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Rachel Blundy

Vets in Hong Kong have complained of declining wages due to increasing competition, as a recent report showed that the number of vets practising in the city has doubled to 800 in 10 years.
But the study, published on Tuesday, was panned by animal campaigners and pet owners, who claimed it failed to consider exorbitant veterinary fees, excessive procedures, and substandard services offered by practitioners.
Industry experts have also criticised the report for failing to address issues beyond pet care, such as food safety and public health when it came to treatment of livestock like pigs or poultry.
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The concerns came amid the fear of zoonotic diseases – illnesses spread between animals and people – which the city has been prone to, such as bird flu.
“There is definitely an increasing demand for good veterinary service in the city due to better health awareness among pet owners, but sadly there is a lot of room for improvement on the side of the medical providers,” Mabel Leung, founder of animal welfare group Animal Post, said.
“The report did not reflect how Hong Kong pet owners really feel about the service of local vets,”
The study, commissioned by the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong – a statutory body that regulates the industry – found that 46 per cent of vets reported oversupply as one of their top three problems in their profession.
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The study found that the number of registered vets in the city doubled from 400 in 2005 to 800 in 2016. Although the number of cat and dog owners in the city also increased from 297,000 to 510,000 during the same period, vets reported that their job market was becoming saturated.
Some vets claimed they were forced to work for as little as HK$13,000 a month. As of last year, there were 146 private veterinary clinics in the city.
Almost one third of vets said they were enduring a “decreasing or stagnated salary” as a result of the rising competition.
A significant majority – 81.3 per cent – suggested “high rent” as a major barrier to operating a veterinary clinic in Hong Kong, while more than one third complained that pet owners had “unrealistic expectations”.
Yet, those on the other side of the business are singing a different tune – the study found that 48 per cent of pet owners think veterinary fees are too high.
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According to the report, the median annual range of spending on veterinary services among pet owners between mid-2015 and mid-2016 was HK$2,000 to HK$3,000.
Leung said the HK$3,000 mark was inaccurate. She said her group often received complaints on price disputes between owners and vets, with the former complaining they had limited information about how to pick a good vet, resulting in some being charged astronomical fees for services.
Some owners even claimed that their pets were put through excessive treatments, ringing up more charges, she said.
“Also, animals cannot speak to express exactly how they feel when sick. They are often put under many diagnostic treatments which may be very expensive, and the owners have no way of telling whether these are necessary,” she said.
She said the owner of a golden retriever was once charged a six-figure sum for treatment for tick fever.
And medical blunders involving pets were often not exposed, Leung said, as filing a complaint to the Veterinary Surgeons Board took too long and was complicated.
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Ardis Poh, a dog owner for more than two decades who lives with three dogs in Yuen Long, agreed most owners were unhappy with veterinary costs. Poh called for more transparency in service pricing.
“All owners will say that it costs a fortune whenever a pet falls sick,” Poh said. “It is even more expensive than treating a human.”
“Also, there is no way for us to tell whether a vet clinic is a ‘black shop’ that cheated us of our money – we can only rely on the word of other pet owners.”
Tom Mangan, president of the Hong Kong Veterinary Association and a practising vet in the city since 2001, said that the limited pet insurance available in Hong Kong combined with the lack of public veterinary hospitals meant that high veterinary fees were inevitable.
“Ever since I have been a vet, people have thought vet fees were very expensive,” he said. “It is up to professionals to provide a value-for-money service.”
All owners will say that it costs a fortune whenever a pet falls sick. It is even more expensive than treating a human
Ardis Poh, dog owner
Dr Howard Wong, director of City University’s school of veterinary medicine and formerly from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, said it was important to enhance resources for local vets to allow them to contribute to valuable research outside of their small veterinary practice in pet care.
Wong believed that the university’s six-year undergraduate course, which is the only veterinary bachelor’s degree in the subject offered in the city, was important to “enhance public health, food safety, animal care and welfare in the region”.
A university spokesman said the study focused mainly on pet care and veterinary clinic services, but left out areas of interests including food safety, public health, animal pharmaceutics and diagnostic testing.
“Our course is a timely and strategic response to meet the growing demands of the veterinary industry, while at the same time providing an important catalyst to support the transformation of the local veterinary profession. This can allow vets to [advance their careers],” Wong said.
Yet some vets are opposed to the course as they maintained it will add to the already saturated job market, and more useful and universally recognised qualifications could be obtained overseas.
The University Grants Committee rejected the university’s funding application for the programme twice. In the second case, the committee said the institution had overestimated local demand for vets and underestimated the cost of running a veterinary school.
Mangan said vets were increasingly willing to diversify their portfolio by offering treatment to farm animals, but they were rarely invited to do so, even with the city’s relatively low pet ownership rate.
“You have a free market in Hong Kong and it is determined by supply and demand,” he said.


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City Weekend

Why there is a rift between Hong Kong vets and pet owners

Mabel Leung, founder of animal welfare group Hong Kong Animal Post says overcharging by vets is a common complaint of pet owners. Photo: Handout

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Hong Kong

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Veterinarians complain of falling wages amid rising competition and unrealistic service expectations, while customers are unhappy over high charges and low transparency
