Something I read in another post has me thinking...

How much do you typically pay for breeding expenses?

For example, our vet that is very familiar with repro services, does Progesterone for $67, AI's and Collections, $70 each.

What do those things cost where you live and what other kinds of things do you pay for?

I expect the pay $4000 anytime I breed a bitch. Thats with a c section and if I don't have one, I consider myself fortunate.

$1000 stud fee
$1500 section
$500 progesterone
$300 shipping
$700 shots, vet checks

Holy Dollar Bills Batman! Have you done this before?

Here's mine,

$1,000.00 stud fee
no section
$180.00 progesterone, (3 max)
$125.00 shipping (my boxes sent to stud owner, or one shipping cost by putting two collections in one shipment)
$125.00 for shots I do myself with enough left over
to do my whole kennel, or I buy enough shots from another breeder which is about $35.00.

Yikes! Your numbers are really OUT THERE!!!

So you don't ever have a c section or set aside the money to pay for one? Really?

Sorry but my progesterone tests run $125 a piece here.
Shipping $150 X 2 for Chill 10 to be purchased and sent to stud owner and then mailed back overnight.
You didn't mention your vet check. I guess you don't do that? I do my own shots too. But I also like my vet to clear all the puppies for heart/other defects which costs a couple hundred dollars depending on the size of the litter. I had them do shots once and it was $400 for 7 pups.
I forgot to add that the $700 also includes food, toys, bedding, etc. Normal costs for raising a litter.
My numbers may give or take a little but on average, it's accurate.

Honey if I need a c-section I always have money set aside for that or I wouldn't do a breeding. Sure it may happen but it's very very rare here.
$700.00 for food toys and bedding?? You're kidding.
Heck I feed frozen Bil Jac with good kibble and I don't spend that kind of money on food. Doesn't your stud owner ever have extender on hand? Send them your own box. Bedding is things found on a clearance rack at Walmart. Toys too, or they are homemade. Berber fleece half off at JoAnne's with a coupon for the whelping box. No I don't do vet checks since both parents are totally healthy and have every clearance possible. I have never gotten a puppy back for a health issue. Sure something may crop up later but that is inevitable for all of us since we're breeding Labradors. Goodness, how much would a stud dog cost you to keep and promote???????????

I agree with brdr. $4000 average cost. Vet checks weekly are a must- my vet comes to me. Progesterone runs 125 each. My vet also does the shots here, but only charges what I would have spent on them anyway. She gets her puppy fix doing it. She checks the hearts, mouths, eyes every week, we play with pups and go to lunch. I find that if you don't nickle and dime the vets, that after 15 years of a relationship, lunch is important too. Don't know what I'd do without her.

"Vet checks weekly are a must- my vet comes to me. "

Okay, I've known some obcessive compulsive people in my life, but really, what brood bitch needs a weekly visit from a Vet?? What would you be looking for ? And what Vet would tell you it was necessary and why ?
Beleive it or not, whelping a litter is a very natural experience for a bitch . Too much interference actually hinders her maternal skills after birth.

Thanks for the replies. I got some items I forgot to think about like our initial pre-breeding check up (our vet $40). I didn't put in things like stud service, collection fees etc. because I had been thinking soley MY VET's prices. Naturally, throw in stud fee ($100), extender (2 x $40), collection ($90 from stud's vet, and just once, they paid other fee). FEDEX, even with 1 Saturday delivery semen coming from other coast($40 + $70...my husband's work has a FANTASTIC rate!)

For those who lumped sums, I was looking for individual sums. Not that you pay $500 for progesterone...how much each?

My dogs also free whelp so I don't immediately tack on c-section expenses even if I won't need them. But if I did, I might raise my price NEXT litter, not put the price high NOW because I might need one.

State law here requires all pups to be seen by a veterinarian before beint transferred to new owners at 8wks of age. A breeder should do this to CYA. Society is far too happy to sue.

Well, if you also go above just the "mating" expenses and include all the health tests on your bitch, food for mum and the pups, and then all the health certificates on 8 week old pups, it is well over $4000 for a first litter.........just depends what you want to include as "doing a breeding".

