Cost of neutering a dog

[Lumisade]

How much did you pay to get your dog neutered? My vets gave me a quote of £260 and it seems rather high.

[MossyOilTank]

Male or female dog? You need to find out what you're getting for that price. What's included varies, different practices offer different levels of care. Would you think £260 was a lot for you to have a general anaesthetic and invasive surgery plus aftercare?

[fleshmarketclose]

I paid £100 to get my bitch spayed. There is a pricelist on our vet's website here

[EmmaGellerGreen]

About £130 for a cocker spaniel. Our vet says that they neuter for close to cost to incentivise neutering of dogs.

[BiteyShark]

Around £220 for a large dog, slightly less for a smaller dog (goes on weight).

[MossyOilTank]

People shouldn't be incentivised, in my opinion, neutering is something which should be discussed and weighed up with every owner on a case by case basis. I think when he said incentivise he meant "loss leader" ;)

[Terfzilla]

Ring up lots of vets and get quotes.

I did this for a small animal op and it ranged from £90 to £450 for same procedure!

[BiteyShark]

I did chuckle though on the 'slightly high'. Having seen how much things cost and have claimed for many scans and surgeries a couple of hundred pounds seems very cheap

[Lumisade]

@fleshmarketclose Thanks, it looks like your vets would charge £100 to castrate my dog. Quite a price disparity!

@MossyOilTank The £260 includes the procedure, anaesthetic, collar and no blood tests.

[Hemlock2013]

I just had my jack Russell pup done. Was £140.

[Terfzilla]

Dogs trust may also be able to help...

Who are in receipt of any of the following means-tested benefits:

Income support
Jobseeker’s Allowance
ESA
Child Tax Credit
Working tax credit
Housing Benefit
Council Tax reduction/ Council tax Support
Universal Credit
Pension Credit
A tenant of the NI Housing Executive
And who are looking to neuter dogs of the following breeds:

Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Mastiff
Rottweiler
American Bull Dog
Greyhound
Lurcher
Akita
Husky
Malamute
German Shepherd
Samoyed
Jack Russell Terrier
Border Collie
Crossbreeds where one of the breeds is identifiable as one of those listed

[BiteyShark]

I think if you just care about the cost then shop around as it's private medicine so will be different at each vet.

However, even if I could get things cheaper in other vets I like continuity and would happily pay extra to stay with my vets because I like the care they give.

[Terfzilla]

Funnily enough the cheapest vets in my area is the most attentive and has won awards for that.

The more expensive vet just seems to care about money over the animals welfare or the owners feelings.

[adaline]

It'll depend on the vet, the area and the breed in my experience.

Our local vet is a farm vet and their prices are a hell of a lot cheaper than our old urban surgery used to charge. Their premises might not be as flashy and shiny but the care is fab and the prices are more than reasonable.

[fleshmarketclose]

Our vets is a new practice in direct competition with a very long established practice so prices are competitive. I like the new vet though so will stay with him if the prices rise anyway.

[totallyliterally]

We use our local vets 4 pets and they are excellent. Ours was £130 for female dog.

But ask around for recommendations for vets. Before we got our dog (I had used the vets for our cat before) I visited some of the older more traditional vets and wasn't impressed at all.

[psicat]

What size dog? Male or female? What breed? That can make a difference to the anaesthetic etc.
Area makes a difference and some vets are expensive (they all are in this area). If near West London the mayhew animal home do low cost neutering and free for bull breeds. Or may be something similar or your area.

[Panicmode1]

My golden retriever was about £280 all in.

[Aquilla]

Paid £320 but in a posh village. Definitely shop around (I wish I had).

[Beaverhausen]

Dogs are a lot more expensive than cats, but have a look at your local RSPCA they sometimes have vet clinics on one day a week where castrations are done for about £20 - £50 but you need to be in receipt of benefits unfortunately. So if you know someone who claims they might be able to take woofles for you.

[Villanellesproudmum]

Our female dog was spayed recently and it’s charged by weight, she is 10kg and It cost £204 including medication, two follow up appointments and the stitches removed.

[Wolfiefan]

Find out what it includes.
What breed? My dog would be expensive to spay. Giant breed means more meds and she would need heart monitoring when under anaesthetic.
Male or female makes a difference.

[BiscuitDrama]

Off on a tangent a bit, but does anyone know why those breeds are the ones that qualify on the Dogs Trust list? Why birder collie or greyhound, for example?

[BiteyShark]

BiscuitDrama I would guess, and it is just a guess, that they see those breeds the most in rescues so if someone is thinking of cost then they may get them neutered and also not tempted later to breed for money

Would be interested to know if I am right or if there is another reason.

[missbattenburg]

That would be my guess, too Bitey

Coincidentally, we were looking at all the dogs on the Dogs Trust site last night to look at breed frequency. All those listed above were the ones we saw the most frequently - with lurchers, greyhounds, border collies and staffies occupying the very top spots.

[TheCatWhisperer]

I would check what the costs include. Post op checks for example, post op pain relief? Also some vets will have basic equipment and use unqualified low paid nurses to monitor the anaesthetic whilst others will use experienced qualified nurses, have lots of decent monitoring equipment etc making your animals op safer. A bitch spay can take up 2 hours of the staffs time, monitoring from pre med through to recovery by a nurse, setting up of theatre, anaesthetic induction and surgical prep then cleaning of theatre and equip, sterilisation of instruments etc. Neutering ops are dirt cheap when you consider what's actually involved in comparison to other procedures.