Hi all just got back from the vets with Raven (6 month old staff!) and was quite shocked to hear that the cost to spay her would be £200 not including any medication she is going to need afterwards.Is this the right sort of price to pay for her breed? The vet put her down as a medium sized dog but for a staff shes quite small. I thought I was doing the right thing as they are such an unwanted breed but its no wonder alot of people dont get their dogs spayed/castrated they simply cant afford it. I know alot of you will say if you cant afford the costs you shouldnt have a dog but thats why there are so many unwanted puppies out there.

It is a serious operation and a Staffie is a medium sized dog so I think that £200 is on the lower side of normal. Are you allowing her to have her first season before having this done, it would be best IMO if you have to spay waiting till the bitch is over a year old is better.

Not sure how much my vet charges for spaying but I would expect it to be at least £150 even for a tiny dog. This would be the cost of the operation and check ups/stitch removal afterwards. I think if extra medication/treatment is needed that would be charged to me.

You're right that if owners can't afford the cost they shouldn't have a dog (remember neutering is the ONLY operation that owners know their dog will need before they buy it) how will they afford emergency treatment if the dog is somehow injured? Insurance doesn't cover the full cost of treatment and most vets want payment immediately from the owner to be claimed back from the insurers afterwards.

Unwanted puppies are the result of NEGLIGENT owners. Plenty of responsible owners keep entire dogs without having litters.

I was gonna allow her to have her first season and possibly think about spaying her this time next year but when I took her for her 2nd lot of jabs the vet said he likes to do it before shes had a season at 6 months old. Oh I'm so confused now, we are going on holiday in september and I'm not sure if the kennels will take her if shes in season and knowing my luck she will be then it will all go to pot as they say!

I had a cracked tooth removed,a nd a mysterious lump off my girls neck, two separate operations, but fairly minor ones and each cost Two hundred pounds, and these were within 3 weeks of each other.

There is cut price/subsidised neutering available for those on benefits provided or sponsored by the canine charities, so there really is no excuse that it costs too much.  Also just because an animal is entire does not mean you need/should allow it to have puppies, it only takes a bit of vigilance for a few weeks twice each year.

> we are going on holiday in september and I'm not sure if the kennels will take her if shes in season and knowing my luck she will be then it will all go to pot as they say!

Most kennels will take inseason bitches, but that is easy to solve phone them and ask if this happens will they still take her. It would be a shame to rush into spaying her without finding out.

We put our girl in kennels to save an accidental mating here at home with our randy little Whippet. I would not have your girl spayed yet, give her a season or better still two. Vets can be over zelous and unfairly scare the new owner, lets face it hormones and seasons are not a disease are they?

Hi Colls,

I got my large breed girl spayed last year and the bill came to £238.00 and I specified that I didn't want certain 'after' drugs used on her (not because of cost) so it probably would have been around the £250-70 mark. Vet's generalise when it comes to spaying and all dogs fall into a certain bracket be it toy, small, medium etc. They don't specify as to what end of the scale the dog falls into. for example my girl is large by comparison to most bitches in her breed but I wasn't charged any more.

I personally like to get my bitches spayed around 2-3 yrs, this is dependent upon breed, larger breeds are normally done later because they develop more slowly and have later seasons, the smaller the breed, usually the earlier the season. But this is a guide not a rule. My girl didn't have her first season until she was around 16 months. A good indicator on this is by speaking to the breeder where possible and ascertaining the approximate time the dam (mum) came into season. Again a guide but not a foolproof rule.

You are doing the right thing by having her spayed if you don't intend to breed from her but as with most Vets IME when you take the pups for their first check up, they normally recommend spaying/castration as soon as possible and a lot of first time owners think that because the Vet has said it 'this must be right'. It's not. I prefer to let the dog mentally and physically develop, dependent upon breed before I consent to the operation.

You can keep her safe from pregnancy by abiding by a few simple rules. The basic one being don't let her off the lead and never let her out of your sight :-D I've manged this despite living with an entire dog on many occasions and have never had any unwanted pregnancies yet. :-)

I've just paid £200 to have a Chihuahua spayed, so don't consider colls bill a large one.

I think thats expensive. Just looked at my vets website and spaying ranges from £68 for small breed to £130 for a Giant breed.

Two years ago they only charged me £60 for my Jr spaying and repairing her umbilical hernia.

Muffymoo I paid £460 for an Inguinal Hernia repair!!!!!!

Muffymoo that is incredibly cheap, a cat spay round here cost £73! I think £200 sounds incredibly reasonable given that its quite a big operation involving a full anaesthetic. A lot of vets are reccommending spaying bitches at around 6 months now in the smaller breeds.

> Muffymoo I paid £460 for an Inguinal Hernia repair!!!!!!

That is a much more complex issue than an umbilical hernia especially if it wasn't a real hernia just the little pad of fat from late closure of the umbilical ring.

