I have eight dogs. Thankfully most are and have always been very healthy. They get rabies only vaccines. Most are rescues and I had their spayings done at the low cost spay neuter clinic. It cost $90 with post op pain meds there and $350 at my vet. I just had a dental done on one who HAD to have it, and that set me back $260. Which to me is highway robbery (sorry to any vets on this thread!) I saved the $75 they wanted me to spend on pre-op bloodwork because I knew she needed an antibiotic and had infection. A few years ago my greyhound halfway pulled her front teeth out and had to have oral surgery. At that time my husband had left me and I had no money. I took her to Tuskegee University (veterinary teaching hospital) and explained to the vet (shout out to Dr. Noriko) that I wanted her to have the best they could give her but please no extras added on. My bill after surgery and with post op meds was $98.
I think you have to know what you NEED before you go in, and what is just an added expense the vet wants to get you to pay for. I love my vet - in fact, I worked for her a few years back. I’m not going to pay $15 per dog for a nail trim when I can go to a groomer for $5. As with any other “purchase” you really have to shop around for care. It varies a lot.
[QUOTE=Fessy’s Mom;7387255]
I have another thread running about a stray dog we’ve decided to keep. It would have been $400 anyway to get this dog neutered at my old vet clinic in MA. The quote I got from my new vet? $63 plus $38 for pre-surgery bloodwork and a rabies vaccination. :eek:
Next on my list will be getting my other Pomeranian’s teeth done that was quoted at over $600 at my old vet. Even at the animal shelter clinic the quote was $400. Can’t wait to hear the quote for that one from my new vet. 
And I’m truly sorry if I have offended any vets on here. I just don’t understand the huge disparity in prices for veterinary services depending on where you live. You KNOW my new vet is making money, so how can they charge so little compared to my old vet? And conversely, how does my old vet justify their huge rates? My new vet certainly isn’t skimping in the facilities department - check out their website - http://hartlandanimalhospital.com/[/QUOTE]
OP, it’s been explained. More expensive equipment for instance. The low price spay/neuter won’t have an IV started just in case of an anesthesia problem, and you really need to ask what type of anesthesia is being used. More expensive is not always better and cheap is not always bad but sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
Just one example that may explain some of the difference, your new practice does not employ any licensed technicians, only assistants. Now I know some assistants with better skills and knowledge than some licensed techs.
Also their surgery monitoring says they have a pulse ox available, but it appears that is the extent of their monitoring equipment. Which could mean they do not monitor other vitals, namely blood pressure.
I want to be very clear, I am in no way saying that 1) this is not a good clinic or 2) that this definitively explains the pricing differences. I am basing this info only on what I see on their website. They may well have other equipment they just didn’t list and they may be practicing the best medicine around. I’m glad OP found a clinic that suits her needs and budget. I’m only pointing out some of the differences.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7387313]
OP, it’s been explained. More expensive equipment for instance. The low price spay/neuter won’t have an IV started just in case of an anesthesia problem, and you really need to ask what type of anesthesia is being used. More expensive is not always better and cheap is not always bad but sometimes you really do get what you pay for.[/QUOTE]
Which is why I posted a link to their website - my point being that they are obviously not cutting corners where care is concerned. shrugs
Horsegal - and those differences are acceptable to me. Unfortunately, not many of us can afford the top-of-the-line care that many of you are pointing out are lacking in the lesser-expensive clinics. I prefer the cheaper, yet high-quality option and consider myself very lucky to have found one.
My low cost spay neuter clinic performs the exact procedure my vet does, IV and all. Just sayin. I’ve had eight done there with great results. There are four vets on staff and they do surgeries three days a week. I am sure their ratio of good vs bad surgical outcomes is on par with a regular clinic who may do 10 surgeries a week as opposed to their 60. If there was a low cost dental clinic I would be there too.
[QUOTE=moonriverfarm;7387286]
I have eight dogs. Thankfully most are and have always been very healthy. They get rabies only vaccines. Most are rescues and I had their spayings done at the low cost spay neuter clinic. It cost $90 with post op pain meds there and $350 at my vet. I just had a dental done on one who HAD to have it, and that set me back $260. Which to me is highway robbery (sorry to any vets on this thread!) I saved the $75 they wanted me to spend on pre-op bloodwork because I knew she needed an antibiotic and had infection. A few years ago my greyhound halfway pulled her front teeth out and had to have oral surgery. .[/QUOTE]
You’re statement that $260 for a teeth cleaning is highway robbery actually IS offensive. It costs me more than that to have my own teeth cleaned and I don’t require anesthesia.
Oh I wasn’t trying to convince you not to use them, or in any way saying they are obviously a “lesser” clinic. Heck I work at one of the top of the line speciality clinics and I still can barely afford them!
My foster dog was neutered at one of the low cost clinics in the area. They cut some corners, but for something as routine as a healthy puppy neuter I felt the risks were minimal.
Much like in the human medical world there is a time and a place for low cost clinics just as there is a need for top of the line care. The difference is knowing which one ou need and when. Some people choose to spend the bigger money for that top of the line care all the time. And that’s ok, just as its fine for others to save costs where they can.
