Spay And Dental

[LakeshoreGreys]

Our vet will not do a spay and a dental together. They tell me that they feel it's risky because the dental is dirty, and the dog would be under anesthesia too long.

 

Is this a common train of thought?

 

Which is riskier - a longer time "under", or going "under" multiple times?

[kikibean]

All of our foster dogs get spayed / neutered and a dental at the same time.

 

The only time they wouldn't is if there were complications from the spay, or if the dental was going to be very extensive and take longer than usual. We've had a few times where they've done the spay and one side of a dental and had to go back for the second. That was usually because the dental ended up taking longer than expected and they didn't want to keep the dog under any longer.

[Guest simile]

All of our foster dogs get spayed / neutered and a dental at the same time.

 

The only time they wouldn't is if there were complications from the spay, or if the dental was going to be very extensive and take longer than usual. We've had a few times where they've done the spay and one side of a dental and had to go back for the second. That was usually because the dental ended up taking longer than expected and they didn't want to keep the dog under any longer.

 

My vet prefers to do them at the same time, also, unless there's some issue preventing it - really bad teeth, marginal blood work, etc.

[Guest KennelMom]

We've had lots of spay/dentals done on fosters and our own dogs. I'd rather have them under once to get it all done. I guess they'd reconsider if there were complications from the spay or if the teeth were uber bad or some other issue that would prevent it for some reason, but we've never run into that. I'd always trust them to make the right call during surgery...We adopted a 12 year old that had nearly all her teeth extracted (all except 1 little canine!) and a spay done at the same time. She came off the farm with pretty much rotted out teeth.

[LakeshoreGreys]

The dental would not be extensive at all. Just a little tartar on the back molars, but I thought that since she'd be under for the spay, why not clean the teeth up too right away?

 

There is another vet here in town where we take our cat for care. I think (need to call them to find out for sure) that they will do both at the same time.

 

We have been with our dog vet for 15 years and I'd hate to switch to the other one, but....

 

Then that brings up another question: if we do get the spay/dental done at a different vet, is it a big deal to go back to the usual one? Do vets hold grudges over stuff like that?

[Guest KennelMom]

The dental would not be extensive at all. Just a little tartar on the back molars, but I thought that since she'd be under for the spay, why not clean the teeth up too right away?

 

There is another vet here in town where we take our cat for care. I think (need to call them to find out for sure) that they will do both at the same time.

 

We have been with our dog vet for 15 years and I'd hate to switch to the other one, but....

 

Then that brings up another question: if we do get the spay/dental done at a different vet, is it a big deal to go back to the usual one? Do vets hold grudges over stuff like that?

 

If it's just a quick dental and the dog is otherwise in good health, I don't see a reason not to do both...most adoption groups I've ever worked with always have them done at the same time.

 

I wouldn't use a vet that "held a grudge" over us using another practice. We have a primary vet, but there's an alternate vet we sometimes use depending on the situation - ie, they have a better xray machine (digital vs film) and they're a little closer/easier to get to. Plus, they have docs with different areas of expertise...so we go with the practice we want to handle a specific situation. We've never had an issue...maybe because the vets from each practice know each other Our "secondary" vet just faxes over whatever work they did so our primary vet can keep their records updated (the secondary vet is also a 24/7 practice so they're one of our "evets" as well).

 

Anyway...my point is, as long as the other vet you use updates your primary vet, I don't see an issue with and have never had a problem with using two vets.

[GeorgeofNE]

I'd be a little leary that your vet lacks confidence in his/her ability if they're refusing to do what I think is a fairly common thing--it totally makes sense to do them both at the same time.

[dmswartzfager]

The only reason I can think that they would not want to do the spay and dental together is if for some reason their dental sink is in the surgical suite... but from my understanding, it's not supposed to be. If they are in the same room, then yes, doing both at the same time could be a hazard, especially if they do the dental first and aerosolize all that bacteria. (I am assuming they are not actually doing the dental and the spay at the SAME time - yikes - I really mean do one procedure first, then the other.)

 

At the clinic I work at, we routinely do surgical procedures and dentals on the same patient on the same day. We just keep a watch on the time under anesthesia, and as long as their vitals are stable and there are no complicating factors, it's really not a problem.

[Batmom]

Joseph had some complicating factors at the time so we did his separately.

 

My vet doesn't like to do them together if the dental is significant, but it sounds like yours is a 5-minute touchup job.

[LakeshoreGreys]

Thanks for the replies! We're taking her to the other local vet next Saturday for a consult, to see what she thinks.

[Guest BrianRke]

We always do ours seperately.

[tbhounds]

The vet was practicing good medicine. You really shouldn't perform a dental prophy and perform an abdominal surgery at the same time. The dental prophy will release bacteria into the bloodstream. Now, that being said - I'm sure the pet will receive intra op antibotics and honestly we have to live in the real world. As dedicated gh owners this may not apply to us but, to most layman if the procedures are not performed at the same time how many of them do you think will return to have a prophy done at a later date?

[Batmom]

The vet was practicing good medicine. You really shouldn't perform a dental prophy and perform an abdominal surgery at the same time. The dental prophy will release bacteria into the bloodstream.

 

Thanks for providing this info.

 

how many of them do you think will return to have a prophy done at a later date?

 

Me! Me! Oh, wait. You were talking about ordinary people and not us crazy greyhound folk .....

 

 

FWIW, my vet wanted a minimum of 3 weeks between elective anaesthesias for Joseph.

 

 

 

[LakeshoreGreys]

Had our vet appointment today. She said that ordinarily they do not like to do them together. But after looking at her teeth, she said that it's just a little tartar, that her gums look wonderful, and there's no evidence of peridontal disease so she would be fine with doing a touch up on her when she gets spayed. They will take the precaution of a doing an antibiotic injection beforehand and sending us home with some pills afterward.

 

I also asked her opinion on the "when to spay" question. The other vet (the one we typically use for the dogs) gave us a hard time last visit because Molly hadn't been spayed yet (she was 8 months old then) and told us it should have been done "months" ago. The vet today said she likes to wait at least 10-12 months old on the bigger dogs so they can finish growing. So we have her surgery scheduled for just after her 1 year birthday. Didn't realize till later that it's going to be on Friday the 13th, so we're hoping that doesn't mean bad luck!

 

After almost 20 years of going to our vet, I think we're going to permanently switch to the one we visited today. There are currently no doctors at the other clinic that we "click" with - all of the good ones have left. The one that they usually schedule us with makes me feel like a neglectful, newbie dog owner, and the other guy there thinks greyhounds are ugly and stupid and doesn't know why anyone would want one as a pet. They do have a third vet, but she's part time and hard to see, and though she's nice I don't feel she's on the same wavelength sometimes.

 

The new vet already loves our cat, and told us today that we should have brought Molly in when she was just a pup - regardless of whether she was a patient of hers or not - as she has never seen a gh puppy and would have loved some snuggle time and puppy breath!

 

P.S. Thanks for all of the replies and especially for the explanation about the bacteria.