FYI: Veterinary care costs

[Chupes]

Hey folks,

I often see people talk about taking a gecko to the vet or saying that they can't due to cost. Having just been to the vet last week for my poor Domino's broken leg, I thought I'd post the costs, so that you will have a better idea of what you are getting into with a vet visit. Of course costs will vary due to the reason of the visit.

1 exotic exam = $60.50
5 ml Baytril antibiotic (12mg/ml) = $20.00 (a month supply)
5 ml Metacam anti-inflammatory (0.5mg/ml) = $18.50 (a month supply)
1 splint bandage = $17.00
1 Digital X-ray film = $68.00
Total= $184.00 DUE AT TIME OF SERVICE

A few other things I didn't get but the costs are:
2 Digitial X-ray films = $110 for both
Fecal exam = $32.50

For a gecko I paid $18.00 for this may seem absurd to some, but pets are not disposable. Unfortunately, I feel many people do not yet understand this.

I hope this was helpful

 

[BalloonzForU]

I've found that vet cost for my reptiles is a lot less costly than my cats and dogs!

 

[Misstasha]

I've found that vet cost for my reptiles is a lot less costly than my cats and dogs!

THATS FOR SURE!!! One night at my parents cost me $750 dollars in reconstructive surgery on my female wolf dog. She tends to jump fences and this time she ripped her entire dewclaw off!!! Luckily she was okay and healed up nicely thanks to a quick/expensive trip to the emergency vet!!

 

[JordanAng420]

I realize that veterinary cost is expensive. When a client says, "I cannot afford that" they are often saying, "my money is worth more to me than what your are selling," usually because the client does not understand the product and the estimate may as well have been written in Greek. Services that a client does not understand have no value With that said, get ready my rant as a veterinary nurse...
I would love to see the price list that people would NOT complain about.
Clinics pay for supplies, vaccines, meds, good help, insurance, utilities, continuing ed. etc etc ETC. When was the last time you looked at a Webster catalog (one of the primary distribution companies for professional veterinary necessities) to know what supplies alone cost? Are vets supposed to make no profit?..wait lemme guess, "If you REALLY cared about animals..." then no one would be charged for services rendered. The MINUTE that a vet does not offer every option for good care, including elective bloodwork and diagnostics that happen to cost money, then something will be missed and you will be calling your lawyer.

People who complain about paying for bloodwork are the FIRST to call a lawyer when their pet dies under anesthesia after they declined proper workup. They are the first to refuse to pay a bill for emergency care (which required expensive shock meds, three techs working two hours overtime and intense professional effort) because the dog ended up dying after being mangled by a car...when they are the one who let him roam into the busy street in front of their house. They are the first to let a chronic underlying problem get way out of hand and then complain about the cost involved then when they could've nipped things in the bud earlier on. My personal favorite is the indignant client who feels ripped off because it's going to cost $400 to unblock and hospitalize their male cat AGAIN after we told them a million times after the last episode to get the cat off d**n Deli-Cat and Kit N' Kaboodle. But NO, it's our fault and we are trying to screw them out of their hard-earned money which would be better spent at TJ Maxx in their opinion.

I have been a vet tech for 8 years and I have yet to know a vet who drives a Mercedes, goes on extravagant vacations, isn't paying on a monsterous student loan for decades after graduation (I know a vet who recently graduated and has a hundred thou of student loans to pay off. GREAT doctor, too.), or who gets manicures and salon cuts.

It offends me greatly to see people complain about the cost of vet care. A good clinic does what's right...offers options for diagnosis, preventative care, and the best course of action to assure your pet's ultimate good health and long life. You get what you pay for.

People have no issue paying for an exhaust job or transmission work on their car...so how is it that a vet that recommends x-rays for a limp or bloodwork on a geriatric cat is a money-grubbing shyster?

I once had an ER nurse call up to ask the price of a spay...it was $210. What is the cost of a human ovariohysterectomy? 100 times that? She was P****D...thought that was outrageous. Really you're upset? $210 for basically the same level of care as the human...a sterile surgical suite, good instruments that have been sterilized, expensive monitors to keep tabs on the anesthetised animal, several skilled prep and anesthsia techs, a good surgeon, the latest pain meds, recovery nursing...
You wouldn't want anything less. You just wouldn't want to pay for it, that's all.

