We regularly get threads like this, and people will generally point out that the NHS shields us from realising how much medical treatment costs.
Which is true, but what is the real cost of treatment? For example I'm on levothyroxine which costs the NHS (and therefore all of us) about £28 a month. Apparently it used to cost a tenth of that, but the rights to the medicine were bought by someone who then put the price up. Thyroid deficiency is very common in older people so the increased cost to the country must be huge, also that cost may prohibit doctors from prescribing it. I think that happened to me - the doctor didn't tell me the results of my blood test back in 2014, leaving me to struggle with chronic tiredness for years.
I do think there should be some legislation to cover this, for human medication at least. Similar to the laws against profiteering.
There used to be a law that vet practices could only be owned by qualified vets. This law was scrapped and now some vet practices have been bought by private equity companies, so the emphasis is on making money, and the vet may have little control over what they charge.
And of course vets do deserve to be decently paid, more so nowadays as they have to repay university tuition fees and qualifying as a vet takes 7 years, so those tuition fees must be horrendous.
But this thread is terrifying me. I have 8 pet rats and three of them are on medication costing £60 a month each. For two of those, if I stopped the medication, their condition would rapidly deteriorate and they would have to be put down within a couple of weeks. That money going out every month has a big effect on my finances but it is nothing compared to the costs for larger animals.
I have noticed when I go to the vet that it's all dogs and cats, you never see the smaller animals there, so I wonder if people just don't treat them.