Dog and cat conditions, with what treating them costs
Every page in this section answers the same two questions in the same order: is this an emergency right now, and what is it going to cost. The first question gets a triage ladder at the top of the page — worst signs first, in the words an owner would use. The second gets the same regional price tables that run the rest of this site.
That combination is unusual on purpose. Veterinary content sites explain the disease and never mention money; cost sites quote a number and offer no way to tell whether your animal needs a vet tonight or on Thursday. An owner standing in a kitchen at 2am needs both, and the second question is unanswerable without the first — you cannot budget for a spinal surgery you do not yet know is being recommended.
No page publishes here until a veterinarian has signed off on its clinical content — the build refuses to ship one that has not — and the review date is printed on the page. The prices are ours: researched from published US fee schedules, university hospital price lists and carrier claims data, with each row labelled to say whether it came from a real published price or from a national figure scaled by a cited regional index. We do not blend the two, and we say when the evidence is thin. How that works is in our editorial policy.
Emergencies and sudden collapse
The presentations where the clock is the treatment. Each page opens with the signs that mean go now, then what the emergency visit and the surgery behind it actually bill.
- parvo in dogs
Parvo symptoms in dogs and puppies, the survival rates for hospital and outpatient care, and the honest price comparison against a course of puppy shots.
Dog Ultrasound $383–$880
- dog vomiting blood
Dog vomiting blood: what counts as an emergency tonight, why rat bait bleeds days later, the tests a vet runs, and what each one costs in the United States.
Dog Bowel Obstruction Surgery $1,200–$7,976
- dehydrated dog treatment
Dehydration is measured in percentages, not feelings. What each band looks like, when the skin pinch lies, and what fluids and the workup actually cost.
Dog Ultrasound $383–$880
- dog pregnancy symptoms
How to tell if a dog is pregnant when there is no home test, what a false pregnancy looks like, the whelping emergency thresholds, and what each step costs.
Dog Pyometra Surgery $500–$4,000
- why is my cat meowing so much
Excessive meowing is a sign, not a disease. The one version that kills a cat in two days, the thyroid test for older cats, and what each answer costs.
Cat Hyperthyroidism Treatment $1,000–$4,000
- dog wound treatment
Dog wound treatment: why hydrogen peroxide is the wrong answer, the closure window that closes in 72 hours, bite-wound risk, and what stitches cost in the US.
Dog Stitches (Laceration Repair) $182–$2,600
- dog seizures
What a dog seizure looks like, the five-minute rule that makes it an emergency, when medication is actually started, and what a lifetime of it really costs.
Dog Ultrasound $383–$880
Vomiting, diarrhoea and the gut
Vomiting and diarrhoea look identical for the first six hours whether the cause is a bin raid or a swallowed sock — and the two bills are two orders of magnitude apart.
- dog vomiting yellow
Yellow vomit is bile, which is a description and not a diagnosis. What the timing tells you, why the evidence here is thin, and what the workup costs.
Dog Ultrasound $383–$880
- dog diarrhea
Most dog diarrhoea settles in two days. What the colour of the blood means, when 48 hours is too long to wait, and the real cost of every branch of it.
Dog Bowel Obstruction Surgery $1,200–$7,976
- dog vomiting and diarrhea
Dog vomiting and diarrhea: the three causes that look identical on day one, the thresholds that mean a vet today, and what each outcome costs in the US.
Dog Bowel Obstruction Surgery $1,200–$7,976
- dog colitis medication
Colitis in dogs is treated with diet before drugs. Which medications are actually used, the dry-eye trade-off, the Boxer exception, and what the workup costs.
Dog Ultrasound $383–$880
- cat teeth disease
Cat dental disease is three diseases, not one. Which are reversible, why the pink spot at the gumline matters, and what the anaesthetised dental really costs.
Low-Cost Dog and Cat Dental Cleaning $125–$1,200
- worm cat symptoms
What cat worms actually look like, why a tapeworm is a flea problem, how common they really are in owned US cats, and what testing and treatment cost.
Cat Ultrasound $383–$880
- symptoms of blocked anal glands in dogs
Scooting is the first sign of a painful problem, not worms. Which dogs get anal sac disease, why most antibiotics are unnecessary, and what treatment costs.
Dog Anal Gland Removal (Anal Sacculectomy) $650–$5,600
- worms in dogs
Worms in dogs: what 4,692 US faecal tests actually found, why a negative result proves little, the puppy emergency owners miss, and what treatment costs.
Dog Bowel Obstruction Surgery $1,200–$7,976
Urinary and bladder
Straining to urinate is the one sign in this whole library that can kill a cat inside a day. These pages lead with that and price the unblocking, not just the consult.
- dog UTI symptoms
Dog UTI symptoms, the three-to-five-day antibiotic course that replaced the old two-week one, the sign that is not a UTI at all, and what treatment costs.
Dog Bladder Stone Surgery $587–$5,000
- kidney disease in cat symptoms
Feline kidney disease hides until two-thirds of the kidney is gone. The symptoms, the test that finds it earlier, survival figures, and what care costs.
