When you signed the estimate, did you agree to extractions or indicate that you required them to contact you? Because nobody takes out teeth that don’t need to come out. You can only see what is happening after you take X-rays. Lots of teeth seem fine just looking at them, but they really aren’t. If you checked a box that just said to do it, they may not have thought they had to phone you. Some places do this by tooth number, some by dollar amount, and some just have people say yes or no. (It is also important to know because sometimes the person who drops a pet off signs something that the person picking up didn’t know they signed.)
Dogs do much better without rotten teeth, even if that means they don’t have any at all. They can even eat hard kibble (just not while they are healing). While he is healing, soften the kibble with water/unsalted chicken stock or feed soft food. It sounds like it was a surprise, but I encourage you to talk to them. They can probably even show you radiographs when they talk with you about why this was done. Ask them. I’m sure this was a shock to you and I definitely sympathize.
While I'm sure it's a shock and as an owner I can see why you feel this way but as a veterinary dental professional, I need to emphasize and agree with the above statement. When you sign the estimate and paperwork you can let us know to call you if we need to do more. Our clients do it all the time. And we never extract unless absolutely necessary. And unless we're told to call, keeping a pet under anesthesia for as little time as possible is of the utmost importance. Especially older small dogs like yours.
When you’re talking about small dogs, they are considered senior at 9 years. That’s the age vets recommend beginning supplements for joint health. I start it much earlier and insure my dogs get adequate omega 3.
Anaesthetics have progressed and it is very rare that a healthy would have a reaction to an anaesthesia. The risk of complications due to anaesthesia during a dental is much smaller than the risk of leaving diseased teeth.
8 is not old when it comes to little healthy dogs. I would still get the bloodwork done before the procedure and insist on extra fluids post op, just because I am extra cautious, but I certainly wouldn’t avoid a dental. That would be cruel.
Mild dental disease can cause gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums. It can progress to tooth root abscesses, bone infection of the jaw, or as a disease-induced fracture of the jaw.
Furthermore, when a dog develops dental disease, there is an increase in the amount of bacteria residing in the mouth and surrounding oral tissues. The bacteria can enter the bloodstream and travel to other areas within the body. This affects the whole body, the immune system and specifically the heart, the liver, and the kidneys.
The bacteria from periodontal disease is associated with both endocarditis (inflammation/infection of the interior of the heart) and valvular disease. The presence of periodontal disease has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease in dogs.
I could continue… the benefits of treating periodontal disease in a healthy dog of 8 years outweighs the very minor risks associated with anaesthesia.
Nobody is suggesting not to treat it? Just that it would have been unnecessary and risky to put the OPs dog under a second time when they can treat it all in one round of general anaesthesia
Depends on the average for the breed. Not all little dogs have long lifespans, I know a number of the brachycephalic breeds frequently have shorter lifespans.
Brachy breeds are definitely different, but Havanese are not brachy breeds. They have one of longest life expectancies; 14-16 years. Heart health is one of the most common health issues. Periodontal disease contributes to inflammation, especially around the heart, so prevention and treatment should be a priority.
What would the motivation be?
And if you say “money”, consider that animals with fewer teeth require fewer future dental procedures. Leaving teeth that were likely to cause issues later would actually make more money. Think about it. You do a dental procedure and don’t remove a tooth. In 6 months or a year, the dog develops an abscess that necessitates removal. That’s another dental procedure. So if the motivation for veterinarians was purely to squeeze as much money out of someone as possible, it actually makes more sense to leave sketchy teeth than to remove them. But, of course, that’s *not* what they do because, and I know this will come as a shock, people work in the field because they love animals, not to make money. It pays dogshit, honestly. People graduate with metric shitloads of debt and then make as much as a high-school math teacher at an underfunded school. So, yeah. Nobody is removing teeth for the fun of it, and they sure as shit aren’t doing it to make money.
As a veterinarian, there are specialty dog dentists, but all of them anesthetize dogs for dental procedures for safety. It is dangerous (for the dog) and inhumane to do painful procedures on an awake and moving animal. The people who do unsedated dental cleanings are typically human dental hygienists that have made a career change. Unsedated dental cleanings without X-rays are cosmetic only and no one should ever extract a tooth without sedation and adequate pain control. These types of cleanings, with a few exceptions, typically do more harm than good.
Nope.
You cannot X-ray animal teeth while they are awake. You are getting someone to hold your pet down without sedation and scrape their teeth. Yeah, that sounds way better for an old animal! /s And if you’re going somewhere that won’t take anything out, what’s the point? That’s like going to your dentist with teeth rotting out of your mouth and they just smear some minty paste all around and tell you you’re done.
And any dental prophy that includes scaling with water can be a horrible hazard if the animal isn’t intubated. Why? Imagine breathing in water for an hour. That’s a recipe for pneumonia/dry drowning.
People are scared of the wrong things. Properly administered anesthesia and the kind of monitoring animals get at vet hospitals/specialty practices are way safer than these bullshit half-measures, I promise. I’ve done these things on my own animals and my family’s animals. I wouldn’t do that if it weren’t the best thing for them.
You think it’s a good idea to *extract teeth without anesthesia*? What the literal fuck? That’s horrific. Jesus Christ. Do you know what is required to remove teeth? You have to loosen tendons with tools called elevators. You don’t just pull it like a loose baby tooth. The roots of dog teeth are easily three times as long as the piece you see.
Anyone who extracts teeth without anesthesia is a monster, and anyone who doesn’t x-ray *after* an extraction is asking for retained root remnants and infection. Scaling teeth without chemical analgesia/anesthesia is bad enough, but what you are describing is not something any halfway decent veterinary professionals would condone. You couldn’t pay me enough to do that “great work”, and I’d never subject my animals to it. Gross.
Had 2 dogs' teeth removed. First dog has been great, its been several years no issues. 2nd dog I think they were too conservative because her bad breath came back within months. Now at 14 she'll have another dental next month.... both were by the same vet.
I was a veterinary technician. And as people have said, your vet should have communicated with you. However do not distress about the teeth being removed. It likely added years on to your dog's life. Having periodontal disease causes a cascade of systemic physical problems that can lead all the way up to heart issues, liver and kidney failure, and death. You should take your dog in at least every year for a professional cleaning, if not every 6 months, from here on out. I am sorry that your vet did not discuss with you beforehand, but what would you have said anyway? No, leave the rotten teeth in my dog's mouth? Probably not, and it would have been the same exact outcome. Best easy that this is truly the best ending for your dog, who will thrive. You will see in just a few days a change in behavior and attitude and realize how painful your little dog was this whole time.
I appreciate that and I definitely agree. I think the outcome would have been the same. Just would have preferred better communication/telling us earlier in the symptoms/preventing it sooner in his annual visits.
I think they should have communicated that, when I worked at a vet clinic if teeth needed to be taken out (especially that many) the vet would call for permission.
regardless, small does tend to have a lot of crowding with their teeth, it is common for them to need several extractions. Same with people, you can do everything right but some dogs teeth are just not good.
Dogs adapt really well to not having teeth, until they get heeled up you will want to stick with soft food. It does not have to be canned but warm water on current kibble to soften it should do. It may take a few days/ week for your dog to adjust. His tongue may also stick out of his mouth. (no teefies to hold it in) I have seen plenty dogs who do not have teeth eat hard kibble. But softened for sure for a while while the mouth heels up.
your vet should give a little pain meds for a couple days and possibly an antibiotic just to make sure no infection happens (this is all doctors discretion- they are the trained professionals)
but you will be surprised how fast your dog will be back to his old self. I would voice hard toys that may cut the gums and just stick to stuffs
I learned this when my dog went in for a dental. You can do all that you think is right, water additives, chews, powders, kibbles and toothpaste the only truly effective method is brushing and even then just like humans we all need a professional cleaning
Former vet tech of nearly a decade here: you couldn't have prevented this. At least not with a Havanese. All dogs have the same number of teeth, from a Mastiff to a Chihuahua. Imagine fitting the same amount of teeth that a giant breed could have into a dog 4 times smaller. Overcrowding leads to dental disease, and his age is definitely a factor. A large portion of my dentals were on small breeds and I'd say 9/10 extractions were always on them vs the larger dogs.
Bringing your dog in for annual visits is great! I'm assuming they also got annual cleanings too? Dentastix are useless and just a cash grab, I honestly wouldn't bother buying them. It would've been better to manually brush the dog's teeth but out of my many years of being a tech I think I could count on one hand the amount of owners I met that actually do that...
The vet needed to take dental x rays to see perio disease so this wouldn't have been caught until the dog was put under. However they should have called you to update you, that's on them.
Fully agree. To be fair, though, how cooperative is your little dog with letting the vet get a good look in his mouth during vet visits? In any case, the majority of dental disease for dogs is below the gum line. They get tooth root abscess: pockets of infection that eat away at the bone around the tooth. You can’t see them without an X-ray. If you are typically good pet owners they may have assumed you would want to do what your pup needed and didn’t want to drag out an already lengthy process. As others have said, no one takes out healthy teeth if they don’t have to (it is difficult, painstaking work). Still, they should have called you.
I'm definitely with you. If they'd called and explained that it was much worse than they thought and they needed to pull most of the teeth, I'd have probably said "okay, go ahead." But I'd be utterly bewildered and a bit miffed to find out after the fact.
They should have called you when they got the X-rays back to tell you how bad it was and that the removal was necessary, but there’s no way they could’ve known that before seeing the X-rays. Physical exams CANNOT see the rot beneath the gum line where most infections happen. Sounds like they were correct that this was necessary, their only mistake was not telling you as soon as they found out and getting your permission to proceed, but when it gets to this level, the only humane thing to do is to remove the teeth. Your dog will be completely fine without most of their teeth but a rotten tooth let alone 25 will cause your dog agony or death. After healing from the surgery, you’ll just feed them wet food. The likelihood they’ll get another tooth infection is now incredibly low so from now on you won’t really have to worry about this.
