My Opinion on Cleaning Dog Teeth
Dec '98
Many people asked me, "What happened to Jaeger when you
got her teeth cleaned?"
My response:
Jaeger went
to the Vet for her first teeth cleaning (1998). Unfortunately the poor girl
couldn't handle the anesthesia, and she passed away. Jaeger's reaction may have
been due to overweight, possibly separation-anxiety, or my suspicion, poor doctor
supervision. Strangely, she passed the vet-required pre-anesthesia test.
Jaeger had anesthesia 2 years previously (1996). She had a root-canal for a broken tooth, and since then, I've been getting reminders in the mail to have her teeth cleaned.
Conclusion:
It is my feeling now, that my dog would have lived a lot longer
and would be fine without clean teeth.
Talking with breeders, they've told me, "Either clean your dog's teeth yourself, or don't worry about it." Basically they said to avoid anesthesia unless absolutely necessary. This was breeder's recommendation, not the veterinarian's.
Update:
Many Vets now offer a non-anesthetic teeth cleaning.
© DEINCDOGS
http://www.deinc.com/dogs