Is this the going rate for my dog's surgery?
Discussion
My 6 year old Doberman is in a bad way, he has injured his neck somehow. I think it might have been from simply jumping into the car.
He's been on painkillers for a fortnight and isn't getting any better.
Vets best guess is a herniated disc, she's referred me to a specialist place.
She estimated £1500 for a CT scan and £2-3k for any surgery that might be needed.
The referral clinic have rung today and said they'll do MRI not CT and it will be £3200 for scan and spinal surgery will be £8250.
I cancelled his insurance a year back because it was £800 a year with a £2000 max claim per year per condition so I didn't think it was worth it, I have accident cover for him now with £2500 max claim.
Insurance may pay, but by sound of it it's unlikely. Wouldn't make much of a dent in it anyway.
Obviously there is no question about if I will go ahead with the treatment, he's my best friend and I will spend the money.
I aren't wealthy, I have savings and I can afford it but it will hit me hard.
I just want to make sure this clinic is charging the going rate and I can't save thousands else where.
They are about 40 minutes away from me and they seem to be very well reviewed.
He's been on painkillers for a fortnight and isn't getting any better.
Vets best guess is a herniated disc, she's referred me to a specialist place.
She estimated £1500 for a CT scan and £2-3k for any surgery that might be needed.
The referral clinic have rung today and said they'll do MRI not CT and it will be £3200 for scan and spinal surgery will be £8250.
I cancelled his insurance a year back because it was £800 a year with a £2000 max claim per year per condition so I didn't think it was worth it, I have accident cover for him now with £2500 max claim.
Insurance may pay, but by sound of it it's unlikely. Wouldn't make much of a dent in it anyway.
Obviously there is no question about if I will go ahead with the treatment, he's my best friend and I will spend the money.
I aren't wealthy, I have savings and I can afford it but it will hit me hard.
I just want to make sure this clinic is charging the going rate and I can't save thousands else where.
They are about 40 minutes away from me and they seem to be very well reviewed.
Since you're going to be spending that amount, is it possible to go to an alterative clinic for a second opinion?
I've no idea of the pain your dog is in, or the urgency, so this is only assuming you have the time to do that.
But spinal surgery is never going to be cheap. Even simple ops are expensive, my dog swallowed a squeaker, it cost us 3k in the end to fix him
I've no idea of the pain your dog is in, or the urgency, so this is only assuming you have the time to do that.
But spinal surgery is never going to be cheap. Even simple ops are expensive, my dog swallowed a squeaker, it cost us 3k in the end to fix him
sociopath said:
Since you're going to be spending that amount, is it possible to go to an alterative clinic for a second opinion?
I've no idea of the pain your dog is in, or the urgency, so this is only assuming you have the time to do that.
But spinal surgery is never going to be cheap. Even simple ops are expensive, my dog swallowed a squeaker, it cost us 3k in the end to fix him
With his pain killers and anti imflammatories he seems reasonably comfortable to is very slow moving and hunched over, I'd like to get him in somewhere this coming week so don't really want to go looking for second opinions if costs and comparableI've no idea of the pain your dog is in, or the urgency, so this is only assuming you have the time to do that.
But spinal surgery is never going to be cheap. Even simple ops are expensive, my dog swallowed a squeaker, it cost us 3k in the end to fix him
Monkeylegend said:
My partners daughters dog has recently undergone chemo and surgery for cancer in the jaw.
She, as in the dog, now has half a jaw, her tongue hangs out all the time and the bill was £22k with just £5k being covered by insurance.
But she is alive and enjoying life again.
Its awful to think that so many people faced with a bill like that couldn't do anything to try and afford paying for it and would have a really hard decision to make.She, as in the dog, now has half a jaw, her tongue hangs out all the time and the bill was £22k with just £5k being covered by insurance.
But she is alive and enjoying life again.
mikemmw said:
Monkeylegend said:
My partners daughters dog has recently undergone chemo and surgery for cancer in the jaw.
She, as in the dog, now has half a jaw, her tongue hangs out all the time and the bill was £22k with just £5k being covered by insurance.