Our expenses are pretty consistent:
Stud fee.......$900.00
Shipping semen......$125.00
Progesterone tests, average two.....$150 total
Surgical implant.........$400.00
Sending box back.........$15.00
Shots........$150.00 for a box of 25 (includes shipping), 1/3 of that = $50.00
Wood pellets......6 bags total, $48.00
Vet check on all puppies......$36.00
Baby wipes, goats milk, stuff to make puppy food.....$30.00
"Maybe" one extra vet trip for either mom or a puppy.....$85.00
Extra food for mom and the babies.........$140.00
All the extra stuff, blankets, toys, ribbons, etc, etc, we already have collected over the years.
Total.......... $1979.00

Well then "Honey", I suppose you are one of those who doesn't do xrays and send to OFA because 'your vet looked at your bitch and said the hips are good', right?
You seriously don't vet check your litters???????????
And I never said food and bedding was $700. Read again.

I also do CERFs on my litters at 7 or 8 weeks. Cost: 40.00 for 1st pup and 25.00 for each additional. Surprised that it was not included in any costs above.

I agree...2-3K is not out of the realm if you are counting TOTAL costs.

I'm in MI

Figure $150- for pre-breeding screen, Brucellosis and possibly herpes titre, my vet will do a swab.

Stud fee, I've bred only 3 times, and the average is $900 of all three.

Shipping, figure $150.

Progesterone is $40 per test. Figure at least 2, maybe 3 or 4.

Trans-cervical insemination at my vet is $100. Straight insemination is $40 at the vet. I don't do my own.

Ultrasound at my vet, is $50 out the door.

X Ray is $50.

Cesarean, which I've been lucky enough to NOT need, is $500 + $40 per puppy during office hours. Starting at $1000 for the after hours vet.

Worming I use Pyrantel and its about $20 for a bottle to last through the litter.

I do examinations, shots and microchips at the vet. Its $100 per puppy.

I also register all puppies at my cost. Helps me to sleep at night.

CERF is $30 per puppy.

I'm not counting a whelping box (I'd say at least $100 to make, more if you buy one) blankets, toys, wood pellets for potty box, small crates, ex-pens, food, garbage bins and bags, paper towels, baby wipes, incontinence pads, fleece rubber backed mats...

Prices are so skewed here from the rest of the U.S. ~~ I was just wondering what the rest of the Alaskans pay per litter.

stud
stud packet
fed-x
progesterone
xrays
puppy checks
xtra food

Yup, a litter for myself coming up soon ~~ factoring dollars.

It's always interesting to see the array of expenses based on the part of the States you live in. I expect $2,000-$4,000 as the norm, that includes the occasional C-section. The first appt. I make for my babies is their CERF appt. I've been lucky to have
a facility that CERF's easily accesible and close. That appt. also includes their puppy exam but I do their vaccs/worming.

In the SE,

$150 for eye exams (without sending them to OFA); another ophthalmologist in the area would charge me $40 per puppy. I have to drive an hour both directions; I figure that costs me at least $20 in gas.

My vet charges $140 per progesterone. I usually need three.

I usually drive to the stud dog so I need brucellosis, which can cost $150 if I have to send it off because the quick test had a false positive (and this has happened). I pay for driving and hotel rooms, about $300. Stud fees are usually $1000. I also usually do titers on my bitch for parvo, $80.

I do an x-ray before whelping, $125. I use Whelpwise $600 (never needed a c-section in 12 years) and pay to have medications on hand $50. Measuring uterine contractions and fetal heart rates really helps to know where you are. This year I had to pay for the necropsy of a puppy, vet consultations, and medications for a second one who got sick ($300).

Bought new whelping pads this year, $200. I use cedar shavings at $10 per bale about one a week on average. All manner of other equipment, including whelping box, that I have accumulated over the years probably in the thousands (I hate to add it up). Toys, pictures of puppies for puppy booklets, copying articles, etc. Who knows, this is starting to depress me.

