This is eye opening! I might be making a trip back to my old vet when little man needs his dental. They do blood work, monitoring, etc. and I think my total came out in the low 400s maybe even high 300s.
I paid 260 for a dental with 12 !?! extractions on my pug. base fee plus 5.00 per tooth
I donāt feel any procedure with the staff, the expense and the equipment is a racket.
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My catās dental was in the $450 range for cleaning and one extraction. The majority of the cost was the anesthesia, plus she had to have blood work beforehand due to her age.
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Its a total racket. Now that some people think dogs are children and spend thousands on them regardless of the expected outcome the small animal vets are raising their prices so they can make a killing. The last two unregulated medical practices are human dentists and vets. My dentist says this is the golden age of dentist to make as much money as he can till regulations control his prices.
I shop around for my dogs dental care and if I go out of town to a rural area the prices are 50% less . As there is a vet school here we are saturated with small animal vets so its a matter of calling around and trying rural vets.
And those of you who feel $600 is justified are part of the problem. Please there isnāt an registered nurse assisting but more likely a vet tech or someone the vet trained to assist. The expenses are minimal . In town vets charge 3X the price for CBC (blood counts) than human pay,same for ultra sound.
Its just outrageous.
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I went back to my old vet for my two younger dogsā dentals just the other week. I thought my new city would be much more expensive, but it turns out I could have broken even once I considered the gas to get there. Oh well, made for a nice trip.
No bloodwork was drawn, but the under 50lb dog was $150 and the over 50lb dog was $160 I believe. Or maybe it was 155/165, something like that.
If I had stayed in town and gone to the low-cost clinic that just does spay/neuter, vax, dental cleanings and lump biopsies, it would have been $175 per dog. This is in the Southeast US
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I also had several add-onās done at the same time including a biopsy for my weimaraner including lab work on it, and that portion was ~150 (50 for the lab, 100 for the simple biopsyā¦).
Two years ago I had the little young one get a tooth pulled and it was nearly the cost of the cleaning- since she had to go under for it, as well- not sure what extraction would cost at the same time as the cleaning.
Itās a total racket. We vets love to rob unsuspecting owners of their hard earned money and dentals are the way to do it. We do blood work prior, do pointless monitoring with a licensed technician at the machines the entire time, intubate to keep your dog from aspirating, pull any teeth that may be causing pain or infection (if our own bills are exceptionally high that week, we may pull all the teeth just for the hell of it), we then watch them as they recover from anesthesia. The idea behind it is to prevent, again, pain or infection. Sometimes that infection can go to the heart and cause infection and lead to valvular issues later, but who cares? We donāt. We just want your money. We like sending your 8 year old Yorkie home on 3 different cardiac meds. Again, another racket. Basically donāt take your dogs to vets ever. They just want to vaccinate your dog to death, give expensive flea and tick medications, put them on dangerous antibiotics when they have infections, and then refer you to very, very expensive orthopaedic surgeons when your running loose dog (Iām looking at you viney) gets hit by a car. But donāt worry about us. We all live in mansions, and drive fancy cars because weāre in it for the money.
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I need to ask, since when are vets NOT REGULATED? We are inspected every year, have to do continuing education EVERY YEAR, are unbelievably regulated up the @$$. What exactly are we unregulated about?
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Heck, I was trying to figure out how the dentist was not regulated too. My dentist agreed to take my dental insurance and like the doctor who takes my health insurance, agreed to be paid what their prices were. (Yes, we had this conversation.) His base fee for a cleaning is a bit more than my insurance pays, I do not get billed the difference, the same way my medical insurance works.
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Three years ago I had a dental done on our Cocker and it was $600, including pre-op bloodwork. I felt it was a little high for our area, but it wasnāt the most expensive vet we have, either.
I think comparing canine dental to equine dental is apples to orangesā¦ My equine dentist doesnāt sedate AT ALL, and the horses that have been sedated are not under general anesthesia. Dogs/cats are put totally under; itās a completely different thing.
That being said, my small-animal vet suggests (but doesnāt necessarily urge) dental work when teeth need cleaning, but I have had one cat and one dog that had serious dental issues-- the dog had a cracked/abscessed molar, and the cat had a mouthful of rotten teeth. Both had bad breath (particularly the cat, OMG), so the cleaning and dental work was not optional. The cat ended up with all but 3 of his teeth being pulled ($800), and the dog had two pulled ($500). Considering that both were surgical procedures, I didnāt find either to be excessive.
