BethG Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Hi all, I was wondering if anyone had experience with a low cost spay/neuter clinic? I am getting Maddie my 10 month old BC pup spayed next week. My reg Vet charges 250- 300 for a spay. This includes the overnight stay. The local clinic charges about 70 and the dogs come home the same day. Is it better to leave them at the vet overnight, or bring them home? Is it better to use my reg vet, or go to a dedicated spay site. I feel like I don't have a relationship with the clinic, but it might be better to bring her home that day. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njnovice Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 When Beag was spayed, it was done by the regular vet. We dropped her off in the morning and picked her up that night. She was fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geonni banner Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Hi all, I was wondering if anyone had experience with a low cost spay/neuter clinic? I am getting Maddie my 10 month old BC pup spayed next week. My reg Vet charges 250- 300 for a spay. This includes the overnight stay. The local clinic charges about 70 and the dogs come home the same day. Is it better to leave them at the vet overnight, or bring them home? Is it better to use my reg vet, or go to a dedicated spay site. I feel like I don't have a relationship with the clinic, but it might be better to bring her home that day. Any insight would be helpful. Thanks Beth I put nearly 70 dogs and a couple dozen cats through our local Animal Control spay-neuter clinic and never had a problem - except a couple of times when the dogs got at their stitches, but to be fair, all three did the damage after they came home. There's something to be said for a spay-neuter clinic - they've usually dealt with anything that can go wrong. They are not all created equal though. Ask around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 I would not want to leave a dog overnight. I'd rather they were home so I could keep an eye on them. We took a few cats s/n to a low cost clinic in our area. The clinic was very professional and it was simple. We dropped them off in the morning and picked them up late afternoon. I'd ask around in you area to see if people used the clinic and what they though about it. If you get positive responses I'd go ahead and use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njnovice Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 I would not want to leave a dog overnight. I'd rather they were home so I could keep an eye on them. We took a few cats s/n to a low cost clinic in our area. The clinic was very professional and it was simple. We dropped them off in the morning and picked them up late afternoon. I'd ask around in you area to see if people used the clinic and what they though about it. If you get positive responses I'd go ahead and use it. Yeah, they're most likely going to be alone overnight in the vet office. I think it's better that there's somebody around in case of something happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 I would use the clinic. but I dont do any surgerys at my regular clinic..its a great clinic with amazing vets, but waaaayyyyy to pricy for me to afford surgerys! I just call around to find a cheap clinic, my dogs have been fixed at like 5 different vets lol as for staying overnight? I absolutly REFUSE to let the vet keep my dogs overnight, I will pick my dog up that day. period. I dont care what the clinics policy is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Rhea, Gunnar, Lucky and my cat Cleo and 2 other cats in the past have all been spayed or neutered at the low cost clinics here. They all did a great job, none of the animals had complications (except Lucky would not leave his stitches alone). I've been told the reason it costs so much for a regular vet is because they typically do blood tests before anesthesia to check for possible complications that adult/older dogs can have and that the low cost spay and neuter clinics don't do the blood testing. So I'm comfortable spay and neutered younger dogs/cats at the clinics but if I had an older dog, I'd probably consider my regular vet over the clinic...but I agree on the staying over night thing...no way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.DaisyDuke Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 I did not leave Daisy at our reg. clinic over night. They wanted to keep her, but I refused it. She has fear issues and I was looking out for her mental well being. I highly commend low cost clinics though. That's not an easy job. The rescue I'm with offers periodic clinics for residents of First Nations communities and these are nothing short of a military operation. We collect the dogs and cats, bring them to the vet who is dedicating their time and have the pets all back in their homes by the end of the week-end. The last one we did was over 160 dogs and cats in 2 days. It's pretty intense and usually these surgeons know a spay or neuter like the back of their hand. I'd feel fairly comfortable brining my dog to a low cost clinic, if it was recommended by someone I know. In my eyes it's almost like going to see a specialist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchemist Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Duncan was neutered yesterday (several weeks past his first birthday) at our new "regular vet". Bloodwork before the anesthesia was optional (they would have charged $40) - we opted not to do it because he'd just had very thorough bloodwork (to the tune of $300) done in January to verify that he's handling his daily Rimadyl well. Staying overnight was also optional. We opted not to have him stay overnight, as no one would be there, and we knew he'd be much more comfortable at home. (Plus we could keep an eye on him). They offered surgery with a laser as a more expensive (+ $75) alternative to a scalpel. Supposedly it cauterizes blood vessels better and results in faster healing/less trauma. We did go with that option. The total was just shy of $400, but that included $55 for microchipping. Oh, and we already had our own Rimadyl and Tramadol. So, without the microchipping and the laser, it would have been ~ $270, more if we'd needed pain meds. The bill also includes $47 for a "routine exam", as he