Cat Ultrasound $383–$880
- urinary blockage cat
A blocked male cat has under 24 to 48 hours. Why most cat urinary disease is not an infection, why 29.6% re-block, and what unblocking and surgery cost.
Cat PU Surgery (Perineal Urethrostomy) $995–$2,395
Skin, ears and itching
The conditions owners treat for years without ever being told they are one disease. Recurrence, not cure, is what drives the lifetime cost, so that is what we price.
- dog ear infection treatment
Ear infection is the most commonly recorded disorder in dogs. Why the swab decides the drug, why it keeps coming back, and what treatment really costs.
Dog Ear Hematoma Surgery $535–$1,804
- dog eye allergies
A red, itchy dog eye is often not an allergy at all. The symmetry rule, the two conditions that blind dogs when they are missed, and what each one costs.
Dog Eye Surgery $300–$6,700
- dog skin yeast infection
Dog skin yeast infection: why Malassezia is always a symptom of something else, what the relapse pattern tells your vet, and the bill hiding behind it.
Dog Cushing's Disease Treatment $1,400–$5,100
- yeast infection in dogs
Yeast infection in dogs: why recurrent Malassezia is itself a diagnostic criterion for allergy, what chronic ear scratching leads to, and what each step costs.
Dog Ear Hematoma Surgery $535–$1,804
- ringworm in dogs
What ringworm in a dog looks like, why the Wood's lamp myth causes missed cases, how long treatment really runs, and what the diagnosis costs in the US.
Dog Biopsy $144–$1,110
- staph infection in puppies
Puppy pyoderma: why medicated washing beats tablets even for resistant staph, the test that must happen at the first visit, and what the appointment costs.
Dog Biopsy $144–$1,110
- dog skin allergies
Dog skin allergies explained: why the recurring ear infections are the same disease, the order the work-up has to run in, and the costs nobody prices.
Dog Biopsy $144–$1,110
Back, joints and walking
Back and joint problems where the odds of walking again are set by how fast the animal is seen, and the surgery is the largest single bill on this site.
- ivdd in dogs
IVDD in dogs explained: the four stages a ruptured disc moves through, what surgery costs, and the recovery odds at each stage, from ACVS's own figures.
Dog Spinal Surgery (IVDD) $2,500–$15,000
- hip dysplasia in dogs
Hip dysplasia treatment for dogs: the screening window that closes at 20 weeks, what works better than any supplement, and what the two surgeries cost.
Dog Total Hip Replacement $6,000–$10,000
- dog limping
Why your dog is limping, which signs mean tonight rather than Monday, and what each of the nine operations that can fix a limp actually costs in the US.
Dog ACL (Cranial Cruciate Ligament) Surgery $1,000–$10,000
Coughing and breathing
Coughing that is usually self-limiting and occasionally is not. The useful page here is the one that says plainly when antibiotics are not the answer.
- cat coughing
Why a coughing cat is a lower-airway cat, the posture that means go tonight, the heartworm the cough is mistaken for, and what the workup and visits cost.
Veterinary Urgent Care Visit $85–$150
- dog coughing
Count your dog's breathing, not the coughs. How to sort kennel cough from tracheal collapse, heart disease and heartworm, and what each one costs to treat.
Dog Heartworm Treatment $300–$1,800
- kennel cough in dogs
Kennel cough in dogs: how long the honking cough lasts, why antibiotics usually are not the answer, the signs that mean pneumonia, and what it all costs.
Veterinary Urgent Care Visit $85–$150
Long-term conditions and ageing
Diagnoses you manage rather than cure, where the number that matters is not the first bill but the one that repeats every year for the rest of the animal's life. These pages lead with that.
- signs and symptoms of cat diabetes
The signs of feline diabetes, why one high glucose reading proves nothing, how remission works, and the first-year and yearly cost of treating a diabetic cat.
Cat Diabetes Treatment $950–$3,600
- dog diabetic symptoms
The four signs of canine diabetes, why cataracts are often the first thing owners notice, why dogs do not go into remission, and what treatment costs.
Dog Eye Surgery $300–$6,700
- dog dementia treatment
Canine cognitive dysfunction: how to score it at home, what the evidence says about diet and selegiline, and the costs from senior checks to the last visit.
Dog Cremation $45–$525
Before anything is wrong
This section is the after. The before — which vaccines and parasite cover an animal is actually due, what to feed it, what changes for a puppy or a senior — is in preventive care, which leads with a schedule instead of a triage ladder. Several conditions here are ones the calendar in that section is meant to prevent, and each of those pages ends on the same price data this one does.
How to read a triage ladder
Each ladder has up to four rungs and they are ordered worst first. Start at the top and stop at the highest rung where something matches what you can actually see, not what you hope is happening. A rung is not a diagnosis — it is a decision about timing, and the only wrong move is to read down to the reassuring one.
A condition with no emergency rung says so explicitly on the page, with the reason. That is a clinical claim and we make it in words rather than by leaving a gap.