My dogs don’t have much tarter but my one wolf mix has the cleanest whitest teeth. He will eat what he catches but I also give all 3 raw meat every week. My GSD cannot stomach too much so all raw is out.

I guess I am lucky–I have had a number of vets in the Seattle area and while I am unhappy with a few, none was for service. All of my animals have gotten great care. I am at a new vet who does good work for my animals and he’ll clean my cat’s teeth. I try not to put any of my animals under if I don’t have to.

If got one of my animals back with injuries you can better believe I will be contacting a lawyer, posting what happened and where EVERYWHERE and seeking restitution. I go to the vet for medical treatment, not to cause more medical problems.

Hope the little poodle is better now. Oh and I sleep with an electric heating pad. I have been burned before with the old ones. The new ones have an auto shut off so you can’t get burned. Of course I would wake up when I felt the burn, but perhaps the vets that are using electric heating pads are using old ones.

RE: “My cat has never had her teeth cleaned and they need it but I’m too afraid to take her in.”

A good vet will run some tests before doing the proceedure to make sure your cat can handle the anesthetic. Dental disease is potentially life threatening to your cat, so if cleaning needs to be done, it should be done.

My own experience with extractions causes me to question the practice, but there’s no question teeth cleaning should be done when needed.

i care about the animal. that is my priority. period. i don’t give a fat flying rip$hit about veterinarians wounded pride. that’s not to say i don’t appreciate them. but they’re a far sight from what they could be imo and they must earn my respect. period. there IS no other way.

Petowners should remember all of this. Vets have not suddenly become saints overnight.

Personally, I promised all my childhood animal friends and some since then that I’d find out the facts and help spread the word.

As far as vets, I have to say I remain hugely disappointed and therefore I remain proactively suspicious as the caretaker of my animal friends. The veterinary profession has a terrible track record and history and until i see profound change i will not be convinced there is any. So far, i don’t see much at all.

We all agree on that. We’re only reading here because we care “more” than average and are more informed than average. Any good and ethical vet should be hugely pleased when customers care that much - it means they’ll appreciate that vet even more - and he/she will be communicating that approval to customers too.

Then you get the ones that go right to blaming the victim/customer: We’re so altrustic, so poor and it’s all the stupid customers fault. When you hear that you know exactly what kind of vet you’re dealing with.
Back away.

Now that petowners are getting access to some real information and just beginning to have the ammunition to ask real questions and suddenly the vets are sounding real defensive. It’s not hard to see why.

they get weekly raw beef knuckle bones to gnaw and chew on.

After my experience with extractions on one of my cat’s teeth, I seriously question whether I’d ever give permission to have it done again. I took a happy, healthy, energetic cat in, and got back a cat that was sick for nearly 2 months. Very, very, very sick.

For starters, I seriously question the practice of keeping an animal under for the teeth cleaning, then extending that period by whatever length of time is required for the additional surgery. IMO, if it has to be done, it should be done in two visits. Clean the teeth, do the x-rays and wake ‘em up. From there the vet can propertly discuss the issues with the pet owner, examine the options, and if necessary schedule a follow up appointment when the vet knows what needs to be done and how long it will take, so it isn’t a rush cut and hack job.

Something I didn’t know until I did some research on it afterward, is cat’s teeth are automatically absorbed into the jawbone when they get these lessions. Since nature has its own way of dealing with the problem, I’d lean toward the idea that keeping the teeth clean to prevent gum disease while the tooth is being absorbed might even be the more appropriate approach. I don’t know. The only opinion on the subject seems to be from those who nail you to the tune of $1000 per hour to remove the teeth.

Of interest is on his last check up, the vet indicated his teeth looked great and weren’t in need of cleaning. I’d switched him to an all meat, homemade diet about 8 months earlier - got him off the recycled garbage commercial pet food. After dropping over a grand on the dental work, and spending 2 months nursing him back to health, the little extra time and money for homemade is looking like a bargain.

From what I’ve been able to find, evidently this epidemic of tooth problems was virtually unknown back when people mostly fed table scraps and let the cat out to catch a mouse or two. I doubt you’ll ever see any pet food company sponsored studies on the link between commercial pet food and dental disease, but the anecdotal evidence suggests there’s a connection.

And, Dee, a tip on the old bedside manner thing… whining prima donnas, crying the blues about not being able to get rich quick by gouging every pet owner that walks through the door, well… I think you’ll find that doesn’t go over very well with anyone other than your collegues. If you adjust your attitude to the point you care as much for your patients as the pet owners that put them in your care, you’ll find money isn’t an object. People can tell the difference between prima donnas and competent medical professionals. I can guarantee you the former do not command top dollar for their services in the eyes of their customers.

Pop quiz: How much do you charge a customer to tell them you don’t have a foggy notion what’s wrong with their pet? Is it more or less that a fry cook at McDonald’s would charge for the same information?