was a new patient. (We were unhappy with the last vet; I'd thought to have him neutered there, but then realized that if he were ever lost, anyone finding him would contact the old vet and not the new one). So perhaps a more realistic total if he'd been a continuing patient would have been ~$220 (again w/out meds). A local vet advertises $55 spay/neuters, but if you read the fine print in the ad, it specifies that this covers the cost of the office visit/physical exam. Doesn't mention what the additional charges would be for the actual surgery. I've run into a high frequency of "negative responses" about this particular vet, so I didn't pursue this option further. I'd agree with the advice to "ask around". Word of mouth (by people I meet when walking Duncan) is how I'd heard of the new vet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Devils Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 We adopted a dog 3 weeks ago from a shelter. They require out of county residents to agree to spaying/neutering before the dog can go home. Nali was in heat at the time which made it worse. They have a spay/neuter clini attached to the shelter. They did a wonderful job but I actually hated the fact that we had to pick her up the same day. She was miserable, shaking horribly and refused food/water for 24 hours. They don't do bloodwork beforehand which we prefer to have done. We like to have a baseline. Our regular vets keep the animals overnight which I like but they also have attendants at night. They are not a 24 hr vet but they at least have someone there to keep an eye on the animals. I love my vets and trust them dearly. Even though Nali came through surgery fine at the clinic I would have preferred to use my own vet just because I know the care they give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geonni banner Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 My dog, Sugarfoot, was spayed at my regular vet. Here is the cost breakdown. K9 ovariohysterectomy 140.00 pain injection 24.50 ear flushing 27.00 microchip implantation 45.00 injection -NC- rimadyl 75 mg/10 24.00 zymmox ear drops 24.00 e-collar 12.75 Subtotal 297.25 sales tax 1.12 TOTAL 298.37 with all the stuff he did I thought I got a deal... She came home the same day. I was offered the option of leaving her overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
border_collie_crazy Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 that is a good deal! lol Electra was just spayed last monday, hers was: canine spay-190.00 Tattoo-vet/city program- 15.80 anesthtic-63.00 pain injection-11.36 with taxes it came to 308.18 that was at a cheaper city vet because I wanted her in the citys tattoo program, which the out of town vets are not involved in. Mistys on the other hand was: ovariohysterectomy medium k9 - 260.00 claveseptin(she had Pyometria) - 3.16 total with taxes 289.48 oh and the spay on Misty included IVs(hooked up because of the pyometria) the post op pain med, and obviously the anethsetic..even if that vet did the tattoo's, it STILL would have been cheaper then Electra's who's did NOT even include IVs. most vets here dont do IVs(they just keep the IVs on standby) or bloodwork or painmeds outside of the 1 shot unless there is a reason for it..I have only been to one vet..where I had my friends dog spayed..that insisted that all 3 were a life and death situation for a healthy 11 month old dog the tech litterally circled yes on the optional stuff himself and screamed at me when I said no! sadly that clinic houses the only good exotics vet in the city so I am forced to give them some of my service, but I will not be taking a dog or cat there ever again. those are my only recent spays I can compare, I dont think the price breakdown of spays from 9 years ago means anything lol plus both of those spays fell under the citys low cost spay/neuter program because Happy was under 8 months and Perky was from the HS.(our city has a program in which all dogs and cats spayed/neutered under the age of 8 months get a discount, and all rescue dogs/cats get a discount) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelliePup Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 I got lucky that I had the low cost option through our local HS and my regular was part of the program. That being said, because of Kellie's anesthetic allergies, I would have had my regular vet do the spay anyway because she was familiar with the problem and we had already discussed what option we would take. I just lucked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelliwic Border Collies Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 Friends of Animals offers a low-cost certificate honored by certain vets. I bought one for one my dogs when my budget was really tight, and was able to have the surgery done at a familiar hospital (a hospital I'd used prior to moving away from the immediate area). Dog spay is $90, neuter is $64. They have certificates for cats too (even cheaper). Enter your zip in the red box on the right of their page to get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burdock Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 Just had Emma done at our local vet 225.00 plus 55.00 for blood work, which was optional and they clipped here nals for free, with a follow-up visit no cost. She had glue on the outside with 3 sets of stitches inside. I dropped her of in am and picked her up at 5PM. No pain meds only a check up call the next day and the follow-up visit in 5 days. I can hardly tell were she was cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlasl Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 I just checked into this myself, My regular vet charges $260, not sure what all that includes but they wanted a 2 night stay and I was like no way! the low cost spay and neuter does it for $100 for $20 more they include pain meds and a e-collar, and they go home that night, she is getting spayed next Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethG Posted March 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2010 Thanks everyone for your insights. I have about decided to go with the clinic as I would like to bring her home that night. She hasn't spent a night away,and she might get a little upset. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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