Saying goodbye at home: the option missing from the new vet price list
Every week, someone rings us enquiring about at-home pet euthanasia and says a version of: I didn’t know this was possible.
Sometimes they found out from a neighbour. Sometimes from a friend at the park. Occasionally from a search at two in the morning, sitting on the kitchen floor next to a dog who is not getting better.
Very rarely does anyone say their vet told them years ago, when there was still time to think about it calmly, that they could have their pet put to sleep at home.
We wanted to know whether that was just us, so in 2025 Cloud 9 Vets asked an independent research agency to put the question to 400 dog and cat owners across the UK. Two-thirds, 67%, agreed they had no idea a vet could come to the house when the time to put a pet to sleep came. In the same research, 86% said they’d like a plan in place, so that when the moment arrived it was just a phone call away.
People want to prepare for their pet’s final days. Most of them don’t know one of the main options exists.
Which brings us to a document most pet owners will never read. In July, the Competition and Markets Authority published a draft Order that will require every UK veterinary practice to publish a standard price list of 36 services, priced clearly, so owners can compare. It’s a good thing, and long overdue. We have published our at home euthanasia prices since we started, back in 2017.
Three of those 36 services sit under a heading called End-of-life care: euthanasia, communal cremation, individual cremation.
There’s no separate line for euthanasia at home. In fact, there isn’t even a home visit fee anywhere on the list. And in the 49 pages of notes explaining the Order, the word “euthanasia” doesn’t appear once, while cremation gets its own section and around sixty lines of detail.
So, we’ve written to the CMA and asked them to change the proposed standard price list to include at-home euthanasia as its own line item. So a family considering their options can compare in-practice with at-home euthanasia. We want everyone to know they have choices, and as a business we’d like that choice to be visible and fairly comparable.
We’ve published our prices openly since we started in October 2017, before anyone required it of us. We always make sure fees, including for cremation if requested, and any supplements required for travel or out of hours service are clear and agreed up front. This request to the CMA follows the same principle. Families facing the hardest decision they’ll make as pet owners deserve to know what their choices are, and what each one costs, before they’re standing in a consulting room trying to think clearly.
You can read our full submission to the CMA on at-home pet euthanasia. If you’d like to add your own view, the consultation is open until 20 August 2026 and anyone can respond. The CMA’s consultation documents are here.
Common questions about at-home pet euthanasia
Can a vet come to your house to put a dog or cat to sleep in the UK?
Yes. At-home pet euthanasia is available across the UK from specialist in-home veterinary providers, and from some general practices. A vet travels to the home and the pet is put to sleep in familiar surroundings, usually with the family present. Cloud 9 Vets provides at-home pet euthanasia across the UK. Awareness remains low: in 2025 research for Cloud 9 Vets, 67% of UK dog and cat owners aged 35 and over agreed they had no idea the service existed.
How do I plan ahead for my pet’s end of life?
Start the conversation with a specialist in end of life pet care before it becomes urgent. Ask what a quality-of-life assessment involves, what your options are when the time comes, whether home visits are available, and what each option costs. In research for Cloud 9 Vets, 86% of owners said they wanted a plan in place so that when the time came it was “just a phone call away”, and 87% agreed it is hard to know when the right moment is.
Is it better to have a pet put to sleep at home or at the vet?
That depends on the pet, the family and the circumstances. Nothing makes the passing of a beloved pet easy. Our customers tell us that they find having their pet put to sleep at home makes a difficult time easier. Independent research we commissioned found 81% of UK dog and cat owners aged 35 and over said they would rather a vet visited their home than travel to a practice.
How much does at-home pet euthanasia cost in the UK?
Cloud 9 Vets charges between £289 and £369 for at-home dog euthanasia depending on your dog’s weight, £289 for cats, and from £259 for other companion animals depending on species. Those prices for euthanasia are the same wherever you live in the UK. Currently no veterinary practice is required to publish this figure at all — which is what the CMA’s draft Order would change.
Some appointments carry additional charges; same-day bookings carry a £75 supplement. Bank holiday appointments carry a surcharge, confirmed before you book. If the vet’s journey is more than twenty minutes to your address there may be an extended travel fee. Congestion or clean air zone charges are added where they apply. You will always be told the full cost before your appointment is confirmed.
Cremation is charged separately and varies with your location, your pet’s weight, whether it is individual or communal, and how the ashes are returned.
If you are comparing providers, ask what the price includes: travel, how long the appointment lasts, whether the vet can attend outside normal hours, and whether cremation is arranged and charged separately.
What has Cloud 9 Vets asked the CMA to change?
Cloud 9 Vets has asked the CMA for three changes to the draft Order:
1. List at-home euthanasia separately from euthanasia at the vets, so that owners can see both options and compare them properly.
2. Let providers who work with crematoria in different parts of the country link to a list by region, rather than naming a single crematorium as that single price would be wrong for most of their clients. Cloud 9 Vets supports the requirement to tell owners which crematorium is used but this simply cannot be answered accurately with one name.
3. Allow supplements such as extended travel, same-day booking or bank holiday service to be shown clearly, as we have done above, rather than hidden or averaged into everyone’s price.
The CMA’s consultation is open until 20 August 2026 and anyone can respond.
Written by:
Allan Edwards,
Press Officer,
