Almost my entire life, Dh and I have carried pet insurance. Pet insurance is a quick and easy way to bring your pet to the vet whenever you want, for a set amount each month, basically covering all office visits, shots, etc. But as we gained more and more pets, pet insurance went from the $19 a month to about $100 a month and we couldn’t afford it any longer.
I called today to see if I should set Paprika up on a pet insurance plan to assist in her spay/neuter situation. Because she is over 6 months old, she wont qualify under a kitten plan (which includes being fixed), just an adult plan, which is at minimum $13 a month and a $35 enrollment fee (i actually have a 50% off coupon, so that is the discounted rate from $70). So I asked about getting her fixed and its $199 for the surgery alone, on top of all the other fees.
$199?
Woah.
Obviously, it has to be done, but I am beginning to understand why people don’t rush out to get their pets fixed. Its just not affordable for people to pay for! I looked up our local pet shelter and you can only get it done through them if you fall under a certain income, which I am sure we wont fall under, but that doesn’t mean that $199 is something we can just write a check for with no problems.
I am going to call around to see if this is the standard price but I’m choking over here. Charlotte’s birthday is in 2 weeks and its either her party or the cat. Sorry, Charlotte, that cat has to get her uterus removed, no jump castle for you!
What a decision.
~trisha
We have a mobile vet bus that does it for $30-$50 … T.A.R.A. tara-spayneuter.org Not sure if you have this in your area.
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That is about what I paid for two of my pets. The cost included blood work and pain medication. I thought and still do think that it is very expensive. My other pet was adopted so I got a discount from the shelter which was nice.
You could wait and do it after Charlotte’s birthday.
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You should also check in with your humane soceity or ASPCA…they should be able to give you a low-cost pet spay/ neuter option. In our area there is a clinic that only does low cost spay/ neuter.
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It cost us $390 for our doberman cause she had to have some bloodwork before hand to test for a genetic disorder that can cause dobermen to bleed out during surgery. Yeah, my dh was soooo happy about that one.
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Leah-Diaries of a Domestic Goddess wrote:
this was banfields QUOTE!
Wow, that is HIGH! It’s been awhile but I don’t even think it cost that much to spay our dog.
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Check out the Banfield Pet Hospitals that are in Petsmarts. If you go to Petsmarts website you can see where the nearest to you is.
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I will have to look into this pet insurance thing for my 11 YO dachshund who, several years ago, had to have surgery to remove a bladder stone. Do you think they’d want to charge a higher premium because of his age and health issues?
This is why we’ve adopted all our pets from a shelter–$200 for a spay would put a hurtin’ on our bank account! The shelter where we used to volunteer charged a $65-$70 adoption fee and that included the spay/neuter, first shots, deworming, etc.
I didn’t realize there was no other choice but the $200 regular vet price, though. If they were serious about wanting people to spay and neuter their pets, they’d work something out for around $50! I’ve even heard of programs in areas with large stray populations in which they catch cats, spay/neuter them, and then set them free again (because it would be wrong to kill them just for being feral, but letting them multiply is dangerous). You’d think if they did that they could also work out an affordable fee for responsible pet owners.
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There should be plenty of places to do that cheaper. There are even some places that do it for free, because of all the strays around. Keep looking.
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I know you’re talking about neutering/spaying…BUT on a semi-related note, my friend just spent $12,000 (!!!!!) to diagnose her dog with a stomach condition and is now giving her dog 12 meds a day, which cost untold amounts of money.
I’m afraid to have a dog or cat because what would I ever do if something serious happened? I would pay the $12K and my husband would kill me.
Hopefully, the $12K thing makes you feel a little better about the $200 to fix your cat.
Still, I hope you find a more reasonable price!
I paid 130 for my cat’s kitty maker to be taken out and she got declawed at the same time. That was a couple years ago though.
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Wow! $199??? That’s really expensive. We had our dog neutered last winter and it was only $75 total. You might want to check with your local shelter because many times they work with vets to offer low cost spaying and neutering.
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We have several low cast spay and neuter places here in the Houston area that are much cheaper than that… google low cost spay and neuter near your house and see what you find. The going rate for cats at the one we use is $35 for a neuter and $55 for a spay TOTAL… no other fees.
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Pet insurance? Never heard of that one before. Around here spay/neuter for a cat is $75. (plus $10 for at home pain management)
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