$1725 for a dental! - what do you pay?

[the_food_lady]

I took my oldest kitty Cleo in tonight for a dental consult. Her breath has become funky smelling so decided she needed a dental (she's about 15 yrs old; last dental 2 yrs ago). My head is still spinning, literally, from the estimate I got. $1725 CDN (I live here in Alberta, Canada). This would include 3 molar extractions. This is the most I have ever paid for a dental in my life. I thought previous bills of $1100 (including extractions) was a lot.

The Vet Tech who has always done the dentals (she has years of experience, so much so that she has actually taught at one of the Vet Schools (university) in Canada, to vet students, on doing dentals. She is amazing. But there's a new Vet in my clinic who specializes in animal dentistry so he will be doing the extractions. Now he insists that for the 3 teeth that appear to have resorptive lesions, that she should have xrays of each during the dental. This will cost me $200. The Tech, who I trust with my life, saw the look of horror on my face when I was given the $1700+ estimate and she told me that if it was her cat, given how obvious it is that these 3 teeth need to be extracted, that i forego the xrays as there's no question the teeth have to come out. The Vet is very nice and told me that he would do whatever I told him; either do xrays or not.

I am beside myself at what they charge here. it makes me angry, too. I figure there are so many people in this economy who couldn't afford this, and would put off the dental for the reason, which means the cat/cat's health suffers. My God, they charged me $76 for a lousy shot of Convenia. The mark up on everything is astronomic. Even the very basic preanesthetic panel was $165. this was optional. How many people would opt to not have this, just to cut costs?

Not many months ago I had major dental surgery; the extraction of a cracked molar by a dental surgery, under general anesthetic. He accidentally perforated my maxillary sinus and had to do extra to repair that. The total charge was $1200. I had to pay out of pocket because my benefits at the time didn't cover dental surgery. They charge over $1700 for a dental, scaling, polishing and 3 extractions which all should take about 30-45 minutes?

I have another cat who is due for her dental but I'll have to wait a long time to be able to afford it now.

I am just appalled and in shock.

 

[natalie_ca]

I feel for you!!! A couple of years ago Chynna went for a dental. They told me the same thing about xraying each tooth before deciding to pull it or leave it. I told them that if it looked like it needed to go on the outside, or based on their experience of having done hundreds of other similar dental situations, that they could use their best judgment and know what teeth in the vicinity have to go based on a bad tooth in the area.

They absolutely refused. They insisted that they had to xray every single tooth, one at a time because of the way a cat's teeth grow inside the gums.

After the dental, Chynna was left with:

1 top incisor
all her baby front top teeth
all her baby front bottom teeth
a few small back molars.

She's essentially toothless!

The bill was $1200.00!!! That included: 1 or 2 days over night for tests and hydration, the surgery which was explained to me as being as high tech and a human's intensive care ward. 1 night say after the surgery for pain control, and medications sent home for me to give her.....all in injection form. I can't give my cats pills, and besides, Chynna's mouth was too sore.

However, something amazing happened that allowed me to get Chynna's dental, and when the Office Manager and the Chynna's Vet heard about it, they capped the procedure off at $700.00. I wish I could talk about what happened in more detail, but I can't. A promise was made and a promise has been kept.

Vet fees are absolutely outrageous. I need to take Abby in for a dental, and they will do a senior panel on her which alone is $600.00 here. Add the surgery for the dental to that and WOW!!!

Does your vet allow you to pay in payments? Mine doesn't! They did when I had initially taken Chynna for some medical problems which resulted in them determining she had bad teeth. But according to them it was an exception. You need to pay by credit card, debit card or cash.

 

[mystik spiral]

Holland just had almost all of her teeth extracted and it was close to $2000 (USD) - I think the current exchange between Canadian and American dollars is pretty close(?). This included x-rays, anesthetic and the extractions themselves. I would love to find her a cheaper vet, but I love the clinic that she goes to. They have like 12 vets there, so she doesn't always see the same doctor. When she went in for a checkup a few weeks back she had the same vet she had when I first adopted her. I never would have realized it except she made a comment about how she hadn't seen Holland for quite a while (and that she wasn't much bigger

). That was over a year in between visits... it just means so much to me that a vet would remember her like that.

I wish I'd tried to get some sort of a discount, I'm sure I paid more than I needed to. All I can say is, thank goodness for Care Credit. And at least now I know she won't have any more dental problems in her life...

