Castration question

[novachick]

I think my vet is trying to pull a fast one on me...so I'd like some other opinions.

My colt went into the vet for what we thought would be a crypt surgery, but under full anesthesia the surgeon was able to find the second one and called me afterward very happy that it would cost be significantly less than a crypt surgery because it was a normal castration. I was quoted $850 for the crypt surgery, so I was expecting somewhere in the vicinity of $650. When I got my bill, I was surprised to find out it was still $850. So I called the vet today and the technician who answered said that the vet did a scrotal ablation, which she described as closing the wound for easier aftercare. I accepted this answer for about 30seconds, then pulled out the form I got at discharge that had the box cehcked for castration, not for scrotal ablation or crypt. After I called back with this information, she pulled the chart and first told me that it really was a crypt, the the surgeon charged me for the ablation to save me some money, then said oh no, it wasn't a crypt, but he did close it up so it was truly an ablation. Then she said that the technician wasn't authorized to give me the sheet at discharge detailing what they did, because the owner has to review the bills before they are sent out. Sound fishy to me....especially since my horse came home with no sutures and large, open, red slits where his testicles should have been. There were clearly no sutures there.

So my question is, has anyone seen a scroal ablation versus an open castration and can you tell me how different it would have looked? Should I have been able to tell the difference upon the cleaning and hosing that I did?

I think business is down a bit and they are trying to get more money out of me than they should!

Thanks- Jen

 

[txminipinto]

I've seen plenty of scrotal ablations. They remove the scrotum intact and then suture it closed. There should be no slits or draining. And I've NEVER seen one done on a horse. I would go for a surgical recheck to another vet, have them document what actually occured (regular castration vs. "scrotal ablation"), and then go back to the original office to get questions answered. This sounds very off to me!

 

[iowa]

Sounds like a regular castration to me. I had one that was sutured after castration and you could see the sutures, otherwise it is just open as you said. I'd take it to another vet to have it examined and see if there are any sutures higher up that you can't see. Sometimes they sew the ring tighter and that is higher up. That's a lot of money if they didn't do the proceedure. Our vet charges $160.00 to do the surgery for a crypt through the abdomen and another one in the area is $290 to do it through the ingunal ring.

 

[novachick]

Thank you both for the replies! I'm almost positive it was left open as I was looking under him several times to rinse it out with the hose and check for any inflammation. Sounds very strange to me how many times the story changed and the fact that she said that the tech wasn't suppossed to give me the form that I got at discharge. It's a shame to because I take my 2 dogs, iguana, 3 potbellied pigs and now 3 minis to them...that might be changing very quickly! Unfortunately it was almost 2 months ago that the surgery was done, so I don't think any other vet will be able to tell what was done at this point.

Thanks again!

 

[Laura Leopard]

Be very observant as to how your colt is healing. My boy had a crypt surgery, but the end result (slits) sounds like what my guy had. After following all of the post op instructions, I noticed that he wasn't healing like they said he should. I took him to another vet that was closer, thinking it was just a mild infection and they gave me additional antibiotics. Well, after continuing to treat for an additional week with no improvement, I had that other vet recheck more closely. they found a small piece of gauze sticking out of a closing wound. The vet continued to explore the wound with forceps and found 3-4 whole gauze pads still inside him. The vet that did the castration didn't get it all out and the wound was trying to heal with gauze inside of my baby. He never acted sick, but I knew something wasn't right. The vet that did the surgery reinbursed me for the money spent at the other vet, and he's healthy now, but it was a scare.

Laura

 

[novachick]

Be very observant as to how your colt is healing. My boy had a crypt surgery, but the end result (slits) sounds like what my guy had. After following all of the post op instructions, I noticed that he wasn't healing like they said he should. I took him to another vet that was closer, thinking it was just a mild infection and they gave me additional antibiotics. Well, after continuing to treat for an additional week with no improvement, I had that other vet recheck more closely. they found a small piece of gauze sticking out of a closing wound. The vet continued to explore the wound with forceps and found 3-4 whole gauze pads still inside him. The vet that did the castration didn't get it all out and the wound was trying to heal with gauze inside of my baby. He never acted sick, but I knew something wasn't right. The vet that did the surgery reinbursed me for the money spent at the other vet, and he's healthy now, but it was a scare.
Laura

Laura, that is very scary. Lucky for us the crypt surgery wasn't necessary, it ended up being a normal castration. It was done 2 months ago and he healed great! But now I feel like they are trying to castrate my pocketbook!