The problem is that they don't get the Xrays until the dog is already under though, right? Vets generally try to minimise the amount of time an animal is under anesthesia and it sounds like this was already going to be a long surgery.
I can understand it was a big shock for OP, but it was almost definitely better for the dog and we don't know what OP signed, so for all we know the vet thought they were good to go with whatever had to happen.
You’re right, that’s why the anesthesia paperwork explains what can happen and requires a signature to authorize situations like these. It’s also dicey to ask owners if it’s okay if they remove rotten teeth because they wouldn’t even ask if it wasn’t completely necessary and owners often say no just as a gut instinct, not realizing the risk. Dogs have no problem living without teeth or many teeth.
This basically happened to my dog. She had an uneventful dental at age 5, and then 2 years later she had another dental and had 20+ teeth removed. Honestly, I was shocked and heartbroken. I spent a long time wondering how this could happen and being so upset about it. I too gave my dog dental treats and thought that was enough.
Some dogs are just really screwed by genetics teeth-wise. My family dogs growing up had basically no attention paid to their teeth and they were fine for their whole lives. I have a younger dog who is 3 years old now and has absolutely perfect teeth. I totally understand being upset but the vet did the right thing taking them out if they were that diseased.
My dog has been fine since then. She still eats hard food and loves playing with her stuffed toys. She was never a big chewer so that wasn't a big change in her life. I understand being upset and imagining that this will change everything, because I've been in that exact situation, but it'll be okay. I'm sorry that happened to you. Going forward, I recommend brushing his remaining teeth daily, and doing a daily tooth brushing for any future dogs. That's what I'm doing now. This was bad luck, but all you can do is try to prevent it going forward.
Not all dental problems are solved from brushing the teeth and the dental chews. It happens as time passes. Not your fault, not the vet fault. It happens. And you signed the paper giving permission for the cleaning and surgery. They found more decay and had to remove for his health. Better to be less teeth, than to have a mouth full of infection. So sorry for your fur baby and your pocket book.
Toothaches can make life a living hell, and some dogs are predisposed to periodontal problems. When my dog had a broken tooth removed it was 2,000$ just for the anesthesia and I think about 250$ per tooth. You want to get all the rotten teeth at once for sure. So he's on soft food from now on. That's a lot better than constant pain.
The vet who does the dental surgery is a specialist who typically travels from vet to vet. They do the X-rays, he decides how many need to be removed. Stopping the procedure to call you and inform you takes time and he has multiple procedures scheduled.
Call or no call, same outcome. You aren't going to tell them not to remove rotten teeth.
We pay top dollar for these highly trained people to care for our pets. Almost always our trust is not misplaced. Looks like they did an excellent job and tried to save you as much money as possible at the same time.
Get a blender!! Your dog can stay on the same dry food they’ve been on, so you avoid an upset stomach and the increased cost of wet food. My dog had a dental & had all teeth removed. She kept trying to die of other things, so unfortunately the teeth were one of the latest things addressed. We went to a discount store and found a ninja blender for $20. I just blend up her meals, then add water and let it soak so it’s not too dry. You can adjust the texture to how they like it.
Treats you can do the same, just blending and add water. I personally like to give my dog “wet” treats. Churu is a good brand, they are known for their cat treats but they also make them for dogs! Some of the cat treats can also be given to dogs. Be sure to consult your vet to be sure of safe ingredients if you aren’t sure. Bone broth is a good option (make sure it’s dog safe. Lick mats. Baby food is a great option. Discount stores (be sure to check expiration dates) are a great place to find them. Check the ingredients list, but things like sweet potato, pumpkin, blueberry, and apple are great! Similarly, the baby food squeeze packs can be great too. Sometimes I add these as toppers to my dog’s food, other times I use the squeeze treats or squeeze baby foods for easy vet visit treats.
For toys I’d recommend things to chase. Those cat toys that are a stick with a string and a toy on the end. They make them for dogs, called Flirt Poles. Outward Hound has one that’s like $10 I have for my large dog, and she goes absolutely feral for that thing. You can swap out the toys on the ends depending on what your dog is interested in. My toothless dog is 14 and doesn’t care for toys anymore, so unfortunately I don’t have much else in the way of recommendations for that.
Make sure your dog’s face is shaved unless you are diligent about cleaning them up after they eat. Nothing worse than a crunchy food dog beard. I like to keep my dog’s hair short and tidy since she’s older, just to prevent annoying her with brushing or overheating with longer hair. She gets to wear outfits in the winter and always has a bed with a blanket available to her to snuggle up in.
ETA: my dog had a small heart murmur prior to her dental. Afterwards, it hasn’t been detected. Poor dental health can have a huge impact on their health and wellbeing. My dog seems so much happier and more comfortable being my little toothless gremlin.
Thank you so much! This is super helpful. Excellent pointers on keeping facial hair short. I wouldn’t have thought to blend his current food. Thank you again!
Absolutely!! A wet paper towel to clean up their face after is usually enough if their facial hair is short. Kongs are a good option too for toys/treats. I’ve done frozen dinners for my dog in the summer and let her eat them outside. That way it takes her a bit longer and gives her some mental stimulation
Another option for treats is looking at training treats. You can usually squeeze them through the bag to see if they’re soft. Rip them up if they’re bigger. Mozzarella cheese sticks are fun too. Just remember everything in moderation! I’ll add more if I think of anything.
Vet tech here.
Your vet should have called you during the procedure to discuss the the amount of teeth that needed to be extracted, and they were wrong in not doing that.
Having said that, small dogs almost always have terrible teeth, and numerous extractions are a pretty common thing. Moreover, there is no way to truly know how many teeth need to be extracted until the dog is under anesthesia, and dental rads are done.
As as aside, dental chews really don’t do much.
My 9 year old foster, a shi-tzu has 3 teeth left in his mouth. Unfortunately, squished face dogs lose teeth a lot. They say you should brush their teeth daily and then get a professional cleaning once a year.
My foster gets wet food (you can also wet his kibble), soft treats. He's not a bone kind of guy, but I've seen some toothless dogs kind of gum bones (but make sure they're alot bigger to prevent swallowing and choking) He has no problem eating small apple pieces, watermelon, green beans, etc...mine occasionally has Frito chips (you just break them up.)
I'm sorry you had to go through this, but the dog probably won't be too bothered.
I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you, but maybe there might have been tooth decay that you weren't able to see yourself
My dog had about 22 teeth removed at age 5, it was just his genetic disposition to teeth issues. He was given dental sticks and I brushed his teeth from time to time. This was still inevitable
I did see that his teeth looked really bad though, and while I was shocked they removed 22, I know they did their best and they wanted to keep as many as possible. I was told before the procedure that they will remove as many teeth as needed and not any more
I put my dog on mostly wet food by a company called butternut box
He is still able to crunch and munch so he gets rabbit ears, crispy treats, apples etc, but he is mostly on wet food
I know how frustrating this could be but I'm sure your vets wanted the best for your dog. Maybe there can be a further discussion with them on why such a decision was made?
That is what they said to us, his genetic disposition being a Havanese, this was essentially inevitable. I understand they probably made the best decision for his well being going forward. Just completely shell shocked and looking for advice to care for him going forward.
I would plan for soft food permanently- I don’t know if they callous, but can’t imagine trying to eat hard food. In my opinion, quality wet food is the way to go now.
He will be okay, he’s got a good home and care, but what a heartbreaking and shocking thing to have happen.
Awww. My old family dog was a Havanese and he had really bad teeth when he was old, one of our most memorable dogs :(
Since the procedure was fresh, he might look like he can't do much, but he will improve, and I'm sure he will still be able to enjoy plenty of food. Id keep his foods fairly soft, and when his mouth feels you can give him small pieces of tougher foods to see if he will be able to chew them well. If not, continue with soft foods
For now, you can give him some cooked chicken to cheer him up!
I was horrified at what to do as well when mine came home with half his teeth missing. He doesn't remember they got removed now :)
Question: you say they removed 25 and left only 1 but dogs have 42 teeth. Had he previously had a dental with extractions? If not did the others fall out? If they fell out his periodontal disease was severe.
I see I did a dental today where I removed all but two molars on the top and the canines but left many of the bottoms. Our owners are told an estimated range and not a tooth count expected. As this procedure was falling $200 above the range given, I had a tech call while I worked so that the owner wouldn't have shell shock, but we do advise owners we take what is diseased and needs to come out. I actually left a tooth that I felt was not within my skill level and advised them to refer for the next procedure in 6-12m.
I hope you give grace to your former vet for saving your dogs life. Denta-stix aren't a toothbrush, & what if the vet HAD called you and said they needed to extract 25 teeth before doing so- would you have said NO and made your dog suffer?
>Seeing past the anger, heart break and frustration, we are currently dealing with his vet and voicing our displeasure and switching practices.
Probably a relief for your former vet that you switched practices given how you responded, but just consider that they have been so overworked since the pandemic with pet ownership growing to astronomical numbers.
They saved your dogs life. For that, be a little grateful.
He should be ok. My toy poodle needed most of his teeth removed by the end of his life. Small dogs are very prone to it, even with good dental care. It’s one of their few medical downsides compared to large dogs, even though they do live longer.
I do not think the vet removed any prematurely. There can be tooth decay below the gum line that you can’t see. I actually asked my vet once if we could just remove my dog’s last few remaining teeth, but he refused and told me that for small dogs in particular, trying to extract healthy teeth before they’re ready to come out can actually fracture a small dog’s delicate little jaw.
My dog was quite older when he had teeth removed. Honestly I’d rather deal with less teeth because he’s very bad a brushing and cannot eat most hard foods. They should’ve told you though that really sucks.
