In Melbourne, expect the national range of $1,500 to $8,500 for BOAS airway surgery. Melbourne is the cheapest major market in Australia for orthopaedic surgery: several dedicated fixed price surgical clinics compete openly on published prices, alongside the full referral hospital tier. Owners travel from interstate to operate here, not the other way around.
| Option | Typical Australian range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nares widening alone | $1,500 to $3,000 | Often combined with desexing |
| Nares plus soft palate at GP | $3,000 to $5,000 | Experienced practices only; ask their brachycephalic caseload |
| Specialist airway package | $5,200 to $8,500 | Assessment, surgery and monitored overnight recovery |
Nationally, BOAS surgery spans $1,500 to $3,000 for nostril widening at a general practice through to $5,200 to $8,500 for full specialist airway packages with monitored overnight recovery.
Send what your vet said and quoted. A veterinary surgeon reads it and comes back to you with what they can do and what it would cost, before you pay anything. A written second opinion is from $250.
If you are already in Melbourne, price shopping between the fixed price clinics and asking each what their quote includes usually beats travelling anywhere.
Send the case, hear back from a surgeon with what they can do and what it costs, and only pay if you go ahead.
It can be, in a practice that does brachycephalic airways regularly and keeps the dog overnight with someone actually watching. The risk in BOAS surgery is concentrated in the first two nights while swelling peaks. Whatever tier you choose in Melbourne, ask one question: who is physically with my dog overnight, and what happens if the airway swells at 2am.
Before summer, deliberately. Airway dogs fail in heat waves, and an operation chosen calmly in winter beats one forced by a 40 degree emergency. If your dog struggled last summer, this is the sign to book the assessment now.
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