Who writes this, and what they do and do not know

What this site is expert in

Finding published prices and making them comparable. That is a data problem, and it is the problem this site is built to solve: locating every veterinary practice in the UK, finding the price list each one publishes, reading thousands of differently laid out web pages and PDFs into one standard set of 36 lines, and working out what the typical figure is without letting a misread page distort it. The method is published in full, including the parts that are difficult and the parts that go wrong.

It is also expert in the rules themselves. The CMA's Order runs to hundreds of pages across the Order, its schedules and the explanatory note. We have read them and written them up in plain English with the deadlines, the 36 required prices, the prescription fee cap and the ownership disclosure, and we link to the source so you can check us.

What this site is not expert in

Veterinary medicine. Nobody involved in this site is a veterinary surgeon or a veterinary nurse, and the site carries no clinical advice of any kind. That is a deliberate boundary, not an oversight. Deciding what treatment an animal needs requires examining the animal, which a website cannot do, and it belongs to your own vet.

So you will not find us saying whether your dog needs a dental, whether a practice's approach is right, or which medicine to use. You will find what each practice charges for the things your vet may recommend, so that the cost is not a surprise and so that you can ask about it. If you want to know whether a treatment is necessary, ask the vet. If you want to know what it should cost, that is what this site is for.

We also do not rate or rank practices on quality. We show Google's star rating where it exists, labelled as Google's, and reviews written here under published rules, kept separate from each other. We do not combine them into a score of our own, because we have no basis for one.

How the work is checked

• Every figure traces back to a source. Each price is stored with the exact text it was read from, the page it came from and the date. Nothing is typed in by hand and nothing is estimated.
• Lines we are unsure about are held back, not shown. A reading with low confidence never reaches the site. A price far outside the national range for its line waits for a person to look at it.
• A typical price needs enough practices behind it. Medians are not shown until at least three practices publish that line for that size of animal, because a middle value drawn from two is noise.
• Neutral wording about compliance. "No price page found" is a statement about our reading on a date, never a finding that a practice has broken a rule. We are not a regulator and we do not write as though we were.
• Corrections are published, not quietly applied. The corrections page lists the mistakes that changed the site, with dates, including several that were ours.
• A person reads every review before it appears, and no review publishes automatically.

Independence and how we are paid

This site has no connection with any veterinary practice, any of the large groups, any insurer, the CMA or the RCVS. No practice pays to be listed, to rank higher, or to be left out, and no practice sees a page before it goes up. Verifying a listing is free.

It is paid for by advertising and, on the pages about insurance and buying medicines online, by links that earn a commission if you buy. Those never touch which practices appear, the order they appear in, or any figure shown. The funding is set out in full, and if that ever changes this page and that one will change with it.

Disagree with something?

Say so. The contact form reaches the editor, a person answers within two working days, and a second look is available if the first answer does not satisfy you. Practices get their corrections dealt with first. The corrections and complaints procedure sets out the whole route, including what to do if you are still not satisfied.

This site is published by Search Ventures Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under number 10588553. Registered office: 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 7DE. Email [email protected]. We are not a veterinary practice and we do not provide veterinary services.