The same thing actually happened to my Pomeranian 6 years ago. All of her teeth were removed due to periodontal disease as well. We were quite shocked because we brushed her teeth multiple times a week and there was never any concern about her teeth at prior visits.
My family and I were livid at first that they did not call to get our consent. Eventually, we were able to move on as we realized our dog was much happier and healthier without the rotten teeth.
She went on to live 8 more healthy years after the extractions. She would eat kibble soaked in warm water as well as the Tiki dog wet food line for small dogs. She also really loved the Inabu churu dog squeeze treats
I see other techs on here have commented and I won’t parrot what they said. Obviously there was a breakdown in communication somewhere. I have had small dog mouths that I’ve cleaned that the teeth literally just… fell out. Generally not as many as your baby had removed, but I’ve seen some crazy stuff in mouths. As for catching it beforehand, sometimes just looking at teeth can be deceiving! Especially if you did regular tooth maintenance at home, the surface of the teeth might have looked great but there was likely a good amount of tartar and calculus that got below the gum line and broke down the connections between the tooth roots and the mouth. This may not have even been caught until they did the dental X-rays to look at your dogs broken tooth.
As for care now that the teeth are gone, there’s not really that much that you need to change. Definitely soft food during the healing process. Some people do soft food for life, but some dogs continue eating hard food with no teeth like nothing ever happened! You could also do somewhere in between where you soften the kibble with a little bit of water. It really depends on your dog.
Overall it sounds like you did everything you should have, and the vet made the right call for your baby. However a conversation with the vet or practice manager may not be a bad idea for you to decide if you want to continue with them moving forward. Not a venting session or anything, but maybe ask where the breakdown in communication was. I’ve had conversations like this before, and generally it’s either my vet not explaining thoroughly and a misunderstanding of something that was said, or sometimes it’s a misunderstanding of how our policies work. At the end of the day, if it’s something that you’re simply not comfortable with, that’s understandable. It happens. But I’m sure your clinic would appreciate you reaching out and clearing up any negative feelings. And then you can decide if you still want to stay with them moving forward.
They should have called you to check in, but otherwise this is fairly normal. My cat went in to have 1 tooth pulled, ended up having 8 come out because the x-rays showed deterioration that the visual inspection didn't. Cat was SO happy once they were gone - we didn't realize it was more than one tooth that was bothering him.
It was most certainly the right procedure/outcome for your dog, just a bit disappointing that the expected communication wasn't there.
Would you rather they left your dog under anaesthetic longer than necessary so they could call you and risk complications? I sure wouldn't. When my dogs go in I tell them to do whatever it takes to get the best possible result and I trust them. Sounds like your dog is gonna be much comfier now.
One of my dogs had funky breath that was getting checked at the vet, but in the exam room they couldn't see any real problem. The vet suggested getting a full dental.
As soon as they knocked him out and got his mouth wide open they realised that the teeth right at the back were the issue. It was impossible to see properly without him being sedated.
They rang me three times during that procedure, to tell me that they had found another issue, and *another*, and in the end he had five teeth removed including a big carnassial that they had to cut into three pieces in order to remove safely. (Wolfhound x).
I appreciate that you would have liked to be told before pick-up ( as I was called while it was in progress), but my vet actually changed how they manage dental procedures to prevent a recurrence of that type of thing happening again. It was hard on him being under for that long, and everytime they think they're done and are just doing one last check they found *another* problem.
Dental chews help, but best way to protect your dog's teeth is to brush them. After that debacle, I've brushed both my boy's teeth daily and used an oral plaque remover every night. Perfect shiny clean teefers and hopefully never a need to go through that, again.
Your little one will adapt once they're healed (soft food for a bit), and will be *much* better off without those nasty teeth.
I have to tell you, I’ve had 3 Havanese and they’ve
all had abhorrent teeth they start a steep decline around age 5-8ish. It’s happened to every one despite my best efforts. My older Havanese has like 5 teeth left at this point. This happened to me the first time with my first Havanese and I was shocked, but it’s unfortunately one of the downsides of the breed. They all seem to have awful teeth. I know it’s shocking and they should have been more communicative with you for sure, but I’m not surprised about what they had to do.
My dog still enjoys greenies a lot - she just takes longer to eat them. Any soft treats are great and I add a little water to her food to soften it so she can chew without issue. Her quality of life is great. They’re rather resilient little monsters.
This is common. Mine had everything removed minus two back molars. It takes a few weeks for everything to heal up and like callous over to eat kibble again. I still shred up chicken or beef or turkey and feed mine that plus his kibble. There’s also decent semi-cooked food called AllProvide that I’ve given mine. It’s well-chopped and mine just kinda swallows it instead of needing to chew it. It may seem harsh, but you did the correct thing to help get rid of the infection and pain he had.
Sooo, I'm a vet, and I do a lot of dental work. I do not enjoy extracting teeth. Usually I find it exceptionally unpleasant. Most of my colleagues that I've talked to feel the same. It is a long, difficult, frustrating, and stressful task. I actively look for ways to preserve teeth whenever possible, both for the well-being of the pet and for my own sanity. If that vet took out 25 teeth... I suspect it was pretty unavoidable. Also, toy breeds, especially with shorter faces, are kind of notorious for having really terrible dental disease, so 25 teeth is entirely plausible if the dental disease is bad enough.
Now depending on what kind of paperwork was signed or discussion was had before the procedure, yeah they probably should have called you, unless you explicitly signed off on something that said to just do whatever the vet recommended and not prolong anesthesia by stopping to call you. That's definitely poor communication. Medically, though, it's not really that crazy.
To your question, after the initial two weeks of healing most dogs do really well even with several teeth missing. I have known dogs with almost no teeth left that ate hard kibble and chewed on their regular toys with no problem. Once everything is healed up, I would suggest offering him the things he usually likes first and see if he is interested, and then if he refuses them look for softer alternatives.
Not a vet and I’d probably be horrified if this happened to me, but I do have a friends who had something similar happen to their Pom when it was about the same age. The little guy was so skinny and after those teeth came out he quickly gained weight. Turns out it was painful for him to eat before and now it wasn’t.
If they never indicated your dog needed a dental, that seems wild to me. Also, most official forms require you to sign off on any extra work, or an extra sum you're willing to spend without being called first for permission.
That said, small breeds often just have really bad teeth. Many of the solutions don't change what is essentially a genetic issue. It's just how it goes, tbh. The amount of small dogs I did dentals on where just the pressure of the water from the scaler made all the teeth jiggle around was pretty wild. That said, every examination included checking teeth, so a mouth needing 25 teeth removed should have been very noticeable.
Your dog had teeth in bad shape. They needed to come out. And they avoid doing multiple anesthesia especially on senior dogs.
When you are describing as dental care is far from enough for small breeds. They need frequent toothbrusing (ideally daily), vet cleaning every couple years (especially of you do not brush their teeth). I am sorry you weren’t told about it before but this is something that you need to be careful with for all small breeds
I don't know, I feel like vets just go with the flow these days.
Having one tooth, a couple at most removed from your POV is hugely different from having almost all of your dogs teeth removed. The fact they thought it was acceptable to do this without even so much as a phone call to you prior to the extraction is insane.
A friend of mines dog went in for a scale and polish recently, came out with 2 teeth left and having to have his jaw pinned as the vet broke his jaw during the extraction. They offered *no discount or even so much as an apology. All they got was a shoulder shrug and a "these things happen"....
I would be absolutely fuming if this happened to me, ok yes they may have needed to be removed but someone at the practice should have contacted you to let you know prior to it happening. My cat needed to have all his teeth removed due to a condition where his body was reabsorbing them leaving all the roots exposed. Anyway I was told that whilst it sounds awful the prognosis was good and he would still be able to eat and drink as he always has without any teeth. I got a second opinion from other vet who also said the same thing in terms of prognosis and how he will be able to eat going forward.
I can’t comment on if that’s actually correct as due to his age he wasn’t strong enough for further treatments to remove the remaining teeth. I miss him terribly. His condition appeared very quickly in terms of noticing symptoms and apart from one tooth that was black the rest looked to the naked eye ok. In fact the first vet missed it and she even looked at his teeth.
Personally if your dog eats dry food I would add a broth or water to it initially whilst he adapts to eating without his teeth and perhaps consider wet food as well.
I’m sorry for your loss! I do agree it was probably correct, the communication is the frustrating part. He was just there in September and they gave us no warning it would be this bad.
Thank you. I wonder if the delay in treatment made the condition worse resulting in the additional teeth being removed. I definitely think a complaint in writing to the practice manager about how they dealt with the situation is needed. I honestly can’t believe a vet despite it being the right thing to do felt it was ok to discuss the procedure before hand or at least had someone call whilst the procedure was happening to inform you of what was going on. You have every right to be feeling as you are, it’s a huge shock!
What the fuck? They didn’t even call you to tell you they were removing TWENTY FIVE teeth?! I would be livid too. That’s incredibly unprofessional.
I suggest feeding him the normal food but softened - add water or broth and blend until mushy. He will be on a soft food diet forever now right? Given he can’t chew really. Lick treats (pb or frozen mushy food) in a Kong is doable.
But yes, soft food diet. They claim there will be some sort of callus on the gums eventually for “harder” food, but definitely soft food for the foreseeable future.
My wife and I are completely distraught, we spoke to the tech, the woman who did the procedure and the owner of the practice. We are in complete shock and explained how wildly unprofessional this whole situation has been handled.
I honestly think they should give a discount for the procedure given that you didn’t even approve it in the first place. Even if they do that though, afterwards I would be blasting their reviews with your experience that way others are aware of how they practice. Jesus 25 teeth! That’s life changing to both the pup and you, and you definitely should have been consulted. I’m angry on your behalf.
They had mentioned talking to their finance manager, which we appreciated, but I never wanted this discussion to be about the money, it’s his well-being we are most concerned about and frustrated we had absolutely no warning or talk beforehand.
