Rabbit Neuter Estimate

[Toriebug]

We are working on getting our male rabbit neutered and we had a check up today at a local vet office. They just wanted to make sure he was healthy and then they were going to do an estimate of how much it would cost to do the neuter. They said he was perfectly healthy and then they estimated that the neuter would be around $700. This seems a little absurd to me because when we got our female bunny spayed, it ended up being around $200 including the medication. And I would imagine that neutering would be less invasive than spaying. I uploaded a picture of the estimate. They also said that his teeth are a little bit sharp and so they would have to float his teeth. So that cost is added in the estimate as well, but that only accounts for around $63 of the total cost. I guess I’m just wondering if this seems accurate, is this what it normally costs to get your rabbit neutered? I want the best for our rabbit and I really want to get him neutered but I don’t think that we will be able to spend that much money to get it done.

 

[craftymelli7]

My vet estimated my rabbits upcoming neutering to be $317.00
Neutering is less invasive. It shouldn't cost as much as your vet said. That's sounds very overpriced.
This is my vets estimate for comparison:

 

[overhear]

I live in the NY metro area and, after doing tons of research, ended up spending even more than that spaying my girl last year. I really agonized over the decision because it was so much money but in the end decided it was worth it to use the most rabbit-savvy vet in my area.

In retrospect I'm glad I made that decision because her spay went so smoothly. She never seemed to experience any pain and fully recovered within a couple of days.

I've since adopted that vet as our regular care provider and happily have found that their prices are completely reasonable for routine care.

In case it helps, here's a post I wrote describing my vet's spay procedure:

I'm in the NYC area and have absolutely obsessed over this decision. The cost -- which here is astronomical -- the risk, figuring out which vet to use, all caused me to delay spaying my bunny. I've finally decided to bite the bullet and have her spayed by my very expensive but very rabbit-savvy vet this week.

The veterinary technician spent almost an hour on the phone explaining every aspect of the procedure to me before I decided to schedule it. These are my notes on the steps they take. I was writing quickly so they may not be 100% accurate.

I hope this helps someone else with their decision!

One week prior:
Complete blood workup and stool sample analysis to ensure that the rabbit is on a healthy candidate for surgery.

Day of surgery:

• Injection of Cerenia (anti-nausea med) and NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory)
• Administer " knockout drugs" (ketamine, buprenorphine and something else I didn't catch)
• Bunny gets groggy and goes to sleep
• Administer anesthesia (isoflurane gas)
• Apply oxygen mask and, if they can, an airway tube to administer oxygen
• Monitor her vital signs and shave her abdomen
• Perform surgery
• Apply internal sutures
• Apply surgical glue rather than sutures to external skin layer because bunnies tend to remove their external sutures
• Apply laser therapy to incision area to promote more rapid healing

Bring home meloxicam for pain management and topical ointment

 

[rabbit_friend]

My regular vet quoted $500, but I called around and found out about a low-cost spay/neuter organization that does a lot of rabbits, and they would have charged around $80. We would have had a 1-1/2 hour drive, so I ended up using a local mobile vet who is very experienced with rabbits, for $145. Point is, call around and see what you can find out. If there are any rabbit rescues in your area, call them and ask who they use—they certainly don't pay $600! It is vitally important to get someone experienced with rabbits, but that doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

 

[John Wick]

Here's a global spay/neuter estimate database you and others can submit to: Global rabbit spay/neuter bill database – Rabbitors