Dental & Vaccinations For Twiggy?

[TwiggysMom]

As a refresher, Twiggy is post-osteo (now 2.5 years!), and rads this past Monday show no evidence of metastasis at this point.

 

She has been off of all chemo since about July 2012, and her oncologist has said that he would be fine with her having a dental and some vaccinations (primarily rabies). He obviously would want her to have full bloodwork done up before, and thinks she should be on antibiotics before/after any dental work.

 

Her last 3-year rabies shot expired over a year ago, and she has only had 2 dentals in her life (most recently I think about 4 years ago). She is 9.3 years old.

 

Twiggy has pretty good teeth for a greyhound, but she has definitely been in need of a dental for over a year now.

 

I am leaning toward doing both, but there is always the little fear in the back of my head that something coud go wrong. I could never forgive myself if I decided to go through with a dental and for some crazy reason she didn't come out of anesthesia.

 

She's had general anesthesia a few times since her amp (and while on chemo); she's never had any trouble with it.

 

Her regular vet is out on maternity leave till early April, and she is the only one I would have do this so I have plenty of time to decide (or torment myself over it ). Also, her vet practice loves her to bits, and I know they would take the utmost care with her, so that is reassuring.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and any factors I might not be considering.

[krissn333]

I'd have no qualms about the dental. Not sure I'd do the vaccination(s) though. All of my cancer kids were put on NO vaccinations. Ace had leukemia and we had a note from our vet so we could still lice we her with the county. I had notes for Pinky, Fritz, and Sutra as well.

[IansMom]

I hesitate to give my thoughts on the dental/anesthesia thing b/c I know how you feel. Ian has had several dentals bc he has such BAD BAD teeth and I'm a nervous wreck every time. We love our vet and he loves Ian. He actually came to our house to get Ian out of the car for me after one of his dentals. I picked him up at 4 and he still wouldn't get out of the car at 7:30. That was the only time anything out of the ordinary happened relative to a procedure. I have no experience with cancer in our babies (thank God!) so I won't offer an opinion. Congratulations to Twiggy for being 2.5 yrs post-osteo!

[MaryJane]

Find out what is the requirement in Illinois is for rabies - see if a titer would be sufficient.

 

If she is going to have a dental, make sure that it is the doctor and not the vet tech doing it. While a vet tech is usually fine doing the procedure on young healthy dogs, I personally think that as dogs get older if they have quirky problems (greyhounds & bleeding) that the vet should be doing the dental as they would be much more quicker to see potential problems and able to handle more quickly.

 

You might also want to check to see whether the vet will even allow your dog into the hospital without current vaccinations (protects the other dogs) - and that would mean you would have to have the vaccination before the dental.

 

Tough choices ..

[tbhounds]

Personally, I would ask the vet for an rabies vaccine exemption form. I'm not sure I would mess with her immune system at this point. I'm sure proceeding with the dental prophy would be fine-it's better she have a clean mouth than her body being insulted by an overload of oral bacteria.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Wendy, I'm hesitant about the rabies vaccination, too. Twiggy's immune system is chugging along just fine, and I don't know if you want to take the risk of jiggling it. But I realize that it's not just whether Illinois would accept titers: it's an issue of whether a boarding facility would take them (if you had to board her in an emergency), and also an issue of whether titers are acceptable anyplace you might travel with her (say, to a greyhound get-together out of state).

 

Also--something showed up posted on Facebook a few weeks ago and scared the bejeebers out of many greyhound owners. But we all worry about our dogs under anesthesia (I lost Oreo under anesthesia, and Silver was sick as the proverbial dog after her spay), and this article presents something that might be an influence on whether trouble happens. The good news is that it's nothing you need to do differently, and nothing your vet really needs to do. It's just something for the vet to consider as a possible contributing factor if something does seem to be going wrong, with a suggestion of how to cope with the issue. Silver needs a dental sometime soon, and my vet will be getting a copy of the article.

 

Beyond that, all you can do is whatever you think is best for your dog, and know that you're doing it out of love.