 

[hissy]

Extractions here are $150.00 per tooth plus $60.00 for the anesthesia. I have found that a wet food only diet really corrodes teeth because it is to wet for the gums and teeth to handle the moisture. If you think about it, not even a gushy mouse is as wet as some of the canned cat food on the market.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I can only say I hope I am never faced with this as I would not be able to pay that kind of money.

 

[xocats]

Dental cleanings in my area, without extractions, run about $500/600.
That includes pre-anesthesia blood work, anesthesia with heart monitor and post procedure recovery time.
Antibiotics and pain meds add to the cost.
I feel for you.

 

[turtlesmom]

My cat, Turtle, had her teeth cleaned a little over a week ago. Cost: $95.00 total (USD). (Dental scaling/polish: $45.00; Savoflourane induction: $50.00; Anesthesia inhilation 1: $0). I had just had blood work done in December so it wasn't necessary. That cost was $37.00. They call it a "Prep Profile." So it would have been $132.00 including blood work. they told me if she had to have extractions--which she didn't--they were $27.00 each. And if she had to have pain meds and antibiotics due to having an extraction, etc., for both meds it would have been around $25. Before I called to ask how much, I was reading on the Internet and asking friends what they paid and I couldn't believe the costs, so I put off having Turtle's done. When I gave in and called, I had to ask her to repeat the cost three times; it was so low compared to the costs I had read about (and a friend's experience) I thought I was hearing her wrong!

This vet has been in business for YEARS and has a very good reputation. The local county humane society uses them for their fostered animals.

Pam

 

[xocats]

Originally Posted by TurtlesMom

When I gave in and called, I had to ask her to repeat the cost three times; it was so low compared to the costs I had read about (and a friend's experience) I thought I was hearing her wrong!

This vet has been in business for YEARS and has a very good reputation. The local county humane society uses them for their fostered animals

I am moving to your area.

 

[white cat lover]

I can't believe that! $250 was the charge for a dental on a 16 y/o of mine - full/senior blood work-up, 2 weeks anti-biotics, full mouth extractions - the whole 9 yards! (Keep in mind I'm in a very rural area, I have a very limited choice in vets)

 

[abbycats]

It costs 65.00 for a dental cleaning and not much more for tooth extractions. I think I paid max 125.00 for Dion when he had several teeth pulled. I used always make a remark that when I need my teeth worked on it would be cheaper for me to go to the vet. What's up with these high costs??

 

[sharky]

varies here ... never had extractions... multiple animals and vets... ran me 150-400$.. extractions are 25-75$

 

[littleraven7726]

$417 for Stimpy's dental cleaning plus a lump removal (near his tail) on Wednesday. No extractions. This includes the pre-op bloodwork, antibiotics, and pain medication. I think I'd have a heart attack if they told me $1700!

 

[icklemiss21]

Boomer's extraction (1 tooth) was around $400 with dental polish / scaling, like someone mentioned above, we had recently had a full panel done so did just basic blood tests before and they never asked about xrays, I could tell it hard to come out and just asked for it to be removed, that includes my multipet discount though - my vet is quite good to me after I spent a small fortune there with Scully.

Call around and ask different vets for a quote based on the quote you have, the vets here can vary by $100s for the same procedure. I recently looked into the cost of spay/neuters and got quotes of $90 neuter /$140 spay to $500 for each and one quoted almost $1000 because of all the testing they wanted to do.

Generally those vets outside cities are cheaper, a 25 minute drive for me will save $30 on the office visit ($70 here and $40ish there) and about 30% on most procedures but I like my vet and while they are not in need of major operations and I can afford it, I will keep them going there - but if it was a matter of not getting something done, I would go to the cheaper vet, its not a low cost clinic, just a more country area so they deal with farmers who care more about the bottom line than the WASPY neighbourhood I live in

 

[neely]

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

Boomer's extraction (1 tooth) was around $400 with dental polish / scaling

Very similar pricing for Neely who had a total of 3 extractions, it came to just under $500 and she had 3 teeth pulled. Believe me when I say our vet is not cheap as we live in the Chicago metropolitan area.

 

[the_food_lady]

For my last dental, on my old gal Tigger, I took her to a clinic that has more affordable prices. You get what you pay for. I had nothing but problems and had to take her back twice, plus to my own regular vet once. By the time I was done, it ended up costing as much as my regular Vet.