If you don't want to pay for vet care, then get a hermit crab. I'm sure there are a couple available here.

You can't have it both ways, though...The best, up-to-date, concientious, quality care....but you want it cheap.

Having pets is not a basic right. If you can't afford to care for them, don't have them. If you can't afford a car payment, gas, insurance and periodic maintenance and repairs, then you probably wouldn't get a car, right?

I am sure that there are vets out there who overcharge. But I have never known one in all these years. Some vets have an especially good ear for heart murmurs...I am sure she thought she heard one and wanted to give you every opportunity to give the utmost care. If she hadn't offered you that option, you'd probably be upset, too, if it turned out to be something serious later on. Posterior coverage via diagnostics is CRITICAL in medicine, human or veterinary. Especially in this day and age of hair-trigger litigation.

The more I work with animals, the more I dislike people. I especially love how anyone that had owned a couple cats in their lifetime knows allllll about cats...even more than those of us who have watched 8 million disease processes and 16 million behavioral problems take place in the same predicatable ways over and over and over and over... what could we possibly know better than your average pet owner?

We are all in this field because we care about nothing else as much as pets. That is our primary concern, more than your financial situation...I meet people every day who "can't afford" an annual and a heartworm test but who can apparently afford to smoke Marlboro reds, go tanning, and drive a nicer car than I will EVER have on my vet tech salary. Your vet didn't hold a gun to your head and make you buy a puppy mill Yorkie that (hello, no surprise!...did you research the breed?) fulfilled its inherent predilection for knee issues that require surgery by a board certified orthopedic surgeon. Boo hoo. Because you can't (or don't want to) pay for it, then vets are price gougers?
Get a clue, and welcome to my world. I need a beer.

 

[Chupes]

Hey Jordan,

Hope the beer(s) is(are) treating you well. I hope that rant wasn't directed at me. I merely posted my bill to give others an idea of what costs are. I had no idea what the cost would be when I took my gecko in. Yes, it is expensive. Was I complaining? No. Was it worth it? Hell yes. I just hope Domino makes it.

 

[Ehatcher]

If money is more important than your pets lives, dont own them. People need to have IQ tests before they are allowd to buy animals and have children.

 

[JordanAng420]

Having just been to the vet last week for my poor Domino's broken leg, I thought I'd post the costs, so that you will have a better idea of what you are getting into with a vet visit. For a gecko I paid $18.00 for this may seem absurd to some, but pets are not disposable. Unfortunately, I feel many people do not yet understand this.

I wasn't directing it to anyone in particular...my post is directed towards those people who you address that don't understand what veterinary care consists of...lately, there has been quite a few people that don't seem to really know or care what veterinary costs really are until after their pet is sick and ready to die...I know it's really expensive but I can assure you that no one is making a "profit" from your sick reptile.

 

[gothra]

If money is more important than your pets lives, dont own them. People need to have IQ tests before they are allowd to buy animals and have children.

I have to agree with this. I'm so sick of hearing people claiming they have no spare money to give their pet proper care; and also those families that have 5,6,7 children then complain that they don't even have the money to feed them, because they have to stay home to take care of their kids so can't go out for work. <-- we have lots of those (immigrants) in my country recently.

Since I'd just took my gecko to a vet yesterday, I can post my vet bill as well (converted to USD):

- consultation: $37.50
- local anaesthetic gel (2ml): $10
- metacam oral susp (1ml): $7
- reptoboost for soaking: $21
- 2nd consultation + removing sperm plug: $62

Plus fecal tests here cost $13 per sample.

 

[Palor]

Reptile vet bills are much cheaper than mammals. I just spent $1300 on the poor dog, he had a near death experience.

 

[Bellalee]

Amen Maia.. amen.

 

[Olimpia]

Well, with my dog I go to a government aided clinic, so I pay just about nothing for her vet bills. I got her spayed for $70 and I never get charged an exam fee. I've walked out having paid $5 for treating a cut. And as a poor college student this has been fantastic. They also happen to be the nicest vets I've met in the US ever. And on top of this I have pet insurance, which would cover any accidents she may ever have.

