Comparative costs of dog & cat sterilization worldwide
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
Nonprofit humane societies in Japan,
Lebanon, and South Korea may pay 30 times more
to sterilize a dog or cat than counterparts in
India, ANIMAL PEOPLE found in an early 2008
survey of more than 35 agencies in 14 nations,
chiefly in Asia and eastern Europe.
The table at right shows the findings,
ordered by nation, city, and the type of
veterinary practice that the reporting humane
societies use.
In-house clinics are included in “nonprofit.”
Column headings describe the costs of
supplies used, including anesthetics, other
pharmaceuticals, and surgical items; the wages
paid to veterinarians and veterinary technicians;
and post-operative expense. The last two columns
state the average total cost of sterilizing male
and female animals.
Several figures are composites from data
reported by multiple humane societies working in
the same city. The names of individual societies
are not stated, to protect the identities of
vets who may give discounts not offered to other
clients, and/or give discounts larger than
recommended by veterinary guilds.
Despite charging rates equal to or higher
than U.S. norms, vets in Japan, Lebanon, and
South Korea do not appear to enjoy higher
standards of living than vets in India. The
costs of living in Japan, Lebanon, and South
Korea are all much higher than in India, and the
costs of drugs and other surgical materials are
proportionally as much higher compared to India
as the cost of surgery itself. Beyond that, the
higher-priced vets just don’t attract as much
business.
Animal Help, paying one of the lowest
rates per surgery of all the surveyed agencies,
paid vets to perform more than 45,000 surgeries
in Ahmedabad, India in 2006–more than 100 times
as many surgeries as were performed for any of
the agencies paying the highest prices, and
probably more than the total of all
sterilizations done in Lebanon plus South Korea.
Animal Help is no longer working in Ahmedabad,
mainly due to delays in receiving reimbursement
from the city government, but is still working
in several other Indian cities.
Japanese, Lebanese, and South Korean
vets appear to be able to charge high rates
chiefly because they have little competition.
Indian rates are by contrast held down by federal
subsidies for surgeries performed as part of
authorized Animal Birth Control programs. The
subsidies markedly reduce revenue per surgery,
but also help to keep clinics busy. The
cumulative effect is to stabilize veterinary
incomes in the upper middle range of Indian
society.
ANIMAL PEOPLE found that at least two cat
sterilization programs in Japan are thriving by
charging competitive rates and attracting more
clients.
Volume and competition help to keep
sterilization surgery affordable in eastern
Europe, at about half to two-thirds of the
current U.S. norms.
The largest nonprofit sterilization
service provider in four eastern European
nations, also active in many other nations, is
the Austrian-based group Vier Pfoten. Vier
Pfoten program director Ioana Tomescu told ANIMAL
PEOPLE that while the amounts paid to
veterinarians per surgery vary widely even within
each nation, as result of widely varying
operating conditions, vets who work with Vier
Pfoten average 30 surgeries per day in all
nations combined, at an average labor cost per
surgery of just $3.90.
Dog sterilization surgery costs in 19 cities, 14 nations
Nation City Type of practice Supplies-M
Supplies-F Labor-M Labor-F Aftercare MALE
FEMALE
Bulgaria Sofia (private practice) $ 12.01
$ 15.60 $ 35.10 $ 46.80 $ 7.80/day $
44.91 $ 62.40
Bulgaria Sofia (nonprofit) $ 12.01
$ 15.60 $ 15.60 $ 21.84 $ 7.80/day $
35.40 $ 45.24
Bulgaria mobile (nonprofit) $ 12.48 $ 18.72
China Beijing (government)
$4.29 to $11.43/day $71/$143
Costa Rica San Jose (nonprofit rate)
$ 20.00
India (federal subsidy)
$ 4.22 $ 2.44 $ 1.56/week
$ 9.89
India Agra (nonprofit)
$ 1.76/week $ 11.17
India Ahmedabad (nonprofit)
$ 2.97
$ 10.00
India Bangalore (nonprofit)
$ 4.56 $ 2.00 $ 4.44/5 days
$ 11.00
India Chennai (nonprofit)
$ 4.03 $ 2.56 $ 3.75/avg.
