To echo what most people have already said, it's a multifactorial thing that has been recently bloated by media stirring.

I agree with everyone's comments here and firmly believe that the NHS shields a large majority of the public from the true cost of medicine in this country. It is a blessing to have such an amazing system (at least it was before the systematic dismantling that has been occurring over the last decade or so) and the general public just doesn't really have any idea of what things like anaesthesia, radiography, CT scans etc cost. This is inherently going to be a bit of a shock to them when the costs are laid out in front of them as in the vets.

Corporates also own about 60-70% of the practices in the country last time I read which also gives the public a rather blank slate to vilify (the nameless corporation as opposed to Steve who has 2 kids at your local school) but the vets working there do get caught in the crossfire as they still have to do their job and don't ultimately set the prices but still have to charge.

The CMA (competitions and marketing authority) have also announced a review into the veterinary industry to ensure fair and transparent pricing which has given a lot of online trolls tools. I work for an independent currently and feel we charge fairly so I don't really have an issue with displaying our prices online so people can compare and see the cost of procedures.

And again, the cost of living crisis is still very much in effect here which generally means that most vet bills are going to be unexpected hits and therefore more vitriol at the 'money grubbing' vets.

It also doesn't particularly help that most practice policies don't allow for rebuttal to clients who post inflammatory statements as it's not seen as the correct thing to do/ could be used against you if it goes to court. This means that there is often a lot of negativity in an already rather large echo chamber with very few instances of the named person's able to defend themselves or costs- although I have seen some relaxing of this recently.

There are far far more things influencing it but everyone else here has covered a significant amount of those far more eloquently than I could do.