If I could get the same care for my reptiles I would be estatic. But because I can't find a similar clinic that specializes in exotics, it means that I have to be more careful with how I spend money so that I can have some at all times in case of emergencies. And since I notice a lot of people on here are my age or just a little older, I think they might be in the same shoes. It's not that we don't want to spend the money, it's just that $200 may not be an amount we have available at that moment to spend all at once. I WOULD if it were an emergency, but between rent, power, food, and school expenses it might take a little creativity to come up with that much money. I might have to swallow an overdraft fee and deal with it later.

I think that came out all choppy and might not make a lot of sense lol it's late and I'm tired. But I'm just saying that it's not that we're bad heartless people, it's that sometimes getting a bill for $200 can be tough to swallow. Again though, let me say that I would do anything for my animals. And the people who aren't willing to take care of their animals, I agree, shouldn't get any until they are.

Bla lol I totally rite gud.

 

[Adinar]

I could not agree more. I saw all too often the poor animals that suffered at the hands of owners who didn't think they should spend money on vet bills when I still worked for an animal shelter.

Given all the issues I've had with my guys lately, all the vet visits, the bills, the meds... I still wouldn't trade it for the world.

You take on a responsibility when you bring a pet into your home/life. Their survival depends on you. If they are sick/injured and you need to pay out to fix the situation, not look at it like it's an inconvience. You'd pay that much if it was your health at stake, why treat them any differently?

Note - This is also not directed towards anyone, after seeing stuff like that happening so many times it becomes infuriating.

 

[VitalTears]

when my water dragon had mbd, the calcium shot was 10$ and he had to take at least 3 of them, i guess it was cheap. They did the check up, fecal and xray for 50. It was a steal xD

 

[Alusdra]

Hermit crabs deserve vet care, too, and most are not properly set up, either. They SHOULD live over a decade, but rarely make it more that a year or two. Finding a vet that does invertebrates is almost impossible, though.

Reptile meds can be cheaper since you need so little compared to a dog. Dogs weigh like 100-1000 times as much as a dog, so you need 100-1000 times as much medicine to treat the same thing (and thus 100-1000x the cost). But on the other hand, consults and vet visits need to be longer to go over husbandry and require specialized knowledge, so that can be expensive. It's true, though, that most vets are under massive debt and are in the field to help animals, not at all to make money.

My recent vet bill to get poor Laurel spayed and off death's door:
Exotic Medication: $17.00 (assuming fluids and pain meds)
Anesthesia: $67.00
Surgery: $80.00
Radiograph: $79.00
Baytril: $10.48
Meloxicam: $8.95

Which, yes, is $262.43 but considering how lucky I am to have a vet that can actually DO the surgery (there can't be more than a handful in the country) I felt more ecstatic than anything.

 

[Stomlin35]

THATS FOR SURE!!! One night at my parents cost me $750 dollars in reconstructive surgery on my female wolf dog. She tends to jump fences and this time she ripped her entire dewclaw off!!! Luckily she was okay and healed up nicely thanks to a quick/expensive trip to the emergency vet!!

My beagle ripped her dew claw off... you couldn't even notice, didn't cost us a penny in vet bills. That must have been one nasty rip!

Fecal exams in Las Vegas are $15 for geckos just for a quick fact input heh.

Also I have 8 hermit crabs that I've had for a while. There really isn't any "vet care" for them available. Most would say that's because we don't know enough about them, and they don't respond to most of what's available right now. Generally though, they don't NEED health care. As long as you keep them in the proper set up, they don't have issues (generally speaking). But honestly... you can't treat PPS (post purchase stress) with any medical supplies anyway, unfortunately.

