A welfare group leader has warned its present operations are “just not tenable” because of the soaring cost of veterinary care.

Friends of Animals Wales founder Eileen Jones estimates her own group’s costs have more than doubled in recent years and believes pet owners’ strained finances have “decimated” the wider rescue sector.

The grim message was delivered as campaigners, clinicians, academics and welfare sector representatives met in Aberystwyth to discuss what organisers see as the “crisis” of veterinary provision in Wales.

Ms Jones insisted at the 20 September event that critics of the current state of the sector were not “vet bashing” and praised the “amazing” practices they work with under both independent and corporate ownership.

But she said her group’s monthly vet bills had jumped from £18,000 pre-COVID to around £39,000 now.

She said: “It’s a huge worry how we’re going to fund that money to meet our responsibilities.

“The situation is just not tenable anymore. We just can’t continue to operate in this way.”

Enduring challenges

Ms Jones also highlighted the growing trend of “assisted adoptions” where owners are only able to take on new pets if the rescue group continues to finance treatment for pre-existing health issues and warned that the condition of many animals coming into the group’s care is “deteriorating”, amid enduring cost of living challenges.

She added: “The reduction in people’s ability to pay is decimating the rescue world.”

She further used her address to plead for a reduction in VAT ahead of the new Labour government’s first budget next month.

Similar demands from other welfare groups, linked specifically to veterinary care and pet food costs, were resisted by the previous Conservative administration and current senior ministers have warned the 30 October statement is likely to be “painful”.

But Ms Jones argued that a reduction would help both individual pet owners and rescue organisations.