Spaying fees

[muttigreemom]

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum, so please move me if I'm wrong

The stray I picked up in September is not pregnant

so, I knew I needed to get her spayed. Well, I was hoping I could wait until January so I didn't have to do this along with Christmas bills

but as of last night she went into heat... so now either I have to get her spayed, or I need to invest in earplugs for my entire apartment complex

Now for my question: How much did your vet charge you to spay your cat?

When I was fostering, the vet I delt with gave me a discount on spays/neuters because he knew they were strays and that I was fostering. Since this cat is a stray I'm keeping and not a foster (and I no longer deal with that vet since I moved out of state), I have to pay full price at the vet.... which I'm fine with, but I think I'm getting price gouged a bit here.

My vet quoted me at $200 for the spay (their normal fee...) + office fee of about $25 + $20 rabies shot (she hasn't had shots yet because we thought she was pregnant)

I called up a low-cost spaying animal hospital in the area and theyre quoting me $40 for the spay, no office fee, and $10 for the rabies shot (+ $9 for the county license if I want to buy it there, but I'll probably just get hers when I renew my dog's)

Now I know the second place is more like a humane society type establishment so that's why they're cheaper (and yes, that's where I'm getting her spaying done because they can fit me in on saturday), but is $200 what you guys paid to get spaying done by a vet? I almost feel cheated by that price.

 

[yosemite]

IMO $200 is way over the top. This is gouging as far as I'm concerned. A spay (although I don't recall what our daughter paid for Mika) certainly shouldn't cost this much.

I'd check out what kind of car that vet drives!

 

[white cat lover]

Well, if a vet charged that in a rural area like this, they would be laughed out of town! I cannot believe that is what it costs to spay a cat! Around here, there isn't a low cost spay/neuter or anything like that. You pay $85 for a female to get spayed at the cheap vet or $100 at the excellent vet for a female to get spayed. I don't know what it costs for a male, though.

I have heard there is a vet who will do a spay for $35 in Blue Earth(40 minutes from me), but I don't know anyting about the vet, so I won't take a cat there.

 

[consumerkitty]

I paid $120 to get April Joy spayed and the only extra cost was $14 for a post op sedative to keep her from crazy creaturing when she recovered.

 

[kittenkiya]

My vet charges $54 for a female, and $35 for a male.

 

[yasmine]

I paid about 90.00 to yasmine spayed. I have found now that i have moved to a bigger city, its alot more expensive. What costs me 40.00 at my other vet costs me about 90.00 here. but 200.00 seems real high though!

 

[babyharley]

$200?! Wow...I'm not sure how much of a price difference it is between spaying and neutering, but I paid $120 to have Harley all done yesterday, with his leukemia shots and rabies shots and blood work...and a neuter...

How much more expensive is a spay than a neuter?

 

[gardenandcats]

Lily is due to be spayed in january. I asked how much last week at my local vet. And was quoted $189.00... Its sure gone way up since I last had a female spaded.

 

[muttigreemom]

Originally Posted by gardenandcats

Lily is due to be spayed in january. I asked how much last week at my local vet. And was quoted $189.00... Its sure gone way up since I last had a female spaded.

Eesh sounds like you're doing as well as I am!

This might help you http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html it lists the low cost spay/neuter clinics by state. Maybe there's one near you? Of course, check them out first. I found the ones in my area were very well known by everyone which made me feel safer about going.

 

[eilcon]

Wow! $200 seems extreme. My vet currently charges $90/spay and $65/neuter, along with offering discounts for stray/feral cats.

 

[meowsersmom]

I got a coupon from the humane society so the neuter was $20 and I think spays were quoted as $35.

 

[amitya]

When i picked up PB today i ended up paying $55 for him to get a speuter. I paid less than that for my 4 yr old 80 pound german shepherd female to get spayed at the same clinic 4 months ago. If they hadnt had to do both a spay and a nueter on PB then it would have been $30.00. Other vets quoted me several hundred dollars to do a speuter on PB when i got him and that was only if i waited until he was 6 months old or older.

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Well, if a vet charged that in a rural area like this, they would be laughed out of town! I cannot believe that is what it costs to spay a cat! Around here, there isn't a low cost spay/neuter or anything like that. You pay $85 for a female to get spayed at the cheap vet or $100 at the excellent vet for a female to get spayed. I don't know what it costs for a male, though.

I have heard there is a vet who will do a spay for $35 in Blue Earth(40 minutes from me), but I don't know anyting about the vet, so I won't take a cat there.

it was so long ago i can't remember Pixel's cost, but Cable was spayed at a low-cost clinic for $47. Java's was more, $75 - she was spayed at the vet who took care of Mouse during her last days, their 'low cost' program, but i paid $15 extra because she was in heat. the regular cost at the 2nd vet's was just over $100, but included an overnight stay. Java came home the afternoon of her spay, as did Cable, Pixel & Mouse.

