tooth decisions
 

so i took Bella to the vet yesterday for her shots and check up.
the vet said she looked fine except her nasty teeth
you see Bella never lost her baby teeth and they are jeprodizing the adult ones
he suggested that i have them taken out soon
he said if i were to get her spayed he would do it all at the same time
so heres where i am at
i havent decided on gettting her spayed and prob wont
so i was thinking about just getting them taken out
i am just so worried about the going under part i dont wanna lose my baby

Yes, they should be pulled either way if they are getting nasty.
I highly recommend that you get her spayed though.
I waited until Ellie was 6 and am not regretting it because she has a 26% chance of getting mammary cancer now instead of less than a 1% chance if I would've done it before her first heat. The longer you wait, the more chance she has of getting pyometra also. The safest cure is an emergency spay which is quite a bit more risky.

When I had my Bella spayed & 2 teeth pulled, there was a paragraph explaining addt'l charge for Pre-work Blood Test, Lazer surgery, and pain meds. Of course, I checked that I wanted all the above. It is so advised to do both @the same time & the Pre-work Blood Test is needed to safeguard against anything going wrong. It's good that you are thinking this through. Hope others will continue to give you advice as well. Hugs to yr Bella!!

I'm going through the same decision! I have known that Mayme had a baby tooth still in, but the vet told me whenever they do a cleaning they will get it out then and to not worry about it. However, last night when I was brushing her teeth, I noticed that it had gotten real small and dark colored, so now I'm worried.
She's already been spayed, and I've not discovered that she has high bile acids and don't want her put to sleep/given extra medicine...etc. Ahh, I'm so worried.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do!

Samson's upper teeth look like adults are trying to come in before puppy teeth are gone too. I am going to take him to the vet this weekend. Bottom's are fine though.

:thumbup:
Teeth and spay all at once! Good deal! She'll be as good as new! =D


Why the decision to not spay her? Just curious!

How old is she?
Many dogs that have high bile acids go under anesthesia and do just fine...Ellie being one of them. Letting the tooth stay and allowing bacteria to build up can lead to problems with the heart, kidneys, liver and lungs. There is really no way around it. :( But the vet really does need to know that they are doing. Some will mask down with gas if the dog has a compromised liver and no NSAIDs should be used.

She's almost 1 yr and 4 months. I know it needs to be taken out...and soon, i'm just scared to death. I'm going to take her to my vet in kentucky that has run both of her bile acid exams instead of my vet here in TN who seems a little clueless on liver problems. My vet in TN thought it would fall out and now says to not worry about it that they will take it out whenever she has a cleaning. However, that was wayyy before I found out about her compromised liver. I'm wondering now if that tooth has led to her high biles from being in there this long already.

What are NSAIDS?

NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are a group of drugs sometimes used post-surgery to control pain that can be very hard on the liver. Some common ones used in vet medicine are Rimadyl, Deramaxx and Metacam.

I know it is so scary. :(
It would've been fair to wait and pull it when she had to go under for something else (that is what Ellie's old vet said to do), but who knows how long that will be, so I wouldn't give that advice. Ellie had double teeth as a pup and we did nothing about it. At age 5 she was diagnosed with stage 3-4 periodontal disease and the baby teeth were gone. They must've rotted out or something (I know discusting), but we just didn't know how important taking care of their teeth was then. Live and learn.

Ellie was masked down with Isoflurane for her spay/liver biopsy/dental and did perfectly. Masking down is another area of controversy though.

Thanks for the info!!

Dudley just had 9 retaines pulled at 7 mo. He is on Rimadyl....seems to be fine, he has 2 more days of it and then he's done.
They do blood work prior to, making sure levels are where they need to be, please take care of the dental before the problem worsens and gum disease sets in.... :eek: That's whole nother story i can share with my past yorkie...NOT GOOD.
Best to you!:)

When I talked with my vet about spaying and taking out Mikki's baby teeth at the same time she said that it depends on how much tartar is on the teeth b/c she doesn't want to do the 'dirty' work while having an open surgery...

Something more to take in consideration... {{{SIGH}}}

bella just turned two in october
i am just so worried about her making it through surgery and going under i dont like the idea of it! i have thought of maybe just taking her to this lady i know that cleans teeth but idk if that would take care of the problem tho.

She needs to be put under for that too, doesn't she? Mitzi, Max and Maggie had their teeth cleaned and they needed to be anestisized...

yes she does and thats the part that i dont like the most! its not the teeth its the process you have to go through thats why he was just going to do the spay and teeth all in one swoop, but that kinda seems like a lot to go through at one time to me

Then I guess the teeth are more important than the spaying. It's true that her risk for mamal cancer increases the longer you wait with the spaying but it doesn't mean she has to get cancer when she goes a bit longer without being spayed.

I'm from Germany and the dogs there are usually not spayed or neutured and still get old... (my parents Beagle girl made it to 17!)

basically it has come down to me getting her teeth taken out because they are causing damage to the others. so i figure that the % of damage that will be caused by me not spaying her is important but not that high. so i guess i will just take it as it comes and if she needs spayed then we will but i havent heard of many dogs having that many problems who are not. I know the vet tells us whats good for them but i am her moma and i make the decisions, he can give his opinion. thanks for listening!