The problem with clinics around here that do things more cheaply, is they don't even properly monitor the cat while under. My clinic is the only one that even monitors blood pressure while under. The rest just use a heartrate monitor which is ludicrous to me; if a cat goes flat and blood pressure drops, by the time the monitor goes off to denote high heart rate, blood pressure is already way too low.

Im sure there's some rural vet clinics around that might charge less but I worry that I'll get what I pay for. Around here, it's most often Vet Techs that do the dental itself, which has always been ludicrous to me.......I'm talking extractions. I've met my fair share of dim techs over the past 10 yrs and I shudder at the thought. At least at my own clinic, she has 10 yrs experience and even Vets refer people to her. It's foreign to me, for anyone other than a Dentist (or in this case, a Vet!) to be doing something as invasive as an extraction. Some even do this while managing the anesthetic, all at the same time. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Here where I live, decent clinics just charge these prices and there doesn't seem to be getting around it. I think it's atrocious and it burns my arse that they are so expensive that many people just can't afford it and it is their pet who will suffer the consequences.

For Cleo, I will definitely not have the xrays done, not at these prices. My God.

 

[Ms. Freya]

Cotton's last dental, in which he had 8 or 9 extractions (plus anesthetic and pain pills, etc.) cost us around $500 CDN...$1700!

 

[kattiekitty]

Wow, $1700 dollars is a lot for a dental cleaning. At the clinic where I work a dental cleaning is $300 not including extractions. This price includes everything that goes along with the cleaning, go home antibiotics iv cath fluids and monitoring. It does not include the additional pre-op bloodwork which is an additional 96 dollars. Most clients go for the bloodwork though. The cleaning is done by me, the dim vet tech ( sorry I was offended by that comment. I know there are a lot of dimwitted "techs" out there or over glorified assistants that do tech work without a license. This is illegal though. I am a veterinary technician who has graduated from an accredited technician school. Being registered legally allows me to do dental extractions and suture existing skin inscisions which I have done many times also. Don't underestimate vet techs. We often don't get the credit we deserve, but without us a clinic or hospital can't run to it's fullest potential. Off soapbox, hope no one is offended) Anyways, I always have a second licensed tech do the monitoring of vitals, as you are right, one person can't possibly concentrate on the cleaning and monitor. We don't have a blood pressure monitor although I have made pushes to get one, but we do have heart and o2 saturation monitors plus the second tech hand monitors vitals every few minutes. I will do extractions, but always consult with the doctor before making the call to extract a tooth. i have been in the veterinary field for 15 years 9 of which I have been licensed. I have never had complications after a dental and I have done them on some very scary high risk patients ie heart disease, kidney disease and once on a 17 year old cat! when done properly and with the right precautions, a dental cleaning can be a very safe procedure, and doesn't need to cost a fortune.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by hissy

Extractions here are $150.00 per tooth plus $60.00 for the anesthesia. I have found that a wet food only diet really corrodes teeth because it is to wet for the gums and teeth to handle the moisture. If you think about it, not even a gushy mouse is as wet as some of the canned cat food on the market.

This is not true. Wet food does not stick to the teeth the way dry food does, it washes down.

to OP: I am sorry you are faced with such a bill. Tolly has dealt with FORL (resorptive lesions) a couple of times, it is extremely painful, so I hope you don't have to wait too long to have the work done.

That does sound like an astronomical fee. Have you been given an item for item break down?

It's funny how vets are different. Before Tolly's last dental surgery I asked my vet about doing x rays, to check for any other teeth that may have been starting the resorptive lesions. Vet said she didn't think x rays were necessary, that she could tell by looking at and probing the teeth.

Good luck, and let us know how Cleo does after the surgery!

 

[ryffian]

Any chance you could "shop around" and call some other local vets? Or even simply to get a second opinion?

 

[icklemiss21]

the-food-lady, if they are not monitoring your cat, I would report them to their licensing bureau - they have very strict regulations for vets and techs and I am sure they would look into the cheaper vet you had issues with.

As far as the techs doing the work, at some of the clinics local to me, I would prefer the techs were handling the animals, some of the vets are dim-witted and don't even like dealing with cats. One shouted at me for pilling a cat by hand, saying that you can never trust a cat not to bite your hand off! His techs however are amazing - I guess it really depends on the clinic