Here in the lower states, you can get pet insurance--not sure of the price but does Canada offer it also? With those prices I sure would look into it. My DD's pet bills are much lower that you pay and she lives in Northern California.

Wow, that all sounds high. I know you said dogs, but we just took one of our cats in for an abscess and we were charged a total of $78 for the office visit ($45) and draining it and a long lasting antibiotic injection. We love our vet, the prices are so reasonable and the care is excellent. Same cat a couple of years ago- bad illness and a 3 day stay with IVs, antibiotics, etc, all of which came to less than $600.

I got spoiled because my vet hadn't reaised prices since he opened the clinic. Fast forward to 2013. New guy took over. Prices went UP dramatically. My "old" vet should have raised prices every couple of years and I very much enjoyed not having to take out a loan to take a sick pet to the vet. Now.......... on the other hand, I took in a starving horse last fall and the "new" vet only charged me $135 for the blood work. No farm call and no blood draw charge. I know it was a charity call and I won't expect it again. I briefly thought about some new barn cats but the spay/neuter cost would put me in the poor house. I only have 4 left, all over 15 probably nearing 20. I keep meaning to look their birthdates up but the mind is weak.

We had to take Homer to the vet a few months back. 100+ pound dog.
The office visit was $30 and then we had to pay for his medicine, ~$60.

I think we paid around $60 to have him "fixed".
Shots every year were $10. I think they went up to $15 this year.

The spay/neuter bus comes around once per month and does a bunch of
pets all in one day. It is little cost or free if you qualify.

The vet one day per year sets up in various places for everyone to bring their
pets to get vaccinations. He sets up for about 2 hours. Then moves to
another spot in the county. That way he can do them all in one day.
And it keeps the costs low for everybody. The schedule of where he will be
is printed in the newspaper every year. You go fill out the paperwork and
pay the fee, and the vet comes right to your car and gives the shot(s).

Pooh Bear

I can't tell you exactly what the vet charges for a clinic visit, because he come out to visit us. One of the perks of having livestock.

But, when Kobi the wonder dog was just a year or so old, she developed a horrible hack. I called the vet, and he said it sounded like tonsils ( I didn't know dogs had them) and to bring her in. Would just need some antibiotic. It was the weekend, and he said to wait until Monday. Well, by Monday this dog had dropped about half her body weight and was going down hill fast. Took her to the vet, and they kept her in for "overnight." Well overnight became a week. Bob was talking to the vet assistant and told her "If this is going to be a $1000 bill, put her to sleep. This isn't Kobi the Wonderdog, we hadn't trained her on the cows yet, so if she is really that sick, it would be better to put her down." Well, the vet assistant said, no it would not be that expensive, and the dog should be fine.

When we went to pick her up the bill was $978. I thought Bob was going to come unglued. "How close to a thousand bucks do you have to be before you consider it a thousand dollar bill? We would have had her put down for this price."

Whatever it was that she had, damaged her lungs enough that she has no wind stamina and is absolutely useless when it comes to working cattle. She has decided to guard the yard instead, which isn't a bad thing, and she takes her job very seriously, but we really need a working cattle dog.

She has had that infection twice more since then, and I refuse to have Bob put her down, and he refuses to spend another $1000 to have the vet treat her. I have nursed that poor dog through it and she is still with us. And that is why we call her Kobi the Wonderdog, cause its a wonder she is still alive. But she is my wonderdog and I love her.

You wrote: "In my neck of the province Ont a spay can cost 800 to a 1000 for adult female Young males 250-350
a visit is around 60-80 vaccines 80 and up."

I don't see much use in gathering what people pay all over Canada or America. Seems to me you can only change vets in your area and even that must be based on how far you are willing to drive for routine visits and emergency trips.

You wrote that spaying a female dog can run between $800 to $1,000. That seems quite high; in fact all the costs you quoted are, in my opinion, extreme. I assume those costs are based on your survey of vets in your area.

I am thinking a bit like thunder. When I asked my friend who lives where I do, where she takes her pets and complained about how high it was where we live, she told me about an hour's drive away. I thought, what I don't pay on the vet bill, I'll pay in gas!

I just thought the high numbers were missing decimal points, $800 was really $80.00, but it still wasn't working out reasonably, so I just gave up trying to figure out the costs.

Yes, your vet is very very expensive.

Vet care is expensive where I live. Here are some expenses I've paid in the last year.