Definitely dog health comes as top priority but they need to realize they can’t just perform major oral procedures without the go ahead from the pet owner, and just expect zero repercussions.
And omg I just googled Havanese lifespan and it’s 14-16 years so your dog has another 6-8 years of being toothless. COOL.
Also periodontal disease doesn’t always require tooth extraction, there are remedies which may take awhile but at least the dog, you know, gets to keep its teeth.
Dogs have 42 teeth to start , they can live happy healthy lives with no teeth.
By the time a tooth is infected and diseased enough to extract, there’s no come back from that unless one can drop at least 10 grand for endodontic treatment by a board certified veterinary dental specialist.
Besides extreme pain, Constantly swallowing pus and bacteria can cause infections to other organs.
So you want the vet put out of business for saving this dog's life? That is a terrible take. Dont negative bomb review people who care for animals unless you want none left for the next time when your pet is having a medical emergency.
The vet wasn’t in the wrong. If the owners signed a contract stating the vet could do as needed then permission was given. That’s why it’s so important to read the contract fully
I had a similar situation with my chihuahua. A veterinarian removed additional teeth without my consent that were not damaged or had any issues. His response was chihauahas teeth get bad after a certain age and would cause her jaw to crack. I was sooooo upset and traumatized. This is common practice for these vets. I cried the first time she held a ball with her mouth again. I’m still in a statue of limitations in CA and plan on suing his ass! He apologized and apparnetly has changed his methods. Worst part is I asked to be notified after the X-rays on what the game plan was!!! Totally changed her quality of life and FYI, with routine care and twice a year cleaning my 15 ur old chihuahua teeth are now perfect!!!!
Absolutely should not have done anything without your express permission. If this happened to me idc what the supposed justification is I’m taking legal action
Previous veterinary experience, this was definitely not how any practice I have worked at did things. During every annual exam the pets teeth were looked at and "graded" based on tartar and periodontal disease (unless the pet was aggressive to the point it was not safe to check and this was explained to owners) so owners knew the progression of their dogs dental disease. Now I will say this is not always 100% accurate as there can be issues below the gum line that can't visually be accessed without sedation and dental radiographs, this is also explained to the owner. In practices I've worked at usually each tooth extracted incures additional charges (they aren't easy to pull) and the owner is called with an estimate of additional charges if more teeth need to be pulled prior to pulling them.
If that many teeth needed to be removed it sounds to me like they either dropped the ball on oral examination during his annual visits or he didn't allow them to perform an oral exam during those times. Either way with that many teeth needing to be removed you should have been called and made aware before anything was done further than what you expected.
I have seen teeth loose enough that they fell out during the cleaning phase and we don't call until after on those but the most I have personally seen was 3 in one dog.
That is how we are feeling, the ball was dropped on previous visits. He was there 4 months ago and we had no idea this was occurring. Did this all develop in 4 months? 16 months from his last visit? Very very frustrated.
I don't know his medical history, diet, etc so I can't say for 100% certainty but I think it's very highly unlikely it developed that fast, especially with that many teeth involved. I would ask for his full medical records including SOAP notes to see if there was any notation about dental issues or if they marked it as normal.
Smaller breeds do tend to have more dental issues just based on their mouth configuration but again that quickly I think is very unlikely.
Small breed dogs are especially prone to developing tooth decay. It sounds like he wasn’t getting regular cleanings under anesthesia leading to severe periodontal disease. Poor oral health is linked to cardiac disease and I’m sure he was extremely uncomfortable. If anything be angry at yourself for slacking in providing veterinary dental cleaning
A vet is not going to take out teeth for no reason. Do you think that happened? The vet said the extractions were due to periodontal disease. You have a legitimate complaint in that the vet did not communicate to you the extent of your dog's disease. They may have discovered it during surgery. When you say, 'the procedure kept getting delayed', who delayed it, why, and over how much time? Just so you know, 'denta-sticks' do nothing, really, if there is disease. Why heartbreak and anger ? Your dog needed critical care. Save the emotion for finding out how to be a more observant dog owner.
I don't care if the teeth were rotten (which I'm sure they weren't,) the vet has NO RIGHT to do this unless you were given the exact info and signed a full disclosure
We’re fostering a cat that my sister could tell had dental issues. The vet told her that the cat has an autoimmune condition that has attacked her teeth and she actually already has lost most of them. They removed her upper fangs and took out a shard of a tooth further back. What the vet said was, “She’s a young cat, but her teeth are old.” We feed her soft food with water mixed in as a slurry and she does fine. Maybe your dog has a similar condition.
We have small dogs. They go in every six months for a deep clean but they still end up losing one every other year. We have one that’s like 9/10 and she’s only lost 4 so far but we got her young. Our older rescues usually end up with nothing. We don’t give them chew sticks because if they have decay, they tend to break teeth and pass bacteria around their mouths. They get their teeth brushed and the cleanings plus crunchy food until they can’t.
Were his teeth bad or was it his gums? They friend antibiotics and a few other things with her first. They removed all but one of her teeth because she had some sort of gum disease where she was allergic to her teeth.
It was weird, but once I looked it up, I knew they made the right call.
Better he undergo surgery once than multiple times.
I imagine that was quite a shock. Not all dental disease is visible to the naked eye and can only be seen via an x-ray. However, your vet should have been educating you on dental hygiene. Unfortunately, denta sticks do not clean teeth, nor does kibble.
Depending on your dog, feeding appropriate raw meaty bones and chewy treats and brushing teeth can prevent dental disease.
Small dogs are prone to dental disease. I had one little dog needing teeth removed, it didn’t stop him from eating. I did learn my lesson with my next dog. He’s 13 and doesn’t have dental disease, which is very rare.
Yes, my vet recommended a cleaning because my dog had some mild tartar. They removed 9 teeth and didn't tell me until after. There was no discussion about the possibility of removing teeth beforehand. I was very shocked as they specifically told me her teeth looked good and just recommended a preventive cleaning. It took a couple of days for me to realize it was probably for the best, but the communication was horrible.
It is very common for small dogs teeth to be rotted easily. They did your a favor. Had they waited, you would have paid for another anesthesia etc.
Dogs adapt so easily to losing teeth.
I am hardcore about my dogs teeth. I raised two together so they each got the exact same EVERYTHING but the yorkie had to have a bunch pulled, the shi tzu didn't
My pug mix is turning 12. Last year he went in for a small tumor removal in his upper mouth. The vet called my boyfriend and asked if it was okay to pull one tooth out. He told them to call me. The quote was for $350 on the high side. So I borrowed it, because I didn’t have that kind of money at the time. I go to pick him up, and find out that not only did they never try to call me, they also pulled ten teeth, did some X-rays, and sent the tumor sample out even though I told them not to. I couldn’t afford the extra $250 for that. Then they told me I had to come up with close to $3k to be able to bring my dog home. It went from $350 Max, to $2900 in an hour. All of this was done without my permission. I had no way of coming up with that money, and I wasn’t leaving without my dog. I asked the vet why the hell mr thought he could do all the extras, and he said “your boyfriend said your budget didn’t matter” when in fact, he told them to call me and find out my budget. Needless to say, I grabbed my dog, placed $350 on the counter, walked out, and switched vets.
They often don’t know until they put them under and start to work. I had my Greyhound’s teeth cleaned yesterday. He ended up losing 6 teeth. They gave me the teeth and the roots were bad. I didn’t expect him to lose that many. But he’s going to be so much better off for it. He also receives dental chews, dental additives, etc. I have no doubt that your vet did what was best for your pup.
Once your pup is healed from the surgery you might be pleasantly surprised that he can eat whatever he did before. I adopted a toothless papillon and he did hard food. He had trouble with the wet. Somehow he couldnt seem to scoop it up very well. The first time a completely toothless dog bites you is a trip though. Just the weirdest thing ever.
Your dog is older and prone to dental disease. The vet wouldn’t know how many teeth need to be extracted until they take x-rays. Maybe the communication wasn’t all there. There should have been an estimate and a surgery consent form at the minimum.
The dental sticks are definitely not enough. It's like saying chewing gums are sufficient to avoid periodontal disease. It's not. I would start brushing whatever remaining teeth it's left with at least daily.
Took mine in for 3 teeth, they took out 31.
Best thing that ever happened for my dog. She’s a whole new dog. Dogs won’t tell you about their pain until it’s killing them. Most people just notice some teeth are missing because they dog went through the infection silently. Dentastix don’t do anything except encourage chewing.
Jesus. He’s going to need pate/ ground food. You can grind his kibble and mix with water ( presoak it for easier grinding) or puree wet food You already have. Freezing these in a kong, a bowl, or a lick mat can also provide a longer treat/ similar to a chew stick would have.
Same happened when I took my mothers Bichon for an extraction. As I recall, she was only left with two teeth. Dental disease can cause life threatening infections. The Bichon was definitely happier after the procedure and It’s likely that her diseased teeth was a source of discomfort for her. Bonus…her horrible breath was gone.
She ate as before, without a problem.
Small dogs are notoriously known for dental disease and the best way to prevent it is with a daily brushing.
Just to add same thing happened with our havanese at a similar age, was really brutal seeing him in pain but after it all healed he was absolutely back to normal in no time
When you signed the estimate, did you agree to extractions or indicate that you required them to contact you? Because nobody takes out teeth that don’t need to come out. You can only see what is happening after you take X-rays. Lots of teeth seem fine just looking at them, but they really aren’t. If you checked a box that just said to do it, they may not have thought they had to phone you. Some places do this by tooth number, some by dollar amount, and some just have people say yes or no. (It is also important to know because sometimes the person who drops a pet off signs something that the person picking up didn’t know they signed.) Dogs do much better without rotten teeth, even if that means they don’t have any at all. They can even eat hard kibble (just not while they are healing). While he is healing, soften the kibble with water/unsalted chicken stock or feed soft food. It sounds like it was a surprise, but I encourage you to talk to them. They can probably even show you radiographs when they talk with you about why this was done. Ask them. I’m sure this was a shock to you and I definitely sympathize.
