Dog Community

Can I vent for a minute please....

Posted : 6/28/2010 12:00:25 PM

Okay… so let me just take a minute here to let out a little frustration, if you don't mind.

I don't know if you know this, but when I worked at veterinary hospital many many moons ago, I was the head Veterinary Dental Technician. I did ALL of the dentals in the office. I was certified through the NC Veterinary Dental Technician Society and the American Society for Veterinary Dental Technicians. I also held an advanced certification in canine dentistry. Not that any of that means much to most people, and other than my own animal's benefit, it's not doing me a hill of beans these days…..

HOWEVER… that does mean I may know just a little bit more about canine dentistry and the importance of it than the regular dog owner. Although when you get down to it, most of it's common sense... if it's important to take care of YOUR teeth.. don't you think it's important to take care of your dogs teeth??.

And while I will admit I'm not rich and don't have lots of extra money and I am always looking for ways to save concerning my animals, preventative dental care, which includes their food, is not one of the area's I skimp on… I am a firm believer in an ounce of prevention goes a long way. Call me a freak or a wierdo or whatever, but I do brush my dogs teeth every other day. I don't like stinky breath and I know the implications of not taking care of your dogs teeth, just like people, and how many other issues it can cause. My dogs have good, healthy teeth. And while I can't always afford yearly dentals for the dogs every year, I can afford $6 a month for doggie tooth paste and the 10 minutes every other day to use it.... And as a result my dogs have nice teeth and while they do have doggie breath, because they're dogs, it's not something crawled up in your mouth and died, breath.

So, when you come to me and say you had your dogs to the vet on Saturday and one of the dogs, who is your "baby," has rotten breath and you asked the vet about it and the vet said she needs a dental and needs this and that… and it'll cost $500 and what do I think, give you my honest opinion because if the dog needs it, then it needs it….. And I give my honest opinon which is, If the vet says your dog needs it's teeth cleaned, some pulled and a deep scaling and because of the dogs age you need blood work ($200) prior to the anesthesia, and you're telling me about this dog and how much you love her and out of all of your dogs she's the only one you really care about and blah, blah, blah…..and I say to you that I agree with the vet but I also agree that $500 is steeep, so talk to your vet and see if there is anything you can cut.... and then make sure you brush your dogs teeth and get rid of can food and offer it something to chew on to help with the preventative care afterwards so next time maybe it won't be so expensive… don't look at me like I've got five heads and tell me I'm crazy and you can tell I worked at a vet office and you think I'm pushing something just so the vet can make money and you've never heard of getting a dogs teeth cleaned and you can't afford to have all that done and blah, blah, blah.... .. Because when you do that, the next time you ask for advice, I'm going to ignore you and tell you you don't want to hear what I have to say because it may just very well be that you don't need a dog at all!!

There. I'm good now. Thanks for listening.

erica1989

Posted : 6/28/2010 12:15:01 PM

Wow - $500 for a dental?! That is outrageous. And $200 for a preop panel? Wow...that alone has me speechless!

I work for a clinic - and we are FIRM believes in dental care, and therefore offer dental cleanings at a reasonable rate... I would advise your friend to 'shop around' for a more reasonable price. Poor dental health leads to all sorts of issues, which I'm SURE you're aware of - why on earth would they charge so much!?

mehpenn

Posted : 6/28/2010 12:24:44 PM

I've told her for a while now she needs to find a new vet... everything that place does is crazy. She took one of her pups in for an ear issue and turns out it had earmites... $300 later, she walked out with med to treat it.

My vet charges $85 for a routine dental... fo course what her dogs needs goes beyond the "routine" dental....

PurplePets22

Posted : 6/28/2010 12:26:58 PM

Dentals are exspensive here too. Never needed one for Baily, but I took two cats in at once last year for dentals (and pre-op senior panel) and spent $900.

It's INSANE ! But they both really needed it.

erica1989

Posted : 6/28/2010 12:44:31 PM

Indifferent

punkchica321

Posted : 6/28/2010 1:02:32 PM

I really hate people like that and that is a lot of money. o.o Is it really that hard to get a toothbrush, dog toothpaste and brush your dogs teeth? I'll admit I don't do Simba's every single day but at least twice a week I brush his teeth. I should start doing it more though.

glenmar

Posted : 6/28/2010 1:08:55 PM

I don't brush, don't use the chewies that floss or anything along that line. I feed raw several times a week and my dogs teeth are white and clean as young pups. In fact, when Sheba had to have the emergency repair, the vet commented on how awesome her teeth look.