 

[HGFarm]

Sounds VERY fishy to me too!!!!!!!!!!! I would demand an answer, without a bunch of run around and demand a call back from the vet himself, not an office assistant who has no clue.

 

[novachick]

Sounds VERY fishy to me too!!!!!!!!!!! I would demand an answer, without a bunch of run around and demand a call back from the vet himself, not an office assistant who has no clue.

I should have added...I demanded the owner call me back...I'm waiting for the call from him.

 

[osu_barrelracer]

We had one of our 2X Nat Champion stallions gelded earlier this year. He had MASSIVE testicles, larger than most big horses. Because of that, his age, ect, ect, we had our vet stitch him up. We paid $80 to have him cut and sewn up.

I would be going in and having a chat with the surgeon

 

[~Lisa~]

We had one of our 2X Nat Champion stallions gelded earlier this year. He had MASSIVE testicles, larger than most big horses. Because of that, his age, ect, ect, we had our vet stitch him up. We paid $80 to have him cut and sewn up. I would be going in and having a chat with the surgeon

$80 bucks wow where do you live? Here is is about $200 -$250 by the time all is said and done for a normal routine gelding

 

[iowa]

Just had five done here last week. It is about $55.00 per horse. My vet is a large animal vet, mostly cattle and hogs, but he is quite knowledgable about horses so I guess I'm lucky to be living about 30 miles from him. He comes in the middle of the night for dystocia and once during a blizzard to treat a colic. He's great. He didn't know much about a cat that I think had a stroke in her leg, but she was really old and I guess her time was up anyway.

 

[Carolyn R]

Jen, I would question the procedure and the costs for the said procedure to make sure you were charged correctly, I know the facility you are speaking of has sort of a base fee for a horse that is admitted/stays over. It has cost me approx. $500 to walk in there and have a horse stay for observation/potential treatment. From there the price would go up according to what treatment was needed and how many days they needed to stay. Did they discuss the fees to keep the horse or is it possible they are trying to absorb some of that cost into the procedure fees?

I do need to point out to others that the average cost by a reputable vet to perform a regular gelding procedure in this immediate area is $200-$300. Mine is $300 when you include the farm call ( different animal hospital from the clinic being mentioned).

All in all, I must say I am glad your boy didn't need the crypt surgery and that he did heal properly.

 

[Coventry Lane Farm]

Gelding here by one of our equine vets is $125.00 including farm call of $35.00. He doesn't stitch them, he uses glue and clamps and no scaring or anything and the horse recovers quickly without any complications. We just had one done in April and two were done Jan 08 and the one was a Classic Shetland. He charges the same price for a miniature as a full sized equine.

I would really question the vet and owner about that invoicing, sounds fishy to me as well about this.

 

[novachick]

Well, I got the situation resolved.

The owner called me back and admitted that I was mischarged for the scrotal ablation, so I will be credited some money to my account. It isn't a whole lot, but at least I feel the situation has been corrected. I didn't expect it to be a lot of credit, because they did have to run the bloodwork and do the anesthesia as if they were putting him down for the crypt surgery and he did have to stay overnight due to the anesthesia, but at least I feel vindicated in them admitting that I wasn't crazy. I knew they sent him open with open wounds and not stitches....I'm the one that checked it several times a day!

There are huge variations across the country for vet procedures, it's almost impossible to compare expected cost from one vet to another even a couple hundred miles apart.

 

[disneyhorse]

Glad to hear there was an error, and that they are charging something back to your account.

I also live in a very expensive area... gelding is $250-350 here for a normal one!

Andrea

 

[HGFarm]

Yikes, and I thought about $150 or so here was bad for a normal gelding. There is a vet up north that will do it for half that- he is sort of semi retired, but not really. My friend had a full sized horse done that had a retained testicle and he only charged them $100, no hospital and no stitches and the horse never had a slow day!!! If he had had to have surgery, he was only going to charge about $300 but down here by the valley it is quite a large sum for the surgery. About $1500 by some.