dog dental worth the risk?

[Mee05]

i've heard horrible stories from pet owners who have lost their dog to the anethesia effects on their dogs when they took them for a dental. I want to bring my dog in two days to get his teeth clean since i never have before but he's old (8-9 yrs) and he has a few health problems. I think it's time to have his teeth cleaned but i don't want to lose him if something happens or cause some kind of damage to him in anyway. He also occasionally seems to have fevers and has leg problems. he had surgery on one of his back legs a while back. does anyone know of a pet owner that lost a pet during a simple dental cleaning or knows how much of a risk it really is? i read that after a dental pet owners find problems at home that their pet experiences such as not being able to walk as well etc... thanks for any advice given.

[AussiesCollies]

My Border Collie is around 11 years old and she recently got her teeth cleaned, a tooth pulled, and minor surgery on her back and foot. She came out of it just fine. And my 6 year old Shepherd mix also had her teeth cleaned and she had no problems. Talk to your vet if you have any concerns, but if the dog is healthy overall then it should be fine. Good luck!

[Deb's Tiny Dogs]

Any good vet will run blood tests on your dog before they clean their teeth. This tests a lot of things that tell the vet if it's safe to administer anesthesia. It's DEFINATELY worth it to pay to have this done, especially for an older dog!!!!

[Sheltiemama]

My previous sheltie had some dental work done at the age of 12 because he simply had bad teeth. He was always cleaned once a year and brushed daily but still had a bad case of gingivitis. The vet put him on antibiotics five days prior to his dental surgery, took blood samples and he came through just fine. He did die later that year from congestive heart failure though, and that condition was most likely attributed to his poor dental health.

[weezyNollie]

We tell owners to weigh the risk... would you rather shorten your dog's life span by ignoring periodontal disease? Or take the risk by getting the dental cleaning and prolonging the life.

We also do pre-anesthetic blood work as a must and make sure there are no heart defects or problems.