# Spay price/care differences



## TankGrrl66 (Jun 29, 2010)

I can't make up my mind where to get my 9mo girl spayed. I'm going to try and put it off until she is around a year old, and that is a decision I made after milling through all the info I can find as well as the experiences shared on this forum.

Thing is, the prices vary from $77-450+.

What the heck is the difference? 

The 77 is from a humane society. They have no info on pain meds or monitoring. 

The animal hospital who quoted me at least 400 has a looooong list of stuff on the estimate. There is all kinds of crazy goodies, including but not limited to: additional gas charges, extensive monitoring, laser surgery, xrays for hips while under, and about 10 other things on the bill. I'll go dig it out if anyone wants me to 

Another is 100 dollars with 1 pain injection, 1 antibiotic injection, and no included meds to go home. They do basic surgical monitoring. I have heard one really bizarre story about a spay come out of there too
(the dog 'woke up' from surgery when the Dr cut the dog open, resulting in a HUGE gash going up the side of the dog), so I am a hair away from dismissing them as an option.

A simply s/n place has monitoring, pain injections, pain meds to go home, good care, iv drip, free rechecks and the facility looks awesome. They are 170, with a reccommended blood test for 50 bucks.

Would I really get what I pay for or is there some squeezing blood out of an orange going on? I almost fell over getting a quote from 450-700 from my regular vet. They are the kind of place who want 26 bucks for a DHPP booster. But then again they were the only vet in town who knew what SLO was :/

I obviously want the best for my dog. I want nothing bad to happen, and am under a lot of pressure to spay her asap. I almost feel guilty for having an intact dog. 

Please, can anybody shed some insight? What I have to have for a quality surgery, etc.?

ps: Sorry for the noobness, I have gotten all my dogs already fixed since I was a kid. I am also on a college budget. Thanks


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

I went through this organization to have Woolf neutered. 

Friends of Animals

The blood work, meds are in addition.... total ended up being around $150, much better then the $500 quoted by my regular vet for a male. Before the extras males are $64 and females are $90.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Twyla said:


> I went through this organization to have Woolf neutered.
> 
> Friends of Animals
> 
> The blood work, meds are in addition.... total ended up being around $150, much better then the $500 quoted by my regular vet for a male. Before the extras males are $64 and females are $90.


I've used friends of animals in the past too with good results. I probably saved at least $500 from a spay by buying one of their certificates. I think I was quoted at around $600 without that $100 certificate.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

That 450 quote probably includes a lot of stuff that you don't need. Spays at a vet around here cost about 300 or so.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Good grief people are getting ripped off!!!!
None on the girls I have had spayed in the past needed any "aftercare". No pain meds either. Pp They were spayed and sent home. I checked the incision myself and removed the stitches myself when it was time. (Though I know that isn't something your average owner is able to do.)


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

BlackGSD said:


> Good grief people are getting ripped off!!!!


I agree that spays and especially neuters are big business for vets. They always want to add on laser, bloodwork, teeth cleaning, microchips, and anything else they can tack onto the bill to line their pockets. Well, that's been my experience with vets. 

Neuters take 10 minutes. Why the heck do they cost $300! 

But I disagree on pain meds. I would not take my dog home without a couple of days of pain killers. It should cost more than $5, though. Spays are invasive surgery, I'm pretty sure it hurts, having been spayed myself.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

I'll be taking Shasta to the low cost clinic down the street from us. Shasta likes the vet there. They're great people,all love animals. They also dont believe in ripping you off for things. The surgery +blood work when i take her in (planning for March) will cost $170. That includes pain meds to bring home, follow up care just in case and monitoring after the surgery. When we were going to have her spayed before we changed stations, i was getting quotes for $600-$900. Obviously she didnt get spayed then. I would be iffy about having her spayed by the humane society though.


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## ChristenHolden (Jan 16, 2010)

For Bella her Spay was 80$ rabies 10$ hip/elbow X-rays 60$ = 150$ total. Drop of time is 730 to 800 pick up is any time after 3. No pain meds. She was off her food for 3 days but our other dogs didn't go off there food jus Bella. The other dogs were 65$ and that was all. I would die if I had to pay more for a spay/neauter only of it cost more than 100 and nothing else.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Having been a foster home with GSD rescue for several years, I've probably spayed/neutered more dogs than most. When I lived in Austin, my fosters were fixed at a full-service vet clinic that had an agreement with the rescue. When I moved to Dallas, I started having them fixed at low-cost clinics. Either the vets in Dallas suck, or there's a difference between regular vet offices and low-cost clinics. I've never had so many adverse reactions and infected incisions as I've had since moving to Dallas and beginning to use the low-cost clinics. I'm at the point of telling the rescue they either need to pay for the dogs to be fixed at a real vet's office, or I'll transport them to Austin for the surgery. I'm tired of dealing with infected incisions and bad reactions.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

BlackPuppy said:


> Neuters take 10 minutes. Why the heck do they cost $300!
> 
> But I disagree on pain meds. I would not take my dog home without a couple of days of pain killers. It should cost more than $5, though. Spays are invasive surgery, I'm pretty sure it hurts, having been spayed myself.