What’s never ok is for owners to be guilt tripped or pushed into spending more than they are comfortable or able on unnecessary procedures/services.
It’s equally never ok for owners to berate and try to make vets feel guilty about following the laws of their licensing boards, or for having to work with the prices imposed by their employers. While I don’t doubt there’s a rare vet making it rich, I’ll promise you >90% of the profession isn’t in it for the money.
[QUOTE=Fessy’s Mom;7387255]
I just don’t understand the huge disparity in prices for veterinary services depending on where you live. You KNOW my new vet is making money, so how can they charge so little compared to my old vet? And conversely, how does my old vet justify their huge rates? My new vet certainly isn’t skimping in the facilities department - check out their website - http://hartlandanimalhospital.com/[/QUOTE]
That seems like an easy answer to me, as the main vet at your new place graduated 26 years ago, which means he probably had zero or very minimal debt and he’s been established for almost 30 years. The other two vets are almost right out of the box new vets so it seems as though he is only recently expanding his practice after building it/saving money/paying off the mortgage, etc. over the past 26 years. That’s great.
The other thing nobody’s mentioned is that vets - by very nature of their jobs - see animals in big trouble because of stupid or ignorant and/or deceitful - heck, why not just say it? lying owners. Of course everyone on this thread, especially me 
is absolutely brilliant when it comes to our own animals and we unfailingly make correct diagnoses 100% of the time. :rolleyes: Unfortunately, vets have learned the hard way that frankly most of their clients lie to them about something and they also see lots & lots of clients who get infuriated that the vet doesn’t accept their diagnosis and the vets real-life experience is that most of the time these people are dead wrong. Of course that would never be any of us here 
but the vets’ experience is totally different. We get furious at how they treat us, forgetting that they have hundreds of other clients who have a proven track record of not knowing what they’re talking about.
Seems to me they’re utterly damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
You cant even get a patient on IV fluids here for under $200. Costs are pricey here, expensive area to buy property (building was several million), technicians salaries range around $30/hr (they are licenced and boarded…compared to many clinics who do not used licenced techs).
If you live somewhere where the average household income is $50,000 then you are likely to find cheaper prices. When you live somewhere where the average household income is $150,000 then the prices will be higher. Salaries, rent, equipment etc. all take into account when charges are applied.
Not sure how it is in the states, but in Canada there are price guidelines so all clinics are “within reason” ie. recommended fee’s for radiographs (2 views) is $90-160. Of course, clinics can play within the ranges.
Someone who has old school film radiographs, manual processors will have less overhead costs than someone who is equipped with digital radiography. There is always pros and cons, where digital radiography is instant and you can forward radiographs within minutes to specialists, old film radiographs have to be mailed out and can frequently dimisnish in quality. However, in some situations manually developed film is just as useful. Unfortunatley you don’t often get offered the “choice” - you get what the clinic offers.
I, in particular, want gold standard for my pets and I can afford it (within reason). I completely understand when people cant do it - as long as they understand this comes with increased risks.
In my own experience, there can be a huge difference between the pricing at urban/suburban clinics and more rural ones. I know that here if I drive a couple of hours out of town and go to a rural vet, pricing will be significantly less. A few years back a cat arrived at a relative’s barn and I volunteered to take her to be spayed. I drove her to a rural vet because I didn’t really want the expense of the laser hysterectomy with pre-surgery blood work and fluids that she would have had at my vet. I knew that the cost of that would be significant, and that the cat may or may not stay. Fortunately, the cat did stay and everything has worked out. A friend also purchased a farm that came with numerous unaltered cats. Luckily, it is in a rural area and she was able to gradually get them altered at a much cheaper price than she could have possibly found in a more urban area.
Truthfully, I think that a lot of that is the rent factor. I would guess that in smaller towns, vets aren’t paying the kind of rent that they are in more urban areas. If I really could not afford needed vet work for a pet, I would definitely call some rural clinics to see if I could afford it there. As it is, I prefer to use a vet really close by for everything because I find that by doing that, the vet is often able to work me in at convenient times if one of the dogs has an issue that needs to be seen right away. I called once at 7:30 AM when my dog developed a big problem overnight, and I had him there with the vet looking at him by 7:45 AM. That is huge for me, but I would encourage anyone having a major problem to look at rural clinics if they haven’t already. That is just from personal experience.
$260 for a dental with full anesthesia? I’d be terrified what sort of corners they were cutting. My vet charges @ $500-600 for a full dental and that is NORMAL in my area. Damned right I want pre-op bloodwork on a 9 year old dog!
[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;7388440]
You cant even get a patient on IV fluids here for under $200. Costs are pricey here, expensive area to buy property (building was several million), technicians salaries range around $30/hr (they are licenced and boarded…compared to many clinics who do not used licenced techs).
If you live somewhere where the average household income is $50,000 then you are likely to find cheaper prices. When you live somewhere where the average household income is $150,000 then the prices will be higher. Salaries, rent, equipment etc. all take into account when charges are applied.
