What Was The Total Cost Of The Amputation?

[Madeara]

I won't mention what I was quoted today, I am going to another board certified surgeon

 

I will say that the oncologist was very impressed with what I knew and really could not tell me anything I did not already know.

[Burpdog]

$1500-3500 depending on what is included. Must do chest x rays, blood work, etc. Since you are up east, it's probably more(?) I paid $1100 for Austin's tumor removal over 2 years ago.

[Hubcitypam]

$480 in Lubbock, TX with a 20% rescue discount for a front leg.

[Madeara]

But was he/she board certified? don't you think that the better the surgeon the better the post op? less pain less everything?

[Hubcitypam]

I don't know. We are talking a town of 200,000 that is 350 miles from anywhere. He was just highly recommended by two other vets as the best in the city as far as amputation. The girl in our case was 3 years old, was HBC and honestly never missed a beat in recuperation. YMMV.

 

ETA -- in people docs I have run across a board certified nutcase or two so don't place too much in that any more.

Edited July 22, 2008 by Hubcitypam

[Bevd]

This may not be helpful, what with me being in the UK and all that but from the moment we arrived at the vets when Darcy had 'hurt her leg' on 16th October to the moment we collected after surgery, on 18th October the cost was approx £1600 (UK pounds). The cost includes the x-rays taken on the 16th (leg and chest), the amputation surgery and all it's drugs and aftercare etc and the overnight stay.

 

The chemo costs were on top of that.

[Guest greytloves]

Texas A&M quoted a price of about $3000 to start

[HopeForHounds]

Over $6,000 is what a friend here was quoted.

 

Audrey, did you ask the surgeon if they use medication to prevent post op bleeding. Here is Dr Couto's article on that. link He will give the sugeon the name of the med and dosage.

 

[Madeara]

I have that information about the bleeding what he uses for 5 days. I will print out the article though thank you!

[greysmom]

It cost me nearly $2000 at the E-vet for the Dude's toe amputation (xrays, bloodwork, meds, bandaging). I know my vet would have charged less, but they weren't open.

 

greysmom

[Guest greydogluvr]

We payed approx 5,000 for a hind leg amutation in Southern California in 2001. It was done at All Care a referral only specialty facility. We payed 1,200 for each chemo as well. I think everything is more expensive in So Cal.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

We paid approx $3K for each of my boys' amputations (one front and one rear). That was an ortho specialist in Nashua, NH.

[Guest Vinnie]

Our oncologist quoted $2,800 just for Vinnie's front right leg amputation - everything else would be extra. That's when I started calling around to the vets listed in the phone book in our area. Some vets would not quote without seeing him for an exam (I thought that was crazy, we already knew what was needed and I just wanted a rough quote), others were just as high and/or did not specialize in greyhounds. We finally went with a vet not far from us who came to the phone when I called for a quote even though he was in with someone (I sounded pretty desperate by that time I think), he answered all my questions, quoted me $1,200 for the surgery & recovery with the follow-up visit included. We went in to meet him and asked more questions, found out that he had a vet that was familiar with greys (she had just lost hers) and that he was going to use a new technique to help prevent the "amputee phantom pain" - this was discovered by the military and they were using it in a lot of the hospitals currently. I know that it definitely helped Vinnie. When we came in for the surgery, he discounted the cost further down for cash so we paid $750.00 for the surgery. We had already paid for the xrays and office visits to the oncology center, along with two other vets and one of our chemo's was free (from our Angel & Hero - Dr. Cuoto) - we also had/have VPI insurance including the cancer rider so we got most of the outlay back - once we counted up, we probably spent less than $500 that was not reimbursed.

 

Definitely check around - I think we even have a list of vets somewhere on GT, don't we??? Ask if they are greyhound savvy and if they take cash discounts, especially if you don't have insurance. With VPI we did have to pay everything up front and were reimbursed 30 days later. Our miracle vet for Vinnie turned into our regular vet for Vinnie's remaining time here with us and now his sisters and his cousins. He is wonderful with them.

 

Sending hugs and extra scritches.

[Guest HeatherDemps]

I think this was the breakdown for us....

 

$450 at our regular vet to have xrays of both front legs, chest, etc, bloodwork, etc done

 

$650 at university hospital for repeat xrays, needle aspirate and other tests. My GH reacted badly to the sedation which led to the increased cost- we had to have ultrasound of stomach done, liver biopsy, blood tests, etc also done

 

$2600- amputation of front leg, ICU for 3 days, etc

 

 

[Guest gottaluvgreysindy]

$2500 for front leg amputation at OSU. He was there from Wednesday to Monday and everything was included in that price. They were fantastic with him at OSU and it was worth every penny. Then we were in the study and got 5 chemo treatments free as well.

[Guest JohnnyBell]

$3,000 for board certified and $700. for the vet to do it. We went with our vet and he did a fabulous job.

[Greytlady94]

I would expect it to be in the $3,000 to $4000+ for the surgery and hospital care after the surgery.

We paid $2000. for just a tumor removal by a board certified surgeon at a specialty hospital in Houston and that was several years ago.

[Guest ArtysPeople]

We aren't in this situation, but just thank you to everyone who has posted answers in this thread.

[MerlinsMum]

We aren't in this situation, but just thank you to everyone who has posted answers in this thread.

 

[Batmom]

I think this was the breakdown for us....

 

$450 at our regular vet to have xrays of both front legs, chest, etc, bloodwork, etc done

 

$650 at university hospital for repeat xrays, needle aspirate and other tests. My GH reacted badly to the sedation which led to the increased cost- we had to have ultrasound of stomach done, liver biopsy, blood tests, etc also done

 

$2600- amputation of front leg, ICU for 3 days, etc

 

I haven't done this exact procedure, but I'm guessing the costs would be roughly the same here. Maybe a bit less on the front end. The amputation itself -- the surgery -- I believe would be @ $600. 24 hours in hospital is going to be around $800. So if they keep the pup for a couple days, the bill is not going to be small.