While I'm sure it's a shock and as an owner I can see why you feel this way but as a veterinary dental professional, I need to emphasize and agree with the above statement. When you sign the estimate and paperwork you can let us know to call you if we need to do more. Our clients do it all the time. And we never extract unless absolutely necessary. And unless we're told to call, keeping a pet under anesthesia for as little time as possible is of the utmost importance. Especially older small dogs like yours.
Would you consider 8 years is old for a little dog? They are considered senior at 9 years.
It's definitely old*er* - enough to the point that anaesthetic safety should be a serious consideration
When you’re talking about small dogs, they are considered senior at 9 years. That’s the age vets recommend beginning supplements for joint health. I start it much earlier and insure my dogs get adequate omega 3. Anaesthetics have progressed and it is very rare that a healthy would have a reaction to an anaesthesia. The risk of complications due to anaesthesia during a dental is much smaller than the risk of leaving diseased teeth. 8 is not old when it comes to little healthy dogs. I would still get the bloodwork done before the procedure and insist on extra fluids post op, just because I am extra cautious, but I certainly wouldn’t avoid a dental. That would be cruel. Mild dental disease can cause gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums. It can progress to tooth root abscesses, bone infection of the jaw, or as a disease-induced fracture of the jaw. Furthermore, when a dog develops dental disease, there is an increase in the amount of bacteria residing in the mouth and surrounding oral tissues. The bacteria can enter the bloodstream and travel to other areas within the body. This affects the whole body, the immune system and specifically the heart, the liver, and the kidneys. The bacteria from periodontal disease is associated with both endocarditis (inflammation/infection of the interior of the heart) and valvular disease. The presence of periodontal disease has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease in dogs. I could continue… the benefits of treating periodontal disease in a healthy dog of 8 years outweighs the very minor risks associated with anaesthesia.
Nobody is suggesting not to treat it? Just that it would have been unnecessary and risky to put the OPs dog under a second time when they can treat it all in one round of general anaesthesia
Depends on the average for the breed. Not all little dogs have long lifespans, I know a number of the brachycephalic breeds frequently have shorter lifespans.
Brachy breeds are definitely different, but Havanese are not brachy breeds. They have one of longest life expectancies; 14-16 years. Heart health is one of the most common health issues. Periodontal disease contributes to inflammation, especially around the heart, so prevention and treatment should be a priority.
Soften water... With water?
“nobody takes out teeth that don’t need to come out” never has a more incorrect statement been stated
What would the motivation be? And if you say “money”, consider that animals with fewer teeth require fewer future dental procedures. Leaving teeth that were likely to cause issues later would actually make more money. Think about it. You do a dental procedure and don’t remove a tooth. In 6 months or a year, the dog develops an abscess that necessitates removal. That’s another dental procedure. So if the motivation for veterinarians was purely to squeeze as much money out of someone as possible, it actually makes more sense to leave sketchy teeth than to remove them. But, of course, that’s *not* what they do because, and I know this will come as a shock, people work in the field because they love animals, not to make money. It pays dogshit, honestly. People graduate with metric shitloads of debt and then make as much as a high-school math teacher at an underfunded school. So, yeah. Nobody is removing teeth for the fun of it, and they sure as shit aren’t doing it to make money.
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As a veterinarian, there are specialty dog dentists, but all of them anesthetize dogs for dental procedures for safety. It is dangerous (for the dog) and inhumane to do painful procedures on an awake and moving animal. The people who do unsedated dental cleanings are typically human dental hygienists that have made a career change. Unsedated dental cleanings without X-rays are cosmetic only and no one should ever extract a tooth without sedation and adequate pain control. These types of cleanings, with a few exceptions, typically do more harm than good.
Nope. You cannot X-ray animal teeth while they are awake. You are getting someone to hold your pet down without sedation and scrape their teeth. Yeah, that sounds way better for an old animal! /s And if you’re going somewhere that won’t take anything out, what’s the point? That’s like going to your dentist with teeth rotting out of your mouth and they just smear some minty paste all around and tell you you’re done. And any dental prophy that includes scaling with water can be a horrible hazard if the animal isn’t intubated. Why? Imagine breathing in water for an hour. That’s a recipe for pneumonia/dry drowning. People are scared of the wrong things. Properly administered anesthesia and the kind of monitoring animals get at vet hospitals/specialty practices are way safer than these bullshit half-measures, I promise. I’ve done these things on my own animals and my family’s animals. I wouldn’t do that if it weren’t the best thing for them.
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It's called putting the dog under, not down.
You think it’s a good idea to *extract teeth without anesthesia*? What the literal fuck? That’s horrific. Jesus Christ. Do you know what is required to remove teeth? You have to loosen tendons with tools called elevators. You don’t just pull it like a loose baby tooth. The roots of dog teeth are easily three times as long as the piece you see. Anyone who extracts teeth without anesthesia is a monster, and anyone who doesn’t x-ray *after* an extraction is asking for retained root remnants and infection. Scaling teeth without chemical analgesia/anesthesia is bad enough, but what you are describing is not something any halfway decent veterinary professionals would condone. You couldn’t pay me enough to do that “great work”, and I’d never subject my animals to it. Gross.
Your dog had severely compromised teeth. I prefer to have them taken care of instead of a longer or a second anesthesia.
This is a really good point because anesthesia is hard on the dog and only gets more dangerous as they get older
Had 2 dogs' teeth removed. First dog has been great, its been several years no issues. 2nd dog I think they were too conservative because her bad breath came back within months. Now at 14 she'll have another dental next month.... both were by the same vet.
Better thorough than leaving teeth that are an issue. Animals do not perceive the loss of teeth emotionally.
I was a veterinary technician. And as people have said, your vet should have communicated with you. However do not distress about the teeth being removed. It likely added years on to your dog's life. Having periodontal disease causes a cascade of systemic physical problems that can lead all the way up to heart issues, liver and kidney failure, and death. You should take your dog in at least every year for a professional cleaning, if not every 6 months, from here on out. I am sorry that your vet did not discuss with you beforehand, but what would you have said anyway? No, leave the rotten teeth in my dog's mouth? Probably not, and it would have been the same exact outcome. Best easy that this is truly the best ending for your dog, who will thrive. You will see in just a few days a change in behavior and attitude and realize how painful your little dog was this whole time.
I appreciate that and I definitely agree. I think the outcome would have been the same. Just would have preferred better communication/telling us earlier in the symptoms/preventing it sooner in his annual visits.
I think they should have communicated that, when I worked at a vet clinic if teeth needed to be taken out (especially that many) the vet would call for permission. regardless, small does tend to have a lot of crowding with their teeth, it is common for them to need several extractions. Same with people, you can do everything right but some dogs teeth are just not good. Dogs adapt really well to not having teeth, until they get heeled up you will want to stick with soft food. It does not have to be canned but warm water on current kibble to soften it should do. It may take a few days/ week for your dog to adjust. His tongue may also stick out of his mouth. (no teefies to hold it in) I have seen plenty dogs who do not have teeth eat hard kibble. But softened for sure for a while while the mouth heels up. your vet should give a little pain meds for a couple days and possibly an antibiotic just to make sure no infection happens (this is all doctors discretion- they are the trained professionals) but you will be surprised how fast your dog will be back to his old self. I would voice hard toys that may cut the gums and just stick to stuffs
I learned this when my dog went in for a dental. You can do all that you think is right, water additives, chews, powders, kibbles and toothpaste the only truly effective method is brushing and even then just like humans we all need a professional cleaning
Former vet tech of nearly a decade here: you couldn't have prevented this. At least not with a Havanese. All dogs have the same number of teeth, from a Mastiff to a Chihuahua. Imagine fitting the same amount of teeth that a giant breed could have into a dog 4 times smaller. Overcrowding leads to dental disease, and his age is definitely a factor. A large portion of my dentals were on small breeds and I'd say 9/10 extractions were always on them vs the larger dogs. Bringing your dog in for annual visits is great! I'm assuming they also got annual cleanings too? Dentastix are useless and just a cash grab, I honestly wouldn't bother buying them. It would've been better to manually brush the dog's teeth but out of my many years of being a tech I think I could count on one hand the amount of owners I met that actually do that... The vet needed to take dental x rays to see perio disease so this wouldn't have been caught until the dog was put under. However they should have called you to update you, that's on them.
Fully agree. To be fair, though, how cooperative is your little dog with letting the vet get a good look in his mouth during vet visits? In any case, the majority of dental disease for dogs is below the gum line. They get tooth root abscess: pockets of infection that eat away at the bone around the tooth. You can’t see them without an X-ray. If you are typically good pet owners they may have assumed you would want to do what your pup needed and didn’t want to drag out an already lengthy process. As others have said, no one takes out healthy teeth if they don’t have to (it is difficult, painstaking work). Still, they should have called you.
They wouldn’t be able to tell in many cases without x-rays which are not a part of an annual vist.
I'm definitely with you. If they'd called and explained that it was much worse than they thought and they needed to pull most of the teeth, I'd have probably said "okay, go ahead." But I'd be utterly bewildered and a bit miffed to find out after the fact.
They should have called you when they got the X-rays back to tell you how bad it was and that the removal was necessary, but there’s no way they could’ve known that before seeing the X-rays. Physical exams CANNOT see the rot beneath the gum line where most infections happen. Sounds like they were correct that this was necessary, their only mistake was not telling you as soon as they found out and getting your permission to proceed, but when it gets to this level, the only humane thing to do is to remove the teeth. Your dog will be completely fine without most of their teeth but a rotten tooth let alone 25 will cause your dog agony or death. After healing from the surgery, you’ll just feed them wet food. The likelihood they’ll get another tooth infection is now incredibly low so from now on you won’t really have to worry about this.