 

[clegault]

I have absolutely nothing against paying fair prices for my vet bills, I have 3 high needs dogs and have an amazing dog vet (she doesnt do reptiles), however there are a number of vets out there that drastically overcharge.
For example last week a dog at my work while being groomed had the tip of its ear grazed- it would be (for depth and severity purposes) similar to a paper cut, but because its an ear it bleeds like crazy, anyways it had almost stopped when the owner came to pick up the dog and because of excitement it started up again. The owner opted to take it to the vet to get it stitched- id like to see how you could stitch this wound- at most it would need a little bit of liquid bandaid or a glue. It cost the owner $800!!! How does it end up costing that much? Its rediculous and majorly overcharged... you can get a FULL crop job done on a doberman for less then $400 and thats cutting the ear and stitching plus putting the dog out. On top of that it was a wound that would have stopped all by itself with basic pressure and quick stop.
Basically, when your looking to cut down on costs call around to your local vets, find out what they provide and how much... this way you dont get hosed like the person described above and if your lucky find a vet thats willing to work with you.

 

[gitrdone0420]

I realize that veterinary cost is expensive. When a client says, "I cannot afford that" they are often saying, "my money is worth more to me than what your are selling," usually because the client does not understand the product and the estimate may as well have been written in Greek. Services that a client does not understand have no value With that said, get ready my rant as a veterinary nurse...
I would love to see the price list that people would NOT complain about.
Clinics pay for supplies, vaccines, meds, good help, insurance, utilities, continuing ed. etc etc ETC. When was the last time you looked at a Webster catalog (one of the primary distribution companies for professional veterinary necessities) to know what supplies alone cost? Are vets supposed to make no profit?..wait lemme guess, "If you REALLY cared about animals..." then no one would be charged for services rendered. The MINUTE that a vet does not offer every option for good care, including elective bloodwork and diagnostics that happen to cost money, then something will be missed and you will be calling your lawyer.

People who complain about paying for bloodwork are the FIRST to call a lawyer when their pet dies under anesthesia after they declined proper workup. They are the first to refuse to pay a bill for emergency care (which required expensive shock meds, three techs working two hours overtime and intense professional effort) because the dog ended up dying after being mangled by a car...when they are the one who let him roam into the busy street in front of their house. They are the first to let a chronic underlying problem get way out of hand and then complain about the cost involved then when they could've nipped things in the bud earlier on. My personal favorite is the indignant client who feels ripped off because it's going to cost $400 to unblock and hospitalize their male cat AGAIN after we told them a million times after the last episode to get the cat off d**n Deli-Cat and Kit N' Kaboodle. But NO, it's our fault and we are trying to screw them out of their hard-earned money which would be better spent at TJ Maxx in their opinion.

I have been a vet tech for 8 years and I have yet to know a vet who drives a Mercedes, goes on extravagant vacations, isn't paying on a monsterous student loan for decades after graduation (I know a vet who recently graduated and has a hundred thou of student loans to pay off. GREAT doctor, too.), or who gets manicures and salon cuts.

It offends me greatly to see people complain about the cost of vet care. A good clinic does what's right...offers options for diagnosis, preventative care, and the best course of action to assure your pet's ultimate good health and long life. You get what you pay for.

People have no issue paying for an exhaust job or transmission work on their car...so how is it that a vet that recommends x-rays for a limp or bloodwork on a geriatric cat is a money-grubbing shyster?

I once had an ER nurse call up to ask the price of a spay...it was $210. What is the cost of a human ovariohysterectomy? 100 times that? She was P****D...thought that was outrageous. Really you're upset? $210 for basically the same level of care as the human...a sterile surgical suite, good instruments that have been sterilized, expensive monitors to keep tabs on the anesthetised animal, several skilled prep and anesthsia techs, a good surgeon, the latest pain meds, recovery nursing...
You wouldn't want anything less. You just wouldn't want to pay for it, that's all.

If you don't want to pay for vet care, then get a hermit crab. I'm sure there are a couple available here.

You can't have it both ways, though...The best, up-to-date, concientious, quality care....but you want it cheap.

Having pets is not a basic right. If you can't afford to care for them, don't have them. If you can't afford a car payment, gas, insurance and periodic maintenance and repairs, then you probably wouldn't get a car, right?