Not sure how it is in the states, but in Canada there are price guidelines so all clinics are “within reason” ie. recommended fee’s for radiographs (2 views) is $90-160. Of course, clinics can play within the ranges.
Someone who has old school film radiographs, manual processors will have less overhead costs than someone who is equipped with digital radiography. There is always pros and cons, where digital radiography is instant and you can forward radiographs within minutes to specialists, old film radiographs have to be mailed out and can frequently dimisnish in quality. However, in some situations manually developed film is just as useful. Unfortunatley you don’t often get offered the “choice” - you get what the clinic offers.
I, in particular, want gold standard for my pets and I can afford it (within reason). I completely understand when people cant do it - as long as they understand this comes with increased risks.[/QUOTE]
Will your clinic hire me in 4 years?
We’ll I wouldn’t have dental work done anyway unless there was a darn good reason to do so. The problem with small animal vets today is willingness to do a procedure just because it CAN be done not because it SHOULD be done. World of difference.
Not only do the excessive charges annoy me considering I take the animal to them instead of the vet coming to me like the equine vet, but the level of lack of trust, not believing the owner knows their animal, having to prove yourself to every new tech you meet who thinks they know it all etc. contrast it with the equine vet who listens, trusts the owner, the tech that’s friendly but knowledgeable, and the ability of the owner to deworm or perform and administer other drugs and procedures on their horse without having someone breathing down their neck.
There’s a good reason why people aren’t taking their pets to the vet as me uch today and it’s not all about money.
I just had this conversation with my dentist who is becoming more and more resistant to taking his dog to a vet. He’s questioning why the vets are wanting to perform procedures that are adversely affecting the quality of the dogs life and refusing to take in to account the age of the animal etc.
What ever happen to common sense treatment. Doesn’t exist in the small animal practice anymore.
[QUOTE=Justmyluck;7388512]
Will your clinic hire me in 4 years?[/QUOTE]
LOL why not! But in comparison, the average house cost here is well over $500,000.
Our place typically just hires board certified techs (which is 3 years post tech school) for referral, and licenced techs for the ER. Never unlicended.
I think regulations are a lot more lax in the US - where clinics can operate and use “off the steet staff” performing neuters and other surgical procedures/anesthetic monitoring. Kind of scary.
[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;7391258]
LOL why not! But in comparison, the average house cost here is well over $500,000.
Our place typically just hires board certified techs (which is 3 years post tech school) for referral, and licenced techs for the ER. Never unlicended.
I think regulations are a lot more lax in the US - where clinics can operate and use “off the steet staff” performing neuters and other surgical procedures/anesthetic monitoring. Kind of scary.[/QUOTE]
Haha I mean post vet school.
[QUOTE=Marshfield;7387585]
You’re statement that $260 for a teeth cleaning is highway robbery actually IS offensive. It costs me more than that to have my own teeth cleaned and I don’t require anesthesia.[/QUOTE]
What???
The last time I went in for a cleaning I picked the dentist closest to my house. They asked me if I had dental insurance and I said no, so they said welllll you have to pay out of pocket then, and I said fine (imagining some $600 bill) and then the grand total cost was…
$75.00
(Right down the road, btw, from the vet clinic that wanted to “establish a doctor patient relationship” with a $50 examination before inserting a microchip for an additional $45 dollars, and wants $450 minimum to neuter a 20lb dog. No thank you.)
[QUOTE=Fessy’s Mom;7387255]
I have another thread running about a stray dog we’ve decided to keep. It would have been $400 anyway to get this dog neutered at my old vet clinic in MA. The quote I got from my new vet? $63 plus $38 for pre-surgery bloodwork and a rabies vaccination. :eek:
Next on my list will be getting my other Pomeranian’s teeth done that was quoted at over $600 at my old vet. Even at the animal shelter clinic the quote was $400. Can’t wait to hear the quote for that one from my new vet.
And I’m truly sorry if I have offended any vets on here. I just don’t understand the huge disparity in prices for veterinary services depending on where you live. You KNOW my new vet is making money, so how can they charge so little compared to my old vet? And conversely, how does my old vet justify their huge rates? My new vet certainly isn’t skimping in the facilities department - check out their website - http://hartlandanimalhospital.com/[/QUOTE]
I had pretty much exactly the same experience when I moved from Houston, TX to Buffalo, NY.
Suddenly everything was multiplied by four.
A topic near and dear to my heart. I called my vet and asked for an estimate to spay a dog. I then called the low cost place and asked their price. The prices were in the same ballpark, so I took the puppy to my vet, where the final bill was over 3 times what I was quoted… They said that the quote didn’t include pre-anesthetic bloodwork, antibiotics, pain pills, and a host of other charges on my bill. If all of those things are required (and they are with my vet), then why wouldn’t they be included??? Also, their base charge that just said “canine spay” was over $50 more than the quote for a spay. I am moving all of my animals to a different vet practice now. Screw them and their bait and switch tactics.
