An estimate is a forecast of the work we expect to do. It is not a quotation, and the difference matters most on the day the two numbers disagree.

The three lines that are always there

Almost every estimate you will be handed carries a procedure fee, an anaesthetic fee where one applies, and a nursing or hospitalisation fee for the hours your pet is with us. Those three are predictable, which is exactly why they are the ones printed.

They are also the reason an estimate reads as though it covers everything. It looks complete because the largest numbers are on it.

The four that sit outside

Laboratory work sent away, imaging taken to answer a question that came up mid-procedure, medicines dispensed to go home, and the follow-up appointment that closes the episode. None of the four is optional in practice, and none of them can be priced honestly before the work starts.

Our price list names the exclusions on the same row as the price, which is the only place a reader will actually see them. If a number on this site surprises you at the counter, tell us: that is a fault in how we wrote it, not in how you read it.