Cost of spay and keyhole or not?

[Boffin9207]

I will preface this by saying I know different vets have different charges and are mostly independent businesses trying to keep afloat. I also understand that they work very hard and a decent vet is worth their weight in gold.

We have an adult bitch who needs to be spayed. We adopted her and took her to our local vets. We have been told £400 for a standard spay based on her weight and an extra £150 for keyhole surgery.

The charity we rehomed from have said that this is quite steep and have recommended their vets.

I telephoned another nearby vet (driving rather than walking distance) and they charge £300 for a standard spay and said that they don’t really recommend keyhole surgery for an older dog who has had several seasons because everything is a bit bigger than if you got them at a younger age and that internally they still have to recover.

I don’t know what to do - really we just want to do the right thing for the dog. We don’t mind paying more if it’s worthwhile. Can anyone offer some advice?

Prices do vary and I would do some investigation on the risks of keyhole surgery being successful in older bitches given that vets advice.

I would then decide on the vet that I was most comfortable with and could easily get to if there were complications after surgery.

I wouldn't bring cost into it until the end but then I know I am fortunate that I don't have to worry about they.

*to worry about that

Sorry typos on phone

Around here, it is about £300 for an adult spay including everything - I don't know about how much extra for laprascopic as my only experience was with one of my foster pups who the vets did for free. But it was amazing how well she was after, and no restrictions on how much she could exercise and the wounds were tiny and she ignored them

Both my dogs had a laparascopic spey. One at 2 years old and one at 5 years old. No mention was made of their ages.
I drove all the way to Scotland for my first dog's operation as it was uncommon at the time so very few vets were experienced in the procedure. This was 9 years ago and it cost around £280 I think. Hard to remember exactly. So the price you have been quoted seems reasonable. I did want her to have a laparoscopic spey having seen the pain my previous dog was in after her standard spey. Apparently keyhole surgery is the usual procedure on the continent. The following day my dog (GSD) jumped into the car to travel back and we had an enjoyable walk on Bamburgh beach.
My second dog was speyed around two years ago at 5 years old. I had intended to get it done earlier but life got in the way. I cant remember how much that cost but I think it was around £350. It wasnt done at my own vet"s surgery but he very kindly provided free aftercare.

I would want clarity about the age thing - not sure I understand that.

Although a keyhole surgery can take longer I believe so do they mean being under GA for longer?

I have had dogs that have had both types of speying - the keyhole has given the dogs less discomfort but they still need to be treated carefully for a while to give them time to heal internally.

Cost obviously depends on dog but keyhole is more £300-£400 sounds about right in my area but I would go by vet over cost.

I live in the West Midlands and that sounds massively expensive to me. But I suppose it really does come down to your location and the Vet you use.
It cost me £150 for a spay and hernia operation on my 6 month old puppy roughly 2 years ago. This is from a small local Vet that has been open for a while now but originally opened to provide more common operations at a reasonable prices.

SpiderCid is your puppy male as our vets is much cheaper for males than females due to the nature’s of the different op’s. My boy was 220 ( had optional bloods and surgical suit) but my friends female at same vets was 380

Shes female, would of been about £100 for the male. If anyone's interested here's the website
www.cavan-vets.co.uk/.
Me and my family have never had any problems with them.

That seems very steep, our vet quotes "from £210" for a spay on their website. It's the same vet the shelter used when our dog was spayed before we adopted her.

Thanks for your comments - it is useful insight. Just to clarify, the laparoscopic spay will be £550 at our vets.

Will post properly after work.

An experienced surgeon doing an open /traditional spay will do less trauma and be quicker than an inexperienced person laparoscopic.
Questions how many of these laparoscopic do they do and how long have they been doing them?

An interesting fact guide dogs will not have their bitches spayed laparoscopically as we have a large number of puppy walkers who use us this is a big factor for not going down this route. All guide dogs neutering procedures are thoroughly researched and evidence based decisions behind them.

I did speak to one vet who does laparoscopic regularly who says he is slower with the laparoscope than open spay despite being very experienced at both. But he like the laparoscope as it is a nice toy.

Thanks for all of your comments. I must be honest, I don’t really understand the age thing either. I might try the other local vet tomorrow and see if they can give me more info. Tbh, I have found that our vet doesn’t give as much information. I suppose that is in part down to asking the right questions but when I took DDog for her injections I felt a bit like I was wasting their time. I had some questions - they had registered DDog with a typo, the leaflet they gave on surgery is quite rudimentary and well, they clearly weren’t happy when I asked for a prescription for worming / flea treatment. DDog also yelped while having injections and a couple of people have commented that she shouldn’t have.

I’ve come home and DDog appears to have injured herself somehow. She seems very subdued and is walking with a bit of a limp 🙁