Question about dental care

Sweetie has had a small amount of tarter on his teeth for the last year or so and will be going to the vet in a couple of weeks. The vet has been talking about putting him under anesthesia and scraping it off. Since the amount is so small, I'm wondering if it will have an effect on his health and if putting him under is worth the risk.

Hi, build up of tartar on a cat's teeth will lead to increase in bacteria in the mouth, and will affect the gum health. If your cat develops gum problems there is an increasing risk of loosing some or all teeth as well as serious root infections and other oral problems that cats are prone to.

If you are anxious about the risks of anasthesia you should talk them through with your vet, and perhaps try to introduce you cat to tooth brushing with a cat and dog toothpaste from now until the appointment to see if it makes any difference to your cat's dental health.  You can buy the paste in most pet stores or on line, and you can introduce by rubbing on with a cotton bud or finger (if your cat isn't too keen on chewing).  If your cat with lick the paste to start with it is fine as it does have an effect even if not brushed on, it is just not as effective and if tartar has built up brushing is probably your best chance of making any impact before the vet appointment. You do not brush hard and you use a small silicone finger brush that is usually supplied with the paste to rub gently around all the teeth. The one I use with Mouse is poultry flavoured but I think you can get it in fish as well.  Mouse loves it and comes running like he does for his freeze dried fish treats!  

Good dental health extends your cat's life, reduces the risk of tooth extractions, illness and pain from quite an early age esp if your cat is genetically predisposed to plaque build up and gum infections which I believe some are - just like some people.  Many on this site believe in annual dental cleaning as a routine intervention: I have a boy prone to plaque build up, stomatitis and he has FHV so I need to maintain the best oral hygiene I can if I want him to have a long and comfortable life.  So far I am maintaining his teeth with 2 x daily enzyme tooth brushing together with his prescription dental food. If I saw tartar build up I would certainly consider a full descaling treatment in the hope of his keeping his teeth.  Cats can survive without teeth but my boy likes to chew and I would much prefer him to avoid all pain and surgery possible.

I know it's hard to decide if putting a cat under anesthesia is worth doing...but if it helps you at all, I read somewhere that tooth tartar can also be seriously dangerous if the cat gets a cut or little open wound in his mouth, and the bacteria from the tartar may get into the blood that way. This was a while ago, so I'm not 100% sure how likely this is, but it may be something to think about?

But I am sure it is a good idea to keep regular care of your kitty's teeth by doing the things MServant talked about

One of the reasons why they have to put the cat under anesthesia when they clean their teeth is a lot of what is on their teeth is up under the gumline.  The bacteria from the mouth can get into the blood stream and cause major havoc on some of the organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys.  If your vet is recommending a cleaning, I would recommend it.  Make sure your vet does bloodwork to check liver and kidney function prior to the dental cleaning.  Those are the organs that process and handle the anesthesia and rid it from the body. 

My cats had a bit of tartar at one point that I contemplated having scraped, that is up until Thomas had a very serious reaction to the anesthesia used when he was neutered earlier this year. He had no liver or kidney issues. We almost lost him. Needless to say I was put right off of the idea of going through with the scraping.

Anesthesia is serious business and it is reasonable for you to have some reservations. Being informed of all the facts and discussing the different options for anesthesia can help you make the right decision. Also very important is to ask about the type of monitoring that will be done while your cat is under. Not all cats will do well on all types of anesthesia and some types are safer than others. For this reason, it is important to discuss the type of anesthesia that will be used and the possible side effects and risks, and do bloodwork beforehand to determine if there are any liver or kidney insufficiencies that would cause the anesthesia to not be processed properly. A quick note about Ketamine which is one anesthesia that can cause cointradictions in some cats. This was used on Thomas. There is now an alert on his chart to never use this again.

While it is important to be informed of the risks, your vet should also explain exactly what will happen before, during and after the procedure so that you can be informed. I had a similar conversation and asked lots of questions but something still went wrong, unfortunately. That said, my other two cats went through their spay and neuter with flying colors so the majority of the time things go okay.

