$35 just for the spay; $100 total for spay and all the shots and tests needed as the kitten was found as a stray. This in in a suburb of sorts of Portland, OR (pretty big city, though not as big as Chicago!), at a clinic with awesome vets.

As always, it is important to know exactly what the $400 covers.

The place I work can spay a cat for $65 total. But that does not include any post-op pain control, no IV fluids, no blood pressure monitoring, no pulse/ox monitoring, no heated water blanket, no pre-anesthetic blood work. I work in a poor town, and most people don't go for any of that stuff when offered since it costs extra- we have to beg them to get the $12 pain injection that provides post-op relief for about 6 hours. Your vet may be including all of that important stuff in the price, in which case good for for them! I'd prefer not to give people the option of pain control, but if the price went up, I think people wouldn't get their cats spayed at all.

Meghane, the vet gave me a breakdown of the spay cost:

Pre-op CBC and Chem = $90
Anesthesia = $106
Anesthetic Monitoring = $32
IV Catheter and Fluid Drip = $41
Hysterectomy = $98
Injection: Pain Med = $34
Post-Op Pain Management Injection = $28

Total = $429

Meghane, do these costs seem normal? I had absolutely no clue that the spay would cost this much. Can anyone else chime in what they have spent to spay a kitten?

I think that cost is crazy. That price is the reason people can't afford to have their pets spayed/neutered. Check on line, do a google search for low cost spay and the name of your city. If it's a major city than there is low cost spay somewhere. Contact the rescue organizations in your area. They always know where to find the free and low cost surgeries.

I've had over 200 cats spayed and never have they had to have an IV fluid drip. Another money making charge. Also, if your cat is generally healthy, that pre op testing is not necessary.

Dr. Meghane correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that the pre op testing is to ensure the kidney's and liver are functioining properly so the animal can metabolize the anesthesia. Some vets actually perform a electrocardiogram to check the heart. As far as I'm concerned if the animal is young and healthy, the pre op is not necessary. In rare cases there will be some animals who have heart murmurs or cardiomyopothy (I'm sure I murdered that word) and those animals could die while under anesthesia.

Even at regular price, my vet wouldn't charge more than $200 for all you're having done. That $28 pain injection sends me through the roof. Pain medication is so inexpensive. They are just ripping people off with that.

I hate that some vets make pain management an option and don't just include it. My vet does include it in the price.

So as to not go on and on about the charges they gave you, let me say I think they are overcharging you big time. I would check around, you should definitely be able to find someone less expensive who doesn't want to charge you for a human hysterectomy on your cat!!

I had my calico cat spayed at about 6 months shortly after adopting her from our local shelter (Albany, NY).. but this was just over 11 years ago!! The shelter paid a small part of it, and we paid $50 total. Obviously, I don't have the details of what it entailed, but I don't believe a full bloodwork was performed. Our vet clinic (cats only) is a very trusted one. She was fine.

I volunteer at a shelter here in Maine (I have since moved)and they take care of spaying through generous local vets who donate their time--before letting anyone adopt. I only know of one incident: one kitten had some heart problem during the surgery and lost her sight--I think she partially recovered since--.

I certainly would want to play it SAFE but...$429 is quite above reasonable, and I am sure Meghane can tell you what you can do without and still play it safe for your new kitten. Maybe it's because your kitten is so young??? By the way, how safe is spaying that early???

Best of luck,
Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie, they spay kittens as young as 8 weeks old very safely. Some people still have qualms about early spay/neuter, but I've done many, many, and they all grew up to be big and healthy cats. The great part about early spay/neuter is shelters who have a no spay, no adopt law, are able to spay/neuter the babies and they can get adopted sooner. Before they couldn't adopt out little ones because policy mandates they all need to be fixed before going out the door.

I did pre-op blood on an apparently healthy 8 week old kitten this week. He was anemic, neutropenic (low white blood cells) had a high BUN (poor kidney function or dehydration) and high ALT (liver enzyme). Wouldn't have known a thing was wrong with him without the blood work. And that was just a PARTIAL chemistry. Needless to say, we postponed the surgery, got him on some meds, and will recheck in 2 weeks. Cat looked perfectly healthy, had a perfect physical exam, active, eating well, normal size for age, etc. Granted, I've done pre-op bloods for probably 30 patients so far, and only one was bad enough to postpone surgery, but I wouldn't want MY cat dying under anesthesia because nobody bothered to tell me how important pre-op bloods can be. You don't have to choose it, but understand the risks. And then when disaster strikes, don't sue the vet for your choice. Play the odds if you'd like, it's not your life you're risking.

IV fluids prevent decreased blood pressure which is inevitable with anesthesia. Decreased blood pressure destroys kidneys, probably not so much as to go into failure right away, but why even partially trash a cat's kidneys at 6 months of age if it can be prevented? Kitties have enough problems with their kidneys later in life, they need to keep all their kidney function in tact.

I haven't done a pre-op ECG but then again none of my patients have had heart murmurs yet. I would do an ECG if that was the case.

