If you cannot afford the bill
Free and low-cost vet care
A consultation typically costs £62 and putting a pet to sleep £120. If you are on certain benefits, three charities treat pets for free or for much less, at 70 clinics across the UK. Whether you qualify depends on which benefits you receive and where you live, so the clinic's own checker is the only place that can tell you for certain.
Who helps, and who they help
Every one of these has its own rules. Check with them, not with us.
PDSA
Free or low-cost treatment if you receive certain benefits and live in the catchment of a PDSA pet hospital. Check your postcode on their own eligibility page.
52 clinics we know of. Check with PDSA
RSPCA
Reduced-cost treatment at some branch clinics, set by each local branch and usually for owners on benefits. Ask the branch what it offers.
12 clinics we know of. Check with RSPCA
Blue Cross
Low-cost treatment at their animal hospitals and pet care clinics for owners on means-tested benefits who live nearby. Registration is by postcode.
6 clinics we know of. Check with Blue Cross
We do not decide who is eligible and we cannot apply on your behalf. These figures are the clinics we have found and matched; a charity may run others we have missed.
Find a clinic
Enter a postcode to see the nearest, or browse the list below.
Every clinic we know of
Grouped by charity, then by town.
Blue Cross (6)
- Blue Cross pet care clinic, DerbyDerby · 4.5
- Blue Cross Animal Hospital, GrimsbyGrimsby · 4.6
- Blue Cross Pet ClinicHammersmith · 4.5
- Blue Cross Pet ClinicSheffield
- Blue Cross Pet ClinicWestminster · 4.6
- Blue Cross Pet Care ClinicYork · 3.5
PDSA (52)
- PDSA Pet HospitalAberdeen · 4.6
- PDSA HendonBarnet · 4.5
- PDSA Pet Aid HospitalBasildon · 4.5
- PDSA Antrim RoadBelfast · 4.7
- PDSA Pet ClinicBelfast · 4.8
- Birmingham (Aston) PDSA Pet HospitalBirmingham · 4.4
- PDSA Pet HospitalBirmingham
- PDSABlackpool · 4.6
- Bournemouth PDSA Pet HospitalBournemouth · 4.5
- Bradford PDSA Pet HospitalBradford · 4.5
- PDSABrighton and Hove · 4.6
- PDSA PetAid hospitalBristol · 4.6
- Cardiff PDSA Pet HospitalCardiff · 4.6
- PDSA Pet HospitalCity of Edinburgh
- PDSA PetAid HospitalCroydon · 4.5
- PDSA Petaid HospitalDerby · 4.6
- Pdsa vetsDoncaster
- PDSA Pet HospitalDundee · 4.2
- PDSA Charity ShopElgin · 5.0
- PDSA Pet HospitalGateshead · 4.5
- PDSA PetAid HospitalGillingham · 4.1
- Glasgow (East) PDSA Pet HospitalGlasgow · 4.7
- Glasgow PDSA Pet HospitalGlasgow · 4.6
- Thamesmead PDSA Pet HospitalGreenwich · 4.3
- Hull PDSA Pet HospitalHull · 4.5
- PDSA Pet ClinicIlford · 4.6
- PDSAKingston Upon Hull
- PDSA Pet Aid HospitalKingston Upon Hull
- PDSA Pet HospitalLeeds · 4.4
- Leicester PDSA Pet HospitalLeicester · 4.7
- PDSA Pet HospitalLeicester
- PDSA Pet Aid HospitalLewisham · 4.5
- Liverpool (Huyton) PDSA Pet HospitalLiverpool · 4.4
- Liverpool (Kirkdale) PDSA Pet HospitalLiverpool · 4.6
- Manchester PDSA Pet Wellbeing CentreManchester · 4.5
- PDSAMargate · 4.6
- PDSA Pet HospitalNewcastle Upon Tyne · 4.6
- PDSANottingham
- PDSA Pet HospitalPlymouth · 4.6
- Romford PDSA Pet HospitalRomford · 4.5
- PDSA Pet HospitalSandwell · 4.3
- PDSASheffield
- PDSA Pet HospitalSouthampton · 4.7
- PDSAStockport · 4.2
- PDSA Pet HospitalStoke-on-Trent · 4.6
- PDSASunderland
- Sunderland PDSA Pet HospitalSunderland · 4.6
- Swansea PDSA Pet HospitalSwansea · 4.4
- PDSA Pet Aid HospitalTower Hamlets · 4.6
- PDSA PetAid HospitalTrafford
- Portsmouth (Cowplain) PDSA Pet HospitalWaterlooville · 4.6
- PDSA PetAid hospitalWolverhampton · 4.5
RSPCA (12)
- RSPCA Veterinary ClinicBournemouth · 4.5
- RSPCA Medway West ClinicChatham · 4.4
- RSPCAChelmsford · 4.5
- RSPCA Essex North East BranchColchester · 4.4
