History and Philosophy

The VETS FOR LESS philosophy is based on the fact that approximately 95% of the animal patients seen in the average veterinary clinic are presented for basic, everyday, common concerns, such as vaccines, spays & neuters, skin/ear/eye problems, minor intestinal and respiratory ailments, urinary problems, parasite control, lacerations, abscesses, bite wounds, mass removals and teeth cleaning, just to name a few. VETS FOR LESS limits their scope of practice to these types of services and cases which allows for lower overhead expenses and lower costs for our clients. The other 5% of patients that veterinarians see are for catastrophic problems, such as poisonings, hit-by-cars, orthopedic cases and major medical and/or surgical cases. These cases usually require hospitalization and extensive testing and/or surgical procedures and intensive care and are referred by VETS FOR LESS to local full-service animal hospitals or specialists.

The owner of VETS FOR LESS is Dr. Jeffrey Miller, who graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California Davis in 1974. In 1983 after having built and sold several successful full-service veterinary practices, Dr. Miller realized that many animals were not getting proper veterinary care because of its prohibitive high cost. He wanted to come up with a business plan and philosophy that could correct for this problem. At this time, Dr. Miller started a partnership with one of his U.C. Davis classmates.  Dr. Miller realized that by limiting the scope of their practice they were able to provide high quality care for common, everyday veterinary services and procedures which enabled them to keep their prices more affordable for the average pet owner.

Applying this philosophy and business plan, Dr. Miller went on to build three successful practices in California, which were subsequently sold so that he could move to Washington. He opened his first Vets for Less Animal Clinic in Lynnwood, Washington in 1992, followed by clinics in Kirkland, Puyallup and Federal Way. All of the clinics except the newest one in Federal Way have been sold to former employee veterinarians who were so impressed with the philosophy and success of Vets for Less that they wanted to own the clinics for themselves. As the sole owner of the Vets For Less corporation, Dr. Miller now works in the Federal Way clinic and plans on opening additional clinics in the greater Puget Sound area in the near future.

VETS FOR LESS remains committed to providing high quality, affordable veterinary care for pets and their owners. We have also extended our low cost services to many humane groups, both private and public, that have cost concerns when it comes to getting quality veterinary care for pets. We truly believe that ALL pets deserve high quality, affordable veterinary care.

— Dr. Jeff Miller, owner, Vets for Less, Inc.