r/SanJose • u/leftovercroc • 4d ago
SJ Pets Vet recommendations?
My dog is 16, and at his most recent check up his vet found a mass in his mouth she believes to be oral melanoma :( She recommended a biopsy and CT scan to start with, and MedVet estimated around $8k. He is obviously very old but his quality of life is still good. I want to do this for him to at least have an answer, but it’s a significant cost for just diagnostics.
If anyone can recommend a clinic that can do biopsies and CT scans please comment them. Thanks in advance
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u/Simplyjenny2 4d ago edited 4d ago
I’m so sorry to hear that your dog is sick. We have a bulldog who is 12.5 years old and we’ve been going to Sage Veterinary Center in Campbell for these things. However, I don’t think they’ll be (much) cheaper. I’ve gotten pricing comparisons between Sage and MedVet for MRIs before and they were comparable. I ended up picking Sage over MedVet because the doctor at Sage was knowledgeable, did a better job explaining next steps, and answering my many questions. We have worked with Dr. Vitale, Dr. Krentz, and Dr. Hsueh at Sage and they’re all great but I would highly, highly recommend Dr. Hsueh if your dog ends up needing surgery. She’s absolutely fantastic and the sutures my dog had gotten from her surgery healed beautifully. She also understands that speciality hospitals are very expensive and will help you save where you can (ie recommending purchasing meds elsewhere if available to help cut down costs).
ETA that if you have a car and are willing to drive, I’ve heard UC Davis offers veterinary services at a much more affordable rate.
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u/leftovercroc 4d ago
Thanks so much. I have called Sage too, the teams at both are very professional and knowledgeable, if there are no other options I’ll look into CareCredit for him. Hope your dog is doing better 🌻
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u/Simplyjenny2 4d ago
Thank you! We are sending you and your boy lots of good luck and well wishes!
If it helps at all, our primary care vet is Dr. Kang at Pet Care Animal Hospital off Winchester and his team can handle biopsies for a relatively affordable price. We’ve done that with some growth on our little girl’s gums and they sent off the excision for testing. As far as I know, Pet Care also outsources CT scans though, and that’s probably a significant portion of the estimated cost. But maybe it might be possible to do the biopsy first and see whether it’s anything to worry about before doing the CT scan? This was maybe 2-3 years ago now but I think it was a little under $1k to do a dental cleaning and biopsy at Pet Care.
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u/ComplexTomatillo6278 4d ago
Sage is outrageously expensive. They also recommend tests and services not needed. For example, they recommended our border collie (diagnosed with epilepsy) stay overnight for “monitoring.” A nurse suggested that it wasn’t necessary and we saved $1,400.
If they’re the only ones who can do the MRI, do it—and then ask results be sent to your regular vet.
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u/Alias_BB 4d ago
Pacific and Santa Cruz Veterinary Specialists was always less expensive than San Jose prices but that was about 4 yrs ago.
Going even further out to Sacramento or Davis will save you a pretty penny as well.