Just picked up my almost 18 month old Lexi (Norwegian Elkhound) from the Vets where she had been all day to have her Hips x=ryed for scoring under the BVAKC Control Scheme for Hip Dysplasia.

Now our breed code of ethics quite rightly requires all breeding stock to be Hip Scored and hold a current Unaffected Eye test certificate.

I am very pleased that wound 20% of the total bred each year appear to be being submitted for scoring as that gives a statistically valid picture for the breeds hips.

Now how much do you think this cost me.  £139.80 to the Vet and a further £29.40 to the BVA, that is £170. 

Is there any wonder that very few people have their dogs hip scored just for the knowledge it will provide for the breed.  Even if as a breeder I could offer to pay for pups I breed to have their Hips done what incentive is there for the owner, and most would object to the slight risk of anasthesia.

Surely such Health testing should be encouraged, but at that price only dedicated breeders wil bother.

Hi Brainless,

I agree totally - some vets are becoming more and more OTT with charges for this procedure :(  It's time the BVA stepped in and had a look at sorting out a blanket fee for each of the most common health tests - or at least a list of price guidelines.  Small wonder that more people aren't encouraged to have scores carried out on pet only stock for breed average sake.

Teri

H*lls bells I only paid that for an MRI scan(& that just covers the cost of  running the scanner)

I do think that the vets should justify that cost an X ray machine is nowhere near the cost of a scanner to run

However I would pay whatever it costs for my dogs to be health tested(saving up for my other young cavalier to be scanned)& it's a one off cost unlike the eye & heart tests

I know my next BC will be from CEA DNA & eye tested parents(father of hoped for puppy has already been DNA tested clear & is clinically clear too)& my puppy even though he may never be bred from will be DNA tested & clinically tested as well as hip scored & BAER tested

If we could only get Joe Public to not buy from unscreened parents & stop the KC registering puppies from unscreened parents then we would be part way to stopping puppy farmers from having a market for their produce & using the KC reg system to appear bona fide

I can live in dreams can't I ?

I had someone call yesterday who is thinking of getting a BC bitch to work & breed from(he already breeds from an unscreened cocker & a unscreened white GSD) Why I asked him Well I would want to breed & there's a good market for BCs as pets I told him about the tests etc-I won't need them was the reply if I don't test my dogs can't have the problem <sigh> I felt like hitting his thick head against the wall

Finally the BVA site has an update on the current BMS and more interestingly the Median scores http://www.bva.co.uk/public/chs/BMS_0205.pdf

Oh poo! Ever since I had the hard drive reformatted (or whatever it was they did) I can't read pdf files. Or lots of other things, even though I've definitely got Acrobat. :(

Try downloading the version on the BVA page, could be yours is out of date.  That is what I found.

When you consider that all's required is a GA and one x-ray I find it hard to justify this. Lets face it, if more than one plate is required then the rest is the responsibility of the vet. If he got it right first time then that's the only one you need and if he made a mess of it why should you have to pay for his incompetence?

Saying that, I have an appointment at the dentist next week. Where I live there is no NHS dentist so I'm forced to go private. I have three small fillings to be done, £345!!!!!!! My dentist has his own private plane! :(

Regards, John

Just had Tia's hips x-rayed last week for scoring, vet charged me £70.00. Half of what you were charged. In fact when I had Emma's done 18months ago, it was £70 then too.  Not only is he reasonable he is an excellent vet, and will listen to me :D

My Vet isn't even the most expensice around here.  when I had Lexi's Mum done 4 years ago it cost me £150.

I think the anasthetic was £57 and the rest was for plates ans time, and the dreaded VAT.

The receptionist did point out that the Hips Scoring took the Vet longer than spaying a bitch, which is about the same price, as a freind had her bitch spayed there a few months back.

We were lucky enough to get it done via the insurance for MB as it was done under the fact that she had had a slight limp and so was for investigation purposes :)

Lucy
xx

When I got my boy scored, it cost £67 for the anaesthetic, £29.40 BVA fee, £35.94 for x-ray & £22.40 for a second x-ray because they cocked the 1st one up.  He came back at 7/6 (GSD) and it only took them 3 weeks to score them.

The skillful part of the whole process is done by the BVA panel.  Yet it is the Vet part we pay through the nose for.

When my girl was done it all came to less than 80 quid, which we thought was wonderful, we had been told it would be about 150, so we had a nice night out with the money left over :D

My friend just put two through for Hip Scoring recently and it came to less than mine for one.

Must say I think your bill was particularly expensive Brainless

Teri ;)

That is the going price around ehre unfortunately, as my vet is the most reasonably priced of the ones local to me.

When I had my bitch done nearly 2 years ago it cost me around £200 and that was a good price in comparison to some other vets - I was too shocked but of course wanted and needed to know the score - now that I have moved up from the south to the Midlands it may be cheaper?  I shall see shortly as I will be getting my Dog tested in about 2 month's time. Totally agree though, its outrageous how much it cost for an anesthetic and x-ray, but we will pay it as we require the scoring......shame though!

I pay £110 for hip scoring including the BVA score for a rottweiler
we now have a good vet who only charges £65 including the BVA fee.

Hi Carolyn, where abouts is that?  Think I need to register to your vets LOL :)

He is semi retired so doesnt have the over heads
plus I dont think he is ready to just relax.

Thats fair enough and also very handy for you :)

When I had Anton done a year ago he cost £120, took his mum in December expecting to pay this and was charged £90, presume my vet forgot to add on the BVA charge.  Though there again if you are breeding it's not  a lot of money when you think about it!  Says me who couldn't pay her gas bill because I'd had one dog hipscored and two dogs eyes tested :d

Same here it has just maxed out my overdraft limit, as I have just had to spend £600 on repairs to my Central Heating Boiler since the Autumn, but I couldn't wait any longer as I wanted it done half way between seasons.

Your central heating boiler has to be repaired halfway between seasons? ;) :D

Thats how I read it JG :D :D

I wonder how old a boiler has to be before you breed from it - third season? Fourth? :D :D

but how far away do you have to look for studs to cover a boiler??  Or is it enough to have them CORGI registered :D :D :D

Margot

Only if it's a CORGI boiler! You wouldn't want crossbred ones, unless they were exceptionally good workers!

Well mine is 8 years old now so will have to buy a new one when it dies as the KC wouldn't register the offspring from this one :D

No ther reason I ahve maxed out the overdraft was having to get the scoring done on top of the boiler saga!!! :D  Typical though we will be going short of things, but the dog expenses have to be covered.

I would love to know when this decade I will have my ceiling repaired.  think I will just paper over the 3 foot of missing plaster on the plaster and lathe ceiling :D, and no-one looks up in the hall do they???

Brainless, mines still waiting.  Been having cold baths and showers for a few months and taking my dogs to my mum and dad's so they can at least have warm baths :d  Unfortunately with all these health tests that we are carrying out on our breed now I think that it'll be a few more months before I can afford to have it fixed, still the heating still works downstairs :d

I was like that all summer we had heating but no hot water as the diverter valve was what had gone caput.  I finally got it fixed in November only to have the fan and curcuit board go in January.

I had a bitch done recently at my 'specialist' hip vet and the whole thing inc. submitting to the BVA cost me about £100. Guess it just depends on the vet and his 'costs'