I feed Cal Natural at $45 per 32 lb. bag and pay for both fresh and condensed goats milk when needed (actually quite expensive). Bottled water, my well has some things in it that I don't like to feed to puppies. Eeek. I really don't want to add this up.

Vet checks for all the puppies is about $150. Testing bitch for hips, eyes, heart, etc. costs about $1000 per bitch, but I have never used all the bitches I have tested.

Vaccinations for puppies (and any other dogs who need them) about $150. This year I had to give Panacur to all the dogs because the puppies had Giardia ($250). I also give Strongid three times to puppies, mother, and other adult dogs ($50).

AKC litter registration was about $40. Microchips about $10 a piece.

OK, now I am depressed, and $4000 is beginning to sound way too low. What's more, I am sure I have left out stuff--like all the phone calls to puppy buyers and applications and checking references. Slinking back to my hole to lick my financial wounds.

Where in the SE do you live?

Clearly, not close enough to you, Gregg.

I'd love to have your vet prices. I just paid a $39.50 office visit and $23.00 for rabies for each of three dogs--yes, that worked out to be about $63 a piece plus two needle aspirates for about $58 each of suspicious lumps. I can't even imagine getting a surgical implant for $400 because the last surgery (remove mast cell tumor from a very easy place) was $1250.00.

We use Rebecca Kestle in Atlanta as our Repro Specialist, we have also used Ana Adams located in Atlanta too. Both are diplomats of the American College of Theriogenology. The charges are similar except Ana is slightly higher on the implant charges (maybe $20.00) and has a $75.00 "consulting charge" in addition to progesterone tests. With Ana you get some "bells and whistles", which quite a few appreciate.
Really a surgical implant is a very simple procedure, normally we are in and out in about 45 minutes. Both vets have their own progesterone testing equipment where a reading can be gotten in about an hour and a half.
Rebecca is about 115 miles from us, Ana about 135, we have used one or the other since 1999 on all our breedings plus any semen shipments. Both have long distance clients, some travel in the night before in order to have a morning appointment. This is why I was asking about where you live as the charges you mentioned are unbelievable.
It is seldom we have to do more than two progesterone tests. Both are realistic in timing the second test, in some cases do not schedule the second test five days down the road.
Our local vet is very reasonable on all his charges plus is more than willing to meet us at his clinic at all hours for an emergency. We are extremely fortunate.

Unquestionably my vet is high, but really not much higher than others in the area. He is, however, significantly better than the others I have tried. He is always available to me by phone, even at night. As unbelievable as the charges may sound to you, I actually know a person in the Chicago area who pays more than I do.

You are very fortunate! Be sure to give your vet a little extra love now that you know about the higher charges in the mid-Atlanta, SE.

In one of my previous posts I was not that far off from my $700 that I had quoted however, I didn’t explain everything that I spent and had not included the Semen Costs… here is the break-down of my breeding that did not take. I will be re-breeding in the Spring. This does not include the $600+ whelping box that I bought…..
(BTW, my bitch was slow on the progesterone numbers than she just jumped!

$ 1,000.00 Stud Fee
$ 90.00 Extender
$ 65.00 Shipping
$ 71.95 Culture
$ 47.85 Exam bitch beginning heat cycle
$ 66.50 Progesterone
$ 66.50 Progesterone
$ 66.50 Progesterone
$ 66.50 Progesterone
$ 178.95 Trascervical
$ 30.70 Antibiotics
$ 102.85 Ultrasound
$ 1,853.30 Total Cost

You never said where you live??

oops! Texas

Contact me and I can give you someone to talk to about what you are paying.

I appreciate the support, but I am not convinced that I am being "ripped off."

Yes, I am paying for the best, but only a little more than the prices of other general vets in our area and considerably less than the specialty hospitals in the area. In addition to the expertise and the intensely caring approach of everyone at the office, I am paying for the hospital equipment that I might only occasionally need. My vet is one of the best equipped vets in the area, short of the specialty offices. Sometimes that top level equipment has made it possible for me to use my vet rather than a specialty hospital for difficult situations. And once it saved the life of one of my dogs.