EXACTLY!! Heck, it only costs half that to have a horse gelded!

I've never had a vet even offer pain meds.(Though I will say the last time I had one spayed was 12 years ago.) I've also not had a female that acted like it was THAT painful. I would think if it was terribly painful, it wouldn't be so hard to keep them "quiet" after the surgery. (Please don't think am saying it wasn't painful when you had it done. I'm sure it was!)


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I had a dog neutered at our local Humane Society. They sent home pain meds. They were like an assembly line. There wasn't a lot of customer service, just wham bam, thank you ma'm type surgery. I didn't expect any less. I was happy with what I paid for. My dog did well, and was sent home a few hours after surgery. I did all of the after care, which was exactly what I wanted. I was happy enough.


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

I switched to using the low cost places years ago and have never once had a single problem. I've had many foster dogs and several of my own speutered at low cost places with no problems. The only dog that had a problem was the most recent, and it had nothing to do with the facility - it was my own and my dogs own fault. Aftercare was free, which was a nice perk, considering my regular vet certainly would have charged for the visit.

I had one dog neutered at a cost of $30 (adult male GSD) and he was totally fine, but the place didn't smell great and it just gave me kind of a bad vibe. It was also ridiculously busy and made for a VERY long drop off and pick up. Life wasn't as busy back then, but with a kid at home I just don't have time for a 1 - 2 hr wait on both ends.

So I switched to a new (well it was new a couple years ago) facility in a really nice local county and a standard neuter is about $50 for a large breed adult male dog.

This place smells great, is VERY organized, had employees even taking pictures of my malinois...lol, and out of the many dogs I've had neutered there (no females yet) I've never had an issue or any reason to be concerned.

It's a stark contrast to the $300+ per dog I'd pay at my regular vet.

Some might say your dog will get more individual care at a regular vet, but I always thought to myself - wouldn't you want to go to the person with the most experience? Those are usually the humane societies and clinics. They do a ton of dogs a day. I go where the experience is and it saves money as well. I just see no need to pay hundreds when I can pay 50 bucks and use the money in the dog fund for toys and training classes.


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## Kittilicious (Sep 25, 2011)

Saki was spayed 3 years ago and it was $120. That included blood work, the spay, her staying overnight & pain meds to go home with. She also had a follow-up a week or 2 afterwards. 
I don't remember if she stayed overnight though. I usually sign a waiver and pick up my pets the same day because I argue their "overnight for observation" explanation. Nobody is there overnight with them, so who is observing? I might have kept her there just so I knew she'd stay quiet & still that first night.


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## racer (Nov 5, 2010)

the vet I used the cost was $100 that was with a $20 voucher from SPAY the cost included pain meds and recheck and he had 2 declaws removed


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## asja (Mar 22, 2011)

Sometimes I think you get what you pay for. 

Six months ago I adopted a male German Shepherd from a shelter. http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...hipley-fl-4-5-year-old-sable-male-safe-4.html 

The vet there did such a bad neuter job, my own vet had to reopen the neuter area, clean out infected tissue, and repair the crappy job the shelter vet did. My vet told me the infection was so bad, he might not survive. He was in the hospital for days. Thankfully he recovered, but saving his life was another $700, after the $140 I wasted with the shelter vet. That $140 was required, even though I specifically asked if I could have my vet do the neuter instead. No, the shelter vet was required to do it, and nearly killed the dog. My vet was so appalled at the crappy job, she called the shelter vet to tell them they nearly killed the dog. Their response was he was only a shelter dog, they didn't care. These people are vets and supposed to care.

Anyway, my other dog I had spayed around two years old, and I had her stomach tacked at the same time (gastropexy). That was maybe $400 or so, I can't really remember. 

The point of my story here is that just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's done well or a good idea. I'd rather pay more and have surgery done properly that doesn't hurt nor harm the animals. I feel terrible that my poor boy was put through such pain and suffering and nearly died because one vet couldn't be bothered to do a good job.


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