If Price Increases Make You Feel Heavy, Read This

I know a lot of us are staring at upcoming price increases. And if I’m being honest, I always feel that familiar heaviness when this season rolls around. Even after all these years, there’s still that little knot in my chest when it’s time to adjust fees. That quiet dread creeps in… What will clients think? What if they’re upset? What if someone can’t afford care?

And over time, I’ve learned something important: I’m not the only one who feels this way.

The guilt around raising prices comes up again and again whenever I talk with veterinary practice owners and leaders. Most of us didn’t get into this profession because we wanted to talk about margins and fee schedules. We got here because we love animals and the people who love them. So when financial decisions collide with emotion (which they always do in veterinary medicine), guilt tends to show up fast. But here’s the truth I had to learn… and honestly, I had to learn it the hard way: Not raising prices out of guilt is not a virtue — it’s a liability.

As clinic leaders, our responsibility isn’t only to our clients. We also carry responsibility for our teams and for the long-term health of the practices we steward. If a clinic isn’t financially stable, it simply can’t support the people inside it. It can’t offer competitive wages, meaningful benefits, or manageable schedules. It can’t reinvest in training, technology, or equipment. And eventually, it can’t stay open to serve anyone at all. A clinic that quietly undercharges doesn’t preserve access to care. It slowly creates burnout, understaffing, turnover, rushed appointments, and emotional exhaustion for the team trying to hold it together. And that helps no one. Here’s the uncomfortable, but surprisingly freeing, reality: Not every client will be able to afford care at every hospital and that does not make you a bad veterinarian or leader.

You are not responsible for solving the entire societal affordability crisis in veterinary medicine. You are responsible for running an ethical, financially sustainable practice that cares for both patients and people. When prices stay artificially low because of guilt, someone still pays the price… it just isn’t the client. It becomes your team. Through stagnant wages. Through stretched staffing. Through fewer resources. Through mounting emotional fatigue. That is not compassionate leadership. That is avoidance wrapped in kindness.

True leadership is learning how to hold heart and responsibility at the same time. And this is a sentence I wish someone had said to me years ago: Caring deeply does not require self-sacrifice to the point of collapse.

You can be compassionate and financially responsible. You can advocate for your clients and honor the value of what you provide. You can care about access to care and lead a business that stays healthy and viable. Price is not a reflection of greed. It’s a reflection of sustainability. So if this end-of-year pricing season is stirring up guilt for you, I just want to say: you don’t have to carry that anymore. You aren’t betraying your values by running a sound business — you’re protecting them. And I don’t believe any of us entered this profession to barely survive. I believe we came here to build clinics that flourish; for our teams, our clients, and the pets who depend on all of us every single day.