Methodology
How Petfair compares veterinary prices
Petfair shows a comparison only when the clinic price and benchmark are recent, like-for-like and supported by enough distinct practices. If those conditions are not met, we omit the comparison.
What comparable means
Both the clinic and benchmark must publish an exact or fixed numeric price for the same canonical service. Qualified “from”, “up to”, range, conditional, bundled and per-part prices are excluded.
Species, sex, life stage and dose structure are kept separate where they materially change the treatment. Cat spay and cat castration are distinct. Two-dose and three-dose puppy or kitten vaccination courses are never combined, and a course whose dose count is not stated is excluded.
Local and national samples
- The target clinic is always excluded from its own benchmark.
- Each clinic counts once per exact comparison variant, even when it publishes duplicate rows.
- Duplicate eligible rows within one clinic and one variant collapse to that clinic’s median price.
- Local search starts at 5 miles, then expands to 10 and 15 miles.
- The first radius containing at least five other comparable clinics is used.
- Where national comparison is permitted, it requires at least 20 other comparable clinics.
The benchmark is the mathematical median. Petfair reports the pound difference as cheaper than, more expensive than, or in line with that median. We do not publish rankings, percentiles or value judgements.
Price freshness
A price is comparison-eligible only when its source was obtained or verified within the last 180 days. Unknown or older dates are excluded. Build dates, deployment dates, file timestamps and routine import times are never treated as price freshness.
Comparison blocks identify when the target and comparator prices were checked and link back to the target price source. Read more about how Petfair collects prices.
Current v1 scope
- Cat spay and cat castration may use a local benchmark, then a national fallback.
- Microchipping is national-only.
- Explicit two-dose and three-dose puppy or kitten courses are local-only within the supported London coverage area.
- London vaccination observations are not presented as a UK-wide national sample.
Other procedures receive no comparison until their service identity, coverage and freshness meet the same standard. Missing coordinates also prevent a local radius calculation; national fallback is used only where the procedure permits it.