Yep…our family cat never had her teeth brushed OR cleaned.
It lead to a terrible tooth abscess…when she was 19 yrs old.:rolleyes:
Had surgery to pull the tooth…she lived till she was 21. And we still didn’t clean her teeth.
My cats routinely live to 15-17 yrs old (if the coyotes don’t get them) and never had their teeth cleaned…
I mean this in the very nicest way possible, but to say that cats don’t need teeth cleanings is like saying that horses don’t need their feet done. Plenty of horses survive with their toes breaking off due to wear, but many get “elf shoes” and worse. The same goes for cats and teeth. Sure, some make it to a ripe old age with nary a cleaning, but the things that can and do go wrong for the majority tell us that cats do, at least on occasion, need help from a professional in the dental department from time to time.
[QUOTE=JackieBlue;7577392]
I mean this in the very nicest way possible, but to say that cats don’t need teeth cleanings is like saying that horses don’t need their feet done. Plenty of horses survive with their toes breaking off due to wear, but many get “elf shoes” and worse. The same goes for cats and teeth. Sure, some make it to a ripe old age with nary a cleaning, but the things that can and do go wrong for the majority tell us that cats do, at least on occasion, need help from a professional in the dental department from time to time.[/QUOTE]
I’d say it’s more similar to people who have never done a horse’s teeth, but I agree with the premise of this post. My grandparents had a saddle bred mare they kept after selling the rest of their $$$$ welsh and saddle bred horses when they became too old to train. The mare lived to 28 without ever seeing a vet or farrier or even a halter. Similarly, my parents first dog lived to 15 eating the cheapest crap they could buy and living outside in Texas and Oklahoma heat. Heck, my grandmother is a borderline alcoholic who has ‘cut down’ to smoking 1 pack a day at 83.
Just because your animal can survive with bad teeth/healthcare/feed/care/etc doesn’t mean it’s ok to neglect them. As I said in a previous post, I’ve had a few cats who have never needed a teeth cleaning, and a few who we’ve poured a fortune into keeping their mouth’s happy. You said you have other problems with this vet so definitely get a second opinion and estimate. But if your cat needs it’s teeth cleaned, it’s not fair to not get it done because it can ‘survive’ without it.
[QUOTE=KayBee;7576866]
My old cat had to have his teeth cleaned at one point but the plaque had formed visible yellow rocks on the surface of his teeth. He need only the one cleaning though - switched him to an oral care dry food and he was happy to eat it (larger-than-usual kibble size but he didn’t seem to care. Perhaps because he was a stray and was happy to eat anything).[/QUOTE]
My cat eats that too - Hills Vet Diet t/d Oral Care. He seems to like it!!
[QUOTE=Lori B;7576856]
I live in a major metro area and I expect light sedation, blood work, and cleaning to be under $500, and with extractions, more.[/QUOTE]
Not “light sedation”. General anesthesia, hopefully with a premed, an IV induction drug, and gas/oxygen maintenance delivered by an endotracheal tube with an inflated cuff, as well as IV fluids and a dedicated person to monitor the anesthesia, including blood pressure.
I think some vets push the teeth cleaning more than others. We took my newish older Catahoula rescue to one vet to get neutered who wanted us to pay hundreds of dollars for a teeth cleaning. Then we took him to a second vet a couple of weeks later for a wellness check and didn’t mention someone else saying he needed his teeth done. We figured we would just see if this vet thought he needed them done without us planting the seed in his mind. He said our dog was perfectly healthy and didn’t need anything but his annual shots.
So yes, I think our pets need to get their teeth done, but some vets push it a lot more than others.
Cats and dogs have very different dental concerns.
Do they really, Jackie? I’m not a dog person so I didn’t know that. Could you elaborate?
I have one cat with a rotten mouth…when it is bad, her gums get VERY painful. She has to have fairly routine dentals although eventually, she will be out of teeth.
I take mine to a cat only practice. Emmy’s first cleaning was around $800 but she had 6 extractions and a pain patch ($~70). Yeah…I had to rip that off in less than 24hrs. We don’t do those anymore.
Since that initial dental, I haven’t paid nearly that much. I think the last one was $~500 where she had a large molar extracted with stitches and a long acting pain shot…which we won’t do again either. Poor kitty was in constant motion for about 24 hrs. We will just stick to oral pain meds.
The other cat has a more normal mouth. He has had one cleaning with no extractions which was $~350.
Always have the vet give you a detailed estimate for what they are doing and what it will cost. A “do this or your cat will die” isn’t enough info for me. I hope you have better luck with the other vet.
Susan
[QUOTE=Rudy;7574957]
Initial exam: around $45
Full dental x-ray: usually around $80-200
Pre-Op blood work: ~$80-170
Oral exam/Dental cleaning ~$50-200
Extractions: ~$40-60 per tooth
I agree that $800 is quite high. I’m wondering if the vet is expecting a lot of work/extractions and quoted high because of it?[/QUOTE]
There is usually also a charge for the full general anesthetic, iv fluids, hospitalization, local blocks for extractions and pain medication. Once you add these charges on you can easily be close to 800.00 or more. This is not an unreasonable amount of money to charge in my area. Our dentals range from around 450 for routine cleanings to 1000 or more for major extractions. It is impossible to accurately quote for extractions until the tarter is removed and the teeth radiographed. Dental procedures can be very long and therefore vary a lot in price depending what needs to be done.
Cats tend to have abscess issues more often than dogs. Not that dogs can’t, but cats really do seem to have worse issues with that.
I really don’t know why, but in my experience, the more “critical” dental situation have been with cats.
[QUOTE=oliverreed;7578095]
Do they really, Jackie? I’m not a dog person so I didn’t know that. Could you elaborate?[/QUOTE]
I think some vets “give up” on recommending anything high dollar like a dental because they’re so used to being accused of trying to rip someone off.
Seriously, it’s easy to get beaten down advising people to do what should be done when you’re in an environment where people are so unwilling or unable to do it. So you go for the low hanging fruit and don’t mention the rest.
[QUOTE=OveroHunter;7578081]
I think some vets push the teeth cleaning more than others. We took my newish older Catahoula rescue to one vet to get neutered who wanted us to pay hundreds of dollars for a teeth cleaning. Then we took him to a second vet a couple of weeks later for a wellness check and didn’t mention someone else saying he needed his teeth done. We figured we would just see if this vet thought he needed them done without us planting the seed in his mind. He said our dog was perfectly healthy and didn’t need anything but his annual shots.
So yes, I think our pets need to get their teeth done, but some vets push it a lot more than others.[/QUOTE]
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