Office visit: $90
Yearly blood work: $250
Ultrasounds/x-rays: $200
Dental surgery: $1,300
Emergency vet, blood work, euthanasia: $1,200

I have 4 cats so a lot of these are multiplied throughout the year. I have insurance that covers a lot of it but the premiums are high ($120 a month) and they don't cover office visits.

It is hard to compare vet costs between Canada and the U.S. Generally speaking vet costs are considerably higher in Canada - particularly in major cities, such as Toronto. We pay about $1,500 for a dental - in Buffalo it would be about $600.

Let's remember, it is private health care.

Office visits are $85.00. Costs are pretty much the same as per frogged's post.

And a dog becomes a senior at 7. Seven is not "senior" for our 25 lb. fuzzbutt but it is for a large dog - but 7 is the magic number so that results in senior blood panels etc.

We do have pet insurance. It was originally a Cdn. company that was bought out by a U.S. Company. Our dog is 11 and is currently charged at the 13 month old rate - but the rate has increased from $33 Cdn. PLUS TAXES to nearly $80 plus taxes a month. We had our first claim when he was 7 and the monthly premium had already been raised almost to its current level.

Note that the insurance does not cover rechecks. Our dog who has the bloodwork of a 2 year old - and looks about the same age - was thought to have pink eye but it was really an ulcer in the making that turned into a corneal abscess. This happened on May 24, 2011. It is now Jan. 2015 - our next follow-up with the board certified eye specialist who travels to Toronto will be on Feb. 12. This is how long it has been going on - and we caught it on day 1.

For every bill with the specialist - usually $125 to $150, depending on eye drops, we are reimbursed $22.09 by our pet insurer - and no, we do not get the taxes back. But we still have had to pay the $80 a month for his insurance. Had he had eye surgery the plan would have paid for 90% of the cost - less the consultation fee - and the deductible that was introduced when the company was sold.

But eye surgery is only performed as a last resort. Up until last Jan. we had to visit the eye specialist every 4 months and use 3 types of prescription eye drops. Unfortunately, just as with people (of course our dog is a "person") the gunk in the eye will always be there. If his condition has deteriorated we will be back on the every 4 month regime.

At the point of the sale new coverages were added - but they were not granted to existing patients - despite the existing patients never having suffered from the added health issues. There were a lot of unhappy people out there, but you don't cancel insurance on a dog that is getting older.

I saw on a breed specific board the vet suggested price for a dental and it was less then half of what we had to pay (3 times now) and many posters thought the U.S. price was high. So I posted our cost - fortunately there were a few other Canadians on that board who came to my defence and said they had had to pay the same.

Then there is the cost of the meds. His physical last month, together with his tick and heartworm meds came to just over $1,000.

Of course he eats holistic food. He is a very well cared for dog!

Like much else, vet service prices vary with the cost of living level of the area they practice in and seem especially high in Canada. Are such services also subject to the high Canadian sales taxes?

An interesting trend is that vets who are GPs have been raising fees and also have been creeping in to providing services previously provided by vet specialists. Some do so competently, some not, the pet owner will rarely be able to tell the difference unless a complication arises. Vet specialists - surgeons, internists, dermatologists, etc, have many extra years of training to develop higher level knowledge and skills. A visit to a specialist can be very expensive, and they are few in number compared to GPs.

Some of the fee numbers cited above for what are really routine services seem very high. Spay/neuter procedures are rarely more than a few hundred dollars in my NorCal area and can be even less in the US where many cities or SPCAs subsidize the procedures so as to be affordable for all.

Yes snidely, vet costs in Canada are indeed subject to the provincial sales taxes, which vary greatly. Our provinces have different sales taxes, ranging from 5% to 15%. I'm in Ontario, so ours is 13%. I've checked out many, many vets in the Greater Toronto Area (Toronto being the central city, surrounded by 4 regional municipalities) and their costs are very similar to those quoted by the OP.

I grew up across from Detroit, so I have family members who save money by simply taking their pets to vets across the border. Since it's a 4 hour drive for me to do so, I would only consider it for an expensive surgical procedure, as the savings cost for a general checkup or rabies vaccine would obviously not be greater than the cost of the gas.

