Not sure if i have worded that correctly in regards to my question. My litter is nearly ready to go to their new homes. I was wondereing how you all get on with having your puppies given a once over by your vet before they leave? The receptionist at my vets seemed quite shocked when asked to bring the litter for a health check and apart from wanting a fortune she said it doesn't normally happen.

What do people on here do ? (assuming you are not having 1st vaccinations done)

At 3 weeks we took mum and the litter to the vets for a health check - our vets just charged for 2 appointments and saw mum & 7 puppies in that time.  We just wanted to know about heart murmurs, jaw lines, clef palletes & hernias before sending them home

x

Thanks for this, very helpful. i thought i must be being unreasonable but this is what i would expect. The receptionist thought i was mad when i asked to bring them in, and said they dont normally get this sort of request, quite frankly i'm not surprised at the price they want.

Yes, I get mine health checked just before they go to their homes, quite a challenge lugging the shep pups (last time there were 9) but they charged for 2 consultations I think for that number, can't recall what the cutoff is, I'll have to check as next lot are 6 (but smaller).  Our vets IS geared up for breeders though, open 24/7 and lots of experience, so perhaps your vet isn't as used to litters?  Mine go in with their mum on first day, then again for a final check up - hernias, hearts, mouths are all checked, so I know they're healthy when they leave home.

I think most people do or should.  I took all mine the day before the first was due to leave.  Took them in two at a time.  Cant remember what I was charged but I was getting them chipped as well.

I took mine at 7 1/2 weeks before they left. Our appointment lasted just under an hour for mum and 7 pups. Vet was very thorough with each pup, checking ears, eyes, mouth, joints, skin, weighed and cuddled. And I asked for boys to be checked to see if they had two (I know they will not necessarily be felt at this age, but felt it was useful for my own breeding records to know). Cost near to £100.

Thanks all. they want £23 each and i have 8 pups. In my opinion i can see they are healthy etc but i just want peace of mind from vets. just like most of you i just want the basics, heart mouth hernia and obvious visual inspection. Quite disheartened in my vets now, i usually cant praise them highly enough and they were really good when i took the bitch in for a check 2 days after having the litter. The litter are 8 weeks old on thursday so i wanted to get this done today / tomorrow.

Perhaps it was just the receptionist who wasnt quite sure. Ring up speak to the vet and double check.

Checking a whole litter is unusual, but for 6 or more puppies you'd get a discount on the number of consultation slots they'd take.

Just had a phonecall back after they spoke to one of the partners and they have come back with £125 for all 8 which i am happier about. Thanks for your input folks.

> they want £23 each and i have 8 pups. In my opinion i can see they are healthy etc but i just want peace of mind from vets

If you have a Contract of Sales for your puppies, it's pretty hard to declare that your pups are 'healthy at time of sale' unless someone qualified to say so, declares them fit.

I have mine heart and eye screened by consultants who litter screen and my vet does general health....all in all considerably more than £23.

 

How much is your average consult?

Ours will be a docked litter, so we'll get the docking vet to check them at 2 days and then she will return at 6 weeks to chip them, when she'll check them again.

> I have mine heart and eye screened by consultants who litter screen and my vet does general health....all in all considerably more than £23.
>

I understand that specialist test as these will be considerably more  but when others (as above) have said they pay for 2 consultations then i thought it was a little excessive.

Tillyandangel
The normal consulation fee is £23

I would be expecting to pay for two consults possibly three for 8 puppies. My vets give 25 mins per consult.
I doubt each puppy will take any more than a few minutes to be looked over.

Tillyandangel -Thanks for this - extremely helpful :) the appointment is with a vet that i trust implisitly (sp) so i feel much better now :)

Just had a phonecall back after they spoke to one of the partners and they have come back with £125 for all 8 which i am happier about. Thanks for your input folks.


Gosh that's a lot!  My vet charges 1 or 2 'consultations' depending on numbers in the litter - so £25 -£50 max - for the general health checks.  One young vet did try to charge me a consultation each, but changed after my query.  Obviously additional checks - eyes, ears etc by specialists are more, can't recall how much the eye checks are, but there's a litter charge for them too... but not done by my vets, have to travel for that.

Blimey, you are being ripped off  OP ! Our vet would charge little more than the cost of one consultation (£20) for a litter check up. This includes him signing my puppy health check forms that I give to new owners to say they have been given a clean bill of health. If any are being vaccinated too, of course the price of that will be added on. Oh and obviously the litter eye screening is an added extra, but I have to use an Opthalmic vet for that and it is done at a different practice.

I took our last litter to the vet a couple of days before the first was due to leave. I struck a deal with the vet that meant I paid for microchipping and he gave them all a health check for free. Cost over £100 for the litter of 7 puppies but all were microchipped.

I was more than happy, as any problems raised by their vet could then be directly addressed with my vet. No problems, but if there were, it was good to know that I had back up of my vet.

A friend helped - she had a boot where the back window opened - lined it with blankets/vet bed and off we went, myself and a nurse taking one in at a time and my friend standing next to the car keeping watch. Everyone was amazed how I knew the pups individually (Golden Retrievers so pretty similar to each other), but of course I did...lol!!!!! An exhausting experience but quite a crowd pleaser, especially the little crowd gathering round the car and the faces of those in the waiting room.

