Just a quick question...
I will actually know tomorrow but in the early hours of Saturday morning my bitch had an emergency Ceasar to deliver the last 2 pups of her litter. Roughly how much might it have cost?...I know every vet differs but it will just give a clue, so its not so shocking when they tell me...lol

I've only ever have a giant breed need a c section and my bill was £480.00 ( standard day time rates ) which I think was quite good . I've known a breeder of one of my pups ( small utility breed ) pay just over £1000 , that was an out of hours emergency .

£900 to £1200

Thanks..that gives me some idea :)  Never had to have one before in our 53 years of dog experience.

Here it would likely be over £1000

I recently paid just over £500 for a large breed c section carried out in normal hours.

It does vary quite a bit doesnt it.
I will find out tomorrow & post as some might like to know. I strongly expect an emergency & out of hours will make it a fair amount more than elective in normal hours???

Hi, i have never had an elective but have had to have c sections which have all been in the early hours of the morning,  the emergency vets in our area out of hours for a c section is £1500.

Another vet an hour away is £400 out of hours so all depends on vets and areas.

For an out of hours for a toy bitch 5 or 6 years ago, I paid £1,086.

If your OOH service is Vets Now, then expect the high end!

> If your OOH service is Vets Now, then expect the high end!

Our vets is a practice we have used for the past 35 years...

> Our vets is a practice we have used for the past 35 years...

That's good :)

I needed to say that for anyone else reading this thread, as many vets use Vets Now and they are VERY expensive :)

My vet practice has moved from using Vets Now to another out of hours service operated by a local group.  Not had to use it yet (touch wood) so can't comment on price, but OOH C section 5 years ago was around £1000.  During hours C section this years was about £400

I needed to say that for anyone else reading this thread, as many vets use Vets Now and they are VERY expensive :-)

Personally I think Vets Now have done a lot more bad than good. I shall look forward to the BBC programme about them that is meant to focus on complaints about them. The effect they have had is that fewer people now seek veterinary help out of hours as everyone knows how expensive they are (and that you have to pay there and then), and also most people have to travel further away. Hence many will decide to wait until  their normal vet is open again...... :(

My toy breed had an emergency C-section in the early hrs of the morning 14wks ago. They quoted me £409 on the phone but when I collected her it was
£379 and that included check ups. I was very impressed. 4 healthy puppies were delivered and when I went to collect them an hr later the nurse was sat on the floor with them making sure that they latched onto mum. The vet and 2 nurses were fantastic.

Been for the post op check up today & asked the cost. Just a shade under £700, still enough but as I was expecting 4 figures, it's not so bad.
Thanks to all who have commented... :)

"The effect they have had is that fewer people now seek veterinary help out of hours............."

Breeders might have a long distance to travel to Vets Now for their OOH service, plus find themselves using Vets they had not met before in a location they may never have previously visited. All contributing to extra risk for an in whelp bitch and stress for the breeder. From what I have been told the cost of a caesarean would be at least double that charged by their normal Vet.

It's not a nice situation going into a weekend with a bitch overdue her expected whelping time. So another
effect is that breeders whose only available out of hours emergency cover is Vets Now might feel encouraged to use their own Veterinary Surgeon in normal hours to perform an elective caesarean.

This is exactly the situation the breeder whose dog I used in the USA was faced with, and had an elective section on one of her bitches.

I had a very stressful whelping in May when using vets for cover when my vet was on call.  Upshot was the covering vets would not give oxytocin until 4 hours after the first puppy.

Thsi in a bitch who ahd her first litter with no more than hour between pups, adn 2 hours between first two in second litter resulted in a stillbirth.  My own vet would have listened to my expereince and her history.

The bitch lost 4 out of the 11 pups she was carrying and I had a job resucitating one of the survivors.

We had one at 3am (Bristol) and it was £780, that was c-section and spaying at the same time.

That's pretty good. 

I'm assuming that is your own vet doing cover? 

Quoted a lot more with out of hours service. 

I had a bitch C sectioned and spayed May 2010 around £550 at my won vets in office hours.