Foot X-rays

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Bellalily

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I have an appointment for the vet to come out to take some pictures of my chap’s foot next week. I’ve never had this before, so asking if 4-8 is about the right number and around £450 is the average price?
TIA
 
Is your " chap" a horse or a dog ? 4 - 8 the right number for what ? it seems too expensive and whats the foot problem anyway ? symptoms etc ? never have x rays if not really vital.
 
Would that be a lateral image taken from each side plus one each from the front and the back? So 4 images sounds reasonable, but your vet will have more knowledge on the images required.

Is that cost with you taking the horse to horsepital or is it portable x ray done at your place? Vet might want the horse sedated to protect their valuable equipment, so that adds some cost.

IME the major part of the cost is for the first image, with subsequent ones coming in at a lot less. That makes sense as the equipment takes time to set up initially, but once set up it's relatively straighforward to take further images - as long as the patient is co-operative.
 
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Bellalily said:
Could you answer my post please.
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Its a job for the vet to deal with.Horses hooves can be distorted and structural damage happens from abscess so its wise to let him investigate.
In all the years ive had horses mine have never had this happen so maybe others will reply who have and the outcome etc.
Good Luck.
 
JumpTheMoon1 said:
Its a job for the vet to deal with.Horses hooves can be distorted and structural damage happens from abscess so its wise to let him investigate.
In all the years ive had horses mine have never had this happen so maybe others will reply who have and the outcome etc.
Good Luck.
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I think you’ve misread my post.
 
Bellalily said:
Can I ask if it was a good outcome as that’s what I think has happened with my horse?
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Well, yes and no! There were bony changes but nothing obvious. Antibiotics were prescribed and foot poulticed. Horse good as new in a few days, but the same thing has now happened with the other hoof. Vet isnt keen to prescribe antibiotics without another set of x-rays, so that’s what I will do, even though symptoms are exactly the same. :(
 
I'm in SE and had images of all 4 taken 2 years ago - I was sent 3 images per hoof and was charged £350. No sedation as horse happy to stand on bricks and be told he's a good boy, mobile x-ray.
 
I had images done this year twice and it was £380 horse had no sedation and it was a mobile unit so had visit cost on top of that so I think the quote sounds about right vets do vary.

My horse had a pedal bone fracture on the side of his toe quite rare apparently they normally fracture at the top, he had a cast put on and had box rest about 12 weeks in total they re x rayed and fracture had healed, he had to have a heart bar shoe on for a few shoeing.

His foot did change shape quite a bit due to the fracture but it's looking normal now.
 
My vets charge a flat fee for X-rays, whether you have 4 or 14. The cost is for set up of the digital machine, so it’s not per xray anymore. When they came out in June it was £300 for the xray van and £55 visit, incl VAT with another £30 ish for sedation? He had at least a dozen X-rays taken of front feet, hocks and back.
 
It depends on what is seen on the x-rays the vet may then want to take additional views to have a better picture of what is going on.
Also is the £450 just for set up and images or is that the total price including visit fee and possible sedation the horse may need. If it is for Visit fee /setup /x-rays and possible sedation I think it is a fairly reasonable price, vet fees do differ from practice to practice and also dependant on area.
Best of luck for the appointment
 
It cost me almost £600 a few months ago for x-rays on all fours, two images of each hoof, including IV sedation. This was West Mids.
 
I think it depends how your vets operate too. Mine charges a flat fee for the mobile xray unit and first xray, then charges a price per further xray. I have no idea if there's a limit to how many they charge for as I've only ever had 1 done of each hoof. I would've said no more than £200.
 
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