My Rottweiler cross was spayed due to Pyo ad that was £400
My Rottweiler at a different vets as a routine spay cost £298
My American Cocker cost me £90 5 years ago to Castrate
My Black Rex Rabbit cost me £60 to spay!!!!

Hope that helps a bit :)
Lea :)

> I think thats expensive. Just looked at my vets website and spaying ranges from £68 for small breed to £130 for a Giant breed.

I think our vets charges between £70 and £130 so very similar. It was about £100 for my medium sized bitch a few months ago.

Don't vets fees depend a lot on where in the country you are. I know that pet insurance fees are very dependant on geographical location. My vet fees (north west) for instance are higher than a friends in Glasgow but a lot lot lower than those within the M25. I assume its because of the different overheads involved.
Angela

Just checked with our vet surgery, £85.77 - £190.68 for a spey/castration.
We're in Essex.

Could you not get another quote from another vet?
Oh and Colls, well done you for thinking of the stafford breed in general!  Far too many unwanted out there at the mo!

I used to be a vet nurse and i dont think that £200 is expensive at all, i would say that was about right really for a staff, staffies are medium sized even smaller ones would come down as a small breed. I think any bitch not intended for breeding should always be spayed and that cost should be taken into consideration when taking on any dog. Also if you spay a bitch before her first season she cannot develop mammary cancer later in life so that is the reason to do it before the first season, though in very large breeds many people like to wait until the bitch is a little more developed but it is weighing up the pros and cons. With a staffie i would say spay her before her season as they are not a large breed, but that is my personal opinion and you have to do what you feel comfortable with.
Unwated puppies are the result of careless byb who are out for whatever they can make on them, just because they are not spayed doesnt mean they have to be bred. hope all goes well

>if you spay a bitch before her first season she cannot develop mammary cancer later in life

Yes she can, but it's less likely. Even male dogs can get mammary cancer (just as human males can too).

>just because they are not spayed doesnt mean they have to be bred.

A very good point.

Think some vet surgeries, particularly those who publicise themselves, can offer 'at cost' spaying and castration a bit in the same way as super markets try to get you into their stores by offering lost leaders.

I do not object to paying my vet for their service but would question if I felt the costs were exceptionally high. Costs do differ not only by size but also some dogs, particularly sighthounds, can be very difficult to give an GA too with safety so one would expect to pay extra for them.

It is easy to forget that vets are a business and they all have different overheads and charges.

I needed an operation on a guinea pigs eyes once. I rang several vets and got different quotes. They ranged from £ 40 per eye to £140 per eye. They explained that some use a better anesthetic than others, different pain killers and have large/small rent or overhead costs.  It was really amazing the difference and I would suggest shopping around . .....but cheaper is not always better...

I don't think that is too excessive - ask for a breakdown of costs, some vets will want to take bloods etc before a spay, and there will be a cost for anaesthetic etc....you don't have to have all the tests done before hand if you don't want to

I know someone who was getting an op on one of her boxers, she went to two vets and got full breakdowns of what they did and how much it cost, and went to the vets which worked out better for her and the dog, and it was the vet which I would have betted on being more expensive, but it wasn't....

good luck :)

Colls, as a stafford owner, I'd be inclined to not have her spayed before her first season.
This is just an opinion but two bitches I know very well (one being my own) seem to have stayed extremely immature / highly strung by being spayed before having a season.  I'd let her have at least one season first.

Again, although this is just an opinion, based on my own limited experience, I also know many other stafford owners who would agree.

I'd still be inclined to speak to another veterinary surgery.

In response to this :
Unwated puppies are the result of careless byb who are out for whatever they can make on them,
Not always MandyC, not always :-)

sorry should have said, unwanted puppies are USUALLY the result of irresponsible breeding :)

Thanks for the advice everyone and to Tessies Tracey its nice to hear from a fellow stafford owner.I think I am gonna wait until her 1st season or maybe a bit longe, I was a bit apprehensive about her having surgery that could possibly wait at such a young age to me shes still a baby (probably always will be).xxxxxxxxx

I can't remember how much it cost to have my Staffie spayed as that was about 4 yrs ago but my Akita was spayed 18 mths ago and it cost £160, plus hers was slightly more complicated has she had abit of bleeding due to her having problems with her seasons and they treated it as an emergency.  I think alot of the prices depend on what area you live in.

to me shes still a baby (probably always will be).

Can completely understand that Colls.  My Tess is six shortly, and she's totally still a baby, so very silly compared to my 2 year old lad :-)

My vets also has another surgery where they do neutering and vaccs much cheaper than at their other surgeries.

I asked and they said they used exactly the same drugs etc etc but the surgery is in an area where there are a lot of unplanned litters.

I think the cost of spaying a dog under 20kg was about £75 at that surgery, but if you went to one of their others it was more like £200 upwards.

It may be worth seeing if other practices offer such services as the slightly extra petrol used was more than compensated by the cheaper op :)