answer:Historically, flea control and heartworm prevention have been major income providers for veterinary clinics since the public (in general) does not value the service that they provide. That has largely changed now with over the counter products and online pharmacies, so these products no longer have the mark-up that they once did. Now I’m getting on my soapbox and please don’t assume that this is directed at you, the OP – it’s at the world in general. There’s a widely held double standard about veterinary care; vets are expected to be dedicated, knowledgeable, helpful, technologically up to date, compassionate, and available, but they’re not supposed to charge a living wage for what they do. Keep in mind that a veterinarian went to the same 4 year college as a physician, got accepted to a 4 year veterinary school (that has tougher admissions competition the medical school), graduated with an average of $134,000 in college loan debt, and earns a median income of $82,000. (That’s not entry level pay or average pay, that’s median pay, meaning it falls exactly in the middle of the lowest pay and the highest pay.) A veterinary specialist will have an additional 1–5 years of training. A veterinarian that wants to open a hospital buys exactly the same equipment (radiology equipment, blood work machines like chemistries, CBCs, electrolytes, blood gasses, coagulation profiles, fluid pumps, monitoring equipment, anesthesia machines, centrifuges, syringe pumps, surgical instruments, autoclaves, etc.) as a human hospital but is able to charge only a fraction for similar procedures (average cost for a hysterectomy for a woman is $9344, while an ovariohysterectomy – a spay – for a pet averages around $175). I’ve worked in emergency medicine for 20 years, and I can’t tell you how many “owners” of pets have tried to lay guilt trips on me (and everyone else in my field). “A hundred bucks for euthanasia? I’ll just take him home and shoot him.” or “You have an obligation to treat my pet, even if I can’t pay”. Guess what? I don’t have an obligation to pay for someone else’s pet. If you’ve taken on the responsibility of having a pet, that means that you’ve also taken on the responsibility of paying for its care. If you can’t afford a pet, shelters exist for exactly that reason. And I’ll tell you right now, I didn’t tell you to go out and get a puppy and then not vaccinate it so it’s dying of parvo. I didn’t tell you to let your dog run loose so it got hit by a car. I didn’t prevent you from spaying or castrating your pets so that 6–8 million animals a year are euthanized because there’s no home for them. Which of my employees should I not pay because you don’t want to pay to care for your pet? Everyone that I know in this field has too many pets, with too many health problems, because we’re all suckers who have paid for someone else’s irresponsibility. No one I know has gotten rich working in this field. Sure, some are doing better than others, but since when is being able to make a decent living a crime? Ok, I’m climbing down now…...