- RSPCA Aberconwy Branch Animal Welfare ClinicConwy · 4.7
- RSPCA Coventry & District Vet ClinicCoventry · 4.5
- RSPCA ClinicGreat Yarmouth
- RSPCA East Norfolk Branch - RSPCA Animal Welfare ClinicGreat Yarmouth · 4.7
- RSPCA (East Winch Wildlife Centre)King's Lynn · 4.7
- RSPCAPreston
- RSPCA ClwydRhyl
- RSPCA Hillingdon ClinicUxbridge · 4.2
If you do not qualify
Most people do not, and there are still things worth doing before you agree to treatment.
Ask for a written estimate. Practices have to give you one for anything expected to cost over £500, and you are entitled to ask for one at any price. It is the moment to ask what is essential now and what could wait.
Ask what the options are. There is often more than one way to treat something, at different prices. A vet cannot offer you a cheaper option you have not asked about if they assume you want the best available.
Ask about paying over time. 326 practices on this site say they offer a payment plan or spread the cost. It is not advertised loudly.
Compare before you register, not after. The gap between the cheapest and dearest vet in one town is often £20 on a consultation and over £100 on an operation. Find your town.
Buy long-term medicines elsewhere. Ask for a written prescription, which is capped at £21, and buy the medicine from a registered online pharmacy. On a dear medicine that saves more than the prescription costs. What medicines cost online.
Insurance only helps before something happens. A condition your pet already has will not be covered. If you have a healthy pet and no insurance, that is the decision to make today rather than after a diagnosis.
Common questions
Can I get free vet treatment?
Possibly, if you receive certain means-tested benefits and live near one of the charity clinics. PDSA is the largest, treating pets for owners on benefits who live in the catchment of one of its pet hospitals. PDSA, the RSPCA and Blue Cross run the 70 clinics listed here, each with its own rules. Each charity decides, not us, so use the links above to check your own postcode and circumstances.
What if I am not eligible but still cannot afford it?
Ask the practice for a written estimate before anything starts, and ask what the options are rather than assuming there is only one. 326 practices on this site say they offer a payment plan or will spread the cost. For long-term medicines, ask for a written prescription, which costs at most £21, and buy from a registered online pharmacy. And compare practices: the difference between the cheapest and dearest vet in one town is often more than £100 on an operation.
Will a charity vet put my pet to sleep cheaply?
Euthanasia typically costs £120 at a private practice, and charity clinics will usually help an eligible owner when it is the right decision for the animal. It is worth ringing before you need to, because being told the cost at the worst possible moment is what this whole site exists to prevent.
Is a charity vet as good as a private one?
They are all registered veterinary surgeons held to the same professional standards. Charity clinics are usually busier, have less choice of appointment time, and will often treat the immediate problem rather than offer every option a private referral centre could. For routine and urgent care the difference is convenience, not competence.
About this page: the clinics listed are practices in our database run by these charities, found through OpenStreetMap and Google Maps. Eligibility rules are summarised from each charity's own published wording and are not ours to interpret. We are not connected to any of them, we receive nothing for listing them, and we cannot tell you whether you qualify. If a clinic is missing, closed or wrongly listed, tell us.