Our vet charges $25 for an office visit and $27.50 for the exam. Last spring when we did a check up, heart worm test and mini blood panel the bill came to just under $300 I think. If you bring in multiple pets at once he will only charge for on office visit.
I'm in Iowa.
Katharina

I'm in SW PA. Annual exam fee is included under "office visit" for $40, $63 for bloodwork (my receipt says general health panel + electrolyte chemistry) heartworm/Lyme test added another $25 with a biohazard disposal fee of $2 for a grand total of $130.

Monablair, that's about what we pay. There are cheaper vets around town, but the place we take our dog gives him a very good, thorough exam, he sees the same vet every time he goes and they sit and chat with us about any issues we have and/or questions. There service is far superior to that we received at the prior veterinary office we used, so IMHO, the extra cost is well worth it.

I think the quality of the vet becomes critical when a dog reaches late middle age, so if you are happy with the quality, I'd say stick with it.

Vet fees are wildly different. It all depends on the overhead the vet is paying, how much clientelle he/she has, if they offer bordering, how much staff they have, rent, equipment costs etc.

here is what I pd on 9-18-09 for my 5 1/2 yr old lab
Nail trim NC
Heartworm antigen $ 15.00
Rabies $ 17.25
Parvo and corona $ 5.75
Bordatella $ 9.25
DA2LPP $ 7.00
Fecal Ck $ 10.00
Physical exam $ 28.60

Total $ 96.20

Shelley

Just to walk into the office and have the vet look at him was $148?! Yes, I think it's too much and would shop around. Even vet specialists several of my dogs have seen don't charge that much for an office visit.

There should be no charge for an office visit IMHO. Vets have to make a living though and if you are willing to pay the price, they will charge it. We took our lab in when she was a year old for her 3 yr. rabies. That is what I asked for, and that is what we got. The vet checked her thoroughly but didn't see a need for blood work, etc.

He didn't question why we didn't want/need the lyme disease stuff or any of the other add-ons. We do our own worming and other shots and he didn't have a problem with that. He gave us good advice about the worm medicine for the cats and about breeding our dog.

The charge for the 3 yr. rabies was $26.00 and the "unaltered dog registration" for the county was $60.00. Sounds fair to me.

Our vet's fees have gone up considerably over the last ten years, but they are pretty fair with their charges, and if one is a good 'consumer' there are certainly ways to get the maximum amount of service for the dollar. What really helps is that both vets are very experienced, and one of them is just an excellent diagnostician. That helps to avoid unnecessary lab work and he will allow the client to assume a lot of the care if they can exhibit they'll do it properly.

I noticed that if one doesn't speak up, the receptionist will schedule them without looking toward needless expense. She had one of our dogs scheduled in for one shot then another type in three weeks, etc. I finally told her to fix it so that all the necessary exams/shots/tests be done in one fell swoop, as each time you walk through the door you get an office call fee.

One thing I don't think is right is if they do an exam, you'll get charged for that in addition to the office call. Duh. But, for the most part, the vet himself/herself describes the services provided, so it's usually accurate. A basic exam, with heartworm test and no other diagnostic bloodwork would be about seventy. To take one in for a specific complaint and be checked out with no meds or complete exam would be about fifty. They will talk to you on a phone, or let you pick up meds for only the cost of the med if it's for a chronic condition. I'm satisfied with their fees.

We charge $34 for the exam, $60 for a CBC and chemistry panel (which is WAY too cheap, going rate around here is $90 and it's worth at least that). I don't do fecal testing unless there is a problem, that's $14. I like to do a UA with the bloodwork which is $40. Annual heartworm test is $28 I think. So the total (no fecal) is $162.

The exam fee seems high to me. The specialties at school charge about that for an exam except for neurology and emergency which are a bit more. Nobody around here charges more that $75 for an exam except emergency services.

Shellm, you're vet is overvaccinating your dog. There is no good reason to vaccinate an adult dog for coronavirus, and very little reason to vaccinate anybody else. Corona causes a transient diarrhea/enteritis which resolves without treatment or with minimal treatment, is rarely if ever life threatening and almost never even requires hospitalization. Distemper and parvo vaccines last at least 5 years after the puppy series and first yearly booster.

Carmen, considering the cost for a rabies vaccine is less than $5 your vet is charging you for an office visit, just including it with the price of the vaccine. The county charges the license fee/registration, not the vet.

It seems fairly reasonable to me. I have 3 large dogs,and I pay nearly that for all 3 (each). It's not pretty, but I feel like I have a very thorough vet, and I like him.

I'm quite sure I just bought him a lexus last year, but I'm satisfied.

Ok, here are some of mine:

In Central CT.

REg Office visit: $60
CBC/SC= $98
UA=$37
Fecal=$57
Vaccines range=$30-$36 each.
Xray 2 views=$165

Rural MD:

Exam: $28
Fecal testing: $15

She goes for shots tomorrow, so then I will have those prices.

In 2004 (the only bill I have handy) for my last dog shots at the same vet were as follows:

Rabies 3 years: $15
DHLPP booster; $10.50
Bordatella booster: $10.50
Heart worm test: $26.50

I guess I will see how much that has gone up tomorrow.

Today's shots:

DHPP 2nd: $12.50
Rabies 1 year: $17.50

Funny you posted this thread. I was wondering the same myself. My dog went in last Thursday for a simple check up and I walked out paying $320.00. I shook my head and said "For what?"

I guess like everything else, the prices are going up. Or maybe my Vet is driving a new Lexus? *LOL*

Usual fee for annual checkup for my cat is around EUR 50.00 which includes treatment for fleas, ticks & worms. That treatment lasts the whole year. When he was hit by a car the x-ray was only EUR 25.00 and a few years later when he got cancer the vets fees were only EUR 250.00, EUR 210.00 of which was reimbursed by the insurers. He is now 13 years old and still hassling me whenever I open a tin of fish.