Like others said there is a difference in pre and post-op procedures for low cost surgeries vs full cost. The low cost ones may also be done at little to no profit or may be subsidized by other funding.

Grants and subsidies for shelter/strays, plus there is a significant difference in protocols for shelter med and general practice. Remember veterinary medicine is still medicine.

You going to the wrong place boo most state and city have affordable spay and neuter clinics

Look up a low cost vet in your area. I went to one with my kitten and paid $200 for the kitten package included neuter and all first year vaccines

Your vet is working for profit. Vets who fix strays are only doing it for rescues as charity work, so they are only charging the cost of the surgery. Some vets who care for strays are doing it in retirement as an act of good will, or let veterinary students do the surgeries as a teaching opportunity. And some vets are funded by community grants to fix colonies to help better neighborhoods that are overrun by strays and ferals. It’s cheaper to adopt a rescue kitty than to get a “free” kitten.

I volunteered at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic for cats. It was partially subsidized by grants. There was one vet at a time and one vet tech, along with the clinic manager. They were the only 3 paid staffers. The rest of us were all unpaid volunteers. We did not do pre-surgery lab work, and the only monitoring during surgery was heart rate and pulse ox. 1/2

Bloodwork.

Because you are not a non profit rescue who is drowning in cats with little resources for T&R. I can’t believe you are even asking this.

Your vet was probably purchased by a private equity firm. During covid, PE decided to shift from investments in entertainment to industries we are emotionally attached/can’t live without like veterinary centers, assisted living, & utilities like water (big problem in PA). If you dig a little, you may find that your local, family owned vet was quietly purchased by a PE firm (that has bought as many small vet centers in your area as they can) and now they are working together to drive up prices.

The difference is in a lot of things, anesthesia protocols, anesthetic monitoring, post op pain management, have multiple eyes on your pet and monitoring equipment. Getting a cat spayed is equivalent to a hysterectomy for us. Imagine doing that with only injectable sedation (yes I said sedation) if your lucking you get an endotracheal tube with gas anesthesia. You have no nurse or anesthesiologist, just the surgeon. And you don’t get hooked up to bp, ekg, spo2 or a capnograph. Oh and they send..