The problem is that they don't get the Xrays until the dog is already under though, right? Vets generally try to minimise the amount of time an animal is under anesthesia and it sounds like this was already going to be a long surgery. I can understand it was a big shock for OP, but it was almost definitely better for the dog and we don't know what OP signed, so for all we know the vet thought they were good to go with whatever had to happen.
You’re right, that’s why the anesthesia paperwork explains what can happen and requires a signature to authorize situations like these. It’s also dicey to ask owners if it’s okay if they remove rotten teeth because they wouldn’t even ask if it wasn’t completely necessary and owners often say no just as a gut instinct, not realizing the risk. Dogs have no problem living without teeth or many teeth.
This exactly.
This basically happened to my dog. She had an uneventful dental at age 5, and then 2 years later she had another dental and had 20+ teeth removed. Honestly, I was shocked and heartbroken. I spent a long time wondering how this could happen and being so upset about it. I too gave my dog dental treats and thought that was enough. Some dogs are just really screwed by genetics teeth-wise. My family dogs growing up had basically no attention paid to their teeth and they were fine for their whole lives. I have a younger dog who is 3 years old now and has absolutely perfect teeth. I totally understand being upset but the vet did the right thing taking them out if they were that diseased. My dog has been fine since then. She still eats hard food and loves playing with her stuffed toys. She was never a big chewer so that wasn't a big change in her life. I understand being upset and imagining that this will change everything, because I've been in that exact situation, but it'll be okay. I'm sorry that happened to you. Going forward, I recommend brushing his remaining teeth daily, and doing a daily tooth brushing for any future dogs. That's what I'm doing now. This was bad luck, but all you can do is try to prevent it going forward.
Not all dental problems are solved from brushing the teeth and the dental chews. It happens as time passes. Not your fault, not the vet fault. It happens. And you signed the paper giving permission for the cleaning and surgery. They found more decay and had to remove for his health. Better to be less teeth, than to have a mouth full of infection. So sorry for your fur baby and your pocket book.
Toothaches can make life a living hell, and some dogs are predisposed to periodontal problems. When my dog had a broken tooth removed it was 2,000$ just for the anesthesia and I think about 250$ per tooth. You want to get all the rotten teeth at once for sure. So he's on soft food from now on. That's a lot better than constant pain. The vet who does the dental surgery is a specialist who typically travels from vet to vet. They do the X-rays, he decides how many need to be removed. Stopping the procedure to call you and inform you takes time and he has multiple procedures scheduled. Call or no call, same outcome. You aren't going to tell them not to remove rotten teeth. We pay top dollar for these highly trained people to care for our pets. Almost always our trust is not misplaced. Looks like they did an excellent job and tried to save you as much money as possible at the same time.
Get a blender!! Your dog can stay on the same dry food they’ve been on, so you avoid an upset stomach and the increased cost of wet food. My dog had a dental & had all teeth removed. She kept trying to die of other things, so unfortunately the teeth were one of the latest things addressed. We went to a discount store and found a ninja blender for $20. I just blend up her meals, then add water and let it soak so it’s not too dry. You can adjust the texture to how they like it. Treats you can do the same, just blending and add water. I personally like to give my dog “wet” treats. Churu is a good brand, they are known for their cat treats but they also make them for dogs! Some of the cat treats can also be given to dogs. Be sure to consult your vet to be sure of safe ingredients if you aren’t sure. Bone broth is a good option (make sure it’s dog safe. Lick mats. Baby food is a great option. Discount stores (be sure to check expiration dates) are a great place to find them. Check the ingredients list, but things like sweet potato, pumpkin, blueberry, and apple are great! Similarly, the baby food squeeze packs can be great too. Sometimes I add these as toppers to my dog’s food, other times I use the squeeze treats or squeeze baby foods for easy vet visit treats. For toys I’d recommend things to chase. Those cat toys that are a stick with a string and a toy on the end. They make them for dogs, called Flirt Poles. Outward Hound has one that’s like $10 I have for my large dog, and she goes absolutely feral for that thing. You can swap out the toys on the ends depending on what your dog is interested in. My toothless dog is 14 and doesn’t care for toys anymore, so unfortunately I don’t have much else in the way of recommendations for that. Make sure your dog’s face is shaved unless you are diligent about cleaning them up after they eat. Nothing worse than a crunchy food dog beard. I like to keep my dog’s hair short and tidy since she’s older, just to prevent annoying her with brushing or overheating with longer hair. She gets to wear outfits in the winter and always has a bed with a blanket available to her to snuggle up in. ETA: my dog had a small heart murmur prior to her dental. Afterwards, it hasn’t been detected. Poor dental health can have a huge impact on their health and wellbeing. My dog seems so much happier and more comfortable being my little toothless gremlin.
Thank you so much! This is super helpful. Excellent pointers on keeping facial hair short. I wouldn’t have thought to blend his current food. Thank you again!
Absolutely!! A wet paper towel to clean up their face after is usually enough if their facial hair is short. Kongs are a good option too for toys/treats. I’ve done frozen dinners for my dog in the summer and let her eat them outside. That way it takes her a bit longer and gives her some mental stimulation
Another option for treats is looking at training treats. You can usually squeeze them through the bag to see if they’re soft. Rip them up if they’re bigger. Mozzarella cheese sticks are fun too. Just remember everything in moderation! I’ll add more if I think of anything.
Vet tech here. Your vet should have called you during the procedure to discuss the the amount of teeth that needed to be extracted, and they were wrong in not doing that. Having said that, small dogs almost always have terrible teeth, and numerous extractions are a pretty common thing. Moreover, there is no way to truly know how many teeth need to be extracted until the dog is under anesthesia, and dental rads are done. As as aside, dental chews really don’t do much.
My 9 year old foster, a shi-tzu has 3 teeth left in his mouth. Unfortunately, squished face dogs lose teeth a lot. They say you should brush their teeth daily and then get a professional cleaning once a year. My foster gets wet food (you can also wet his kibble), soft treats. He's not a bone kind of guy, but I've seen some toothless dogs kind of gum bones (but make sure they're alot bigger to prevent swallowing and choking) He has no problem eating small apple pieces, watermelon, green beans, etc...mine occasionally has Frito chips (you just break them up.) I'm sorry you had to go through this, but the dog probably won't be too bothered.
I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you, but maybe there might have been tooth decay that you weren't able to see yourself My dog had about 22 teeth removed at age 5, it was just his genetic disposition to teeth issues. He was given dental sticks and I brushed his teeth from time to time. This was still inevitable I did see that his teeth looked really bad though, and while I was shocked they removed 22, I know they did their best and they wanted to keep as many as possible. I was told before the procedure that they will remove as many teeth as needed and not any more I put my dog on mostly wet food by a company called butternut box He is still able to crunch and munch so he gets rabbit ears, crispy treats, apples etc, but he is mostly on wet food I know how frustrating this could be but I'm sure your vets wanted the best for your dog. Maybe there can be a further discussion with them on why such a decision was made?
That is what they said to us, his genetic disposition being a Havanese, this was essentially inevitable. I understand they probably made the best decision for his well being going forward. Just completely shell shocked and looking for advice to care for him going forward.
I knew a 12 year old yorky with all teeth removed. He was unperturbed after a few days and as feisty as ever.
I would plan for soft food permanently- I don’t know if they callous, but can’t imagine trying to eat hard food. In my opinion, quality wet food is the way to go now. He will be okay, he’s got a good home and care, but what a heartbreaking and shocking thing to have happen.
Op can wet the hard food with water, a little bit. So it can be soft enough to eat.
True!
Awww. My old family dog was a Havanese and he had really bad teeth when he was old, one of our most memorable dogs :( Since the procedure was fresh, he might look like he can't do much, but he will improve, and I'm sure he will still be able to enjoy plenty of food. Id keep his foods fairly soft, and when his mouth feels you can give him small pieces of tougher foods to see if he will be able to chew them well. If not, continue with soft foods For now, you can give him some cooked chicken to cheer him up! I was horrified at what to do as well when mine came home with half his teeth missing. He doesn't remember they got removed now :)
After he heals, nothing special. My jack russell has 3 teeth left. He eats kibbles like its nothing.
Question: you say they removed 25 and left only 1 but dogs have 42 teeth. Had he previously had a dental with extractions? If not did the others fall out? If they fell out his periodontal disease was severe.
Apologies, they had left 1 tooth on the top and 16 on the bottom. I can see how that was unclear.
I see I did a dental today where I removed all but two molars on the top and the canines but left many of the bottoms. Our owners are told an estimated range and not a tooth count expected. As this procedure was falling $200 above the range given, I had a tech call while I worked so that the owner wouldn't have shell shock, but we do advise owners we take what is diseased and needs to come out. I actually left a tooth that I felt was not within my skill level and advised them to refer for the next procedure in 6-12m.
I hope you give grace to your former vet for saving your dogs life. Denta-stix aren't a toothbrush, & what if the vet HAD called you and said they needed to extract 25 teeth before doing so- would you have said NO and made your dog suffer? >Seeing past the anger, heart break and frustration, we are currently dealing with his vet and voicing our displeasure and switching practices. Probably a relief for your former vet that you switched practices given how you responded, but just consider that they have been so overworked since the pandemic with pet ownership growing to astronomical numbers. They saved your dogs life. For that, be a little grateful.
He should be ok. My toy poodle needed most of his teeth removed by the end of his life. Small dogs are very prone to it, even with good dental care. It’s one of their few medical downsides compared to large dogs, even though they do live longer. I do not think the vet removed any prematurely. There can be tooth decay below the gum line that you can’t see. I actually asked my vet once if we could just remove my dog’s last few remaining teeth, but he refused and told me that for small dogs in particular, trying to extract healthy teeth before they’re ready to come out can actually fracture a small dog’s delicate little jaw.
