I hate to do this but I'm going to tell you a horror story about bad teeth in dogs. It's a little long and I am sorry about that, but I want to be sure and tell you all I can and maybe you can avoid the heartache we have had.
First, my vet told me that certain breeds such as Poodles and Yorkies are prone to have bad teeth to begin with. They need good oral hygiene. All dogs do but some breeds are just more prone to tartar/plaque buildup.
Bacteria forms under/around the plaque that forms and if it gets into the blood stream it showers through the body. It can (doesn't mean it will but it can cause heart disease, liver and kidney disease.
Our precious little Gidget is a little over 7 1/2. Pretty young to be so sick. Her teeth were getting pretty grungy but we were so scared of putting her to sleep to get them cleaned. Greenies are great so please don't get me wrong. They just shouldn't be used to remove plaque already formed in my opinion. Anyway, I gave all our babies a Greenie. The first day Gidget chewed one the plaque on the back teeth just popped off. I was so excited. Only I noticed a small amount of blood on her gum also which I figure is natural but I did remember about bacteria and blood would be the easiest way to travel. I gave her an antibiotic I had left over from something else and got some more from the vet the next day. I kept giving them one a week but noticed within a few weeks she wasn't feeling too good. Everyone else was fine. I noticed her breath wasn't just doggy but rancid. Like she'd been eating poop or something. Long story short, I took her to the vet and she was put on 24 hour i.v. immediately. When he tested her blood her Creatinine (sp?) was 8 and the BUN was so high it didn't register. He said those numbers were incapatible with life. I was so scared I burst into tears. The vet I took her to specializes in small animals and is 65 miles away. He didn't really think she'd make it. I drove over every day and spent an hour with her. Six days later she came home!!! Her numbers, though still very high, had come down.
That was last October. Since she was released we take her to a vet nearby to inject fluids (doesn't hurt her) under her skin twice daily. She is on a special diet. Most days she feels pretty good which is amazing. I have cried and prayed over that little dog more times than I can count. We're very blessed to still have her.
Anyway, it's too late to clean her teeth because she would not survive surgery. But you can be sure that each one of our other little dogs has had their teeth cleaned since. I try to brush their teeth a couple of times a week but it's a battle because no one has been used to it.
So it's important to keep their teeth as clean as possible. And never let anyone put your dog under without testing their blood levels first. Anesthesia is very safe nowadays but you don't want to put your dog under unless their blood level is safe for it.
Again, I apologize for the length of this. |