Spay at shelter

rwj146 wrote:
I am going to go with the shelter spay, it's more of an economic decision now, several unexpected expenses. The shelter seems very clean and the staff was friendly.

She's a good kitten who had a rough start in life, I believe she'll make it okay.

Some of those end up the best....
I got MS Kitty Russel of the Longbranch off my buddy's farm, just a nice black cat. She is the best cat I've ever had or seen. No fussing and has cleaned the property of everything small. moving, and furry.
She also taught her offspring the value of a mouse.;)

I am going to go with the shelter spay, it's more of an economic decision now, several unexpected expenses. The shelter seems very clean and the staff was friendly.

She's a good kitten who had a rough start in life, I believe she'll make it okay.

I had two cats spayed a few months ago at a discount clinic. The vet comes there and operates in a trailer set up for surgery and cages for the "patients". The surgery is minimally invasive. Both cats had a surgical wound smaller than a pea ( a few mm across). Neither cat received any post-op meds or wound care. They have both recovered almost immediately. You just need to have a clean bed for them for 12 hrs. after the procedure and limit their travel (no outdoors).

Good luck with your pets.

rwj146 wrote:
The shelter is offering the rate during the month of January, I will stop by and ask about what is offered for any aftercare and pain medications. So far all I know is what is posted on the sign out front.

I suspect if I use the shelters program I will have to find another Vet, I have only used this one twice for her first shots. No great loss for either of us I suppose.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate.

Any vet who refuses to care for your animals because you chose to spay at a clinic is not a vet you want to have. I have had animals spayed (and shots) at a variety of places while using one vet for all other care. That vet has never treated me or my animals differently for my choices, nor has tried to make me feel guilty for money being a factor in my choices.

The shelter is offering the rate during the month of January, I will stop by and ask about what is offered for any aftercare and pain medications. So far all I know is what is posted on the sign out front.

I suspect if I use the shelters program I will have to find another Vet, I have only used this one twice for her first shots. No great loss for either of us I suppose.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate.

Our vet charges more than half of what yours does but we are rural ....... having said that your vet will probably take more time & care in that the cheaper shelter vet will probably be doing an assembly line & numerous spays / neuters one after the other. Also as mentioned are there hidden costs........ not included in their fees......

I have used both. My foster dogs were done at the spay/neuter clinic $85 each as cost is an issue for the rescue all 3 did fine though weren`t fully awake when picked up. My new miniature Aussie puppy was done at my regular vet which was $330 but included Micro chip & Bordetella vacc I just felt more comfortable taking her to my vet

rwj146 wrote:
Dr Doug, I just spoke to the technician at the Vet's office and she said almost verbatim what you wrote. I am going to stop by and ask the low cost place a few questions and get a 'feel' and then decide. The pain medication thing and monitoring her makes me lean towards the Vet. And aftercare.

I like this new vet and hate to agitate her.

Spay/neuter clinics do not do pre-op blood work, nor do they usually send home post-op pain meds. However, you can often buy some from them at a reduced rate. I had a foster dog spayed at such a clinic in my town, and I asked for pain medication, which only cost me $10 extra for a week's worth. They also removed her stitches for me 10 days later at no additional cost (she also had a hernia repair, so she had interior and exterior stitches, poor thing; a normal spay may only entail gluing, rather than stitches). I'm not sure if your clinic will do this, but it's worth asking about.

Dr Doug, I just spoke to the technician at the Vet's office and she said almost verbatim what you wrote. I am going to stop by and ask the low cost place a few questions and get a 'feel' and then decide. The pain medication thing and monitoring her makes me lean towards the Vet. And aftercare.

I like this new vet and hate to agitate her.

dturm wrote:


Doug, DVM

BTW, costs vary greatly by the area you live in. The taxes, personnel costs, etc. in my area are not the same as rural areas or generally as high as some areas like NY, California. So what someone else pays has very little value in assessing what you should be paying. $350 is pretty typical in our area for a full service spay, pre-op blood, catheter, fluids, pre-op pain meds, post-op pain meds, certified tech monitoring, suture removal, surgery, hospitalization and disposables.

X2

Our little girl was the first to be spayed at a vet we have built a relationship with. I don't regret using the clinics or SPCA reduced spays in the past but using the vet was worth the extra money.
No stress on our part. We dropped her off in the morning for the procedure and then picked her up the following afternoon. We were encouraged to be there when she came out of anesthesia and to return to feed her dinner and breakfast the following morning. Upon pickup she was her normal self. Still tried to keep her activity to a minimum but in her case didn't have to fight the darn cone on the neck and the nausea that the previous dogs have had.