Things are somewhat different in the US. Your dog can be cleared by auscultation by a board certified cardiologist using a stethoscope. Your dog stands for a few minutes to allow the cardiologist to listen to it's heart. Patellae are palpated by the vet in a few seconds. Our vet and others that I know do not put the dog to sleep nor sedate it to xray the hips. The dog is in and out of xray in 5-10 minutes tops. Having the eyes checked by a canine opthamologist requires a couple of drops in the eye to dilate the pupils and being examined with a strong light. None of the above would be considered medically invasive. Having blood drawn is considered to be an invasive procedure, but relatively minor and certainly worth the small amount of pain in order to diagnose easily treated conditions. We pay $25.00 per heart for our yearly cardiac exams, $19.00 per dog for CERF exams if we take in a group, nothing extra for patellae since the vet checks them routinely on normal office calls and $140 per dog for hips. It may be different in other countries, but in the US, it is fairly straight forward stuff. Myra Savant
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