I've never had a hysterectomy, but my guess is that I'd feel that $28 is money well spent after major abdominal surgery to ease pain. I can't help how much the drugs cost me- the pharmaceutical company sets their price, and the hospital sets their markup which covers the costs of prescribing, administering, stocking, logging (most pain meds are DEA scheduled and must have logs maintained), dispensing (those little pill containers and syringes and needles cost money), taxes (we get taxed for all inventory items), time for our pharmacy tech to do inventory control, orders, pay the bills, etc etc etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Post-op hysterectomy pain in women, from health forum

So, Meghane, does your last post mean you think these charges are pretty normal price-wise? Please confirm, as I have nothing to go by, other than what people on this forum tell me.

Also, to clarify, my kitten's age will be 5-1/2 to 6 months when she will be spayed. I have seen cats go into heat at around 6 months, so I want to spay before there is a chance of that happening.

Re low cost spay/neuter clinics that Brutuses is recommending - as I mentioned in my OP, I have unfortunately heard some not-so-good stories about the ones here, so I would rather avoid that and go to a regular veterinarian. I would have preferred to go to my vet who has already examined my kitten, and whom I know, but his costs are making me hesitate.

Also, to clarify, my kitten's age will be 5-1/2 to 6 months when she will be spayed. I have seen cats go into heat at around 6 months, so I want to spay before there is a chance of that happening.

Sorry, akchicago, I misread your first message. I thought your kitten was just 6 weeks old... At the shelter here, they spay so early... it concerns me! Your kitten is certainly at a 'safe' age!! Sorry.

Anne-Marie

I don't think the charges are completely out of line for a large city in a high-end hospital. I would NEVER be able to get away with that here though, being neither a large city nor a high-end hospital. It doesn't seem like this particular hospital does the typical discount to encourage spaying though. Most hospitals charge much less for spays/neuters than they would for other similar surgeries such as an abdominal exploratory or growth removal- spays/neuters are typically loss leaders. You may be able to find similar service for a bit less money if you called around. Just be certain you are indeed comparing apples to apples in your price-shopping.

Sorry no kitten, but male dog neuter about a year ago, ninety dollars and he stayed with the vet three days after the surgery. My female dog, 120 dollars and stayed with the vet four days after surgery, he wanted to keep her the extra day as she is a high energy dog and did not want her too active too soon.

Both Lucy and Lola had the spay surgery on 8/30/06 when they were five months old. We live in Kansas City, Missouri.

I just looked at the breakdown of the cost. The pricing is for each of my gals. This was done at my regular vets so it was more than a spay/neuter clinic:

Anesthesia - $38
Ovariohysterectomy - $57
Antibiotic injection - N/C
Hospitalization - N/C
Buprinex (injection for pain) - N/C

Total was $95

It was more than a clinic but I was happy with the service and didn't feel the pricing was unreasonable.

Robyn

meghane, where did that kitten come from? was he a stray? I would do bloodwork on strays for sure because most of the time they are enemic or malnourished? It's good y'all caught this little guys problems before surgery. So you do early spay/neuter? I have to bring my ferals to certain vets because my vet won't spay or neuter before 5 months of age and that's a shame.

I think it's quite high but since all five of my cats are rescues and my new puppy as well I can't give you a fee but will say I paid about $50 for each cat and $200 for the dog and they were all neutered ( four of them are female) , all shots, heart worm, Front line, rabies and other shots..It's been many years since I took a cat in for neutering so I can't give you a current price. It just seems very high.

Four kittens (litter-mates), $120 including all kitten shots. This was in Clinton, IA We called the humane society for the referral.

The high prices sure don't encourage people to neuter their pets!

If you go on line look for "friends of animals" you get a coupon and all it cost you is $65.00.You get the coupon within three days by "snailmail"

$429 is definetly very high!

I got both of my cats spayed & de-clawed at the same time and I believe it cost about $200-$250 for each cat (for both procedures).

This was in a smaller city outside of Toronto, Ontario. Vet care was great & they kept them there for 3 days.

This particular kitten was the product of a stray momma who had been adopted (he was born at their home), but had some problems with URI, UTI, etc. as a very young kitten. All problems had been cleared up for a couple of weeks, and don't explain the anemia, neutropenia, or liver abnormalities, although a serious UTI could have trashed his kidneys at least temporarily. So I put him on metronidazole and clavamox to cover the most common bacterial infections of the liver and kidneys, and to protect him from septicemia due to his low white blood cell count. The anemia wasn't too bad and probably won't require specific treatment. He's doing great at home, and hopefully everything will be back to normal after 2 weeks of treatment, but if not the owners are wiling to pursue diagnostics and treatment for him.

Hi!
Try this link to find a clinic in Chicago area to do low cost spay/neuter.
I have always used these types of clinics (in Florida) and have never had any problems. $400.00 seems very high.........

http://www.care-evanston.org/lowcost.htm

I tried to get 5 barn cats neutered about 3 years ago. My vet, who usually is pretty reasonable, quoted me approx. $200 per cat. That was more money than I could spend. So after a few calls I found a vet who only did "feral" cats, and it cost me $60 per cat.

I also found that the loacal SPCA has a feral cat spay day, which you need to sign up for way in advance, and that's very cheap.

This cat wasn't really feral, someone dropped her off at my rural farm. She's now a spoiled rotten house cat, and so is one of her kids.

I'd never spend that much! I spent $90 and that included everything, and I thought that was a lot! Only $50 for neutering a male cat. Go somewhere else, with the extra money you could donate it to a charity of your choice that would love that extra $300.