 

And with your fingers crossed...

[greysmom]

No shots. She probably doesn't need them anyway. The only worry would be if you need paperwork for anything.

 

Dental I would do, as the extra bacteria in her system could be bad, and you don't want any abcesses or anything like that. If you're worried about the anesthesia, see if your vet will do just a sedated dental. Might not be a thorough, but you can scale a lot off the teeth.

[krissn333]

I live in IL. Note from the doctor has always been more than sufficient for anything I've run into. Granted, I do not board my dogs. My parents' kitty also is exempt because he had a bad reaction.

[TwiggysMom]

Thank you for all your thoughts. I still haven't made up my mind one way or the other.

 

I do believe that she probably doesn't actually need the rabies vaccine. According to her paperwork, it looks like she was double-vaccinated for rabies when she retired, and she's been regularly vaccinated since then (until 4 years ago). The City of Chicago, being what it is, won't seem to let me register her without a valid IL rabies id. (I couldn't register her with her Wisconsin rabies vaccine, either). It's only a $5 registration fee, so it doesn't actually seem to be about the money for the city (for once...). Edit: forgot to mention I do have letters from her oncologists saying she should be allowed to not be vaccinated.

 

My concern re the dental is twofold - the danger of a large one-time release of bacteria because of the dental, versus the ongoing buildup of bacteria from not doing one, and of course the ever-present anesthesia risk. It sort of makes sense to me that a release of bacteria caused by the dental would be anticipated and prophylactically treated with antibiotics, so that might mitigate the risk somewhat.

 

I actually live right next door to the vet's office, and we stop in there several times per week, so I don't think they would have an issue with admitting her for the dental, but that is a good point to ask about.

 

Kathy, thanks for the article about raised potassium levels. I feel like I heard about this before (maybe several months ago?), but it is a salient point, and something to bring up for sure.

 

Twiggy's vet does the dentals herself (and they do constant monitoring). I feel like she would be in good hands, and I know how much they care about her.

 

So, I feel like we have all kinds of good circumstances lined up for doing the dental, but I will still have to think on it some more.

 

Thanks again!

Edited March 3, 2014 by TwiggysMom

[krissn333]

Odds are if you drop the dough for a rabies titer you'd find she's more than covered. The question is, will the city of Chicago accept a titer?

Re: sudden release of bacteria vs. gradual build up...sudden release of a small amount is, IMO, much better than a buildup over time, unless you intend to keep her on antibiotics her whole life (no thank you). With the dental you'd start antibiotics before her dental and continue afterward for a small time and that should eliminate any issues. If it builds up over time you're looking at taxing her kidneys and her heart (which probably already works a little bit harder to get her around).

 

Just some more food for thought

[Guest greytkidsmom]

If it helps my Kebo is almost 3 years post maxillectomy for fibrosarcoma (different from osteo and no chemo) but he has tolerated multiple episodes of anesthesia since and done okay. He has had 2 routine dentals and extraction of his canines done by a specialist. He wakes up more slowly than before and our vet is very careful with her anesthesia. She uses an herb that the acupuncture vet recommends while he is recovering (hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about).

 

I totally understand your concern. You have been through so much together.

[Guest grey_dreams]

My concern re the dental is twofold - the danger of a large one-time release of bacteria because of the dental, versus the ongoing buildup of bacteria from not doing one, and of course the ever-present anesthesia risk.

 

I had the same concerns about the large release of bacteria when Zhivaya had his first ever dental (he didn't have one at the track and didn't get one when he retired). He had a lot of buildup and his breath was really bad. A couple weeks before the dental, I started rubbing this Zinc oral gel around in his mouth once or twice a day. It really kills off the bacteria. So by the time of his dental, much of the surplus bacterial population was gone. Another alternative might be to discuss your concerns with the vet, and maybe they could start antibiotic before the dental. I know it will be a tough decision. Make sure your vet has Amicar on hand. In the long term she will be healthier with a clean mouth