 

[cagnes]

For cats, my vet charges $60 for spay & $40 for neuter.

 

[sharky]

200 seems a bit high ... here I often hear that 70-150 is normal

I suposse I should start calling ... since Frankie s status is unknown..

 

[semiferal]

$200 is about right for a spay done at a full-service vet hospital. Sometimes the charge is assessed as a lump sum, other times there are separate charges for surgery, use of OR, technician fees, anesthesia, etc. Either way, it crunches out about the same.

If you think this is an outrageous fee, think about how much it would cost for you to have a hysterectomy in a hospital. Then recall that a vet has the same amount of education and uses basically the same equipment as a human doctor, and has many of the same overhead costs including staff salaries, building rent/mortgage payment and maintenance, equipment maintenance, etc. Vet medicine is a bargain compared with human medicine. The difference is that most of us are lucky enough to have insurance for our own medical care so we don't have as much of a sense of the cost.

My car mechanic has a high school education and when my car goes in the shop I never end up paying less than $150. I certainly wouldn't feel ripped off when a doctor charges this much to perform surgery on my cat!

If the cost at a full service clinic is truly unaffordable for you, then by all means make use of low cost options in your community. But bargain hunting by those who can afford market price for surgery shows disrespect for the veterinary profession.

 

[muttigreemom]

Originally Posted by semiferal

If the cost at a full service clinic is truly unaffordable for you, then by all means make use of low cost options in your community. But bargain hunting by those who can afford market price for surgery shows disrespect for the veterinary profession.

Well that seems a bit presumptious of you. It has nothing to do for my lack of respect for the veterinary profession. I have spent thousands of dollars in surgeries over the years for cats that weren't even mine and never even blinked an eye about it.

However, when the going rate seems to be somewhere between $50 and $150, charging $200 + extra fees for the same surgery seems like price gouging.

After reading your post, I even went back into my records to check how much I was charged for the last un-discounted spay I paid for, and all fees included came to $80 - and that vet was as full service as they come. I had taken every animal that had ever crossed my path to him for over 15 years. If there were ever anyone I trusted with animals and had the deepest respect for, it would be that man. However, now that I had to move, I can't travel 1200 miles for him to spay my cat.

So yes, I took my cat to a vet that charged $40 for a spay. You make it sound as if my bargain hunting led me to some guy with a rusty knife and dirty table who was set up in a back alley somewhere. He is a full service vet who is highly thought of in the community and recommended to me by my MIL who was a vet tech for many years.

It has nothing to do with lack of respect. It has everything to do with knowing what the going rate is for something and the knowledge to not be overcharged for the same service.

 

[semiferal]

Actually, I have used low-cost clinics for all of my cats' surgeries, with the exception of one who needed some extra medical care at the time (for his surgery, I paid $165 for surgery and all related care - which is market rate in this area for a male cat). The quality of the surgeries has been perfectly fine, every time, and I still take all my fosters there.

However, in all communities the reduced-cost services operated by humane societies and other nonprofits are also in great demand to service low-income individuals' pets and stray and feral animals. If you can afford full market price, it really isn't fair to take a spot away from an animal who does not have a person who can afford market price. Worse yet, I've known vets who have stopped accepting humane society vouchers for low-cost surgery after they saw people bringing their gazillion dollar purebreds for low-cost surgery or dropping off their pet and their voucher and driving away in their brand new Lexus. The vets understandably felt like they were being taken advantage of. I'm not implying that you were doing or would do anything like this, just pointing out that it is important to preserve the very existence of discount s/n programs by leaving them for those who are really in need.

The market rate is highly variable from region to region. I know that Florida has a much lower cost of living than my area and that will be reflected in vet prices too. I can definitely say that around here $80 for a spay is closer to what you would pay at a low cost clinic operated by a nonprofit or humane society. At a regular vet hospital it will be closer to $200.

 

[random]

When I was in high school, I interned at the same vets office that my parents always took our pets to. They were much cheaper than some of the other outfits in town, but they certainly did not skimp on the procedure or aftercare (I should know...I cleaned the kennels!). I think they charged accordingly with the area they were in. We even performed house calls.

Mostly for large animals (horses and cattle) but even performed a few house calls for the elderly who couldn't handle bringing a cat or dog in for shots.

I've taken pets to so-called low cost places and were charged as much as a regular vet.

One place I will slap on my Avoid list is the Banfield clinics in Petsmart. I was new to my area and wanted to get my cat neutered. I was quoted around (I kid you not) $250. I asked them if they provided an aftercare spa and manicure for that price and left.

 

[mrsmeowgi]

I believe we spayed our female for $65 and neutered our male for $35. Our vet is a friend of the family so he doesn't charge us the standard $30 office visit so it should've been a little more. $200 is WAAAYYY too much, IMO.