I now know why there is pet overpopulation!!

just for kicks, Barngirel...have you ever watched a neutering procedure on a male or female animal...if you have, hoe bout breaking down wht you think it should be step by step..Then take a look at the surroudings, the office, and the staff and again explaing how much you would charge....When I first started practice in `1957.. I neutered and spayed for 15 bucks on cats...forgot what i charged in later years....but again, come up with a fair price...but don;t base the price on a mixed mutt and a very valuable  prize dog or cat...it would, or should be the same

I'm sure I'm going to sound like an arsehole for saying this but if you can't afford to spay/neuter your pets, and that's a cost that should be factored in before getting a pet, then you shouldn't get one. And if you think $100 for a spay/neuter is insane, don't move to Chicago. I would be thrilled if the vet charged that cheap for a spay/neuter that included pre-op blood work. Perhaps it's because I've lived in the city all my life but if I met a vet who charged $45 for a spay/neuter, I'd be very leery. I'd wonder what corners they're cutting to be able to charge so cheaply(and I'm not including shelters in this).
 
With that said, I'm all for bargain shopping but not when it comes to my critters health. I would rather spend a bit more money on a knowledgeable vet that I trust than take my dog to a mediocre vet just to save a few bucks. And because I feel pets are a luxury and not a necessity, I won't acquire pets if it gets to the point where I have to cut corners to maintain them. Yeah, I can take my dogs to the shelter and spend $35 but why should I? I would rather someone who is having a hard time making ends meet such as a grandma who is surviving on her SS checks but wants to get her dog spayed so she won't have another unwanted litter go to the shelter to have her dog spayed than someone who can afford to spend more money but doesn't want to. I hope that makes sense.

Wow i wish i could get it for 45$ if you adopt from the pound you can get one for 30 with a discount certificate but otherwise it starts at 68$ with nothing else included.Not even pain meds afterwards and no bloodwork.That is the cheapest vet in town.

Trixie (my kitten) is being spayed tomorrow.  The cost is $76, I think.  She's already had her shots and stuff.  Roxie's spay was $92, but I didn't bat an eye. 

My vet isn't the cheapest or most expensive in the area -- he falls mid-pack.  However, he's always willing to discuss anything and everything about your pet.  My previous vets were not always this nice about stuff, so what I have now is a great thing.

Two weeks before Father's Day, local vets here (with my vet being one of them) offered to spay male cats for $10. That's a great deal, especially when different vets are participating in the same program.  You could have had your pick, you know?  Anyway, I mentioned the program to my vet when Trixie was getting her shots a month or so ago.  Can you believe that he said only a few people brought their male cats in?  AND ... the other vets reported surprisingly low results, too!  It's not just the price of a neuter that drives people away, it's the fact that some people just don't give a damn (excuse my French [])! [:@]

ETA: I can't believe I forgot about the RAM (Remote Area Medical) clinic.  They came here last weekend and offered to spay, neuter, and give vacs to any dog or cat -- as long as the owner provided proof of income below $15,000.  Okay, so about 300 cats and dogs were spayed/neutered then, along with getting UTD on their shots.  See how tight people can be?  $10 can make or break someone, which is silly to me.  A litter of kittens/puppies will cost a lot more than $10 down the road ...

Think of it this way, if you where to do any kind of surgery on a human anywhere near what it takes to do on an animal the price would cost $3000+  Vets make far less then any human doctor and are not anywhere given the recognition they deserve.  The animal is put under anesthesia, the same anesthesia used in humans would cost $300 just for that alone.  Then it takes around 20 minuets to an hour for the spay about 5 to 30 for a neuter.  Pulse the vet has to pay his or her tech (I only make $5.25/hr as a tech) and pay for the equipments along with a long list of other things.  I would not complain if I was you, pets get a far better deal when it comes to health care then any human gets.

vet prices are just a small reason for pet overpopulation....irresponsible pet owners are the primary cause.
It costs what it costs...would you expect to get good medical care for yourself for less than a hundred

Even ignoring how much human surgeries might cost, or how much college debt a vet has, a surgical procedure as simple as a neuter has definite costs.  Things are consumed (sedatives, sutures, gauze, etc etc) as well as less definite things like the cost of the vet's time, washing/sterilizing things for re-use, re-stocking, clean-up and so on.  These things cost actual money. 
 