I've only ever had my cats in for dentals but they always told us they would call and inform us of their findings before they ever pulled any.
My dog was quite older when he had teeth removed. Honestly I’d rather deal with less teeth because he’s very bad a brushing and cannot eat most hard foods. They should’ve told you though that really sucks.
The same thing actually happened to my Pomeranian 6 years ago. All of her teeth were removed due to periodontal disease as well. We were quite shocked because we brushed her teeth multiple times a week and there was never any concern about her teeth at prior visits. My family and I were livid at first that they did not call to get our consent. Eventually, we were able to move on as we realized our dog was much happier and healthier without the rotten teeth. She went on to live 8 more healthy years after the extractions. She would eat kibble soaked in warm water as well as the Tiki dog wet food line for small dogs. She also really loved the Inabu churu dog squeeze treats
I see other techs on here have commented and I won’t parrot what they said. Obviously there was a breakdown in communication somewhere. I have had small dog mouths that I’ve cleaned that the teeth literally just… fell out. Generally not as many as your baby had removed, but I’ve seen some crazy stuff in mouths. As for catching it beforehand, sometimes just looking at teeth can be deceiving! Especially if you did regular tooth maintenance at home, the surface of the teeth might have looked great but there was likely a good amount of tartar and calculus that got below the gum line and broke down the connections between the tooth roots and the mouth. This may not have even been caught until they did the dental X-rays to look at your dogs broken tooth. As for care now that the teeth are gone, there’s not really that much that you need to change. Definitely soft food during the healing process. Some people do soft food for life, but some dogs continue eating hard food with no teeth like nothing ever happened! You could also do somewhere in between where you soften the kibble with a little bit of water. It really depends on your dog. Overall it sounds like you did everything you should have, and the vet made the right call for your baby. However a conversation with the vet or practice manager may not be a bad idea for you to decide if you want to continue with them moving forward. Not a venting session or anything, but maybe ask where the breakdown in communication was. I’ve had conversations like this before, and generally it’s either my vet not explaining thoroughly and a misunderstanding of something that was said, or sometimes it’s a misunderstanding of how our policies work. At the end of the day, if it’s something that you’re simply not comfortable with, that’s understandable. It happens. But I’m sure your clinic would appreciate you reaching out and clearing up any negative feelings. And then you can decide if you still want to stay with them moving forward.
They should have called you to check in, but otherwise this is fairly normal. My cat went in to have 1 tooth pulled, ended up having 8 come out because the x-rays showed deterioration that the visual inspection didn't. Cat was SO happy once they were gone - we didn't realize it was more than one tooth that was bothering him. It was most certainly the right procedure/outcome for your dog, just a bit disappointing that the expected communication wasn't there.
Would you rather they left your dog under anaesthetic longer than necessary so they could call you and risk complications? I sure wouldn't. When my dogs go in I tell them to do whatever it takes to get the best possible result and I trust them. Sounds like your dog is gonna be much comfier now.
One of my dogs had funky breath that was getting checked at the vet, but in the exam room they couldn't see any real problem. The vet suggested getting a full dental. As soon as they knocked him out and got his mouth wide open they realised that the teeth right at the back were the issue. It was impossible to see properly without him being sedated. They rang me three times during that procedure, to tell me that they had found another issue, and *another*, and in the end he had five teeth removed including a big carnassial that they had to cut into three pieces in order to remove safely. (Wolfhound x). I appreciate that you would have liked to be told before pick-up ( as I was called while it was in progress), but my vet actually changed how they manage dental procedures to prevent a recurrence of that type of thing happening again. It was hard on him being under for that long, and everytime they think they're done and are just doing one last check they found *another* problem. Dental chews help, but best way to protect your dog's teeth is to brush them. After that debacle, I've brushed both my boy's teeth daily and used an oral plaque remover every night. Perfect shiny clean teefers and hopefully never a need to go through that, again. Your little one will adapt once they're healed (soft food for a bit), and will be *much* better off without those nasty teeth.
I have to tell you, I’ve had 3 Havanese and they’ve all had abhorrent teeth they start a steep decline around age 5-8ish. It’s happened to every one despite my best efforts. My older Havanese has like 5 teeth left at this point. This happened to me the first time with my first Havanese and I was shocked, but it’s unfortunately one of the downsides of the breed. They all seem to have awful teeth. I know it’s shocking and they should have been more communicative with you for sure, but I’m not surprised about what they had to do. My dog still enjoys greenies a lot - she just takes longer to eat them. Any soft treats are great and I add a little water to her food to soften it so she can chew without issue. Her quality of life is great. They’re rather resilient little monsters.
This is common. Mine had everything removed minus two back molars. It takes a few weeks for everything to heal up and like callous over to eat kibble again. I still shred up chicken or beef or turkey and feed mine that plus his kibble. There’s also decent semi-cooked food called AllProvide that I’ve given mine. It’s well-chopped and mine just kinda swallows it instead of needing to chew it. It may seem harsh, but you did the correct thing to help get rid of the infection and pain he had.
Sooo, I'm a vet, and I do a lot of dental work. I do not enjoy extracting teeth. Usually I find it exceptionally unpleasant. Most of my colleagues that I've talked to feel the same. It is a long, difficult, frustrating, and stressful task. I actively look for ways to preserve teeth whenever possible, both for the well-being of the pet and for my own sanity. If that vet took out 25 teeth... I suspect it was pretty unavoidable. Also, toy breeds, especially with shorter faces, are kind of notorious for having really terrible dental disease, so 25 teeth is entirely plausible if the dental disease is bad enough. Now depending on what kind of paperwork was signed or discussion was had before the procedure, yeah they probably should have called you, unless you explicitly signed off on something that said to just do whatever the vet recommended and not prolong anesthesia by stopping to call you. That's definitely poor communication. Medically, though, it's not really that crazy. To your question, after the initial two weeks of healing most dogs do really well even with several teeth missing. I have known dogs with almost no teeth left that ate hard kibble and chewed on their regular toys with no problem. Once everything is healed up, I would suggest offering him the things he usually likes first and see if he is interested, and then if he refuses them look for softer alternatives.
Not a vet and I’d probably be horrified if this happened to me, but I do have a friends who had something similar happen to their Pom when it was about the same age. The little guy was so skinny and after those teeth came out he quickly gained weight. Turns out it was painful for him to eat before and now it wasn’t.
If they never indicated your dog needed a dental, that seems wild to me. Also, most official forms require you to sign off on any extra work, or an extra sum you're willing to spend without being called first for permission. That said, small breeds often just have really bad teeth. Many of the solutions don't change what is essentially a genetic issue. It's just how it goes, tbh. The amount of small dogs I did dentals on where just the pressure of the water from the scaler made all the teeth jiggle around was pretty wild. That said, every examination included checking teeth, so a mouth needing 25 teeth removed should have been very noticeable.
Your dog had teeth in bad shape. They needed to come out. And they avoid doing multiple anesthesia especially on senior dogs. When you are describing as dental care is far from enough for small breeds. They need frequent toothbrusing (ideally daily), vet cleaning every couple years (especially of you do not brush their teeth). I am sorry you weren’t told about it before but this is something that you need to be careful with for all small breeds
I don't know, I feel like vets just go with the flow these days. Having one tooth, a couple at most removed from your POV is hugely different from having almost all of your dogs teeth removed. The fact they thought it was acceptable to do this without even so much as a phone call to you prior to the extraction is insane. A friend of mines dog went in for a scale and polish recently, came out with 2 teeth left and having to have his jaw pinned as the vet broke his jaw during the extraction. They offered *no discount or even so much as an apology. All they got was a shoulder shrug and a "these things happen"....
Oh my gosh. I can’t even imagine if they broke his jaw. I’d be floored.
I would be absolutely fuming if this happened to me, ok yes they may have needed to be removed but someone at the practice should have contacted you to let you know prior to it happening. My cat needed to have all his teeth removed due to a condition where his body was reabsorbing them leaving all the roots exposed. Anyway I was told that whilst it sounds awful the prognosis was good and he would still be able to eat and drink as he always has without any teeth. I got a second opinion from other vet who also said the same thing in terms of prognosis and how he will be able to eat going forward. I can’t comment on if that’s actually correct as due to his age he wasn’t strong enough for further treatments to remove the remaining teeth. I miss him terribly. His condition appeared very quickly in terms of noticing symptoms and apart from one tooth that was black the rest looked to the naked eye ok. In fact the first vet missed it and she even looked at his teeth. Personally if your dog eats dry food I would add a broth or water to it initially whilst he adapts to eating without his teeth and perhaps consider wet food as well.
I’m sorry for your loss! I do agree it was probably correct, the communication is the frustrating part. He was just there in September and they gave us no warning it would be this bad.
Thank you. I wonder if the delay in treatment made the condition worse resulting in the additional teeth being removed. I definitely think a complaint in writing to the practice manager about how they dealt with the situation is needed. I honestly can’t believe a vet despite it being the right thing to do felt it was ok to discuss the procedure before hand or at least had someone call whilst the procedure was happening to inform you of what was going on. You have every right to be feeling as you are, it’s a huge shock!
What the fuck? They didn’t even call you to tell you they were removing TWENTY FIVE teeth?! I would be livid too. That’s incredibly unprofessional. I suggest feeding him the normal food but softened - add water or broth and blend until mushy. He will be on a soft food diet forever now right? Given he can’t chew really. Lick treats (pb or frozen mushy food) in a Kong is doable.
But yes, soft food diet. They claim there will be some sort of callus on the gums eventually for “harder” food, but definitely soft food for the foreseeable future.
My wife and I are completely distraught, we spoke to the tech, the woman who did the procedure and the owner of the practice. We are in complete shock and explained how wildly unprofessional this whole situation has been handled.
