Sydney is one of the few markets with published THR pricing: one specialist centre lists total hip replacement at a fixed $14,000, with FHO at $5,500 and arthroscopy from $4,000. THR is genuinely specialist only surgery, so in Sydney the decision is which referral centre and which surgeon's caseload, not which tier.
| Option | Typical Australian range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Elbow arthroscopy | $4,000 to $5,000 | Diagnosis and treatment in one procedure |
| Femoral head ostectomy (FHO) | $3,500 to $5,500 | Best in lighter, muscular dogs |
| Total hip replacement | $10,000 to $16,000 per hip | One Sydney centre publishes $14,000 fixed |
Nationally, dysplasia surgery spans femoral head ostectomy at $3,500 to $5,500 through to total hip replacement at $10,000 to $16,000 per hip, with elbow arthroscopy around $4,000 to $5,000.
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.
Sydney has the deepest specialist bench in the country: multiple referral hospitals, published fixed price lists at some specialist centres, and experienced general practices that do orthopaedics with surgery guarantees. The spread between a GP quote and a referral hospital quote is wide, and both ends are legitimate for the right case.
Sydney owners rarely need to travel, but the fixed price surgical clinics in Melbourne and high volume operators in Brisbane can still undercut a Sydney referral quote by thousands on a straightforward case.
Send the case, hear back from a surgeon with what they can do and what it costs, and only pay if you go ahead.
No, it is normal. THR is concentrated in a small number of specialist hands nationally, and low provider counts are expected outside Sydney and Melbourne. The useful questions are the surgeon's annual THR volume, their complication rate, and their revision policy. A single provider with strong answers to those beats a choice of three without them.
In the right dog, a real alternative: light, muscular dogs routinely get excellent comfort from FHO at a third of THR money. In heavy dogs the compromise is real. Where your dog sits on that line is readable from the x-rays and the dog in front of you, which makes it a cheap question to put to an independent surgeon and an expensive one to guess.
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