In Adelaide, expect the national range of $3,000 to $6,000 per knee for luxating patella surgery. Adelaide is a smaller market with a solid middle: experienced general practices doing orthopaedics, a specialist tier, and less of the fixed price competition that drags Melbourne's prices down. Quotes cluster in the middle of the national range.
| Option | Typical Australian range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General practice package | $3,000 to $4,000 | Some clinics bundle bloods, overnight stay and rechecks |
| Specialist surgeon | $4,500 to $6,000 | One Sydney specialist centre publishes $5,050 fixed |
| Both knees or high grade | $6,000 and up | Staged operations are the norm |
Nationally, patella surgery commonly costs $3,000 to $6,000 per knee, with general practice packages at the bottom of the range and specialist surgeons at the top.
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.
Adelaide owners with a straightforward case and a big quote sometimes save real money in Melbourne's fixed price clinics; it is an eight hour drive and people genuinely do it for a $2,000 to $3,000 difference.
Send the case, hear back from a surgeon with what they can do and what it costs, and only pay if you go ahead.
Get both if you can. Grade 2 is judgement territory: an experienced GP who does patellas regularly is a legitimate choice, while grade 3 and 4 knees, revisions and combined cruciate cases belong with the specialist tier. The x-rays and the examination decide it, which is exactly what an independent opinion can referee.
Broadly yes, staged a few months apart, though some clinics discount the second knee. Worth asking directly, and worth an independent look at whether the second knee genuinely needs surgery at all before you commit to it.
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