Small Dog back X-ray - likely costs?

littlesnuggy

I'm taking my pug to the vet in the morning as he's now had three episodes of being in obvious pain/distress relating to either his lower back, hips or back legs. The first time we had no idea what was wrong so took him to an out-of-hours vet (it was the weekend) but by the time we got there, about 20 minutes, he was right as rain and the vet couldn't find any sign of anything wrong. This was in October.

The same thing happened one evening mid-December but he was again fine after a short while. Last night he woke at 4am and was pacing around and I could tell something was wrong, and he was acting the same. This time he didn't seem to 'recover' until about 8.30am.

I spoke to the vet nurse this morning who advised that an x-ray might be required as a preliminary investigation, but that this couldn't be done after he'd eaten. As I'd given him breakfast already, I'm going to take him in in the morning.

Apart from being terrified about the thought of leaving him at the vet (in a cage ) and him being put under anaesthetic (he's never had this done before), and obviously concerned as to what might be found, I'm also wondering what the likely cost of the x-ray would be? I live in the South West.

He's insured under the top-level John Lewis policy, but I'm not sure how much the excess is.

Any advice much appreciated.

krlyr

It will vary from vet to vet, area to area, and also depend on how many exposures they need to take. For a very vague estimate, I recently paid about £600 for my Rottie x to have x-rays done of her elbow - think they took 3 or 4 exposures, and that included the sedation (which will be higher than yours as she's a large breed)

Ask your vet to give you a quote in the morning, so you don't have a nasty surprise when you get the bill.

Your excess should be stated in your policy document Their website states 3 levels of excess, from £60-140, so you will have to check which you picked at the time of taking out the insurance.

McKneff

Not really sure but your excess will be in your documents so that is all you will have to pay. My excess is £100

But it will vary from Practice to Practice.




Hope everthing is okay.

hachette

littlesnuggy wrote: »

I'm taking my pug to the vet in the morning as he's now had three episodes of being in obvious pain/distress relating to either his lower back, hips or back legs. The first time we had no idea what was wrong so took him to an out-of-hours vet (it was the weekend) but by the time we got there, about 20 minutes, he was right as rain and the vet couldn't find any sign of anything wrong. This was in October.

The same thing happened one evening mid-December but he was again fine after a short while. Last night he woke at 4am and was pacing around and I could tell something was wrong, and he was acting the same. This time he didn't seem to 'recover' until about 8.30am.

I spoke to the vet nurse this morning who advised that an x-ray might be required as a preliminary investigation, but that this couldn't be done after he'd eaten. As I'd given him breakfast already, I'm going to take him in in the morning.

Apart from being terrified about the thought of leaving him at the vet (in a cage ) and him being put under anaesthetic (he's never had this done before), and obviously concerned as to what might be found, I'm also wondering what the likely cost of the x-ray would be? I live in the South West.

He's insured under the top-level John Lewis policy, but I'm not sure how much the excess is.

Any advice much appreciated.

I had x-ray done on my toy poodle 2 years ago that was £450 I also live in South West. If you have got good insurance policy excess should not be more then 50-100 pounds. Good luck hope all will be well.

gettingready

Zara had them done at around £500.00 in London but she is a German Shepherd.

I think the size of the dog matters for the cost of anaestetics as well as the actual Xrays.

You can call the vets and they should be able to give you an estimatd cost.

Also ask your vet if he.she accepts direct claims - when you only pay the excess and vet claims the rest from your insurance.

Some vets do some do not and expect you to pay the whole bill and thn you need to claim back on your insurance

littlesnuggy

We're back from the vets and for now at least it is good news - the vet thinks the pain could have been from his anal glands. Apparently they were very full and can cause acute pain, but pain that might come and go.

SO relieved! Pugs are known for back problems so I was thinking the worst. The first thing the vet actually did was check his prostate as that could have been the issue too, but thankfully it was fine.

If it happens again in the next week or so then we would then need an x-ray to check as his glands can't have filled up that quickly, but he's fairly sure this will have been the problem.

In my relief and Julius' eagerness to get home for breakfast, I still didn't ask how much an x-ray would be!