My cats had their annual check-up today & the vet said their teeth need cleaning/de-scaling sometime in the next six months or so. He said it would cost £300 per cat.

I've had a ring around and another vet wants £250 per cat, yet the vets inside Pets at Home only want £100 per cat.

Why such huge variation? Can there really be a big difference in the costs involved?

Will I be able to trust the £100 place (they're RCVS accredited).

I think £100 is the norm, without extractions.


http://www.whatprice.co.uk/prices/ve...rgery-cat.html

It could be the amount of pre-op testing the more high end vets do. Blood work and so forth due to the sedation. Or, it could be they just charge more. I'd ask what exactly was involved. You may find it varies considerably.

As a word of advice if you have pet insurance make sure it does cover dental work as not all polices do.

Different practices have different costs = ours is a small local practice one vet, receptionist and nurse in a tiny surgery so costs are less than the large practice where they have 7 nurses, 3 receptionists and 3 vets in a large all whistles and bells surgery.
Pets at home are a huge franchise with savings the size of the practice bring. Much like comparing Tesco with your local corner store.

I don't believe any insurance policy covers routine dental work but if there was a critical oral situation due to cancers, trauma or other diseases then that would be a different matter.

I had my Tabitha's teeth cleaned when she was about 5 (15 years ago) and the cost was £100. The vet practice was privately owned but it was still a large, well known practice with the owner vet having written books on cat care. Two years later, he retired and sold the practice to a chain - the cost escalated to £250 for the same procedure which, unsurprisingly, most client owners refused to pay so the cost was reduced to around £180 for a basic clean with extra charged for each extraction.

My Bernard has very bad teeth and needs some dental work. He has been ill, intermittently, over the past few months so we've delayed the procedure - also he's quite fat so poses an anaesthetic risk. I've been quoted from £180 to £300, depending on what they do when they can see properly what needs doing (Bernard isn't amenable to an oral examination!). From my point of view, I would always choose the safest place for my cat to have an anaesthetic and this would be in a well equipped practice with staff who possess the right experience and expertise. Cheaper places like Pets at Home may be absolutely fine but I don't know them, they don't have my cat's history, so I wouldn't feel comfortable choosing that option just because it's so much cheaper.

Thanks everyone.

The Pets at Home vet isn't actually owned by them. They seem to offering a £99 vaccination for life service too, so I'm going to check them out more closely.

Does that include the annual check up ? or just the vaccination ? because the annual check costs much more than the vaccination at my surgery.

I think it includes a basic check-up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN1-dOGP5IE

No, don't trust Pets at Home. Awful place that doesn't deserve your money.

£250-300 is about right for dental work and it's well worth doing. My boy came to me with gingivitis and has had several ops and most of his teeth out.

I have to admit I worry about pets at home, here the surgery and waiting room are right at back of the store so I no longer take my dogs into the store where previously they enjoyed a trip to get their own treats and leads etc because I worry about sick dogs walking through the store. What if they have a parvo case or similar !

15 years ago our old cat had to have loads of teeth removed and it cost a fortune! I'll always remember they were charging £1 a minute plus anaesthetic, drugs, etc etc.

I dread to think what they charge now, 15 years down the line.

Our cats never had dental problems but we did have a couple of dogs with problems one as a pup had two rows of teeth looked like a shark ! that cost us £500 and the other had Chihuahua decay, they are prone to bad teeth we were told and that meant she had all but 4 taken out and cost £250 but was 10 years or so ago.