How terrible! I'm so, so, so sorry. I know you are in bad pain. Please accept my condolences.

I am so absolutely heartbroken for you. More than a decade ago, I lost two of my three Yorkies in a three month period, so I know how devastating your loss is. I have always been an advocate of dental cleanings, and I haven’t changed my mind about that, even in light of almost losing my precious nine year old about a month ago when she went in for a dental. The difference is that I was very lucky that my vet caught it right away when her tongue went blue as soon as anesthesia was introduced, and she was left unharmed. Katie has always been healthy, has had anesthesia in the past, but she reacted to it this last time. She went back to the vet yesterday, and my vet reassured me that he checked her out thoroughly and that it was just a reaction to rhe anesthesia because it happened so suddenly. It has still shaken me to the core. It’s very rare, but it happens, and you were doing the very best you could do for your beautiful little girl. I am deeply sorry for your loss. In time the happy memories of Maize will replace the overwhelming sadness you feel right now, and I can assure you that the love you shared will forever remain in your heart.

I am truly sorry for your loss. I know I will always grieve for my little ones I have lost, but time does ease the pain. When I lost my last Yorkie shortly before her seventeen birthday, I waited two years before I brought Katie into our lives, and the joy from loving Katie made a huge difference for me. My husband and I still talk about our babies and will always love and miss them. But Katie brought the laughter and life back to our lives, and we are also left with the love and beautiful memories of our other little girls at the Rainbow Bridge.

Just came from the vet with our three year old ,Audrey, who will need a dental in April. I am very uneasy.
Gew

I’m sorry if these stories scared you. I was always uneasy when I took my three Yorkie sisters to the vet for dentals each year, but they always did fine, My little one needed a dental twice,a,year because her mouth was so tiny. At age nine her vet decided it would be too risky to put her under anesthesia any longer because her collapsed trachea kept,getting worse. My Ashley had a minor heart condition, and it was discovered when she went in for her dental cleaning at age ten. My vet stopped all shots, including rabies, and he said he’d only put her under anesthesia if it was absolutely necessary. She had an anal tumor removed at age fifteen and a dental due to an infection at sixteen. Each of my dogs had multiple procedures with anesthesia, and they always did fine. If you have the time read the stories from YT members. There are so many positive stories about dentals and spay/neutering here. I definitely understand why you are uneasy; I was unusually agitated the das leading up to Katie’s dental too.

I have some Nature’s Farmacy liver support that I can send you. It can be taken year round, or you can use it for the week prior to the dental and the week after. It helps rid the liver of toxins and helps the liver get rid of the anesthesia more quickly. I definitely would do bloodwork to be precautious. If you suspect any liver issues, I would ask your vet about doing a bile acid test. It’s probably not necessary, though. Katie was bile acid tested as a puppy and then again a little while later. Katie doesn’t have liver issues, but I got the liver support because of all the toxins she needs to injest (heartworm, flea, tick, etc). We walk a lot, and I also worry about fertilizers. Send me a PM if you’d like me to send you some. It’s from an excellent company that I really trust.

Only you can determine if the risks are worth it to you. Here is a link from a VOHC certified product. The sight has excellent information about why dental health is so important. They sell a product, but they say it doesn’t replace dental cleanings.

https://www.healthymouth.com/Articles.asp?ID=252
https://www.healthymouth.com/Articles.asp?ID=246

Audrey had a cleaning a year ago with no negative results, and she did fine. However, my collie who is eleven had one and she was loopy for a day afterwards. Both had had CBC’s prior to the cleaning. Didn’t realize that yorkies needed them so frequently. I better be more diligent about brushing. Will try to brush twice a day.
Thanks so much for your response.
Gew

Seems like it 'runs in the family', like the gene for fighting dental bacteria is missing a link or something. I've Goggled Yorkies and dental problems and read the many theories but a lot of the thinking back when I researched a bit seems to be the Yorkies tiny muzzles, crowded teeth and apparently a congenital DNA missing link for successfully killing excessive dental bacteria.

I brush Tibbe's teeth about 3 times weekly now using C.E.T. chicken-flavor toothpaste and it was a gradual process getting him used to the cleaning, with much high-voiced, upbeat, fun praise when he tolerated it and of course, his 'paycheck' treat/high praise at the end. I mean who wants to work hard at tolerating a miserable thing and not get a reward and 'pat on the back' at the end!?!?!

Tibbe's 11 now, has early CT and am worried how his next dental cleanings with intubation/anesthesia may affect his throat, not to mention his cardiopulmonary and liver health. Going to have to have a long talk with the vet but his breath is smelling pretty foul after 11 months since his last dental cleaning and his little mouth is pretty 'gamey' looking and smelling. Scared he'll develop another painful, bleeding abscess if I don't get the tartar and gumline bacteria cleaned away surgically. His breath always smells great after the yearly vet cleanings. But also worried how his throat will be irritated by the whole anesthesia process, not to mention tolerating the anesthesia itself.

But brushing alone just won't remove the hardened dental plaque that become hardened under the gumline in many small dogs and leads to gum disease, inflammation/swelling and pain, needless suffering, eventually even infection/abscess, even tooth loss.

Responsibly loving and caring for a tiny dog can mean lots of hard decisions and worry you made the right one.

Just wanted to share a picture of the frame I had the framing store do up in memory of Maezie. It started as a small project and then it kept getting bigger and bigger. Lol. But its now finally done. It ended up being a little over the top, maybe. But I'm happy with it. I hope this turns out ok. I had to scale down the file size so it would upload. I'm actually pretty excited to be able to put it up soon on one of my walls. It's been horrible missing her so much and every day. But I'm glad that I'll always have memories of her.

What a beautiful tribute! I hope that it helps you to focus on the wonderful memories that you shared with her...I am sure that she would want you to be happy.

Airiplane,


What a beautiful tribute to your sweet little girl. I know she is looking
down with that precious smile they have from over the Rainbow Bridge.
May it help to bring you peace and a smile from time to time. We never
forget our fur babies.

That is such a beautiful tribute to your precious little girl .

I am so sorry to hear about Maezie. This is is distressing to read so I can only imagine what you must be going through, especially with her being so young.

My condolences and I hope you manage to get some answers soon.

I see now that you have the answers from the necropsy... not a happy ending but at least you know you did all you could with the information you had at the time.

Yeah I know there’s a lot of posts to read in this thread and it can be easy to miss something. Just to sum it up for anyone else that reads this thread, Maezie had a very sudden and severe anaphylactic reaction to propofol and died from anaphylactic shock. So her body had developed an allergy to propofol after previously being exposed to that drug during her spay and previous dentals. It’s the same type of thing as people who have to have an epipen in case they get stung by a bee. My understanding is anaphylaxis is the most severe type of allergic reaction there is.

A beautiful tribute to lil Miss Maezie