Vet Bill for Cat - Is It Too High?

Lkittykatknack on 02/09/2021 - 15:47
Last edited 03/09/2021 - 09:53 by 1 other user

I took my cat (male, approx 1 yr old) for a health check and a desex/microchip appointment in late august. He has never seen a vet prior to this point (was a rescued stray).

The first appointment (health check) was exactly $100, and included the standard 3 vaccinations. After the surgery, I was notified of a negative FIV result and consented to a vaccine which cost $45. The second appointment (the desexing and microchipping) cost me about $664, and seemed abnormally high, and was broken down like this:

Desexing…$199
Microchipping/registration…$87
Level 1a profile…$169
Anaesthesia - nerve block…$0.00
FIV/FeLV test…$98
Vaccine/health check…$111

It ended up costing me $764 in total. What I want to know is whether or not this was still too high a cost for a male desexing. Not looking for a refund at this point just wanting to know if the cost was way out of whack.

Pets Veterinarian

Comments

Dack Smith on 04/09/2021 - 18:43

-1

If you love your pets, you'd spend every cent you have for them.

That is nothing, don't be stingy
- Charmoffensive on 05/09/2021 - 03:40
  
  They're not being stingy. They paid it and said they're not after a refund. They just wanted to know for the future whether their vet offered fair prices.
MrThing on 04/09/2021 - 19:55

yep seems like a fair price tbh, i think my small female doggo desex was about 600

vets need to make a fair living.
ribze1 on 04/09/2021 - 20:00

Pets ain't cheap my friend
Jolakot on 04/09/2021 - 20:15

+1

Seems pretty fair, you could have saved about $150 by shopping around, but you weren't ripped off
kzrocky on 04/09/2021 - 21:38

-4

No one should own cats in Australia.
Anyone who loves animals, should not own cats in Australia.
Locking your cat inside the house is cruel to the cat.
Letting your cat out, is cruel to other animals.

Dont own cats.
- acersaurus on 04/09/2021 - 22:00
  
  Not everyone has a choice. A cat climbed over the fence and started living at my place, making me the de facto owner.
  
  Anyway I've observed it being a highly ineffective hunter. Any half witted bird can escape it. So it depends on the cat.
  - Charmoffensive on 05/09/2021 - 03:33
    
    A cat climbed over the fence and started living at my place, making me the de facto owner.
    
    You could always call the Ranger.
    
    Anyway I've observed it being a highly ineffective hunter
    
    And yet, it was clearly able to survive before you took care of it, so it can't have been that bad.
    - mapax on 05/09/2021 - 08:23
      
      This. When I was a ranger I had to deal with strays and ferals. You rarely find a cat that died of starvation anywhere there is bushland or a park. The dead cats were usually killed by foxes or by road strike.
      
      Cat owners are the worst. Dog owners whilst still bad would mostly own up but cat owners would completely deny that it was their cat killing indigenous wildlife, even with photo evidence. We had almost lost a population of locally significant birds at one conservation park, after the removal of 2 cats from the area that population of birds started recovering within a couple of years.
  - lgacb08 on 05/09/2021 - 12:58
    
    You probably don't know your cat very well. My family used to have generations of cat over the year and the most hopeless one would surprise you one day. There was this pathetic outcast that always pathetically beg for food and mouse ran in front of him laughing (literally). But she was the one that left sparrow feather around the house.
    Most naive city dwellers are oblivious to the fact cats are too chain predator and cause great damage to the naive native animals.
- Charmoffensive on 05/09/2021 - 03:37
  
  +5
  
  I know cat owners don't like to hear it, but you're not wrong.
  
  Cats kill over 230mil native animals each year.
  
  If you're going to get one, keep it indoors and install an escape proof cat run.
  - popsiee on 05/09/2021 - 08:14
    
    I'm lucky I have a free Siamese cat that visits constantly from my neighbour .
    It normally kills about a bird a year in my back yard . Its always always trying to get my FIFO ducks but no luck yet .
    - mapax on 05/09/2021 - 08:27
      
      +1
      
      That’s one bird a year that you know of, in your yard. Cats kill plenty of skinks and other small vertebrates that people don’t even know exist, or in some cases the skinks and small vertebrates no longer exist because cats always kill them.
      - popsiee on 05/09/2021 - 08:44
        
        @mapax: I know that is why I said my backyard .
        
        mapax on 05/09/2021 - 08:59
        
        +1
        
        @popsiee: That comment was for the broader OzBargain community rather than directed at you. I imagine there might be a few people that read your comment and then think “well that cat only kills one bird a year”.
lunartemis on 05/09/2021 - 09:37

+2

If we didn't have Medicare, it would cost us a lot more to do anything. I mean, look at how much dentist costs without healthy insurance…
One of our cats had to get a minor surgery and it cost us $2500 so he could pee without pain!
Lawagetas on 05/09/2021 - 10:42

Same as what a lot of other people have mentioned already:

This is not an unreasonable price. Is it a bit more expensive? Perhaps - but not overly so. Maybe an extra $10 here and there but everything is pretty much on point.

Something to keep in mind as well is the quality of work can vary wildly with vets. Especially if they place preference over one type of pet over another. They may have spent more time during surgery to make sure it's all done well.
SickMyDuck on 05/09/2021 - 11:04

my 2 cats (1 boy 1 girl) went to Lost dog home vet in melbourne. desex was $229 each. Microship was also around $80 each. Vaccine/check up around $120 each. Normal health check is around $90 each. I suppose you did all at once hence big bill. the price you listed seems normal to me.
PurchaseAnxiety on 05/09/2021 - 11:22

+1

That seems reasonable to me. My local vet bills often bring a tear to my eye, but they are by far the closest option (good for a cat that hates car rides), and they always do a great job. So I just accept that it’s one of those things that I don’t save money on. I save money elsewhere so I don’t need to sweat things like vet bills.
Kamsi on 05/09/2021 - 13:43

The cost of having a pet is sky-rocket this century, no wonder the pet insurance is getting popular. Never had or heard about pet insurance during the time when we had our dogs. All expense is pay in fall and not but or how…
Munki on 05/09/2021 - 18:56

OP has to ask for code D.

Code D's nutz.
HKS on 05/09/2021 - 19:22

dont own pets if you cant justify paying the bill. simples.
stalker878 on 05/09/2021 - 21:22

Can't believe that people happily pay so much $$$ for pet health care but complain when u are asked to pay $10 copayment to see non bulk billing GP..
cashless on 05/09/2021 - 22:19

$764? That’s a bargain. Imagine how much kitty would have spent on hookers
Boostland on 05/09/2021 - 23:11

$180 for my budgie when he got his leg wedged in the cage in 2017
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=293842684434164&set=p.2…
rainbow612 on 05/09/2021 - 23:15

Yeah, a stray I found had its first vet visit after I socialized it from feral to normal. The cost was around $700. I thought it was pricey but what can you do, seems like a normal price from what you posted.
[Deactivated] on 06/09/2021 - 07:50

+1

Desexing…$199

"Cat castration". Youtube is your money-saving friend.

Vet Bill for Cat - Is It Too High?

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