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Does Anyone Know What A Reasonable Price Is?


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My mum's dog is having some problems with his back. The vet has said it is likely a slipped disk but he needs to do some xrays to confirm. He gave them an estimate which seems ridiculous to me. Apparently in the quote they have included a general anesthetic and some blood tests beforehand.

I have never heard of putting a dog under full general anesthetic just for an xray. I asked them why not just sedate him and they said 9 times out of 10 the dog won't lay still enough with just IV sedation. Now, I think this is BS because I have seen the worlds naughtiest border collie lie perfectly still under sedation and mum's dog is a perfectly well behaved, very placid old boy so I can't imagine him being a problem.

Also, none of us is really keen to put him under as he is 13 years old and not in the best of health as it is.

So can anyone tell me what they would expect to pay for xrays and would you expect the dog to be put under a general beforehand? The price we've been given is a lot more than expected and we want to make sure it is right before we do it. We might take him somewhere else for a second opinion but he doesn't like going in the car so if the price we've been given sounds right to everyone else we might just have to go with it.

Ooops almost forgot to say we were quoted $669, more than what it cost to have him desexed :eek:

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I have done x-rays both with and without GA or sedation. You do have to be confident that the dog will stay still.

If they are doing a GA on an older dog, bloodtests are always recommended first before decided whether or not to put them under.

The blood tests will provide info on how his organs are working to give an indication of any potential problems.

They may also be charging for IV fluids which with an older dog will help recovery.

These two things will often not be included for younger fitter dogs undergoing a GA.

Cost will also depend on the size of the dog. Larger dogs will cost more.

Edited by espinay2
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Depends if they have to put your dog under or not.

With GA is more expensive (need more care, fluid, etc).

Charlie's xrays cost me from $160 to $230 (it depends on where he gets the xray done). He doesn't need to go under, he knows the drill.

Edited by W Sibs
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There are several factors that will influence cost including the type of blood tests (full profile or in house pre-anaesthetic panel), fluids, cost of radiographs and the number of plates being taken, possibly specialist interpretation of the films as well. It sounds about right for a spinal series (the whole spine, not just 2 views), blood work, fluids, hospital and general anaesthetic on prices around our clinic (Western Sydney).

The majority of x-rays I take are under a general anaesthetic, but not all of them. Some are under sedation, some are conscious - this decision depends on both the patient and the region being examined. I don't hold dogs for xrays, nor do I permit the support staff to manually restrain animals unless there is no other option. If the animal can't be adequately positioned with support equipment (tape, sandbags, lead sheets etc) or with sedation then it will get a general anaesthetic. IMHO, in many cases a light, short general anaesthetic is safer than a heavy sedation. Spinal radiographs are best done under anaesthetic because they require specific positioning, must be straight, need support in various areas and if there is a suspicion of a spinal injury then the risk of causing further injury with a dog getting startled and jumping off the table must be minimised.

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There are several factors that will influence cost including the type of blood tests (full profile or in house pre-anaesthetic panel), fluids, cost of radiographs and the number of plates being taken, possibly specialist interpretation of the films as well. It sounds about right for a spinal series (the whole spine, not just 2 views), blood work, fluids, hospital and general anaesthetic on prices around our clinic (Western Sydney).

The majority of x-rays I take are under a general anaesthetic, but not all of them. Some are under sedation, some are conscious - this decision depends on both the patient and the region being examined. I don't hold dogs for xrays, nor do I permit the support staff to manually restrain animals unless there is no other option. If the animal can't be adequately positioned with support equipment (tape, sandbags, lead sheets etc) or with sedation then it will get a general anaesthetic. IMHO, in many cases a light, short general anaesthetic is safer than a heavy sedation. Spinal radiographs are best done under anaesthetic because they require specific positioning, must be straight, need support in various areas and if there is a suspicion of a spinal injury then the risk of causing further injury with a dog getting startled and jumping off the table must be minimised.

^^^ This!!!!!

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Thanks everyone. It just shocked me a bit because it seemed so much more expensive than normal xrays but I've only ever had them done under sedation, not general.

I'm still worried about putting him under due to his age so I was hoping we wouldn't have to. Thanks Rappie for the more detailed explanation.

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Most modern anaesthetics are very safe and if his bloods are normal, I wouldn't worry. We knock out old dogs every day with no problems. We even recently did surgery on a 17yo dog with a heart murmur. He had a perfect anaesthetic and recovery. :)

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Z had his hips/back xrayed about 18 months ago when he was 6.5 years old. Cost me $660 all up which included the blood panel, xrays, GA and fluids. Sounds expensive but so worth it! My old vet had misdiagnosed him but now he's on the right treatment and fighting fit!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I meant to update this before but I totally forgot. I took Sam for his x-rays the other day. It was pretty much the most depressing day of my life. For one thing, he used to come running at the sound of someone picking up his collar and leash, because he loved going for walks. He's not allowed to go for walks anymore and I realised the other day that he now associates the sound of his leash with going to the vet, so when he saw me coming with it he tried to run away and hide :( Then when we got to the vet he couldn't even get out of the car on his own. And when they tried to lead him away to the other room he kept trying to come back to me, and after they took him away I could hear him crying :cry: He's never done that before, he's always been pretty good when he's had to stay at the vet's.

Good news is that he didn't need the GA, he was ok with the sedative. We found out that the reason he is having trouble walking is because he has some growths on his spine, they don't look like they are cancerous apparently but even if they were, they are not in a place that they can be operated on and it wouldn't be worth putting him through chemo at this point. So, he's now on painkillers every day. And its just a matter of time.

I'm so sad right now. But he still seems pretty happy so I am hoping we won't have to say goodbye too soon :(

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