How much do you spent on vet bills?

Just curious, what does everyone average a year on vet bills?

My vet is a bit pricier than many in town but he's experienced in sighthounds and very experienced in general. I guess I am paying extra for piece of mind. He also doesn't suggest every test known to man has to be run first to rule things out every time, which is nice.
But it limits how many dogs I feel I can afford to keep. I need to be able to afford those sudden vet emergencies and the more dogs I have, the more chances there are of sudden finance ruining vet emergencies.

I'm amazed at the vast difference in prices in vets, city to city and country to country. So for curiosities sake, how much do you spend roughly?

For me it's about
$70 for a consultation
$380 for spay
$250-$300 for a yearly check up with shots
$130 for flea/heart worm for 6 months for one dog.

I just worked this out for interests sake knowing that I've been extremely lucky thus far with Abby.

Based on six yearly checkups, one extra vet appointment one year and one emergency vet appointment with turned out fine and needed no follow up (did I say how lucky I am!!!):

$211.66 approximately per year.

My parent's dog Grace would be significantly higher on average because she had a cruciate ligament surgery as a 2 year old and has to occasionally have a benign mouth growth removed, but I just can't remember the exact figures.

All and all they are very healthy dogs though and I've had great luck healthwise so for that I'm very grateful.

Oh, I didn't factor in flea/heartworm treatment, that's probably more expensive than my average vet bill for the year!! I'd say around $250 a year?

My vet charges $45 for an office visit. A yearly checkup and all their shots costs a total of $90-100 for each dog. For Tempie to get spayed, her rabies shot updated, and a hernia repair, it was $140. I don't buy flea/heartworm stuff from the vet, so I don't know what they charge for that.

I'd really rather not think about it

Rosey:
- Annual wellness check and rabies/distemper vaccines - $120 (She will no longer be getting vaccines, her rabies is good for 3 years, and if she lives to 18 1/2 we won't feel comfortable vaccinating her)
- Bi-Annual blood work - $75/go - $150 annually
- Pain meds - $45/bottle - at the moment ~$135 annually, as she gets older it will go up

Renegade:
- $60 for annual wellness check
- $30 per blood glucose test with sedation - ~$90-$120 annually
- ~$100 annually because he likes to scare me and make me take him to the vet for no reason

Harley:
-$75 for annual wellness check and rabies/distemper vaccines
-$15 blood glucose test without sedation - $45-$60 annually

Ella:
- $75 for annual wellness check and rabies/distemper vaccines

I just spent roughly $1300 on a (complicated) mass removal for Bailey. Diagnosing Buzz's hypothyroidism cost about $500 this spring.

And they both take medications regularly. Luckily, I get free general exams still!

I've probably averaged ~$800/year in vet bills, for a healthy dog.

Once she caught some nasty intestinal bug from an overnight dog guest, and had a nearly $600 e-vet bill to get fluids in her when she was exploding from both ends all over our apartment. Last month she had 2 teeth removed to the tune of $750. Once she ate something (outside, that I didn't see) that caused her to vomit 4 or 5 times in a couple hours...so we had to take her in to get charcoal in her tummy and they wanted to do x-rays, which ended up being $600. Then her yearly visit generally costs in the range of $250-300, plus the occasional trip to be dewormed or for a UTI or whatever that run around $100.

And that's not even counting meds. If you include that, I'd say we spend about $1000/year on medical related things (vet bills + meds) for a healthy dog.

I just remembered that I have pet insurance which I've used once (the emergency trip) and although I cannot say that I've got my money's worth so far, it's one of those things that I'm really happy to have, but would prefer if I didn't have to use it anyway.

.... Way too much :lol-sign:

All of it.

$30 for an office visit. Shots were about $40 I think last time. It ended up being about $85-$95 when I took Yoshi in for check up. She also had an ear infection and so that 85-95 also covered them helping me clean out her ear and some cleaner and drops for her.
$80-$120 for a spay/neuter.
$100-$120 for heartworm prevention


The pricey thing:

$1200-$1400 each time she has bloated.

Every time I visit the exotic vet for my rats I spend WAAAAY TOO MUCH. Dogs are nothing compared to what I pay at the exotic vet, it seems. One of my rats' teeth are not set right, and if they are not trimmed they grow so long they protrude out of her mouth in opposite directions. Guess what it costs to trim those little things down? $150. Guess what it costs to get them removed? $600.

It's $45 for an exam everytime we go in unless it's a follow up appointment. Then it's free/just the cost of meds if needed.

Normally I don't spend a lot at the vet yearly, but this year they all had a complete blood panel done so that cost about $400 + the girls' exam fees since it was their first visit. And Ripley's skin issue has cost me quite a bit this year between exams and trying to figure out what it is, plus the different medications I had to buy to try for him. I don't have his receipts sitting in front of me, but I'm guessing I spent around $300 or more. Each vet visit was at least $80. Would have been less had I not had to change vets, though. We had to start pretty much from scratch with the new vet. So this year, I've spent approximately $800, probably a bit more.

