My dog has seizures. Can he safely get anesthesia for teeth cleaning?

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.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Precious. The medications given to her before anesthesia will help to keep her calm. Propofol is used to induce anesthesia and then she will breathe gas to keep her under. All of these drugs will lessen her anxiety. I would wait to have the procedure done until all of respiratory signs have resolved. I hope this information helps!

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!

Hi there and thanks for posting. I would tend to agree with the cardiologist on this one. Having a heart issue does place a greater risk of complication during anesthesia. I would recommend against it unless he dental disease is severe as the cardiologist has recommended. Best wishes to you and Rascal!

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!

No, not at all - especially in a toy breed dog like a Pomeranian, it's far more dangerous to leave the damaged and infected teeth in his mouth. Anesthesia for routine procedures like this is extremely safe, and should not be anything to worry about as long as Poseidon is otherwise healthy. Rotten teeth, on the other hand, are quite painful for him and can also lead to severe bone loss, a fractured jaw, or heart and kidney disease. I would definitely suggest discussing any specific anesthesia concerns that you may have with your vet, but don't let this keep you from getting Poseidon the dental care he needs.

Hi, Sorry to hear Dolly has this heart issue. Anesthesia is always risky, even for perfectly healthy pets. It puts a lot of responsibility for the heart to maintain adequate blood pressure and anesthesia is generally more risky with any heart issues than normal anesthesia. I would recommend that if the teeth just need a general cleaning, to not undergo the procedure and just maintain good dental health by brushing with doggie tooth paste and giving dental chews. If the teeth have a major issue such as a fracture or extraction that is necessary to address, it becomes balancing the risks of leaving a tooth inside that should come out, versus the risks of anesthesia. To fully assess the heart you can get an echocardiogram performed by a cardiologist and consult with them about anesthetic risks. Although if the teeth are fine otherwise, I'd say just maintain vigilant dental health and Dolly will be fine. Hope this helps! -Dr. Gordon