Vet Costs

tesslab

Cannot get over the prices Dublin vets are charging to have a 6 month old lab spayed. 205 is the cheapest quote I've gotten to date. Blue cross are doing neutering in Inchicore clinic but are booked through til August.

Was hoping to get her done before she went into heat as I understand we would have to wait 3 months after her cycle to spay her.

Anyone who has had better experience please post!:(

star-pants

Think for my 5month old pup it was 185 - that's in Dundrum

Sigma Force

If possible try further afield 205 is a lot for a spay for a lab in my book.

sunshinegirl

generally you wait 3weeks after her first heat. then get her done. did you go through the golden pages to get quotes? wow dublin is expensive. my friend got quotes in cork ranging from €120 to €180

star-pants

From what I recall the op price is based on weight / size as well.
So a lab would probably be bigger than my pup (lhasa apso) thus more expensive, if that's how they work it

dmca77

Up North 65 quid, That were we got ours done, Well it was a Bichon for 25 but my mum had her lab done 3 weeks later for 65.

Ruby Soho

North Kildare for 160euro? Not too bad when compared to the Dublin prices!

olaola

Try Frayne in Celbridge, he's very reasonable.

Ruby Soho

I would avoid Frayne like the plague... not going to go into detail.

Toulouse

Completely agree with Ruby, sometimes it's worth paying a bit more for a job well done.

boomerang

A spay is a more delicate procedure than a neuter, and the bigger the dog, the more anaesthetic required, hence the higher cost.

€200 actually sounds just about right to me to spay a Labrador.

Please don't go hunting for the cheapest possible option - you could end up with a dog who has a badly infected spay wound, stitches way to tight and cutting into her skin, incision way bigger than is necessary, or even a prolapse.

Don't mean to frighten you but I've seen some awful botch jobs done by the cheaper vets in the countryside. These are usually mixed large animal/small animal practices (ie they do farm animals as well as pets) and they don't have the same small animal expertise, experience or equipment as city-based practices, who charge more to cover their higher costs.

Go on personal recommendations and for this if nothing else, sod the cost.

Ruby Soho

Definitely, personal recommendations are the way to go.
I have heard though that the most expensive spay in Ireland is in a south Dublin based vets, who charge upwards of 400 quid to spay a lab-sized dog, total rip off.
All the fancy monitoring equipment in the world doesn't detract from the fact that it is, at the end of the day, the same procedure, and its the skill of the vet and the assisting nurses who make it a job well done.
Aside from a few dodgy oul' fellas down the country, I assume that most places, particularly in urban areas all use a fairly standard protocol when it comes to neutering: proper analgesia, gaseous anaesthesia with intubated airway etc. Don't always assume that more money = better job, not necessarily so.
I would sooner go to a competent vet with lots of clients who recommend him / her, than someone who pushes up the price because they hook the dog up to an ECG for the surgery. While monitoring is certainly necessary, a good nurse with a stethoscope and a bit of cop on will be able to do the job as well as ap-alerts and other fancy gizmos that are likely to give false reading etc. Ask for a pre-anaesthetic blood panel before the anaesthetic is administered to check for systemic problems, and you should always go away feeling that you can get a follow up check up, or advice over the phone if you're worried about anything.

olaola

Ruby Soho wrote: »

I would avoid Frayne like the plague... not going to go into detail.

My Father had his dog spayed with Frayne about 3 years ago, no problems. She was up and about a day after the op.

macflea

have been reading this thread with interest as i am currently working as a vet in uk , i was considering moving to ireland to set up as a practise, on friday i rang around enquiring about premises to rent , i qouted 60 euros a square foot plus rates plus insurance esb water etc. so fro a 50 squrae foot room you are talking at least 3000a month basic rent plus 30percents costs. the auctioneer told me this is the going rate. i can understand now why vets in ireland are so expensive. out of curiosity what would you consider a fair rate for netering your cats or dogs? i was going to open in dublin cats spays 50 euors cat castrates 40 euros dogs castrates 80 euros and bitch spays 120 euros . plus preanathestic bloods 35 euros as an extra.this is what i was considering a reasonable charge but if i were to rent a place you can see it would be hard to justify 3000 euros plus 30 percent to cover costs as mentioned about . even at two bitch spays a day 240 by 20 4800 , things would be tight.feel free to argue the case with me.as the previous post says you actually dont need a lot of equipment for this , only blood machine to chech pre op bloods and you probaly only need gas for a bitck spay.

