Indi has got to have all her teeth removed.....help please

A bit of background first before my questions.....

We have known for a while that Indi (greyhound) will need all of her teeth removed as they are all bad, the vet said within 6 months which was 3 months ago. So we were at the vets on Monday and are making plans for this to happen. Wizard also has to have 4 teeth out so they both had the pre-op bloods done to check liver function, blood sugars etc etc.

Got the results today and the both came back with perfect results so that is one worry over. The vet also went on to say that because Indi has a heart murmur would we like her to have a heart scan before the operation. This would cost £175 plus the teeth taken out at £250 is quite a lot of money. Indi has had 3 dentals before 2 of which she had several extractions, so this would be her last one to take out her remaining teeth. The heart murmur was picked up about 6 months ago and she has not had an anesthetic since then.

Wizard will have his teeth out after Indi at another £250!

Do you think i should get the scan done to be on the safe side?

and

Do any of you have dogs with no teeth? and what are your experiences?

Any advice welcome

Thanks.xxx

.....ok ...first she will be fine with no teeth her gums will harden and they will be her teeth

part of the reason of pre op bloods is to check internal organs and electrolytes...if her liver and kidneys are fine no need for fluids during the procedure,fluids are a tricky thing with animals with heart disease.
is her murmur a clinical murmur? as the only benefit imo for a scan is to see whats what and to commence on treatment if required..saving another possible g.a.
so its really down to you..if you think she is otherwise well,no coughing good exercise tolerance etc,you could forgo the scan for now.

wish you and your girlie good luck

btw..your vets arnt that expensive

These things are such a worry aren't they, but as Tupacs said the problem of no teeth is not so vast in the scheme of things, although bonios and shapes (do they still do those?) are probably off the menu. Just think of all the dogs that eat their meals with hardly a crunch to be heard!!! It goes down so fast there isn't time for teeth to be involved.

Adding to Tupac's thoughts, the anaesthetic for tooth removal will be relatively light (as opposed to say, an internal operation), so that lessens the risks a little.

Good luck.

Thanks so much that has helped. Not sure if clinical murmur or not?? the vet has just heard it and says without a scan we won't know why it's there he said it could just because she is a fit dog even though she is 10 in June! and it can be common in greyhounds. He said should would not need a g.a to be scanned. She does seem healthy to me otherwise and the vet says having the teeth removed will make her feel so much better. I would just hate for something to go wrong and it could have been prevented by looking into the heart murmur further.

Thanks i feel reassured. Going to be strange having a gummy girl!! She is not a greedy eater and does chew her food mostly which is Arden Grange kibble mixed with something wet to make it more interesting, i hope she can keep to this diet afterward as she does well on it.

Am sure Indi will be ok, sorry cannot add to the very good advice you've been given here and hope all goes well

My beagle has a grade 5/6 heart murmer has had it from birth he has had many anaethstetics over the years with no problems. He had to have his teeth cleaned and a few taken out last year they did the blood tests but didn't suggest the heart scan, he is nearly 7 and is showing no signs of failure yet, fingers crossed. He also had an emergency operation which would have been a full anaethstetic last november so again no time to heart scan he was fine again. I can understand you thinking about doing it though, because you would feel bad if it caused a problem. I don't envy your decision. Hope all goes well.

My greyhound Kyiro has a bad heart murmer, due to something to do with valve or something. He has had a couple of anesthetics now and was fine. Just make sure your vet is aware about anesthetics and greyhounds. I can't remember the full details but I know because they have no body fat anesthetics react differently in them. If you want more detail I can find it out for you.
You can feed the same food afterwards you will just have to soak the kibble well so its nice and soft.

we used to have an old papillon when i was little that had no teeth, he was a babe he coped perfectly fine without his teeth, and the added bonus was if he bit you it didnt hurt

dont worry its one of the first things vets learn

you do not pre med greys..and you use propofol

And given some of the rubbish vets come out with, I would certainly not assume they know somethng even as basic as that! It wouldn't harm to just check. I'm fortunate to have great vets who do their homework but I've been to a few numpty vets - e.g. one who decided to pick my rat up by the end of his tail to examine him for a headtilt, smart idea there Luckily I was there to grab him or the rat could've ended up leaving the vet surgery with more health problems than it went in with!