I actually have used two other vet offices. One nearly killed one of my girls because of poor diagnostic skills, and the other gouged me for two collections ($450) and also did not submit the progesterone in a timely fashion and I missed the breeding. When I complained, they would not even consider decreasing the charges.

From what I have seen, sometimes you can be penny wise and pound foolish. Would I like to pay less? You bet. But I've not been pleased with the alternatives who are only slightly less.

the vet checks are for the pups after the first week or two. duh.

OK, you all have convinced me to move. I know I pay well over $5000/litter. Each in house progesterone is $95. I drive over an hour to get to my vet because she is better than the ones which are local and a lot less expensive. I flew out to LA last week with one dog. Had to get an updated rabies and American Airlines requested a Certificate of Health...total vet fee $99. All this wrapped in my time and tons of love and puppy buyers expect to walk away with a pup for only a couple of hundred. BTW, I am in the Chicago area.

"Bad" litter(s) two attempts, same stud, neither took.

Stud fee ~ natural attempt, $250 service fee
Stud fee ~ frozen (was supposed to be fresh chilled, they couldn't collect the male) $600

Brucellosis test natural ~ $90

Progesterone ~ natural breeding in house $80 x two
~ frozen breeding sent off $90 x three plus 17.50 office charge x three

Shipping/travel costs ~ natural attempt, $560 gas and food for 8 hr one way trip to Oklahoma. Made this trip three times. Once for drop off, once to catch female after she climbed out of kennel and then proceeded to run amok for 7 hrs with over 30 people trying to catch her, including a spotter plane if you can believe it. Got the call to come catch her at 4:00pm, arrived at @ 12:15am, found and caught her at 12:30am, slept on their couch for 4 hrs and drove home. Repeated trip back to pick her up three days later.
~ frozen attempt, shipping semen overnight fedex plus return of container, $160
~ tank rental, $350
Surgical implant ~ $180 including anesthesia and office call

Post surgery check up at 25 days to see if we could palpate pups ~ $37.50

Ultra sound natural attempt ~ $67.50
frozen attempt ~ 67.50

Complete blood work,cultures, and physical to make sure that there wasn't any reason for her to conceive after two attempts ~ $495 (came back all clear)

Total cost = $3340.00
Didn't even get to the fun part of puppy expenses.

"worse" litter

Stud fee = $0 used own stud, natural breeding
Pregnancy uneventful until female stopped eating two days from due date. Temp drop, went back up. Dog vomiting water and bile in morning and evening, usually after attempting to get her to eat boiled hamburger and rice and nutra cal supplement. Came home from work morning before due date to find dog seizing. Rushed to vet, blood sugar almost non-existent pushed bolus of sucrose and got her stable and alert (she really was on deaths door). Planned on C-section next morning (christmas eve) once we figured she would be strong enough to handle the surgery. Left her there overnight. Next morning she went into labor and delivered two pups which completely exhausted her. Vet started C-section and delivered 11 more pups, one was stillborn, rest healthy and big. Uterus was very friable and female was spayed. As they were cleaning her up her heart stopped and they couldn't revive her. Cost of emergency vet visit, overnight stay, meds, c-section and delivery ~ $1350 and the life of a great dog.
Cremation for Fergie ~ $195
Hand rearing 12 puppies that did not receive any colostrum over Christmas and new Years and only losing one ~ Lord only knows, I quit keeping track once the amount at the vet for frequent check ups, meds for diarrhea, vaccinations, dewclaws, sick puppy here and there, worming, and all that puppy formula was over an additional $3000
Plus we CERF'd this litter at $50 for first pup, $42 for each add'l one, microchipped at $12 a piece, registered with both AKC and UKC.
We sold these pups on Limited reg. to active families for companions and hunting at $600 for 8 of them, $300 for 1 to a repeat client, and gave away 2 due to cataracts from milk replacer.

Breeding is not for the faint of heart!!!

I'm sorry you lost your girl. It sounds like the worst nightmare a breeder can have.
Some bitches were not meant to have puppies.