Interceptor

macflea wrote: »

i was considering moving to ireland to set up as a practise.

Don't pay any attention to auctioneers - they are all crooks who are stewing in their own juice right now. The auctioneer around the corner from me is turning the lights off in his shop during the day to save a few bob. Get on a plane, grab a Yellow pages in the airport and visit a few small animal clinics. Proper market research is essential for the decision you are making. Most small animal practices are doing grooming in order to keep a stream of customers coming - diversification is the order of the day in the small animal business. The recession is forcing people to look at the costs of animal care and make cutbacks - you want to build your business so it isn't affected.

Anyways, back on topic - OP, when someone in your family needs a medical procedure do you plan putting it out to tender? Will you feed cut price medicines bought off the internet to family members? Why are you treating your dog this way? Spend what is needed - don't drag the dog half way down the country to save €40. Support your local vet, get a proper job done and that way if there are any complications or additional visits needed you are nearby. [SARCASM] If you can't afford €200 for a spay, let her have lots of pups and drown them in the river for free... [\SARCASM]

'cptr

Clare Bear

It would be €180 in the clinic I work in to get that done OP. The cost will vary maybe €20-€30 depending on where you go but I'd rather pay a bit extra and be happy with my dog's treatment than saving 20 quid to be honest. Find out from family and friends where they got their dogs done and who they were happy with. Don't go on price, go on word of mouth. This is a once off, you'll want the best job done possible without any problems after. Good luck with it.

Aru

Ruby Soho wrote: »

Definitely, personal recommendations are the way to go.
I have heard though that the most expensive spay in Ireland is in a south Dublin based vets, who charge upwards of 400 quid to spay a lab-sized dog, total rip off.
All the fancy monitoring equipment in the world doesn't detract from the fact that it is, at the end of the day, the same procedure, and its the skill of the vet and the assisting nurses who make it a job well done.
Aside from a few dodgy oul' fellas down the country, I assume that most places, particularly in urban areas all use a fairly standard protocol when it comes to neutering: proper analgesia, gaseous anaesthesia with intubated airway etc. Don't always assume that more money = better job, not necessarily so.
I would sooner go to a competent vet with lots of clients who recommend him / her, than someone who pushes up the price because they hook the dog up to an ECG for the surgery. While monitoring is certainly necessary, a good nurse with a stethoscope and a bit of cop on will be able to do the job as well as ap-alerts and other fancy gizmos that are likely to give false reading etc. Ask for a pre-anaesthetic blood panel before the anaesthetic is administered to check for systemic problems, and you should always go away feeling that you can get a follow up check up, or advice over the phone if you're worried about anything.

Shrugs a good nurse and experience is the good option its much better then a vet doing the operation and anesthetic alone anyway but the equipment is used in human hospitals for a reason.Its safer it avoids complications by allowing you to recognize them before they happen.

Fair enough in a spay/neuter the vast majority of complications will be avoided as its a healthy young dog undergoing an elective procedure.Personally is I was doing my own Id still put on all the extras though as id hate for her to be one of the few who have issues and Id always wonder if she had been monitored would I have been able to do things differently....
but whatever about a spay in the older animal in for a procedure Id like to see how well they are taking up oxygen properly,know if the blood pressure dropping towards a low point where its going to affect their organs and possibly cause renal failure post op and I would most certainly like an older animal on fluids for their own comfort and because it makes for a safer operation. But of course im bias and spoiled at the minute as the UCD vet hospital use's all of the equipment so at the minute Im seeing the benefits of having them and will miss the comfort of having them in operations when I leave.
Heart rate is only able to tell you so much and its a hell of a lot easier to treat complications if you can see the warning signs before they happen rather then when they are causing issues during or after the operation! the best anesthesia's are the boring ones.
I think its a pity that more vets cannot have the basic monitoring equipment but again its economics people just do not want to pay extra for pets.

Its true the vast majority of spays at this stage are under gas,have analgesia etc but its a statistics thing in every x amount of operations there will be x amount of complications and issues... it often has nothing to do with the skill of the surgeon or the nurse involved.Its bad luck...but in those cases I would rather know that my animal was in the least danger of being in those odds as they had monitoring done that could catch some issues before they became complications....I know that in many cases people genuinely cannot or wont pay for for those extras but some people will and they should have that choice.

But I do agree with you about the bloods before an operation are a good way to reduce the risks as well though.

star-pants

Aru this thread is almost 3 years old and we have a current thread on a similar topic.