Doggie Dentals - and rescues

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CazD

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I know this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question but has anyone any idea of how much a scale and polish is for a dog? I've got a jrt on trial from a local dogs home but think she is probably older than the 6 years they have suggested judging by the state of her teeth. She seems to have a dislike of anything hard to eat and only wants to eat soft stuff. She'll eat dog biscuits but only if I soak them. Her back teeth are all completely brown and the front ones aren't a lot better. She's a lovely dog and I'm tempted to keep her - but she's going to work out quite expensive if I have to pay an adoption fee plus a big vets bill for teeth. Do rescues get cheaper vets rates - could I get them to instruct the vet and then pay the bill myself??
 
It was £220 for my greyhound and most of cost is the GA so goes on weight, cost does vary with teeth removed but that didn't seem to add much.
You could contact your vet for a rough quote.
Shame rescue hasn't got it sorted pre adoption though.
 
My greyhounds have cost anything from £150 to £350 depending on how many teeth are extracted, obviously their body weight is significantly more than a JRT though :) If you ring the vets they should be able to give you a price for a small dog GA, a scale and polish, then extractions are always more (well, they are at my vets!)

I agree with 2Greys, I would have expected the rescue to sort that before the dog was re-homed, mine always have been :(
 
That's also something I would expect the rescue to sort out before rehoming - I doubt they'd let a dog go to a new home with a matted coat or full of fleas or a busted ear etc?
Obvs a different matter if a council pound etc but if it's an established rescue they should be offering to cover at least part of the cost or be able to get you a reduced rate.
 
Also agree that it should have been sorted before, unless the dog has not been in rescue long? I have heard of cases where a dog has gone to a new home in a matter of days, but the rescue have offered to pay for most or part of the treatment.

With a dental, depends on the size of the dog and what else needs doing (hard to tell until they are under GA) but I would guess starting price of around £200. The cost of the anaesthetic depends on the weight of the dog. I would ring your vets and ask for a rough estimate for scale & polish and possibly a few teeth taken out.
 
Or it could simply be tartar build up and either something like the pedigree chews or a good biscuit will clean it off. A friend took in a lurcher whose teeth were brown and on vets advice, just persevered with the food and the teeth went white - only took about 4 weeks. I do have some sympathy with the rescue though as they would be struggling to raise funds anyway but perhaps ask them either what their vet said or if you could take the dog to their vet to check this?

None of my dogs, including the 12 year old have ever needed a scale/clean/polish and they are routinely checked by my vet for a mini MOT every 6 months and the only difference is that I do feed the chews!
 
None of mine have ever had problems with teeth but it can be a breed thing as the skinnydog people will no doubt testify :p I've always put it down to feeding raw bones :)
Even a chicken wing or two would help. Don't personally like the Pedigree chews (doesn't help that all my dogs have just gone chomp-chomp-swallow) but if it works it works :) those Cerea hedgehog/toothbrush/crododile shaped ones from Pets at Home are quite good though. Stagbars are good but maybe for bigger dogs, they are very hard.
 
CaveCanem said:
None of mine have ever had problems with teeth but it can be a breed thing as the skinnydog people will no doubt testify :p I've always put it down to feeding raw bones :)those Cerea hedgehog/toothbrush/crododile shaped ones from Pets at Home are quite good though. Stagbars are good but maybe for bigger dogs, they are very hard.
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she wont touch anything hard, not even the bone I gave her this morning which she just left in her bed. She's only been with the rescue about a week and I'm loathe to ask the rescue to fund her teeth as they are small and struggling as it is. I might pop her to my own vet for an opinion.
 
This sounds minging but do you think she would eat something like a lamb's heart. You can get them in some of the bigger branches of Tesco, soft and very appealing but enough to get her jaws and teeth working.
 
CazD said:
she wont touch anything hard, not even the bone I gave her this morning which she just left in her bed. She's only been with the rescue about a week and I'm loathe to ask the rescue to fund her teeth as they are small and struggling as it is. I might pop her to my own vet for an opinion.
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I think that is fair, most rescues will be struggling. The only rescues I have heard about doing this have been bigger breed rescues for some reason. Good idea to pop her in to your vets for an opinion and a rough quote. Good luck!
 
I paid a fraction under £300 for a dental on a JRT last month but that included a full range of pre op blood tests (because he had a liver infection the month before) and 5 or 6 extractions - all his front teeth. I know I've had dentals done before for small dogs at £120 - £150. It might be worth checking the Vet chains - Pets4Dogs, YourVets etc. - as they sometimes have special offers on dentals.
 
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