I am like you and on the fence, some may not like me saying this but this is my opinion. Like humans, dogs can get cancer and yes it may increase your chances but in this world the same goes for humans also. Who is to say that IF you were to have her spayed she wouldn't get cancer still, anything is possible and this is your baby do what feels right. I personally don't think I will be getting my baby spayed. I don't think it makes me a bad mommy for it, I just don't feel comfortable with the spay at the moment. She barely goes through a heat so why stress her out with surgery.

your right just because i make the decision not to get her spayed does not make me a bad moma! they make you feel so bad when you say your not going to get them spayed they are like its whats best for the dog and if you dont then you are horrible for not doing it because she could get this and this and blah blah blah! when i went in with bella she was wearing her panties because she just happedned to be on her heat cycle and i was like shes in heat and my vet made a comment like i thouight she was putting me out! Bella being in heat does not bother me one bit. the thing is now i will have to put her under because of the teeth problem and i am scared for her and i both, the idea of that really freaks me out. my dentist said i should prob have my wisdom teeth taken out and i am scared to do that to myslef let alone bella

I really feel that since she is two years old it would be best to have her spayed. I know it is a scary thing to do but it is also scary and life threatening if she gets pyometra. I have had females spayed and teeth cleaned at the same time and they had no problems. I guess you could have her teeth done first and get her spayed later.

Once I took a little male to the vets to have his teeth cleaned and I checked that I wanted blood work done too. When I went to pick him up and pay for everything the price was cheaper than it should have been. As it turned out they did not notice that I wanted blood work. Luckily everything went fine but it did worry me that they did not do the blood work. Anyway, my advise to anyone taking a dog in for surgery is to make sure they understand you want blood work done first.

when i got riley neutered his adult teeth weren't growing yet so they didn't pull his baby teeth :eek: so i have to wait until he gets about a year or so to have his baby teeth pulled. i'm still hoping they'll fall out on their own so i give him bully sticks and the toys he can play tug of war with madison.

hopefully madisons adult teeth start coming in by the time i get her spayed and hopefully that all will be done before she goes into her first heat lol.

Darwin was neutered at around 4.5 months old, his adult teeth obviously had not come in at that time. I took him back a few months later to have 3 baby teeth pulled...make sure you call around to check prices. I had vets quote between $150 to $800 to pull 3 baby teeth! We finally went with one of the less expensive/more thorough vets, who explained the entire procedure to us in person during an office visit for $45. She explained that the pre-work/IV and a lot of the extra things other vets quoted were unnecessary for such a routine procedure. They put Darwin under with sevoflurane gas, no needles, no shaving of his little paw, he was out for less than an hour, and woke up bright eyed and ready to play.

I totally agree that some vets put way too much pressure on owners to spay/neuter. It is a very personal decision and nobody should make it for you. If you have a problem surgically removing organs because your dog "might" get cancer someday or an infection, then skip the surgery. :) On the other hand, I had no idea that there were health benefits to spaying when Ellie was a pup. Nobody told me. While I think it is very unnatural to be removing organs and I hate the thought of it, I also think that a 26% chance of getting mammary cancer is just too high and the chances of pyometra (requiring an emergency spay) is very high also. After talking to Ellie's vet, I went ahead and agreed to spaying. Ellie's heat cycles were irregular, so we already had a clue that a hormonal issue was occurring or could easily occur. She had too many heats for spaying to protect her from mammary cancer but what the vet didn't want to see happen was for Ellie to get pyometra. Then, while her body is trying to fight a serious infection, she would have to have major surgery. It is hard to get a pus-filled uterus out of a small dog without spilling it and it was much safer for Ellie to undergo the surgery while she was as healthy as possible. She did just fine.

I have heard of no good reason why tooth work and abdominal surgery can't be done at the same time. I mean, when dogs come home after surgery, what do they do? They lay on the floor, incision and all, that is full of germs from shoes. Their abdomen could be draped off before tooth work is done. I don't see an issue but maybe I'm missing something. Many dogs get baby teeth pulled everyday while they are being spayed/neutered.

I know it is scary and I refuse to call it a perfectly safe surgery because there are obvious risks. It should be a personal decision backed on research and what you're comfortable with.

thanx you all for the advice and thoughts on my little dilemma, my decision is leaning towards taking care of her teeth and if a problem arises then i will get her spayed. I will handle one thing at a time
thanx again

Thor had full teeth cleaning and four baby teeth extracted today (he's 2 1/2 years old). I just got a call that everything went fine. WHEW! I was a lot more nervous than I expected. He is four pounds and I knew he'd been fine under anaesthesia before for his neuter. Still, it's a relief.

Thor will be unhappy to know that his mommy does not like feeling sick all day, so she's going to brush his teeth constantly to keep him away from the vet as long as possible!

His plaque was bad. One of his back teeth was literally covered with tan plaque - then ENTIRE tooth. I'm looking forward to some nice fresh breath! :)