You do not need veterinary training to quality check a surgical plan. You need the right dozen questions and the confidence that asking them is normal. Good clinics answer all twelve easily; the value is in noticing which ones make a clinic uncomfortable.
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.
Ask by email if consults feel rushed; written answers are calmer and keepable. No single wobbly answer condemns a clinic, but patterns tell: vagueness about who operates, resistance to itemised estimates, or irritation at question ten are process warnings worth heeding. And if you would like the answers themselves reviewed, that is a small job for an independent opinion: send the quote and the answers, and we will tell you what a surgeon sees in them.
It is the question every surgeon asks colleagues before referring family pets to them. A clinic doing good work usually enjoys the question; it lets them show their process. Discomfort with it is information.
In corporate and teaching settings the roster answer can be legitimately complex, but you are entitled to know whether it is a specialist, an experienced vet, or someone learning under supervision, and to price accordingly. Persist politely; it is your consent being asked for.