Cost of Basic Dental Cleaning?

[ObeseChess]

Hello again!

Since I adopted her a year or so ago, I've been taking Sassy to the same vet, who was hugely helpful in giving me advice when she was a stray and continued on being helpful after I plucked her off the street. That said, this vet seems to be, uh, incredibly pricey, and I'm curious if these costs are normal or if I'm getting taken to the cleaners.

I recently took her for her "senior check-up" which was supposed to be eighty bucks, but after blood work and vaccines was closer to seven hundred. I was told that her teeth and gums were fine minus some tartar/plaque, understandable for a senior cat who probably didn't have regular dental work being done, and I was told to bring her in within two months for a dental cleaning, since her blood work would no longer be current after two months. For this dental cleaning, I was quoted:

$796.

Possibly as high as $1300 if she needs extractions.

If I wait longer than two months it will be an additional $3-400 for new blood work.

That seems outrageously high to me for an otherwise healthy cat.

Am I getting ripped off, or is that what it costs in the Portland metro area to get your cat's teeth cleaned?

Thanks!

 

[fionasmom]

This can vary by area of the country and my response might not be of much help to you. Try to Google "cat dental work near me" or something like that. For my vets, and for LA, that is what I could call high end of reasonable. There are low cost vet clinics but I don't know much about them. Any senior blood panel alone that I have run for a cat or dog has been at least $300 just for the blood work and that is for a standard panel. Did your vet run any tests which immediately jump up the price? I have not had dental work done recently on anyone, but it was about $500 the last time.

I do question the additional $300-400 if you wait. My vet does a preop blood panel but it is not extensive and is not that expensive. Your vet wants to run an entire senior panel again in two months? That seems excessive to me.

 

[TardisDance]

My cat had a dental extraction last month and it came out to $760 total. This included the blood work, anesthesia, nerve block and x-rays. They also threw in a complementary nail trim. She had an upper premolar removed. She was given a Convenia antibiotic shot and sent home with 3 Onsior tablets for pain management. Since she was due for a fecal exam anyway, so I brought a sample so that added another $36.

I thought the bill was steep, but I had little choice because most vet offices have a waiting list for new patients.

I’m the capital region of New York (not NYC) to give you an idea. My vet office is supposedly award winning, but I haven’t been too pleased with their services. We wait almost an hour just to drop my cat off with curbside pick-up in the early morning at 7 am. They didn’t get to performing the procedure until 2 pm and we couldn’t pick her up until 7:30 that night! Hope you have a better experience.

Edit: My cat is 4 years old but had bad teeth due to being from a hoarding situation.

 

[ObeseChess]

This can vary by area of the country and my response might not be of much help to you. Try to Google "cat dental work near me" or something like that. For my vets, and for LA, that is what I could call high end of reasonable. There are low cost vet clinics but I don't know much about them. Any senior blood panel alone that I have run for a cat or dog has been at least $300 just for the blood work and that is for a standard panel. Did your vet run any tests which immediately jump up the price? I have not had dental work done recently on anyone, but it was about $500 the last time.

I do question the additional $300-400 if you wait. My vet does a preop blood panel but it is not extensive and is not that expensive. Your vet wants to run an entire senior panel again in two months? That seems excessive to me.

Yeah, and Portland is a significantly less expensive city than Los Angeles. So if you're paying less than that in Los Angeles for a basic dental cleaning then I am very skeptical. As far as the tests that ran up the price, the big vet bill was all approved by me beforehand, but that was the senior check-up, full senior blood panel, and all vaccinations for an indoor/outdoor cat as we have no idea what she has and hasn't had. So that being in the ballpark of six, seven hundred bucks made SOME sense to me.

I should note that I don't know if she wants to run a FULL senior panel again, only that her blood work will "only be good for two months" and that they will have to "do more blood work" beforehand if I wait, and that blood work which is not included in the cost estimate. But I am assuming the worst in that $300+ figure. The rest of the numbers are written out for me on paper, but that one is me extrapolating.

But, again, if you're paying $500 for a cleaning in Los Angeles then $800 in Portland seems pretty preposterous.

My cat had a dental extraction last month and it came out to $760 total. This included the blood work, anesthesia, nerve block and x-rays. They also threw in a complementary nail trim. She had an upper premolar removed. She was given a Convenia antibiotic shot and sent home with 3 Onsior tablets for pain management. Since she was due for a fecal exam anyway, so I brought a sample so that added another $36.

I thought the bill was steep, but I had little choice because most vet offices have a waiting list for new patients.

I’m the capital region of New York (not NYC) to give you an idea. My vet office is supposedly award winning, but I haven’t been too pleased with their services. We wait almost an hour just to drop my cat off with curbside pick-up in the early morning at 7 am. They didn’t get to performing the procedure until 2 pm and we couldn’t pick her up until 7:30 that night! Hope you have a better experience.

Edit: My cat is 3 years old but had bad teeth due to being from a hoarding situation.

I've been very pleased with the attitudes and the quality of the care at my vet's office - I have numerous friends who take their cat to the same vet and also really like her - but holy heck she is EXPENSIVE, and I am again reading that, even though things vary from place to place, you're paying less for a cat with bad teeth to get a premolar removed than I am being quoted for a healthy cat to get a basic cleaning, which confirms my decision to get at least one second opinion.