Old dog needs dental treatment. Can someone help reassure me please?

[mrsjackrussell]

Hello my JRT needs a general anaesthetic to sort out his teeth.

I don't want anything to happen to him and its not about the cost. Im just wondering if this is too old for a GA.

The vet says that he will continue to get reoccurring infections and is probably in pain. Can someone reassure me re. GA.

Hes a fit dog still running about although slowed down a bit.

How old?
The vet presumably thinks the benefits outweighs the risk?

Oh sorry hes 14. The vet thinks he should have it but im just worried. I don't want him to be in pain so i don't think I have much choice.

My dog had a dental at 15 - she came through it with no problems. She was in renal failure too. She had a broken tooth out. Our vet is very experienced and they used special anaesthetic.

She had an analogy gland tumour removed at 16 too. Again no problems.

She died at 17 of dementia.

Analogy - anal lol. She was a terrier sighthound cross. Fit as a fiddle until the last couple of years.

I’m a vet and took 7 teeth out of my own 15 year old small dog just before Christmas. She sailed through it and is much happier. If yours is in good health and on IV fluid during the procedure, then there’s no reason why he shouldn’t also cope well. Modern anaesthetics are very safe and dental disease can be very debilitating. As you can see, it’s what i would do for my own dog!

Our 12 year old dog had many teeth removed earlier this year. the vets were very careful about doing extra blood tests etc to check kidney function and check she was ok for a general anaesthetic. The only complication we had was that they nicked her skin when shaving the fur to take bloods and then the spray from the dental work got the wound infected, but otherwise she recovered very quickly from the actual tooth removal.

My late MIL’s Yorkshire Terrier had a lot of teeth taken out he was around 15/16 at the time, he got on brilliant after, could eat fine, recovered quickly, seemed happier, he went on for quite a while after the Op. I know it’s a worry, but the vet, wouldn’t operate if he/she didn’t feel it necessary. Good luck.

If there is no other health conditions it is fairly safe, ask for pre op bloods and fluids too

Thank you so much everyone for your reassurance. I am going ahead and they will do bloods before to make sure that he is OK to have the GA. I can't leave him like this anyway and the vet is lovely i have seen.

My old boy had dental work done while he was under having a suspicious lump removed when he was 16. I was reluctant to have him under any longer than he needed to be but the vet and vet nurse assured me it was as safe as could be.

He did great and went on for another 3 years with fresher breath!

A friend's cat was 19 when he had most of his teeth out and lasted another four years. Your dog should be fine.

Is it to clean teeth or to remove them? If it's just a clean I'd try the stuff they can add to their water or food first. It can have great results.

I'd do it but definitely have the pre anaesthetic bloods and ask about fluids during surgery. I know it's a risk but it's very small and he will feel much better afterwards.

Hi my jrt had a general for a dental extraction last year at the age of 11. My understanding was that if they aren't overweight ( he wasn't) and don't have a heart murmur ( he does have a very slight one but it was decided to be negligible) then it's very low risk. He sailed through it and it was the right decision, he's so much happier.

What is this please? Sorry to hijack thread but my jrt doesn't let me brush his teeth .

Its to clean and probably remove some aswell. I think probably too late for anything else. I will get some of this as well. Thank you

My JRT cross will not let us brush he teeth either. A while back he needed quite a few teeth out. Now we use dental mouth wash additive in the water. We use johnsons anti plaque dental rinse from amazon or arm and hammer fresh spectrum rinse, depending on which one is available. Both work really well and his teeth and breath are much better.

My sister had a JRT x border and she had nearly all her teeth removed when she was 18 , had pre op bloods and was fine afterwards .