I paid £22 per pup which included their first vac at 9 weeks old, this was a new surgery and I was very impressed with the thorough check over each pup got, then 3 weeks later they had their second vac and another check over for the same price.

> A friend helped - she had a boot where the back window opened - lined it with blankets/vet bed and off we went, myself and a nurse taking one in at a time and my friend standing next to the car keeping watch. Everyone was amazed how I knew the pups individually (Golden Retrievers so pretty similar to each other), but of course I did...lol!!!!! An exhausting experience but quite a crowd pleaser, especially the little crowd gathering round the car and the faces of those in the waiting room.

i'm dreading it, they're little hooligans lol :)

Not surprised by their surprise.  Why would one need to take healthy pups to the Vet before they are due to be vaccinated, the less time at the vets where sick dogs may have been the better.

I don't have pups vet checked before leaving if they appear to be perfectly healthy, after all my vet works for me, and it is the new owners own vet that will check them over when they visit them as per contract.

Until recently I never even had transport, so any pups needing the vet would need to be carried there.

> Not surprised by their surprise.  Why would one need to take healthy pups to the Vet before they are due to be vaccinated, the less time at the vets where sick dogs may have been the better.

I've only bred one litter, so not a great deal of experience, but I'd prefer to pay for a house visit than take a car full of puppies. With my litter I had a couple of call outs, one when the pups were born to give Lottie an oxytocin shot and check on pups, and at about 5 weeks when they developed the runs.

I think it may be dependent on where you live.  Here (large city) very few vets practices will come out untless it is absolutely essential, even with emregencies they will want you to bring the animal to the surgery.

Mine get a full check up when I have them microchipped at 7 weeks old. Unfortunately I can't remember how much it cost, but don't think I was charged any extra. In fact I got a discount because it was a whole litter being chipped at once ;-)

My vet charges one and a half the consulation fee.  I always have them Fronlined while there as well.  I had a litter of eleven in 2009 and paid just over £80 including the Frontline. 

I have taken my pups down to the vet for a check over before leaving me for several years now - I do not give first vaccinations and they are tattooed - my vet charges me - NOTHING!! 

> I do not give first vaccinations and they are tattooed

DITTO, Unless they are staying past 10 weeks (not spoken for by 8 weeks).

WOW that's extortionate, mine just usually charges for a normal consultation, though to be honest my girls don't have that big a litter.

I take my puppies for their first vacs before they go and my Vet does a full check and charges nothing other than the cost of the vaccination. 

ours is two consultaion fee's at £30 each

or the vet will come to you for £80

My vet charges me for a normal consult (can't remember exactly, but around £30.)  Although he does always ask me to book a half hour appointment.  My breed has small litters, but I wasn't charged any extra last year when one of my girls had a giant litter of 5 pups.

Although he's not a registered opthalmic vet, he is totally competent to do eyes for me.  And, although it isn't strictly necessary in my current breed, he knows I'm paranoid, after getting a Toy Poodle with PRA back in the 70's.  I guess the fear has stuck with me since.

He is very thorough with the eyes (although it's embarassing when someone walks in and asks why the lights are off )
And he always takes way over half an hour.  It does give me peace of mind though.

The puppies I have bought have always come to me litter screened by the vet, general check up, hearts and eyes etc. So when I bred and sold a small litter of 2 a few years back, yes I took them to the vet for heart and eyes myself. Can't remember how much they charged but I'm sure it wasn't anything like your vet is quoting!!!!!

My pups are all checked by the vet too, in fact he has little cards that he ticks the boxes when checked, heart, chest, eyes, ears, hernias, testicles etc. I get to keep the card  which I give to new owners, he also notes it all on the computer.   He just charges one consultation fee for a litter to be checked over and sometimes (depending on how many) it can take up to an hour.

We take our puppies at 8 weeks as they are given their 1st vaccination, microchipped and the health check is done at the same time. The Vet said he health checks them as standard practice whenever a puppy comes in for it's 1st vaccination. He charges £22 for the vaccination & health check and £10 for the microchiping. I don't get charged a consultation fee no matter how many puppies we take down, this time round it was 14 last time 5.

I avoid going to vets when  I have a litter, vet comes to me, for as much as poss. They come out 24 hrs after birth and do a complte check over and front dew claws then if I have any problems they come to me. Unless it is very important they need something at the surgery like equipment for some reason. At 7 weks I ask my vet to come and do a check over before they go off to new homes. They just charge me a call out about £60 from memory, and I invariably get a nurse too...for puppy cuddles!
Only once I took a singleton to the vet for a pre-sale check..it was easy with one!
Aileen

good grief.. last litter I had checked, they charged me consultation fee for mum and same for the litter of puppies as in one payment and said they wouldnt charge for  a puppy (consultation fee) I kept just the inocculations fee. it was a couple of years ago £25 con fee so £50 the lot.

Tbh I never did with my previous breed but with cavaliers I feel I need to know they are heart murmur free. Juvenile murmurs are very common across the breeds but if one was found in one of my pups I think a new owner would panic and so it would always be best to keep said pup a bit longer until such a murmur has cleared. It has never happened yet, but there is always that chance.