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Jennifer Ross is the kind of dutiful dog owner who once shelled out $15,000 for veterinary care in a single visit after her dog developed an abscess in his pancreas.

"Frankly, when I pay my bill at the vet, I have no idea what the charges relate to. I just think, 'Oh my God, this is expensive,' " says Ms. Ross, an Ottawa-area Web writer and strategist.

But pet owners like Ms. Ross are starting to question those costs. Vets set their own prices for pet medications, and some of them build in huge profit margins. Many of the drugs they prescribe are the same as those given to humans, and can be purchased at a pharmacy for a fraction of the vet cost. With some vets bucking the trend to charging higher prices, a war is brewing in Vancouver over low-cost veterinary medications.

"Ninety-nine per cent of Canadians don't know that [most of] the medicine is the same for the human and the animal," says Dr. Hakam Bhullar, a Vancouver vet.

One upscale veterinarian in Vancouver charges $54 for a pre-loaded syringe of erythropoietin, a drug used to treat anemia in pets and humans. The same syringe can be purchased for about $20 at Shoppers Drug Mart if bought in a pack of six.

Dr. Bhullar and at least 30 other Indo-Canadian vets, who call themselves B.C. Veterinarians for Justice, have filed lawsuits and are pursuing a human-rights complaint against the B.C. Veterinary Medical Association. They claim that as a group, they are being targeted for charging below-average prices for veterinary services and drugs. Among other claims, they say they are facing unfair disciplinary action by the BCVMA, and are being required to pass what they say is an unreasonable English-language proficiency test to practice in British

Columbia.

Medical association registrar Valerie Osborne said she could not comment on the lawsuits, and would only say, "the allegations are denied - we aren't targeting anybody."

Dr. Bhullar says he often charges the same as the pharmacy or less. He purchases insulin for about $4 and sells it to his clients for $8, making a $4 profit. He says there are no controls in place to stop him if he wanted to charge unwitting clients four times as much.

Ms. Osborne said a veterinarian is not allowed to charge "unconscionably high" prices. If they do, the BCVMA will hear a complaint. "It might not necessarily be proven, but we will respond to that case," she said.

"Veterinarians are free to charge what they need to survive and thrive," she added. "If a veterinarian can afford to provide their services for free, all the more power to them, if they can self-fund. We do not regulate prices."

Ms. Osborne said it's up to consumers to do their homework and shop around for lower drug prices.

Ms. Ross says she values her vet's ongoing care, but adds "there is a profit motive behind vets, and I think we forget that."

Mandy Butcher, founder of the 23-year-old Vancouver cat shelter Meow Aid, says pet owners shouldn't feel guilty for shopping around for cheaper options.

Ms. Butcher is currently housing 45 cats in need of adoption, some of whom are old and require daily medications. Ms. Butcher relies on a low-cost veterinarian for multiple packages of drugs such as antibiotics and insulin.

"People don't understand that you can phone one vet and get a price, and you can phone another and get a price that's a quarter of that. People don't seem to get that," Ms. Butcher says. "They're too trusting."

In Moncton, Dr. Paul Boutet, a spokesman and past president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, says he routinely writes prescriptions for his clients and tells them to shop around for the best deal on medication. But he also defends veterinarians' medication pricing as a matter of staying in business.

"It's all a question of, 'How do I keep it so that my practice runs?' There is absolutely no government subsidy for veterinarians. ... So all the things you have to do have to generate revenue so you can pay the salaries of your staff, who most of the time are underpaid ... and to buy equipment that wears out all the time," Dr. Boutet says. "It has to come from somewhere. Nobody likes to charge for medication that animals need, unfortunately."

Ms. Ross wishes there were guidelines in place to provide a breakdown of costs so that consumers could have the power of choice.

"I wish there was a way I could understand the actual cost better," Ms. Ross says. "What is my vet's standard drug markup? Is it 300 per cent? Or is it 100 per cent? And how does that compare across the board, so I can have a better way of measuring that value?"