I am a licensed veterinary technician although I don't work at Heart of Chelsea Animal Hospital and I have to vent that people frankly complain too much about cost of veterinary medicine. I have a college degree, a license and 10 years experience and most hospitals offer me a salary of $17,000-$18,000 per year. This is because people rarely have pet insurance so they have to absorb the cost of everything INCLUDING a nail trim. Do you realize that when a clinic performs a nail trim, it takes at least two technicians (2 salaries) along with the overhead, the receptionist salary who made your appointment, the chart that they had to open up and the purchase of the table, the nail trimmers and the quickstop just to give your pet that ""20 second nail trim"". Veterinarians are NOT rich by any means. Most hospitals use the same quality medicine you would find in a human hospital if not better and they have to hire additional staff to restrain your pet which is different than human medicine. In addition, vet school costs more than med school and it pays very poorly so you can rest assure that most vets do their job out of love NOT ""highway robbery"". You should maybe spend a little less at Bloomingdales and the hoyty-toyty Manhattan restaurant and be willing to spend a bit more on your pet's livelihood because most animal hospitals are pretty much a non-profit organization. With my college degree, license and 10 years experience, my salary affords me to live in a bad neighborhood with no health insurance, retirement or sick pay. So much for the ""highway robbery"" you were complaining about.
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