But she is alive and enjoying life again.
Its awful to think that so many people faced with a bill like that couldn't do anything to try and afford paying for it and would have a really hard decision to make.She, as in the dog, now has half a jaw, her tongue hangs out all the time and the bill was £22k with just £5k being covered by insurance.
But she is alive and enjoying life again.
She is lucky in as much her partner was willing to go halves but for many that would have been the end.
We have spent just under £3k on one of our cats over the last 4 months. She is now at stage 4 renal failure and we were told she had about 4 weeks left about 5 weeks ago, and the vet said then it would not be the wrong decision to put her to sleep.
We are so glad we hung on though as she seems to be still enjoying life so we are glad we hung on..
She will let us know when the time is right.
Hope yours make a full recovery.
actually sounds reasonable tbh,
our youngest french bulldog had spinal problems and needed a scan and surgery, total bill just just north of 10k.
the Scan was pretty much the same price as the surgery. seems bloody ludicrous when i can get a spinal MRI done on a human for £600 or a full body mri for £1400
our youngest french bulldog had spinal problems and needed a scan and surgery, total bill just just north of 10k.
the Scan was pretty much the same price as the surgery. seems bloody ludicrous when i can get a spinal MRI done on a human for £600 or a full body mri for £1400
Monkeylegend said:
I agree.
She is lucky in as much her partner was willing to go halves but for many that would have been the end.
We have spent just under £3k on one of our cats over the last 4 months. She is now at stage 4 renal failure and we were told she had about 4 weeks left about 5 weeks ago, and the vet said then it would not be the wrong decision to put her to sleep.
We are so glad we hung on though as she seems to be still enjoying life so we are glad we hung on..
She will let us know when the time is right.
Hope yours make a full recovery.
Thank you for the well wishesShe is lucky in as much her partner was willing to go halves but for many that would have been the end.
We have spent just under £3k on one of our cats over the last 4 months. She is now at stage 4 renal failure and we were told she had about 4 weeks left about 5 weeks ago, and the vet said then it would not be the wrong decision to put her to sleep.
We are so glad we hung on though as she seems to be still enjoying life so we are glad we hung on..
She will let us know when the time is right.
Hope yours make a full recovery.
Glasgowrob said:
actually sounds reasonable tbh,
our youngest french bulldog had spinal problems and needed a scan and surgery, total bill just just north of 10k.
the Scan was pretty much the same price as the surgery. seems bloody ludicrous when i can get a spinal MRI done on a human for £600 or a full body mri for £1400
Sounds like they are charging to going rate. Yes I also wondered how the scan on a dog can be so much more than a human.our youngest french bulldog had spinal problems and needed a scan and surgery, total bill just just north of 10k.
the Scan was pretty much the same price as the surgery. seems bloody ludicrous when i can get a spinal MRI done on a human for £600 or a full body mri for £1400
It doesn’t seem over the top to me.
Will need to be anaesthetised which is where a lot of the cost goes.
This site may help:
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/dog-cat-mri-locations...
Although to be honest if it was me I would just get on, saving a few hundred may seem like false economy if it prolongs the pain.
Good luck and my thoughts are with you.
Will need to be anaesthetised which is where a lot of the cost goes.
This site may help:
https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/dog-cat-mri-locations...
Although to be honest if it was me I would just get on, saving a few hundred may seem like false economy if it prolongs the pain.
Good luck and my thoughts are with you.
Unfortunately yes, vets are expensive.
We paid out over £4k on Luna in two days, 6 day old pup with a heart defect that died and the breeder 'forgot' to take out the puppy insurance
It cost around £600 to put Cadbury to sleep and get her ashes in February. When she was 8 and did her cruciate ligament then broke her leg, I think that cost in total about £8k with insurance only covering a part.
I understand why people cancel insurance, Cadbury went from £60 a month to £220 a month when she reached 9 and they wouldn't cover anything to do with her leg...
Best wishes for your dog. Hope it all works out well for them.
