Doggie Teeth Cleaning

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had their dog's teeth professionally cleaned in the NOVA area? My dog's breath is getting worse (try garbage truck essence mixed with swamp water) and we are trying to figure out what our options are. Simply brushing doggie's teeth doesnt do anything and all the doggie breath mints and greenies in the world dont make a difference either. I called our vet thinking it would be a simple, quick, cheap, easy process for them to clean McNasty's teeth but WHOA! It costs 350 bucks and it involves putting the dog under anesthesia. Clearly I am nervous about doing this to my "other" baby so I was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions? Do any groomers do this without anesthesia? And for cheaper?

[Anonymous]

Personally I would not have it done. I know too many people that have lost their dogs while getting there teeth cleaned. I am not trying to scare you, but unless the dog needs SURGERY for something else too, forget it. Nupro dog food puts out a tarter control bisquit that works really good. Just give the dog one every day. It is in a blue and white stripe box, I know they sell them at pet smart. Sorry if they is upsetting to you, but I would hate for something to happen to you baby b/c of bad breath. Adding parsley to his food may help too, good luck

[Anonymous]

We had our dog's teeth cleaned by the vet and actually felt bad that we hadn't done it sooner. Our vet had been mentioning it for years, and we thought it was unnecessary. When we finally couldn't stand her breath anymore we took her in. Turned out some of her teeth were so badly decayed that they had turned to pulp. I cannot imagine the pain she must have been in.

Obviously, I would not have it done at a small vet office without a good surgical suite. Ask questions about their anesthesia training. Our dog was definitely loopy for a day, but she felt so much better afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Get doggie health insurance. I got one of the higher plans for my dog, through ASPCA, and it is only about $300 for the year. There is a $100 decuctable, and a 10% cost share.

[Anonymous]

Our vet mentions the plague and breath issue every time we visit. However, our beloved beagle is 14 years old and we are too worried that putting him under for teeth cleaning would be too much (not to mention expensive).

We are sorta bad in that he gets a lot of table scraps, but his weight is actually considering he's a geriatric beagle. We allow him to have health crunchy scraps like carrots and celery which seem to help "clean" his teeth. His breath isn't too bad.

I don't know if that works for you or not, but I thought I would put it out there.