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The ONLY wealthy veterinarians I know either married money or inherited it. The folks who came after me are routinely paying $1000 a month on their student loans. Veterinarians are NOT making a killing. I have way more skills than my GPāsoft tissue surgery, dentistry, orthopedics, internal medicine and she makes 3x what I do. Increasing costs of providing our staff with health insurance have hit us hard (and many other small businesses). There are some on the job trained technicians, but many of us use licensed veterinary technicians with college degrees.
Humans are shielded from the true costs of their medical care by insurance. Weāre all around the same price for CBC/Chem in my area, and it comes in a smidge less than what the area hospital/lab bill my insurance company when my rheumatologist checks me.
Property tax/lease fees vary hugely in rural vs urban areas. My drug rep helped oversee the building of my practice and at the same time helped another veterinarian outside of Boston do the same. My building is nicer and a bit largerāit cost half as much to do the build out on mine. Her daily overhead is essentially double mine just because of the practice loan. She also has to pay her staff more because their cost of living due to housing costs is higher.
We are very heavily regulated. Each state has a Veterinary Licensing board which oversees us. We also are overseen by DEA and USDA. My CE is on a biannual requirement, but it is required. And then thereās CE for USDA which doesnāt count towards my biannual requirement as one state Iām licensed in only allows a small amount of the CE to be online. Heck, Maine Health and Human Services has now decided that Iām supposed to report to them too (whole long story requiring veterinarians to violate Hippa regulations if we follow the new law)
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Iām pretty sure my vetās February special, including lab work, was $240. I paid more than that because I got the senior blood panel done, and also had a growth removed and biopsied while they had the dog there.
As to walkers comment regarding vet techs, registered vet techs actually go to school just like nurses do. You can go to a 2 year nursing school or a 4 year nursing school. Same with vet techs. Only vet techs donāt make anywhere near what a nurse makes. They are trained in monitoring, assisting with surgery - you know, just like a āreal nurse.ā I rely heavily on my techs to help me in surgery, so I wouldnāt downplay the role they play in veterinary medicine.
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I just took my dog (a 45lb pit-bull) to the vet yesterday for his annual teeth cleaning and vaccinations. I paid $489. I opted in for blood work to make sure he was o.k. for anesthesia (he is 10 years old) and I opted in for fluids to be administered while he was under. I consider it money well spent - particularly in his case because he has poor quality teeth (he has had at least 7 extracted because they break easily - an no he doesnāt chew on rocks or hard items) and because the blood work offers a snap shot of his health. It is a chunk of change - no doubt - but I donāt feel that it is a racket.
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My dog is snoozing on the couch right now recovering from the dental she had earlier today. With a pre-procedure senior chem panel, the dental (two teeth removed, but they essentially came out on their own they were so shot), and a small cyst removal on shoulder (no biopsy necessary), my total was $311. We do have a breeder discount with our clinic because weāre breeders and the clinic offers discount programs for their breeder clients, but that discount only came to around $30.
Annual canine teeth cleaning might be a racket. I donāt think maintenance that requires putting a dog under a general on an annual basis is ok. General anesthesia is hard on a dog. Itās not no big deal.
It definitely depends on the vet whether or not itās a racket. My dog has never had any teeth needed to be pulled only needed mild cleanings, yet I have waited 2-3 years after my vet would first say he āneedsā to have it done. I could tell as a dog person in a dog business that they didnāt āneedā to be done. But she also pushed vaccines that werenāt necessary.
The newer (not less experienced just went to her more recently) vet I took my dog to would rather not do dentals if they are not needed.
My last couple of dogs have done pretty well with having their teeth cleaned twice in a lifetime - usually around age 4/5 and 10/11. I recently took my 11 year old in for her second cleaning ever, and the 5 year old hasnāt gone yet, but might next year. Other than tartar build-up and bad breath, these two dogs, and the two that came before them, have had no other issues with their teeth that would necessitate more frequent cleanings.
Well, this quote was probably their higher end quote with bloodwork and IV catheter. You could always call them back and ask for details. My favorite part of my job are dentals. Itās really amazing to see how truly disgusting a dogās mouth can be!! And how satisfying it is to see it become beautiful again!! The doctor can get an idea of the condition of your dogās teeth by an exam while they are awake, but you really get a good picture when the patient is nice and asleep. You could always buy a toothbrush and clean his teeth that way. Good luck!
