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Teeth cleaning at vets - AK dogdoc


KrisK
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Yakety Zach is almost 13. He's on Vetmedin 2x a day and now his breath is starting to smell a bit. He has had his teeth cleaned at the vet's before but as he gets older AND with his heart problem, I have to admit I'm scared to death to take him in for a cleaning. I just hate the thought of the anesthetic. Any one had this situation with their older dogs? And I worrying too much??? :rolleyes:

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My late cocker had heart problems as well. For teeth cleaning, my vet does a light anesthesia dosage and Cassie tolerated those through her 15th yr. Her last 2 yrs she could not tolerate anethesia at all so we did what we could w/o anethesia. My 6 yr lhasa with malformed heart values is intolerant of anethesia, so in addition to my trying to clean his teeth w/doggie toothpaste on a gauze pad every couple of days, he sees the vet every 3 months and she scrapes off any tartar that is building up before it gets a chance to accumulate. Ben's not happy with her working on his teeth but she's not hurting him and she does use some numbing gel on his gums first.

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Hi

My cat just had major dental work in January, she will be 14 in April. I brought her in for gastrointestinal issues, but upon examination, it was found that her teeth were in very bad shape. She has a 1-2 murmur, and vet wanted to do an echo, if results said heart wasn't stable to do dental (anesthesia required) we would not do the teeth, just put her on blast antibiotics for the rest of her life. This would NOT be a quality of life. I made the decision to have Ginger's dental done. Of course I was a wreck- and made sure that they did NOT use Ketamine- they used valium and profol to induce, and isoflurane to keep her under. She did very well. She had 6 teeth pulled, and was on antibiotics. She is now a MUCH happier kitty- didn't realize how her mouth was affecting her. The vet even did a "freebie" chest xray on her to check her heart size/lungs- she knew how much I love that kitty. Anyway, it can be done, and I would if his bloodwork comes back good (ginger's was excellent), and his heart function is good, talk with your vet, and schedule it.

Julie

 

Yakety Zach is almost 13. He's on Vetmedin 2x a day and now his breath is starting to smell a bit. He has had his teeth cleaned at the vet's before but as he gets older AND with his heart problem, I have to admit I'm scared to death to take him in for a cleaning. I just hate the thought of the anesthetic. Any one had this situation with their older dogs? And I worrying too much??? :rolleyes:
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Update - I brought Zachary in on Friday to have the vet check his teeth and since the vet had a space available, Zachary had his teeth done that day. He was as perky as could be on Friday & even went for his evening walk however he did do a lot of coughing. On Saturday, he slept ALOT. He is on antibiotics for the next 2 weeks and seems to be back to his old self today (and his breath smells MUCH better) :rolleyes:

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