My dog has anxiety & a cold. Can she still get dental anesthesia?

I would recommend having Precious’ teeth cleaned sooner rather than later. They longer you wait the more you risk having newer problems develop. Your veterinarian will be able to create an anesthetic protocol that is most safe for Precious. Her quality of REM sleep should not in any way affect her general anesthesia. The length of anesthesia depends on if issues are found during the procedure. If extractions are needed this will obviously prolong the procedure. A normal cleaning usually takes about 30-45 minutes. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck!

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Most vets today will use a "pre-med" (combination of a pain medication and a sedative) which is often a mix of an opioid and a sedative (often hydromorphone and acepromazine, or some mix of this sort), then an "induction agent" which is usually either propofol, alfaxan, ketamine/diazepam, or ketamine/midazolam, and then will use a gaseous inhalent which is pretty much always isoflurane. Any of these drugs are fine, and often the drug that is best is the drug that your vet is most comfortable using. Thiopental is an 'old school drug' which is less favoured compared to these newer drugs, however it can be used completely safely as well. Doing pre-anaesthetic bloodwork will reduce the risks involved by making sure there is no organ dysfunction prior to surgery. I would suggest just asking your vet how the procedure works, and would check about if IV fluids will be used, what monitoring is present, as the monitoring is probably the most important part of a safe anesthetic, more-so than the type of drug that is used. Best of luck with Lucy!

If your vet is not comfortable with performing anesthesia on your pet, ask for a referral to a veterinary neurologist. Jodie may need to start medication for her seizures if they are becoming more frequent, and the neurologist can help you with that and also help discuss risk vs benefit for a dental. Denta disease and broken teeth are extremely painful, and should be addressed if the neurologist thinks it is safe. A veterinary anesthesiologist can also be recommended to perform the anesthesia during the dental if needed. In the meantime, keep a seizure log to monitor what is happening, and if Jodie has a seizure lasting more than 5 minutes take her to the emergency hospital, as this can be dangerous.

That is true that anesthesia is more risky in older dogs, but it still can be done safely. Frida will be in a lot of pain from these problems with her teeth, and it will likely lead to a decrease in appetite. I think you have to weigh the risks of the dental vs the benefits to her. Having her teeth treated will help her so much and keep her from being in pain, but only you can decide if the risk is worth. The vet has to tell you the worst case outcome, but they wouldn’t have suggested a dental if they didn’t think it was ok to do. I hope this helps.

It is never safe to do a non-anesthetic dental, and it should never be preformed on a dog. I can understand your concern, but Daisy does need that loose tooth removed and her teeth cleaned. PetCoach has a great article about why you should never chose non-anesthetic dentals that discusses if anesthesia is safe, and what happens when a pet's mouth is cleaned under anesthesia. I will link the article below so hopefully some of your concerns will be alleviated. As for her breathing, dogs who have a short snout typically breathe better with an ET tube (endotracheal tube) which is used during a dental procedure. I would recommend having it done if your vet feels it's safe, as it will make Daisy so much more comfortable. https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-s-the-deal-with-anesthesia-free-dental-cleanings/0

Oral sedatives are generally not safe for pets with heart conditions. However, there are heart friendly pre-anesthetic injectable drugs that the vet can give such as Midazolam and Butorphanol. Also keep in mind that most pets with a heart condition that are also symptomatic (coughing, exercise intolerance) should be evaluated by a cardiologist and cleared for surgical procedures like dentals to ensure they are good candidates and can handle the anesthesia. The main concern here is the anesthesia and not the sedative used beforehand. On the other hand, if she is not symptomatic (no coughing, exercise intolerance), and she currently is not on heart medications, then she is likely a good surgical candidate b/c her risk of having complications with anesthesia are generally low. I hope that this helps guide you towards the proper care for Chhutki and this dental procedure. Best wishes and take care. : )

There are certain preanesthetic medications that your doctor will avoid if he knows Casper has seizures. Definitely be sure to mention it to the vet when you drop him off. I would also recommend having your vet do some preanesthetic blood work to make sure there is nothing to worry about. If anything shows up in the blood work your vet can make changes to the anesthetic protocol to make sure it is safe for Casper.