I made it out under $100 for Duke's loose nail. My vet. doesn't take payments. It has to be paid in full at the time of treatment. So, I do think it would be a lot easier if I could pay monthly rather than in a lump some (which is almost always put on a credit card!). I tried getting Duke pet health insurance, but where he had the leg surgery when he was a pup they raised it to where I was going to be paying close to $500 a year, plus a $50 deductible for each visit, plus I had to pay for all routine labs and shots out of pocket and then they had the right to refuse to pay for costs. It it became a major paperwork thing because of where I am his second owner and they weren't ever going to pay for anything with his legs because of his pervious history so... I think I was going to be wasting money. I tried two different companies. But, my vet. did charge me $7 to trim one nail. I had nail clippers at home that I bought for cheaper, I could have done that... all of his nails even!
They also charged me $20 for Q-tips once and $12 to 'trim hair on ears.' They just do whatever and hand you the bill. It's one of the best vets. in my area though so... I guess they charge what they can get away with. His antiobiotic was only $14 and a prednisone shot $20 and that was just fine to me. I did see an elderly woman come in with a list of things she heard she should get her dog... she wanted Heartgard, Frontline Plus... stuff along that line. They told her the total was $140 something and she said she was sorry, she couldn't afford that... and had to walk out.
