Happy New Year everyone!
Pilot turned 14 back in September and has progressive collapsing trachea, very early stages of heart issues, severe luxating patella, and is mostly blind.
He's been getting chronic bronchitis and nasal congestion for the last few months. It's been controlled mostly with Hydrocodone, Temaril-P, and Clavamox one week a month for the last few months.
He has not had a dental since he was 8 because he had breathing issues afterwards due to early stages of CT and then eventually contracted severe pancreatitis from what I think was a steroid shot to calm down his breathing issue.
I made a consult appointment a few weeks ago with a board certified dentist in my area as I suspected part of his nasal issues are teeth related. She looked in his mouth and said his back molars were caked with heavy tartar and recommended I proceed with the dental if the bloodwork and other tests came back OK. She said she would do it if were her dog.
We ran the senior blood panel, performed radiographs, and have an updated echocardiogram scheduled early next week. All test have come back with nothing unexpected. The radiographs showed his CT in his lower airway, and slight heart enlargement on the left side, but the dentist did not seemed too concerned. She has a plan to increase his medications one week prior to surgery to make sure his cough is controlled as much as possible, and then continue that for a few days after surgery.
I'm very worried that I'm going to end up killing him with this procedure based on his previous experience when he was 8.
I know if I leave him be that his teeth are likely going to end up making his heart situation or other organs even worse.
Has anyone been in a similar situation with a very senior pup? I'm starting to worry more and more that I'm making a mistake, but it seems like I have no choice now. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
He's scheduled for January 19th.