I hope not many vets are doing any surcharges. I don't know why this area is so bad, but people haven't been able to register at any other vets for about a year now. One vets posted there's a 7+ week wait on vaccinations, including puppy/kitten, so we are seeing a lot of those clients at work as there is no issue with vaccs there. A lady called yesterday with a cat struggling to breathe, lives 40 mins away, had tried the local vets but was told you had to use a vets you were registered at and cos the lady had said she'd been to my work vets 10 years ago for a free cat spay they said she can't register with them and has to come to us. But the free neutering was done under a charity scheme so the client wasn't even registered with us! We obviously saw the cat.
I was worrying about getting an appointment for Ellie pig as one of her lumps has gone scabby and I'm worried about it ulcerating, but luckily I've got her booked in on Wednesday and I trust the vets I use to be able to see me if I really needed an appt.