Over charged for castration?! How much did you pay?

michellev123

michellev123

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Hey
My frined and I had Oscar and her colt gelded in march we were told by vets before, it is usually around £250 per horse give or take for size of horse.

Oscar was 22 months and Spirit was 7 months at the time.

Anyways we have just had the bill through and they are charging £350 for Oscar and £340 for Spirit!!!

Is this too much? We were expecting around £250 mark as previuosly suggested by vets!

My frined had hers done at the same practice last august and his was £180?!

Any advice about disputing it or should we just pay it?

How much did you pay?

Thanks

:D
 
Sounds a bit steep, but I don't know that much about it (have heard a varying range of prices).

Depending on how well you get on with/konw your vet, call or write to them, remind them of what you were quoted and ask why the actual bill was so different. Also, ask them for a breakdown of the bill.

Good luck!
 
My frined gets on very well with the vets (pays them 1000's lol) I think writing tothem will be a good idea just wanted to get everyones opinions as its the first horse i have ad gelded and didnt know if it was "normal" price!!
 
Depends, did you have them done at home or in the hospital? I got mine done at home and I think it was about £80 ( a few years ago now) but was quoted about £300 to have him done under general so I wouldnt be surprised at the cost
 
Both were done at home, at the same time, standing with sedation! Had 5 days worth of anti-inflamitories and pain killers after.

£80!! I wish!!! :D
 
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dotty1 said:
My local vets are doing it for £75 plus call out and drugs.
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Oh!! WOW!! So £350 is very steep then?! I though £250 was bad enough!! Also suprise me that spirit was so much smaller (around 12hh) and Oscar was bigger (around 14.3-15.00hh) and this difference was only £10?!?!
 
Did you have them done at the same time? Is it possible they've charged you both for both?
(2 x £180 = £360, slight reduction for doing both at one visit?). I would query and say you'd expected just over £200 each as your friends was £180 in August.
 
Yea had them done at the same time but has come through on one breakdon bill to my friend (I am goin to pay her)

They charged £40 call out and £180 each for castration (before drugs!) then the difference for drugs!

Just seemed really over priced to me as they said £250 was average!
 
I would just phone them and say you were quoted £250 before hand and has there been a mistake? If the castration was £200 each, including call out that makes the drugs £140/150. Sounds like a lot to me. Also, say your friends bill last year was £180
 
My boy was about £350....he was done at home, but he was pretty much knocked out, and then had to have a stitch and some antibiotics as he was fairly hairy and she was concerned over infection.....

You could query it, but for the most part, vets dont tend to 'overcharge'....what they do is expensive, but I guess thats why they go and do 7 years studying (or however long it is!!!)
 
Maisy said:
You could query it, but for the most part, vets dont tend to 'overcharge'....what they do is expensive, but I guess thats why they go and do 7 years studying (or however long it is!!!)
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I understand they train for a very long time and the vet did a brilliant job we are just annoyed that what we were quoted and what has been charged are so different, and if the £350 is correct it has gone up £170 since august!!
 
So basically they charged you £140/£130 respectively for the drugs?:eek:
 
I had a 6 month old done at the end of last year, cost I think about £140 including call out and drugs. I'm anticipating my other one to be more as he'll be 18 months old when he's done, usually goes up with age due to the size of the incission (sp?) etc. I'd have thought that having 2 done at the same time should result in a cheaper price per horse as the initial call out can be split at least!
 
I recently asked my vets how much it would be to castrate a 5 year old entire about 17 hands, Irish Draught. Was quoted an absolute maximum of £200, all in, done standing, at home. They thought it would probably be much less and always stick to their quotes too!
 
competitiondiva said:
I had a 6 month old done at the end of last year, cost I think about £140 including call out and drugs. I'm anticipating my other one to be more as he'll be 18 months old when he's done, usually goes up with age due to the size of the incission (sp?) etc. I'd have thought that having 2 done at the same time should result in a cheaper price per horse as the initial call out can be split at least!
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The increase in price isn't due to the size of the incision (or the objects that are removed!) It's the weight of the horse which means more drugs - however, IME, the difference is about £30 tops!

I pay between £130 and £140 per colt depending on age and that includes a part call-out fee (as there's always SOMETHING else to be done), sedation, anaesthetic, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, follow-up antibiotics and 'consumables' (cotton wool, hibiscrub etc.) My vet knocks them right out (in the field) and always brings a nurse to assist him in addition to help from me and at least one member of staff. Anything above £200 for a straight forward castration is - IMHO - a rip-off!
 
Had we known it would be £350 we would have asked other vets in the area to compare, but they said £250 and although expensive we thought it was worth it to stay with the same vets!!

Will ring them tomorrow I think! Anyone think we stand a chance?!
 
I paid 300.00 to have my 2 10 month old Ids gelded, at home, knocked out,given a shot of antibiotics at the time but no other drugs, I asked for pain killers/anti inflammortories but was told they are not given for gelding, which i thought was really mean but anyway they survived and were fine, if a little shell shocked.
 
irishdraft said:
I paid 300.00 to have my 2 10 month old Ids gelded, at home, knocked out,given a shot of antibiotics at the time but no other drugs, I asked for pain killers/anti inflammortories but was told they are not given for gelding, which i thought was really mean but anyway they survived and were fine, if a little shell shocked.
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£300 for 2?

I am feeling very hard done by lol :(
 
I had mine done 3 years ago and even though the post op went horribly wrong and there were call out and drug fees it still only came to £150.
All OK in the end though.
 
why dont you get a friend to ring the vets for you and pretend to be another customer wanting a quote of what you had done and see what they say?
 
I paid £240 for my boy back in July last year, but that also included his first lot of flu and tet! The actualy castration was about £180 and then about £30 for drugs. He was done at the vets so no call out fee but I still think that is pretty steep, especially if they quoted you £250. I definitely ask them for a full break down and why the difference between that actual amount and the bill.

p.s. My boy was only coming up to 2, but even the vet said it was like gelding a grown horse, not a youngster, and that didn't up the price even.
 
Ditto Amymay- call them and say that you received the bill and were a little surprised as you were quoted £250 max and you were wondering what the extra was for. They won't get mad, they won't yell, they MAY even give you a discount but the main thing is that they will explain it to you- maybe there was a mistake or maybe there was more done than you thought. You don't need to take an accusatory tone, just ask them politely and see what they say.
 
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