While its crazy how much some seem to charge at the high end, at the lower end of the price spectrum you are probably facing a lot of vets doing spay/neuter/puppy/kitten procedures with little to no profit in the hopes of establishing an ongoing customer, or out of a sense of contributing to animal welfare.
 
The offers or events with $10 or $20 services further confuse things.  People lament why their vet charges $50 for something when the humane society last year had an event for $10.  "What a ripoff!"  Well the shelter event was subsidized.  The services sure did cost more than $10!

The ASPCA here gives a $50 cupon for people in need of it. Of corse the money comes donations so they are limited to the amount of copons given out. If anyone thinks the cost is too high they should contact their local ASPCA and find out if they can get help from them. Most have a program in place to help.

By having my dogs done by a vet that I trust at the shelter, I did NOT take the opportunity away from anyone else.  This is the amount that the vet himself charges, it is not subsidized by the shelter.  I also had the litter of fosters done there because there were FOUR of them getting darned close to reproductive age and the "rescue" was doing nothing to help me place them and the LAST thing I needed was to have MORE pups to try to place.  There were three little girls who needed spaying.  At the vet that would have cost ME, out of my pocket, $900-1200.
 
The $300 plus that I am saving having Theo done by this same vet who works with ALL the shelters is bonus money that can go into further training.
 
I would LOVE to use this vet as our primary vet.  However, again, he does NOT have a private practice.  He is solely devoted to animal care and seems not to have the overhead that others do.  His surgical suite is a small motor home that has been outfitted for his needs.  Who knows?  Maybe he's independently wealthy or made a killing on Wall Street......but I see NO reason not to take advantage of his services.

When I adopted my cat, Zeus, from the shelter I also could have gotten financial help with is neuter costs. I turned it down. The state of NH helps cover those costs and every year they run out of money during kitten season (state runs out of funds to help off set the cost to help spay/neuter). I considered it my donation to help someone else. I'm not rich by any means but when I take on the responsiblity of a pet I don't expect anyone else to cover the cost of care. I may not always like it but I know with pets there are going to be expenses and I just deal with them and keep my fingers crossed they don't end up with costly emergenices.

ORIGINAL: KCSO

Even ignoring how much human surgeries might cost, or how much college debt a vet has, a surgical procedure as simple as a neuter has definite costs.  Things are consumed (sedatives, sutures, gauze, etc etc) as well as less definite things like the cost of the vet's time, washing/sterilizing things for re-use, re-stocking, clean-up and so on.  These things cost actual money. 

While its crazy how much some seem to charge at the high end, at the lower end of the price spectrum you are probably facing a lot of vets doing spay/neuter/puppy/kitten procedures with little to no profit in the hopes of establishing an ongoing customer, or out of a sense of contributing to animal welfare.

The offers or events with $10 or $20 services further confuse things.  People lament why their vet charges $50 for something when the humane society last year had an event for $10.  "What a ripoff!"  Well the shelter event was subsidized.  The services sure did cost more than $10!

 
 
Well said.  The average client has no real idea about the overhead expenses of a veterinary hospital. I have had numerous people say to me or my tech "How can you charge so much for that? It didn't cost you that!" And we politely explain that we must charge more than we paid for an item or more than it costs us in order to pay the electric bill, the phone bill, the water bill, the staff salaries, the pay roll tax, the drug bills, the repair bills (How many spays do I have to do to pay for that new air conditioner on the roof?), the equipment costs, and much much more. Oh yeah, I left out MY salary- that puts food gas in my used car (at the same price everyone else ays), food on the table, clothes from Goody's or Old Navy on  my children's backs, the clothes from Sam's Club on my back, the Timex on my wrist, and a vacation every 5th year. 
 
