most likely scenarios it was until she was sedated and operated on.
Unfortunately it meant also an economic and moral dilemma for us. One scenario, a known dental disease, was covered by our (extremely expensive) small animal insurance. This was not the case with the other tooth, which was damaged for other reasons. And then we would have to raise 10,000 SEK ourselves. That’s about the same amount that the cat itself originally cost. “Do you still want to operate?” asked the vet. We were faced with something strange Gambling.
How much does it make sense to spend on caring for a pet? And How Can animal health actually cost that much?
Aftonbladet has i This week an overview of veterinary care in Sweden was presented. Among other things, it says that prices for veterinary services increased by 54 percent between December 2020 and the same month in 2025, according to statistics from the Norwegian Statistics Office. Evidensia and Anicura, the two biggest giants in the industry, are driving up prices – not because they have to, but because they do mayI interpret from the text.
The newspaper interviewed several veterinarians from both companies who say pet owners are forced to euthanize their beloved animals because they cannot afford the exorbitant prices. The animals suffer unnecessarily and the clinic staff have to endure the wrath of the owners. At the same time, companies are making enormous profits.
There have been reports of misconduct in the veterinary industry for many years
Business journalist Andreas Cervenka writes in his commentary that Anicura Sweden had sales of SEK 1.4 billion in 2024 and a profit of SEK 106 million. He also mentions that the Swedish Competition Authority was commissioned by the government last year to investigate pricing in the veterinary market.
The question is why took that long? There have been reports of misconduct in the veterinary industry for many years as major corporations continue to milk desperate, desperate pet owners for every penny. In addition, the price differences between the different clinics are enormous, as the Aftonbladet review shows. This market has gone off the rails – will the Swedish competition authority ever be able to get it back on track?
We finally decided to have our cat operated on. It was only when she woke up from the anesthesia that the vet was able to tell her that the insurance would cover the costs. We were lucky. This time.
These days, our cat Pixel no longer uses the hallway as a toilet and I no longer have to stand for hours scrubbing the floor with soap. And since she got a few stitches in her ear because she had a fight with the neighbor’s cat (You should see the other cat!), she enjoys the quiet life in the autumn of her old age. Husbands and wives and their wallets are grateful for this.
Read more writings by Tara Moshizi.