The girls, other than their bloodwork, have cost me nothing this year. Keira actually hasn't had any vet costs at all since 2009 I don't think.

On average I hardly spend anything at the vet. My dogs, thank goodness, have all been really healthy other than Ripley's skin issues/allergies. And this is the first year I haven't been to the vet for Dance's mystery diarrhea. Last year and the year before she probably cost me a couple hundred bucks trying to figure that one out and being treated for possible Giardia.

My next big vet bill will be pulling one of Dance's molars, but it's fine right now so the vet said just watch it for now. I'll probably have to come out next year sometime we're guessing. And hopefully that will be my only big vet bill - they better all behave themselves and stay nice and healthy!

Keep in mind that we don't do flea and tick treatments here (a non issue), so that cuts costs greatly. I don't over vaccinate either, so that doesn't cost much. Really, the only time I get a vet bill in a year is if there is something wrong with them or if I'm curious about their health (as was the case for the bloodwork).

I get a $600 credit at work and free heartworm/flea product, so thus far...probably around $200. LOL

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I got discounts and don't have to pay my bill right away, I would be doing a lot of this stuff myself. Now that all of the dogs have gotten their vaccines, I'll only be doing rabies from here on out...maybe booster DHLPP again for the younger two in a few years, just in case. I'm more than happy to use over the counter flea product for the crew if I have to.

Dameon's meds cost me around $12 a month.

Just doing rabies, every three years I'd be spending $300 on vet bills for all of the dogs. That's $100 a year. Buying flea product would be another $120 per dog, so...$480.

So, for all of the pooches, roughly $600 a year. That isn't counting the visits due to Gracie's allergies. Or Dameon. Or heartworm prevention, which I do like to give during the summer months.

And now I'm going to stop thinking about it. LOL

Office visits at the clinic I work at (AAHA accredited) is $45. Each yearly vaccine is between $15-$20, with three year vaccines being around $35-$40. Heartworm test and fecal check are both around $33. S/N procedures range from $120-$300. Trifexis is about $130-$160 for a six month dose.

Scrapping any thing like Elsa's HW treatment and just the basics of a yearly with preventatives, HW test, exam, rabies.. Probably somewhere in the $500 neighborhood.

i work in a clinic, so it's less than for other people. About $130 for both dogs, assuming nothing happens, including wellness bloodwork.

That said, just this week it's been $120 for a dental for Logan, $40 for a UA/culture for Gavroche, and $210 for antibiotics for Gavroche. Gavroche also gets thyroid meds and thyroid checked yearly, so that adds to the regular stuff - about $30 for 2-3 months of meds, so $90ish a year for meds.

Exams are free, vaccines, heartworm tests and in-house labs are half price, heartworm/flea meds are free from the manufacturers. Medications are at-cost and sent-out labs are at cost (and the lab gves veterinary employees a bit of a discount). Other procedures are half price or less (Logan's dental would have been around $350-$400 full price).

Should one of my dogs die while I'm working at the zoo, cremation with ashes returned is free from the zoo hospital. They also provide exams, vaccines and heartgard/frontline for reduced prices/at cost, but since I work in a clinic anyway I don't use those benefits.

140 last month on Arson..

40 mange scraping
70 consult
20 antibiotics

364 this month on Arson

45 microchipping
41 HST
278 neuter, 5 ear tags removed, pain meds day of and 3 days worth later

Cockers this past year.. No vet visits needed.

I work for a vet, so get free exams and vaccines at cost, usually score enough free heartworm/flea meds from drug reps to meet my needs.

But Luce has had $5000 worth of new knees installed (referral vet), $1000 in cardiologist visits, and her heart medication by itself is $60/25 days. Plus she takes a joint supplement and medication for urinary leakage. Whee!

Steve's rehab for his groin pull is $80/visit. I think we're up to 7 visits since June now.

My cat's radioactive iodine treatment for his hyperthyroidism was $1000.

Ridiculous creatures.

I love my CareCredit card.

Depends on the year. The year Summer had her eye problems and I got Mia was very expensive.

My vet recently hasn't been charging for visits if I go in for tests, just the tests. So Mia's rabies shot was around $20 I think. This year has been easy and pretty much vet-free.

I work at a vet as well, so it's less than it could be. I vaccinate every three years for the younger dogs, but get vaccines at cost. This year they've behaved themselves..Newt did have a dental at the end of January for $100 or so. And Jules went lame in his arthritic elbow..so xrays for $43.

My numbers are skewed since I was working at a clinic. Free exams, $20 x-rays, $5 medications..... I'm going to miss that discount.

But I don't do yearly exams and I don't vaccinate unless it's needed (ie training or daycare facilities), so really my pets only go to the vet if they're sick. Juno is usually the only one that causes us problems and usually with her it's just fecal after fecal, antibiotic after antibiotic. Nothing too crazy though.