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.
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.