Cost for ACL surgery on dogs in NOVA (Leesburg: buying, quality of life)

[twinmma]

Wow - that's a great price for the TPLO. Did that include all the follow-up costs and materials? Does that vet do them all the time? Just curious...would love to have saved that kind of money!

Originally Posted by arielmina

my old lab (now deceased) had an ACL tear this fall and we were quoted $1500 for the traditional repair and $2500 for the TPLO at our vet in Purcellville. She weighed 85 lbs and was 10 yrs old. PM me if you want the vets info.

[snoie]

Originally Posted by twinmma

Thanks! Bella is FABULOUS now, lol! Everyone in my family thought I was crazy to spend that kind of money but what was I going to do? I couldn't put her down knowing it was fixable. We had been saving to add a bathroom to our basement...so she is a walking bathroom, lol!

You will do fine with the FHO. It's stressful, but you will manage! Good luck! Let me know how it turns out!

I understand those costs! We are in the middle of planning a wedding and got slammed with the FHO. Hoping he does fine with one, but with my bad luck, he's going to need the second done this year as well. He's a really determined dog - managed to jump (all 4 paws) on my kitchen counters to get a bone. If he sets his mind to something, he will keep trying until he gets it.

A lot of people do put them down due to these issues. We've got both sides of the hip to worry about, as well as the possibility of knee surgery due to luxating patella (currently not a problem, but could be down the road). Our dog is only 15 months though, and has such a long life ahead..

[twinmma]

Congrats on the wedding! But I can see how that would be stressful on the wallet! I would check out the pet insurance. Petplan is who we go through...They won't cover anything on the leg that is already bad but they will cover it if something happens to the other leg!

Originally Posted by snoie

I understand those costs! We are in the middle of planning a wedding and got slammed with the FHO. Hoping he does fine with one, but with my bad luck, he's going to need the second done this year as well. He's a really determined dog - managed to jump (all 4 paws) on my kitchen counters to get a bone. If he sets his mind to something, he will keep trying until he gets it.

A lot of people do put them down due to these issues. We've got both sides of the hip to worry about, as well as the possibility of knee surgery due to luxating patella (currently not a problem, but could be down the road). Our dog is only 15 months though, and has such a long life ahead..

[arielmina]

Originally Posted by twinmma

Wow - that's a great price for the TPLO. Did that include all the follow-up costs and materials? Does that vet do them all the time? Just curious...would love to have saved that kind of money!

We were told that would be the cost for everything...not including the initial diagnostics of course. This particular vet is great and does this surgery very often. Our dog turned out to have some other issues going on that required us to put her to sleep, but we were pleased with the practice and would have definitely used him to do the surgery. Come out west a bit, everything is less expensive!

[twinmma]

Thanks for the tip! If something happens to the other leg, I may give them a call!

Originally Posted by arielmina

We were told that would be the cost for everything...not including the initial diagnostics of course. This particular vet is great and does this surgery very often. Our dog turned out to have some other issues going on that required us to put her to sleep, but we were pleased with the practice and would have definitely used him to do the surgery. Come out west a bit, everything is less expensive!

[snoie]

Originally Posted by twinmma

Congrats on the wedding! But I can see how that would be stressful on the wallet! I would check out the pet insurance. Petplan is who we go through...They won't cover anything on the leg that is already bad but they will cover it if something happens to the other leg!

Sadly, Hip dysplasia is not covered by most pet insurances as it is hereditary. He was diagnosed with it in both hips, with the right one causing pain right now, so likely it would be a pre-existing condition.

[VicodinES]

You may want to consider check out the Regional Vet College down at Virginia Tech. I had a friend who's dog had stomach cancer, and he found it was much cheaper to have it treated down there (including driving the 4 hours each way and hotel down there) than it was to get it treated anywhere up here.

[angelkat2009]

Originally Posted by Dennis-and-Sue

We are looking for cost information for surgery for torn ACL for dog over 50 pounds. Any info? We are being told it will be between $4,000 and 4,500 for the surgery plus prep vet work and follow up of $500.
Any info out there on cost comparisons?

Dennis and Sue:

That sounds a little high - have you called other vets? Pender and SouthPaws come to mind...

[jillabean]

My 60 pound dog just had this surgery a month ago at Centreville Animal Hospital. It cost $2460 total including meds.

[Carlingtonian]

For God's sake. IT'S A DOG. There are starving people in the world.

Seriously--an ACL repair for a *human being* is considered optional, depending on how active the person is. For a dog--that's just--warped.