We paid out over £4k on Luna in two days, 6 day old pup with a heart defect that died and the breeder 'forgot' to take out the puppy insurance
It cost around £600 to put Cadbury to sleep and get her ashes in February. When she was 8 and did her cruciate ligament then broke her leg, I think that cost in total about £8k with insurance only covering a part.
I understand why people cancel insurance, Cadbury went from £60 a month to £220 a month when she reached 9 and they wouldn't cover anything to do with her leg...
Best wishes for your dog. Hope it all works out well for them.
Such a difficult time for you & your dog .
I would ask you local vet if you could get a refferal to an other specialsit for a second opinion.
I guess this will cost around £250.00 but it may give you an other choice.
We lost our dog he was 8 years old after spinal surgery on discs in his neck , the estimate was similar to yours . But with complications after surgery 24hr one to one nursing costs etc all mount up. Our bill was nearly £10,000 . I would never do that again with an 8 year dog . So stressfull & such a worry we kind of were encouaged by the specialist that it was the best option even though we lost our dog.
Just a thought I would get a second opinion from an other specilist if it was me on a 6 year old otherwise healthy dog.
I would ask you local vet if you could get a refferal to an other specialsit for a second opinion.
I guess this will cost around £250.00 but it may give you an other choice.
We lost our dog he was 8 years old after spinal surgery on discs in his neck , the estimate was similar to yours . But with complications after surgery 24hr one to one nursing costs etc all mount up. Our bill was nearly £10,000 . I would never do that again with an 8 year dog . So stressfull & such a worry we kind of were encouaged by the specialist that it was the best option even though we lost our dog.
Just a thought I would get a second opinion from an other specilist if it was me on a 6 year old otherwise healthy dog.
You can ask your regular vet to call other local referral centres for an estimate.
My local referral centre does a weekday special for IVDD surgery in Dachsies, it was £4.5k last time I checked, including MRI, surgery and a few days hospitalisation. With a Dobie, it will obviously be more, where abouts are you?
That being said, you don't want to hang around making a decision. Best of luck.
My local referral centre does a weekday special for IVDD surgery in Dachsies, it was £4.5k last time I checked, including MRI, surgery and a few days hospitalisation. With a Dobie, it will obviously be more, where abouts are you?
That being said, you don't want to hang around making a decision. Best of luck.
Update
After seeing on here that the rate wasn't out of the ordinary I decided to go ahead with the initial place as I didn't want to waste time getting other prices.
I took him in Tuesday morning for an MRI, turns out he had a severely ruptured disc in the bottom of his neck (C6/C7) that was compressing his spinal chord to 30% of its size. The Surgeon couldn't believe he was moving around like he was going off the scan.
He stayed over night and Wednesday afternoon he had the surgery, it went well and I was allowed to pick him up Thursday night
He seems great today, considering he was sliced open 2 days ago. He's got plenty of energy, it's going to be tough keeping him rested for the next couple of months.
Hopefully he has a speedy and full recovery
Insurance refused to pay ahead for it
The bill ended up being less than I thought it would be, I was led to believe MRI was £3200 and surgery was £8250. Actually MRI was £3200 and then with surgery the total went up to £8250. So I was expecting a £11.5k bill.
The amount wasn't going to affect my decision but it is pretty bad that the woman who told me the prices on the phone wasn't more clear as that price difference for some people could be the difference between choosing to go ahead or not.
They've submitted the results of the MRI to insurance and they may refund me £2500 if, with the results, we can prove it was a trauma based injury.
Not holding out much hope on that.
All in all it was money well spent to see my buddy not in pain anymore
After seeing on here that the rate wasn't out of the ordinary I decided to go ahead with the initial place as I didn't want to waste time getting other prices.
I took him in Tuesday morning for an MRI, turns out he had a severely ruptured disc in the bottom of his neck (C6/C7) that was compressing his spinal chord to 30% of its size. The Surgeon couldn't believe he was moving around like he was going off the scan.
He stayed over night and Wednesday afternoon he had the surgery, it went well and I was allowed to pick him up Thursday night
He seems great today, considering he was sliced open 2 days ago. He's got plenty of energy, it's going to be tough keeping him rested for the next couple of months.
