Spaying and the cost rant!!


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Flicka ~ CGC

Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 4:30pm PST 
I gues you have to find a vet who actually cares about the animals and not if you can put his kids through college.

My vet is wonderful.... charges well under $100 for a female(including after care and meds and will make it less if he feels the person needs some "help") and $60 for a male... ditto.

He runs a big and small animal practice... believes if you keep your prices low... folk can afford to look after their animals.,

He doesnt drive a BMW and his kids are being put through school but him and his wife.

I know it isnt the same everywhere.... but keep looking for a low cost sp/euter surgery... they do exsist as do vets with morals.....

Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 5:52pm PST 
Try seeing if rescue shelters offer the surgery, or something similar. A vet clinic is going to be the most expensive place to have it done most likely.

Work? What's- that?
Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 7:43pm PST 
Oh for heaven's sake.

Vets are not obligated to lose money when they perform a surgery to be "moral." That's absolutely ridiculous.

If you can find one willing to lose money, then great, good for him. But just because a business charges enough to cover expenses for a surgery and have some profit left over besides, doesn't make them an "immoral" vet.

They've got employees to pay, school loans to pay off (they went long enough to get a doctorate), building rent to pay, supplies for that surgery (consumables like the anesthetics needed, but also capital expenses like the table, monitors, etc)...

$100 on a spay isn't going to cut it. Surgery isn't cheap. And if I'm going to trust a vet to cut open my dog's abdomen and remove part of her body, I'd prefer him to be using state of the art tech, and not be losing money and thereby trying to go as quickly as possible to minimize his loses.

You get what you pay for. If you want a $1000 surgery (FAR less the same thing would cost for a human, but I'm attempting to account for the cut in cost due to frequency of performance) at a tenth of the cost, don't be surprised when complications happen. Not saying they will, I'm saying it's significantly more likely.

Y'all are spoiled expecting to be catered to like that. Yes, there's a shelter problem. But vets also have bills of their own to pay. They're running a business, and it's their choice whether to operate partially as a charity or not, and it doesn't make them "immoral" because they choose not to hemorrhage money by essentially spaying your dog for free. Bully for them if they do. But the entitlement attitude is preposterous.

My vet would charge about $90 to have Samson castrated. I'd also get exactly what I pay for. A rapidly-performed surgery, a larger-than-necessary scar, longer healing time, more bruising, and no pain meds.

It's not because he's a butcher, it's because he's charging $90 for a surgery, and in order to minimize his losses, he's got to do them quickly. Do that same thing at $400 and I expect him to take a bit more time and care.

This is an elective surgery. You do not NEED to have your dog spayed, it is entirely something done for our convenience. If you want top treatment for your pet and can afford it, there's clinics that will offer that. However it is also a moral issue and there are mobile clinics, shelters, rescues, etc, who over subsidized prices for those who can't afford the actual cost of the surgery - surgeries often performed by the same vets who charge more in office.

So take a step back and think exactly what you're saying before accusing veterinarians of being "immoral" and "greedy" just because they have the gall to charge enough not to actually stay ahead.

A dog is a major investment. You have MONTHS to start setting aside money, a little bit at a time. And if you can't get enough set aside, you've got MONTHS more to do it in, or you can get it done at cost. You are not entitled to have your dog spayed at someone else's loss. It's an ELECTIVE surgery. You should feel humbled that such a thing is even made available to you, regardless.

I guarantee you that if we didn't have a population issue with unwanted pets, a $600 spay would be completely the norm, and you'd be laughed out of everywhere you went asking for a $100 elective surgery.

The amount of money a veterinarian is willing to lose (or gain) on a sterilization surgery is not even close to an appropriate measure of how much he cares about animals, and it's appalling to hear that anyone would believe that.

Edited by author Sat Oct 27, '12 7:57pm PST



Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 8:02pm PST 
I have a friend in southern Ontario and the clinic she goes to would charge about $250 for a spay for a dog that size. $560 is to much for a dog of that size IMO.
Flicka ~ CGC

Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 10:09pm PST 
edit to delete post...isnt worth it....

My vet doesnt cut corners.. doesnt butcher to be cheaper.. and frankly.. as long as he cares as he does.. and has the excellent skills he does...I am happy to use his top class services in a top class Practice.

OP... do the best you can....keep looking...

Edited by author Sat Oct 27, '12 10:22pm PST


When the night- closes in I will- be there
Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 10:24pm PST 
The OP said prices started at 350. That seems pretty normal to me.
When I had Sabs done I paid extra for a number of things including xrays, and bloodwork. As Samson said it IS an elective surgery. Personally I don't notice much difference in caring for an intact dog so if money was an issue I simply would not do it. However I understand that most people are not as diligent as I am. Sabi is old and spayed and seldom unattended. The least she gets is supervision, at worst I am standing out in the yard with her. Shadow is young and not spayed and the longest she is outside alone is when I am getting more water for her.

Farlekiin the- Dragonborn
Barked: Sun Oct 28, '12 12:55am PST 
Samson applause

Million Dollar- Mutt
Barked: Sun Oct 28, '12 9:53am PST 
Prices all depend on the cost of living. I live in the far suburbs of Chicago. The price of vet care changes drastically depending on if I drive 20 minutes closer to the city, or 20 minutes away from the city.

To be honest- paying to have your puppy spayed and other routine vet care should have been budgeted for when you bought your puppy. For the price you paid to get a puppy with minimal vet care off of kijiji, you could have gotten one from a rescue with most of the basic care, spay included, from a rescue.

Finally- many rescues and animal welfare leagues have programs for reduced cost spay and neuter. You said you are low income, so you may qualify for those programs. Make some phone calls to local clinics and shelters, they should be able to point you in the right direction.
Ginger DSA- ThD TT CGC - &hearts

My Angel
Barked: Sun Oct 28, '12 7:35pm PST 
That doesn't sound horribly high for a spay surgery to me, depending on what is included. thinking
Although most of my pets were already s/n when I got them, and the ones who were not started out as strays I was fostering (not planned purchases) and I took most of them to spay/neuter clinics run by a shelter or rescue while they were fosters (I was planning to get them vetted and find homes for them), and they did not have huge incisions or long healing times or anything like that...

If you can't afford it look into spay/neuter programs at shelter or rescues or other things. I know in the US you can get a certificate for a s/n from an organization that has a lot of vets who participate in their program but I don't think they are active in Canada.

I'm the PRINCESS- of the house!
Barked: Mon Oct 29, '12 8:32am PST 
I went threw the yellow pages and basically just called everything fron local to semi local and kept calling the most cheapest is 175 (i can mangage to save for that!!) but 560 is nuts) i know their are people out there who can afford that but i cannot. Although if somthing serious happened to her i would pay whatever i could to help little Emma after all she is my baby!!
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