I am sure that there are vets out there who overcharge. But I have never known one in all these years. Some vets have an especially good ear for heart murmurs...I am sure she thought she heard one and wanted to give you every opportunity to give the utmost care. If she hadn't offered you that option, you'd probably be upset, too, if it turned out to be something serious later on. Posterior coverage via diagnostics is CRITICAL in medicine, human or veterinary. Especially in this day and age of hair-trigger litigation.

The more I work with animals, the more I dislike people. I especially love how anyone that had owned a couple cats in their lifetime knows allllll about cats...even more than those of us who have watched 8 million disease processes and 16 million behavioral problems take place in the same predicatable ways over and over and over and over... what could we possibly know better than your average pet owner?

We are all in this field because we care about nothing else as much as pets. That is our primary concern, more than your financial situation...I meet people every day who "can't afford" an annual and a heartworm test but who can apparently afford to smoke Marlboro reds, go tanning, and drive a nicer car than I will EVER have on my vet tech salary. Your vet didn't hold a gun to your head and make you buy a puppy mill Yorkie that (hello, no surprise!...did you research the breed?) fulfilled its inherent predilection for knee issues that require surgery by a board certified orthopedic surgeon. Boo hoo. Because you can't (or don't want to) pay for it, then vets are price gougers?
Get a clue, and welcome to my world. I need a beer.

Omg, I completely understand. I work in an emergency clinic and we get more of the clients that dont want to pay for anything and just want everything for free! I cannot tell you how frustrating this is! (well, Im sure you know). But I love the phone calls, like the one I got last night, "I dont want my puppy to die! And your telling me that because I dont have money, its gonna die?" I want to scream to these people, "Why do you have a puppy if you CANT AFFORD IT?????"

Or the other people last night whose dog is on death's door because they just bred the ugly ugly flea infested yorkie to some other mangy mutt to sell their puppies for 500$, yet now that the dog is dying, "We just dont have the money for this".

Yea, cause my vet is so driving a lexus and goes on many many vacations rather than living in a 24 hour facility in order for it to stay open... yea. He is so looking to make a huge profit... he just chooses not to sleep!.

And I love this quote that my vet uses, "The day I can walk into a grocery store and say "Im a vet, so I need my food for free", is the day I wont charge."

I dont think there can be any other more frustrating/rewarding job at the same time. lol. And you are so right Jordan, the more I work with animals, the more I HATE people.

 

[ILoveGeckos14]

I can't believe people would say things like this to you guys(Maia and Melanie) and expect you to see where they are coming from. It's like they can't go outside themselves for two seconds to even realize they are complaining about the price of a situation they caused to two animal lovers! People are so delusional sometimes....

 

[AntMan612]

Sick gecko

I just brought Tango to the vet yesterday for an eye infection, and I, too, was surprised by the price. Perhaps, I wouldn't have been surprised if I had done my research in advance, but it would NOT have stopped me from seeking proper care. I think what may be happening (to myself and others) is a lack of awareness of what veterinary health care really costs, and this discussion thread will help. It's difficult to experience a sick animal and maintain the ability to keep from voicing one's frustration at an emergency expense. But, he's totally worth the $199 for a professional diagnosis and medication.

 

[Haligren]

I took Tiamat in for a check up a few months ago. I think it cost $50. But it was worth every penny to me to know that my gecko was healthy and normal especially since I was worried it was something else. I would rather be safe than sorry. Now, in thanks to this forum and the nice vet who looked at her, I know when my gecko isn't feeling good outside of simply not eating. My cat's checkup is normally around $80. I have money set aside for emergencies however - a necessity when you have pets, even though I hardly have enough money for myself for the time being (being a university student and working minimum wage part-time job sucks.) I wish they had pet insurance in this country. I've no doubt I could care for my geckos if they got sick (they require less money) than my cat. But I'm the kind of person who prefers to feed their animals higher quality food, only to feed myself ramen noodles.
With my mom being a nurse - who also worked temporarily in a vet clinic - I know that vet clinics give the same level of care to our animals than they do people. (At least, they should.) But perhaps I'm more empathetic than some people.

I have to agree though on some points; some vet clinics do over charge. One of the vets we used to see in Virginia charged $150 just for a check up. And something like $400 for ear mite medicine.