$ 10.34
India Nilgiris (nonprofit)
$ 4.95 $ 2.11 $ 1.78
$ 8.84
India Visakhapatnam (nonprofit)
.35/1 day $ 9.91
Kenya Nairobi (nonprofit rate)
$ 25.00 $ 20.00
$ 45.00
Lebanon Beirut (private practice)
$200.00 $275.00
Lebanon Beirut (nonprofit rate)
$ 90.00 $120.00
Philippines Manila (nonprofit)
$ 4.36 $ 6.22 45ยข/4 days
$ 11.02
Romania Arad (nonprofit vet) $ 10.00
$ 15.00 $ 26.45 $ 28.75 $
36.45 $ 44.20
Romania Bucharest (nonprofit) $ 14.30 $ 20.44
Romania Galati (discounted) $ 23.48
$ 35.21 $ 15.65 $ 26.09 $
39.13 $ 61.30
Romania Oradea (nonprofit) $ 23
.40
Serbia mobile (nonprofit) $ 12.48 $ 18.72
Slovakia mobile (nonprofit) $ 14.04 $ 20.28
Sierra Leone
$ 10.00 $ 2.85 $ 5.70 $
7.85 $ 15.70
So. Korea Daegu (nonprofit rate)
$102.98 $ 46.10 $ 71.71 $ 8.20/day
$165.46 $199.29
Thailand Bangkok (nonprofit)
$ 19.11 $ 7.59 $ 5.55/week
$ 32.25
Turkey Istanbul (nonprofit)
$ 34.32 $ 43.68
U.S. average (nonprofit)
$ 35.00 $ 49.14
U.S. average (private practice)
$ 65.00 $199.45
Cat sterilization surgery costs in 11 cities, 13 nations
Nation City Type of practice Supplies-M
Supplies-F Labor-M Labor-F Aftercare MALE
FEMALE
Bulgaria Sofia (private practice)
$ 23.34 $ 46.80
Bulgaria Sofia (nonprofit rate)
$ 10.92 $ 15.60
Bulgaria Sofia (nonprofit) $ 4.68
$ 15.60 $
12.48 $ 14.98
China Beijing (government vet)
$1.43/$2.15/day $ 14.28 $ 21.43
China Beijing (nonprofit)
$ 7.14 $ 12.86
Costa Rica San Jose (nonprofit rate)
$ 16.00
Indonesia Jakarta (private practice)
$ 10.87 $ 37.87 $ 42.87 $
40.00 $ 53.67
Japan Tokyo (private practice)
$193.64 $287.47
Japan Kobe (nonprofit)
$ 47.91 $ 76.66
Japan Toyama (government vet)
$ 36.41 $ 61.32
Lebanon Beirut (private practice)
$ 90.00 $160.00
Lebanon Beirut (nonprofit rate)
$ 40.00 $ 50.00
Romania Arad (nonprofit vet) $ 1.00
$ 5.00 $ 14.95 $ 19.55 $
15.95 $ 24.55
Romania Galati (discounted) $ 17.83
$ 26.52 $ 10.44 $ 20.43 $
28.27 $ 46.95
Romania Bucharest (nonprofit) $ 7.33 $ 17.94
Serbia mobile (nonprofit) $ 12.48 $ 18.72
Slovakia mobile (nonprofit) $ 5.46 $ 17.16
So. Korea Daegu (nonprofit rate)
$ 61.48 $ 30.73 $ 46.10 $8.20/day
$100.92 $123.98
Turkey Istanbul (nonprofit)
$ 15.60 $ 23.40
U.S. average (nonprofit)
$ 26.00 $ 35.00
U.S. average (private practice)
$ 45.00 $129.95