Am I bitter? No...absolutely not. I love what I do. What I stated above was not sarcasm but fact.  eople simply don't think about our services as a business. They don't think that a vet...who is supposed to love animals (and most of us still do)...needs to make money to keep their doors open so that they can help other animals. When we try to insure that we get paid (and I have so much in collection right now it isn't funny), we get charged with not loving animals. It is amazing how those clients who say that they love animals so often put the vet bills on the bottom of the stack. It is also amazing how many of those who love animals the most cannot afford them. That is actually quite understandable but beyond this post. 
 
Certainly there are those vets who take advantage and over-charge. "You will know them by their fruit." But the average vet does not have a second house at the beach or lake, drive a Mercedes, take bi-annual vacations to Europe, or dress in Ralph Lauren. You can see that very clearly at any veterinary meeting. In fact, most of us would be spotted immediately and quietly ushered out of a meeting of MD's...and back to our early model pick-up truck with cat tracks all over it and hair permanently embedded in the Walmart seat covers. LOL 

Early in the year, the UCD vet hospital will be doing a *spay/neuter day* - FREE.
They do an incredible number of speuters on that day, so if anyone is interested and lives within a reasonable drive of Davis, contact the vet hospital for date and details. It's a yearly event.

Joyce

My vet charged $60 for Shadow's neuter because he was under 60 pounds at the time. It's $65 for a dog over 60 pounds. Jade, who will be spayed soon, will cost $90. That's still reasonable. A spay is a more involved surgery, what I believe is called invasive surgery, as they have to enter the body cavity. With my vet, that price includes an overnight mandatory stay, which is actually common in my county. Many pets around here are allowed to roam, where they could rip open stitches and bleed out. Or rip a stitch jumping to whatever. No one is there all night but the kennel keeper makes final rounds late and then is back there at 5:30 to 6:00 in the morning, cleaning stalls and checking on the patients. Any problem would equal an emergency call to the vet who would dressing as he walked out the door to get there.
 
Petco and Petsmart will have information on low cost s/n programs if you are strapped for cash but those are partly through donations to the program, as well as some of the vets working for a reduced rate that day. At the Sherman Animal Shelter, an adoption costs $44, which includes adoption process, vacc, and s/n at a supporting vet. The reason that vets can do this sometimes is because they charge their regular rate at other times.
 
To spay a human would cost several thousand dollars and the parts are bigger and easier to handle. With a cat, a vet has no room for error. It is delicate, precise surgery demanding razor sharp skill.
 

When we try to insure that we get paid (and I have so much in collection right now it isn't funny),

I pay my vet in cash or with a check, with way more than enough funds to cover it. A few weekends ago, I got Shadow's vacc updated.

Rabies (3 year)
Distemper
Parainfluenza
Adeno
Adeno2
Parvo
Bordatella.

The mind-boggling cost? $27. And the vet worked with me and Shadow outside, since something about the inside bothers him. And we took our time until Shadow could settle down. For $27. I paid cash. While I might be tempted to say that if you can't afford approx. $100 a year in regular vet care, including vacc, then maybe you shouldn't have a pet, there are numerous low cost programs for just that situation. And I send business to my vet, when possible. A friend with a Great Pyrenees was quoted $300 for her spay. I told her of my vet. I don't know if she's been there yet. But he is a caring, excellent vet with a velvet touch and excellent surgery skills, and modern technique, including dissolvable stitches. The kennels are kept spotless.
 
edited to add:
My vet drives a 10 year old  Ford truck in need of a paint job. It was suggested that vets were bankrolled by Science Diet and Purina to "push" their products on clients. I guess that gravy train passed him by. At $60 for a neuter in a very rural part of the county, I doubt he's going to pick out a Ferrari very soon.
 

I agree with Meilani that if you can't afford the costs of having a pet, you shouldn't have one. S/n surgery is part of what I would consider the basic costs of pet ownership, not one of the extras.
 
I really doubt that cost has much to do with why there's a pet overpopulation problem, particularly if the surgery is $100 or less. You can't get much for $50 these days, not even one month's worth of cable television, let alone surgery!!