Dental care for your cats is very important but there are things you can do before having to resort to a teeth scraping. Regular brushing of your cat's teeth with specially formulated cat toothpaste that contains enzymes as MServant mentioned can be effective. There is also a new (or at least new to me) product called Dentatabs that my vet recommended. Dentatabs are white tablets that contain malic acid (found in apples) which are dissolved in your cats drinking water. Over a few days or weeks the tartar breaks down and eventually dissolves away. This product is natural, safe and has been tested on dogs with serious tartar and the results were amazing. I have used this product and experienced some good results already. This product is made by TartarShield. They have a website in case you would like to read up on this.

Hope the above helps.

Run the blood test before hand.

I emphasis this because I didn't know the importance of what is revealed in the test, and I lost my Sassycat on the table. Tha aenesthetic reacted with an underlying condition we didn't know that she had, and her heart stopped immediately.  The blood test will tell you if it's safe to give  aenesthetic, and then you can decide if you'd like to go through with the cleaning. It's worth that extra fee for the safety of your friend......

Matts mom said:

 
Run the blood test before hand.

I emphasis this because I didn't know the importance of what is revealed in the test, and I lost my Sassycat on the table. Tha aenesthetic reacted with an underlying condition we didn't know that she had, and her heart stopped immediately.  The blood test will tell you if it's safe to give  aenesthetic, and then you can decide if you'd like to go through with the cleaning. It's worth that extra fee for the safety of your friend......

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I am very sorry for your loss Matts Mom.

I'm not sure how old Sweetie is, but hopefully you have had some experience of how he handles anesthesia already, if only from when he was neutered?  If you are really uncertain, and not confident of your vet's reasons for recommending the procedure, you could look at getting a second opinion if you live in an area where there are a number of vets?

I have seen the product type that oneandahalfcats is referring to and did consider it.  My preference has been to go with a paste where I know the dosage my cat is getting each day and I can keep up a daily check on the tooth and gum condition at the same time.  That is important for my boy as I know he has a serious underlying condition but might be less so for others. I don;t think it's ever a bad idea to keep an eye on things in there though!  I was never aware before and Mouse was very sick and had an extremely painful mouth and throat before I realized anything was wrong.

Thank you all for your replies, first of all I know the importance of bloodwork and I always have it done Sweetie is a rescue and I have been told he's probably about 8 years old now. I did have some dental work done on him shortly after I adopted him and he reacted well to the anesthesia. The problem is that he's a few years older now, and a long time ago I had another older cat who suddenly had a bad reaction to the anesthesia used for a dental procedure. Previously that cat had done very well when he was put under. And that's the reason I have some concerns now, I don't feel sure Sweetie will react the same way he did before.

To my understanding I have had price ranges from $600-1100 dollars for cat dental procedures and pulls especially for elderly cats. Of course I am unable to afford this and only have found possibly 1 veterinarian in my whole area that will be able to do a bill me later plan. I still have yet to confirm that. My cat has recent veterinarian papers from May of 2013 and I am seriously looking for someone in the Hudson Valley region preferably really close to Beacon and Wappingers Falls NY in order to have my cat's dental procedures done. She is also having an eye infection to go along with it, while she is an indoor cat. I brought the concern back in May to my local veterinarian about her eye, as she always rubbed her left eye on corners of furniture which always created a lil scab and tried keeping my cat from doing it. The vet had told me she was just marking her territory. I am unsure if my vet knows exactly what she is doing where I am afraid she will euthanize my cat or not do the procedure correctly since I have heard small case stories of not so good dental work and other elderly cat procedures she has done. Anyways I am looking to find answers in the Hudson Valley NY nearest Wappingers Falls and Beacon NY for a no kill cat health emergency for her dental work.
   Thank you,
    Roseann Sorrentino

@RosieGinoLove, I am not in the USA and have no information on vets in your area, but if you haven't seen this advice article on the site it might offer some useful ideas?  

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/when-you-cant-afford-a-veterinarian

thank you

I just started a new thread for our new member @RosieGinoLove  about the emergency vet question here - 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/274472/looking-for-an-emergency-vet-in-the-beacon-ny-area

If anyone can help her out please do that in the other thread - thank you!

thank you Anne very much :-D