[wprien]

Hello all,
I recently had my boy, Prince, in to the Vet for his annual shots and check up. All was fine except the Vet noticed Prince was gettting tartar build up on his teeth. He recommended doing a "dental", which involves sedating Prince in order to properly clean his teeth. It sounded a bit extreme to me. Has anyone ever heard of this type of thing? Any advie would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

William
[email protected]

 

[Ms_P]

We actually had to have this done to one of the cats last year.
What happens is the plack (or tarter) gets into the gum socket around the tooth and starts iritating the tooth or teeth.
They usually only do it if they notice that when they put pressure on a tooth, or more than one tooth, it causes some discomfort for the cat or dog.

If it is left untreated the gum will get infected and the teeth will rot. Then you have a whole new set of problems. Stinky breath and teeth pulling!

It is really not that bad to have done. Our cat was only at the vets overnight and after he got over the indignity he was fine. You know how cats are, we only do things to embarass and humiliate them. LOL

I think dogs would take the experience much better. They will certainly be happy to see you when you go pick them up.

We didn't have to do anything different afterwards. Though they might ask you to give some softer food if it involves a lot of bad teeth.

Oh and when we took the cat for a check up this year the tooth was fine, he didn't need to have it done again.

Good Luck!

 

[KB]

Yes I have heard of that. Some vets will recommend it at different intervals. My vet said around 3 years of age to start. Clean teeth can off-set alot of other health problems not only in dogs but people too! It is expensive.....for here it would be over $100. I try to give Kemo every floss/chewy thing to help him. He does not let me "brush" his teeth. I can sometimes smear the toothpaste on his teeth but he is not crazy about that. I did not of course buy the flavored toothpaste I bought a more natural product that did not help either!! The only thing that bothers me is the anesthia. But I don't think they would sit still like us ya know!!

 

[Myra_Johnny]

I am going to get that done to Chiquita next month or maybe sooner than that. She has NEVER let me touch her mouth and she is 7 yrs old now so she really needs her teeth cleaned. Vet said it wouldn't cost more than 130.00 and that if I dropped her off at 7 am she would be ready by 4 pm. They have to have a current heartworm tset before they do anything, which I am getting done next week, my other babies are going to get started on heartworm med next week as well.