The prices I gave were gathered from experience and co workers and friends. In the last 20 years the prices have gone up incredibly. Which seems strange as the number of vet clinics has easily increased 3-.4 times. I feel that the prices make it incredibly hard if not impossible to get vet care for a lot of people. My first dog developed cancer to treat it would start at 15000.00. For his type of cancer this was only to extend his life maybe for a year. It didn't matter there was no way to afford this. As it was for pain meds and diagnosis alone I was in for around 1000.00 This put me behind for a very long time. ( no longer with this vet )
I have thought about pet insurance, but from what I have heard it is expensive 80 a month times two dogs. Way over my budget.
I have been considering crossing the border (Mi) to get, annual vaccines Heart worm and meds, I think this would likely be around 3 to 4 hundred here. Might be worth it. It is a shame I would much prefer to do this here but clinics have priced themselves out of reach. hmm

I took my Sheltie for his annual visit yesterday. I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, so I imagine that prices here are reasonable compared to a larger city. The itemized bill showed the Price, then the discount, then the Net price. It said that the discount is for "our 01-regular clients".
I paid (at discount):
Heartworm occult $39.19
Intestinal parasite screen $25.52
DHLPP Vaccination $15.50
Regulatory/medical waste $4.56
Bordetella Vaccination $17.78
This totaled $118.50
I declined the other bloodwork and screening as he is only 2 1/2, and the vet agreed that he is still young and very healthy.

I'm very pleased with the service I get at this clinic, and even though I didn't pay for a preventive care exam and annual health (showed as $ 00 on my bill for these) she gave him a thorough exam, and even pointed out to me some things to watch our for as his back teeth on both sides were not in evidence, and this may mean future abscesses or other problems.

I do not have pet insurance but she gave me a flyer for Trupanion, which she said they are familiar with. It doesn't pay for any preventive care (does any?), which I will look into. Remarkably, all my pets in the past have never had any major problems. It's always a crap shoot with insurance anyhow.

Looks like I paid 361.00 for 2 dogs at their annual physical in May. That includes 116.00 for Dusty's steroids, which I can get cheaper at Sam's club but it's just not worth the hassle to save 20.00. So Heartworm/lyme/ehrlichiosis/ 4DX plus for each dog was 52.00. Bordatella was 21.00 and office visit was 99.00 but I was only charged once so maybe 50 for an office visit?

Here, near Fort Worth, Texas an office visit is $50. Normal blood and stool panel was $189.
Heartworm/Flea /Worm treatment (Advantage Multi) costs $125 every 6 months.
My vet's assistant always trims nails when we go in for a visit, free.

Spay and Neuter here is much lower than Canada with many programs for low income families.
Neuter is $125 and Spay is $200

$400-$500 every time you go in, if not more. They are always trying to run diagnostics. Cat pukes, they throw the book at ya. This will probably result in delayed visits out of fear of charges, unnecessary complications and deaths and many more homeless animals (as well as people!). It is not possible for most people to provide people-level care and diagnostic protocols for their pets.

maxmom - if you check out the Trupanion website you will be able to get a quote - after putting in your dog's breed, age and location. It will also ask you about any pre-existing conditions.

Our dog is insured in the 1 to 3 year age group - so it is scary that we are paying nearly $80 a month even though he is 11. Just imagine what the premiums would be if we signed him up at his current age. Since your pup is 2.5 years of age he would fall into the same age group as our dog was at sign-up.

We used to have mini Dachshunds - our special two having worst case back/neck disc disease. You would faint at our vet bills - and the surgeries. How I miss those 2 guys - 10 lbs. - and the "biggest" dogs we ever had. (No offence to the double-coated, major shedding white "angel".) We never thought about the shedding issue since we had always had short-haired dogs. I expect you deal with the fur everywhere as well.

Our dog is an American Eskimo - 25 lbs. So about the same size as a small Standard Sheltie - at least the 2 who we know from our vet clinic. Some people with Eskies also have a Sheltie.

I also expect that your monthly premiums would be lower than those in Canada - especially in Toronto.

I check every now and then putting in our dog's original age at sign-up to ensure we are not being over-charged. Well, we are all things considered. Especially, while I realize that we are paying for insurance - it would be nice if Trupanion would stop adding things to their policies that are not available to our dog - yet we have to pay for. Next week will be the visit to the eye specialist. All I ask is that we do NOT get another major snow storm. We have to travel on a few nasty roads and some distance to see her. And of course we leave early because you do not want to miss an appointment with a board certified eye specialist who travels to Toronto once a week.