Hopefully he has a speedy and full recovery
Insurance refused to pay ahead for it
The bill ended up being less than I thought it would be, I was led to believe MRI was £3200 and surgery was £8250. Actually MRI was £3200 and then with surgery the total went up to £8250. So I was expecting a £11.5k bill.
The amount wasn't going to affect my decision but it is pretty bad that the woman who told me the prices on the phone wasn't more clear as that price difference for some people could be the difference between choosing to go ahead or not.
They've submitted the results of the MRI to insurance and they may refund me £2500 if, with the results, we can prove it was a trauma based injury.
Not holding out much hope on that.
All in all it was money well spent to see my buddy not in pain anymore
mikemmw said:
Update
After seeing on here that the rate wasn't out of the ordinary I decided to go ahead with the initial place as I didn't want to waste time getting other prices.
I took him in Tuesday morning for an MRI, turns out he had a severely ruptured disc in the bottom of his neck (C6/C7) that was compressing his spinal chord to 30% of its size. The Surgeon couldn't believe he was moving around like he was going off the scan.
He stayed over night and Wednesday afternoon he had the surgery, it went well and I was allowed to pick him up Thursday night
He seems great today, considering he was sliced open 2 days ago. He's got plenty of energy, it's going to be tough keeping him rested for the next couple of months.
Hopefully he has a speedy and full recovery
Insurance refused to pay ahead for it
The bill ended up being less than I thought it would be, I was led to believe MRI was £3200 and surgery was £8250. Actually MRI was £3200 and then with surgery the total went up to £8250. So I was expecting a £11.5k bill.
The amount wasn't going to affect my decision but it is pretty bad that the woman who told me the prices on the phone wasn't more clear as that price difference for some people could be the difference between choosing to go ahead or not.
They've submitted the results of the MRI to insurance and they may refund me £2500 if, with the results, we can prove it was a trauma based injury.
Not holding out much hope on that.
All in all it was money well spent to see my buddy not in pain anymore
Fair play to you for getting him sorted and I hope he has a speedy recovery and long happy life. Looks a cracking dog!After seeing on here that the rate wasn't out of the ordinary I decided to go ahead with the initial place as I didn't want to waste time getting other prices.
I took him in Tuesday morning for an MRI, turns out he had a severely ruptured disc in the bottom of his neck (C6/C7) that was compressing his spinal chord to 30% of its size. The Surgeon couldn't believe he was moving around like he was going off the scan.
He stayed over night and Wednesday afternoon he had the surgery, it went well and I was allowed to pick him up Thursday night
He seems great today, considering he was sliced open 2 days ago. He's got plenty of energy, it's going to be tough keeping him rested for the next couple of months.
Hopefully he has a speedy and full recovery
Insurance refused to pay ahead for it
The bill ended up being less than I thought it would be, I was led to believe MRI was £3200 and surgery was £8250. Actually MRI was £3200 and then with surgery the total went up to £8250. So I was expecting a £11.5k bill.
The amount wasn't going to affect my decision but it is pretty bad that the woman who told me the prices on the phone wasn't more clear as that price difference for some people could be the difference between choosing to go ahead or not.
They've submitted the results of the MRI to insurance and they may refund me £2500 if, with the results, we can prove it was a trauma based injury.
Not holding out much hope on that.
All in all it was money well spent to see my buddy not in pain anymore
What a horrible decision to have to make - I sympathise entirely. One of our dogs has a heart condition making him uninsurable, so we put money aside each month for those "just in case" moments. The other dog is insurable fortunately however insurance is expensive and there are so many cover exclusions that it feels as though it's a complete cheat.
What you had to pay is about the going-rate but despite that, it still sounds excessive. Legal and medical costs are criminally expensive IMO but when it's your dog, you just pay don't you? You'll never regret spending the money. Glad he's sorted.
What you had to pay is about the going-rate but despite that, it still sounds excessive. Legal and medical costs are criminally expensive IMO but when it's your dog, you just pay don't you? You'll never regret spending the money. Glad he's sorted.
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