Dr. Marshall Scott already has seen pet owners become less willing to spend money on costly procedures with the recent economic downturn.
He fears a state proposal to levy a sales tax on veterinary services would make matters worse.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month proposed broadening the sales tax to a number of services to close an $11.2 billion budget gap. In addition to veterinarian services, sales tax would be applied to furniture and appliance repair, auto repair, golf, amusement parks and sporting events.
The proposal was not included in legislative budget proposals so far. If it is included and adopted, it would become effective Feb. 1. The governor's finance office estimates the revenue generated would be $357 million through the end of the current fiscal year.
The California Veterinary Medical Association has been lobbying strongly against the tax, saying it could increase the cost of veterinary care by 9 percent. They say some animals may not get necessary care and end up abandoned or euthanized.
Scott, a veterinarian at Pedley Square Veterinary Clinic in Riverside, said he already has seen a trend of clients being less willing to opt for diagnostic or laboratory tests, especially for animals that are older or severely injured.
"The number of people coming in hasn't slowed," he said. "What they can afford to do has certainly dropped."
With the additional cost of the sales tax, even more people may choose to euthanize their pets, Scott said.
He said veterinarians feel the proposal is unfair and question why medical or dental services aren't included.
"I think we're being singled out and I think it's going to be a hardship," he said.
H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance, said the proposal was not an attempt to single out any industry but find those where it would be easiest to collect sales tax. Veterinarians, like others in the proposal, already pay sales tax for items sold at clinics.
"This was just an attempt to feed revenue in a timely manner," Palmer said.
Roy Saldanha, a veterinarian at Arlington Animal Hospital in Riverside, said veterinary services shouldn't be lumped in with the other industries.
"Those not critical sorts of industries," he said. "People coming in with ill pets -- that's a critical sort of situation as opposed to amusement parks."
(E-mail Imran Ghori of the Riverside Press Enterprise at ighori(at)PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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