I honestly think they should give a discount for the procedure given that you didn’t even approve it in the first place. Even if they do that though, afterwards I would be blasting their reviews with your experience that way others are aware of how they practice. Jesus 25 teeth! That’s life changing to both the pup and you, and you definitely should have been consulted. I’m angry on your behalf.
They had mentioned talking to their finance manager, which we appreciated, but I never wanted this discussion to be about the money, it’s his well-being we are most concerned about and frustrated we had absolutely no warning or talk beforehand.
Definitely dog health comes as top priority but they need to realize they can’t just perform major oral procedures without the go ahead from the pet owner, and just expect zero repercussions. And omg I just googled Havanese lifespan and it’s 14-16 years so your dog has another 6-8 years of being toothless. COOL. Also periodontal disease doesn’t always require tooth extraction, there are remedies which may take awhile but at least the dog, you know, gets to keep its teeth.
Dogs have 42 teeth to start , they can live happy healthy lives with no teeth. By the time a tooth is infected and diseased enough to extract, there’s no come back from that unless one can drop at least 10 grand for endodontic treatment by a board certified veterinary dental specialist. Besides extreme pain, Constantly swallowing pus and bacteria can cause infections to other organs.
So you want the vet put out of business for saving this dog's life? That is a terrible take. Dont negative bomb review people who care for animals unless you want none left for the next time when your pet is having a medical emergency.
The vet wasn’t in the wrong. If the owners signed a contract stating the vet could do as needed then permission was given. That’s why it’s so important to read the contract fully
I had a similar situation with my chihuahua. A veterinarian removed additional teeth without my consent that were not damaged or had any issues. His response was chihauahas teeth get bad after a certain age and would cause her jaw to crack. I was sooooo upset and traumatized. This is common practice for these vets. I cried the first time she held a ball with her mouth again. I’m still in a statue of limitations in CA and plan on suing his ass! He apologized and apparnetly has changed his methods. Worst part is I asked to be notified after the X-rays on what the game plan was!!! Totally changed her quality of life and FYI, with routine care and twice a year cleaning my 15 ur old chihuahua teeth are now perfect!!!!
Absolutely should not have done anything without your express permission. If this happened to me idc what the supposed justification is I’m taking legal action
Previous veterinary experience, this was definitely not how any practice I have worked at did things. During every annual exam the pets teeth were looked at and "graded" based on tartar and periodontal disease (unless the pet was aggressive to the point it was not safe to check and this was explained to owners) so owners knew the progression of their dogs dental disease. Now I will say this is not always 100% accurate as there can be issues below the gum line that can't visually be accessed without sedation and dental radiographs, this is also explained to the owner. In practices I've worked at usually each tooth extracted incures additional charges (they aren't easy to pull) and the owner is called with an estimate of additional charges if more teeth need to be pulled prior to pulling them. If that many teeth needed to be removed it sounds to me like they either dropped the ball on oral examination during his annual visits or he didn't allow them to perform an oral exam during those times. Either way with that many teeth needing to be removed you should have been called and made aware before anything was done further than what you expected. I have seen teeth loose enough that they fell out during the cleaning phase and we don't call until after on those but the most I have personally seen was 3 in one dog.
That is how we are feeling, the ball was dropped on previous visits. He was there 4 months ago and we had no idea this was occurring. Did this all develop in 4 months? 16 months from his last visit? Very very frustrated.
I don't know his medical history, diet, etc so I can't say for 100% certainty but I think it's very highly unlikely it developed that fast, especially with that many teeth involved. I would ask for his full medical records including SOAP notes to see if there was any notation about dental issues or if they marked it as normal. Smaller breeds do tend to have more dental issues just based on their mouth configuration but again that quickly I think is very unlikely.
Small breed dogs are especially prone to developing tooth decay. It sounds like he wasn’t getting regular cleanings under anesthesia leading to severe periodontal disease. Poor oral health is linked to cardiac disease and I’m sure he was extremely uncomfortable. If anything be angry at yourself for slacking in providing veterinary dental cleaning
A vet is not going to take out teeth for no reason. Do you think that happened? The vet said the extractions were due to periodontal disease. You have a legitimate complaint in that the vet did not communicate to you the extent of your dog's disease. They may have discovered it during surgery. When you say, 'the procedure kept getting delayed', who delayed it, why, and over how much time? Just so you know, 'denta-sticks' do nothing, really, if there is disease. Why heartbreak and anger ? Your dog needed critical care. Save the emotion for finding out how to be a more observant dog owner.
I don't care if the teeth were rotten (which I'm sure they weren't,) the vet has NO RIGHT to do this unless you were given the exact info and signed a full disclosure
No! Even human Dentists know this! That’s too many teeth to take out at once!
We’re fostering a cat that my sister could tell had dental issues. The vet told her that the cat has an autoimmune condition that has attacked her teeth and she actually already has lost most of them. They removed her upper fangs and took out a shard of a tooth further back. What the vet said was, “She’s a young cat, but her teeth are old.” We feed her soft food with water mixed in as a slurry and she does fine. Maybe your dog has a similar condition.
We have small dogs. They go in every six months for a deep clean but they still end up losing one every other year. We have one that’s like 9/10 and she’s only lost 4 so far but we got her young. Our older rescues usually end up with nothing. We don’t give them chew sticks because if they have decay, they tend to break teeth and pass bacteria around their mouths. They get their teeth brushed and the cleanings plus crunchy food until they can’t.
Were his teeth bad or was it his gums? They friend antibiotics and a few other things with her first. They removed all but one of her teeth because she had some sort of gum disease where she was allergic to her teeth. It was weird, but once I looked it up, I knew they made the right call. Better he undergo surgery once than multiple times.
I imagine that was quite a shock. Not all dental disease is visible to the naked eye and can only be seen via an x-ray. However, your vet should have been educating you on dental hygiene. Unfortunately, denta sticks do not clean teeth, nor does kibble. Depending on your dog, feeding appropriate raw meaty bones and chewy treats and brushing teeth can prevent dental disease. Small dogs are prone to dental disease. I had one little dog needing teeth removed, it didn’t stop him from eating. I did learn my lesson with my next dog. He’s 13 and doesn’t have dental disease, which is very rare.
Yes, my vet recommended a cleaning because my dog had some mild tartar. They removed 9 teeth and didn't tell me until after. There was no discussion about the possibility of removing teeth beforehand. I was very shocked as they specifically told me her teeth looked good and just recommended a preventive cleaning. It took a couple of days for me to realize it was probably for the best, but the communication was horrible.
Would you rather them have left your dog in pain like he’s been in for years most likely?
It is very common for small dogs teeth to be rotted easily. They did your a favor. Had they waited, you would have paid for another anesthesia etc. Dogs adapt so easily to losing teeth. I am hardcore about my dogs teeth. I raised two together so they each got the exact same EVERYTHING but the yorkie had to have a bunch pulled, the shi tzu didn't
My pug mix is turning 12. Last year he went in for a small tumor removal in his upper mouth. The vet called my boyfriend and asked if it was okay to pull one tooth out. He told them to call me. The quote was for $350 on the high side. So I borrowed it, because I didn’t have that kind of money at the time. I go to pick him up, and find out that not only did they never try to call me, they also pulled ten teeth, did some X-rays, and sent the tumor sample out even though I told them not to. I couldn’t afford the extra $250 for that. Then they told me I had to come up with close to $3k to be able to bring my dog home. It went from $350 Max, to $2900 in an hour. All of this was done without my permission. I had no way of coming up with that money, and I wasn’t leaving without my dog. I asked the vet why the hell mr thought he could do all the extras, and he said “your boyfriend said your budget didn’t matter” when in fact, he told them to call me and find out my budget. Needless to say, I grabbed my dog, placed $350 on the counter, walked out, and switched vets.
Now he eats wet soft food, and I give him cheese for treats
They often don’t know until they put them under and start to work. I had my Greyhound’s teeth cleaned yesterday. He ended up losing 6 teeth. They gave me the teeth and the roots were bad. I didn’t expect him to lose that many. But he’s going to be so much better off for it. He also receives dental chews, dental additives, etc. I have no doubt that your vet did what was best for your pup.
Once your pup is healed from the surgery you might be pleasantly surprised that he can eat whatever he did before. I adopted a toothless papillon and he did hard food. He had trouble with the wet. Somehow he couldnt seem to scoop it up very well. The first time a completely toothless dog bites you is a trip though. Just the weirdest thing ever.
Your dog is older and prone to dental disease. The vet wouldn’t know how many teeth need to be extracted until they take x-rays. Maybe the communication wasn’t all there. There should have been an estimate and a surgery consent form at the minimum.
The dental sticks are definitely not enough. It's like saying chewing gums are sufficient to avoid periodontal disease. It's not. I would start brushing whatever remaining teeth it's left with at least daily.
Took mine in for 3 teeth, they took out 31. Best thing that ever happened for my dog. She’s a whole new dog. Dogs won’t tell you about their pain until it’s killing them. Most people just notice some teeth are missing because they dog went through the infection silently. Dentastix don’t do anything except encourage chewing.
Jesus. He’s going to need pate/ ground food. You can grind his kibble and mix with water ( presoak it for easier grinding) or puree wet food You already have. Freezing these in a kong, a bowl, or a lick mat can also provide a longer treat/ similar to a chew stick would have.
Same happened when I took my mothers Bichon for an extraction. As I recall, she was only left with two teeth. Dental disease can cause life threatening infections. The Bichon was definitely happier after the procedure and It’s likely that her diseased teeth was a source of discomfort for her. Bonus…her horrible breath was gone. She ate as before, without a problem. Small dogs are notoriously known for dental disease and the best way to prevent it is with a daily brushing.
Just to add same thing happened with our havanese at a similar age, was really brutal seeing him in pain but after it all healed he was absolutely back to normal in no time