However, absolutely, dental care, in one way or another is an absolute necessity and if you don't do it well, you have to be prepared to pay the price.

Cita

Posted : 6/28/2010 3:07:07 PM

Well, if we're talking complicated extractions... is $500 really so unreasonable? I dunno, maybe I just go to expensive vets. I do live in an expensive part of the country, so everything tends to be pricier. But Rascal's estimate for a full dental, with no extractions, was $300. The upper bound estimate, if he needed "complicated" extractions (as opposed to routine ones, that are cheaper), was $600. That includes saline IV, monitors during surgery, antibiotics, take-home pain killers, and bloodwork. I believe some types of anesthesia are more expensive than others, too, but don't quote me on that.

It can't hurt to ask around and get price comparisons... but that said, I wouldn't want to go to the cheapest clinic in my area for my own surgery needs. So I don't mind paying a premium for Rascal for something big like that. (Even if the procedure itself isn't a big deal, I do worry about anesthesia.) Plus, even though he has AWFUL teeth genetically, he only needs a pro cleaning every 2-3 years. So I budget a bit for dental care every year, and then when the time comes to take the plunge and put him under, it's not such a sudden hit to the wallet.

spiritdogs

Posted : 6/28/2010 3:32:16 PM

I'm in MA and the last dental on my hound was about $250, including the blood work. But, he didn't have any extractions, just the cleaning. When Sioux had her fractured tooth removed and a cleaning, it was tappin' $400. But, I would NEVER do anesthesia on any of my dogs without pre-op blood work. I would never want anything to happen to them because I "shorted" their care.

Liesje

Posted : 6/28/2010 4:18:56 PM

I have six animals and only one has ever needed a dental, it was a cat and it was $80 including the bloodwork, anaesthesia, AND minor extractions. Of course a cat weighs a lot less but I found that very reasonable. He hasn't needed one since though. I check my dogs' teeth and have my vet check them, but don't brush them. I watch for build-up, bad breath, irritated gums, etc. Having a dog that does bitework I have to pay close attention to the mouth, lol.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 6/28/2010 5:17:04 PM

I don't think that's unreasonable, honestly. For a regular tooth scale and polish, sure, I pay $150. For extractions and deep cleaning? It's a lot more, and it should be. I always get x rays, with that. When Bean was a puppy, she had 3 retained canines. I spent $400, NOT including the bloodwork I did beforehand, to have them pulled. It was very important to me that she have a good bite, so that her teeth could stay nice. So far, so good. She's 2 1/2, and has a fabulous, incredible, beautiful-rific mouth and shiny, white teeth. Had she kept the extras, and thrown her bite off, she wouldn't chew as effectively, and wouldn't keep her own teeth clean.

It is a quality AND a quantity of life issue, though. The plaque on your teeth is the same as the plaque in your heart, and an infection in the mouth is mighty close to the brain.

glenmar

Posted : 6/28/2010 6:44:10 PM

Hmmm, when Tyler came back from his rental (keep a pup for two months and return him, that's a rental) he had a fractured molar. That and the nueter since he was going to be under anyway were something like 180.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 6/28/2010 6:50:51 PM

Just the one tooth, though. We're talking about several teeth, x rays, and a scrape and polish. Plus the sedation and monitering and all that business.

Jewel got a scrape and polish with her spay, and it only ended up costing an extra $50 or something. When you have to do it ALL, though....

glenmar

Posted : 6/28/2010 7:26:49 PM

Oh gosh, years ago when I didn't know any better, Rusty had a cleaning and HALF his teeth pulled. $1500 for that, so sounds like this gal maybe is getting off easy. With Rusty, I bit the bullet because my ignorance was no excuse.

PurplePets22

Posted : 6/28/2010 7:40:49 PM

Wow. I wonder why the rates are soooo different.

Around here I know a dental for one cat will be a minimum of $300. It's nuts. Don't know about dogs but I can't imagine it's less. Of course this is full blown treatment, bloodwork, monitoring, recovery etc etc......