Cat - Dental Cleaning?

My cat is 9 years old and today the vet told me that she needs a teeth cleaning. Her gums are inflamed and he is concerned about one of her teeth. She's never had her teeth cleaned. The vet requires blood work before the cleaning....why?

Cat - Dental Cleaning?
Just to make sure that your cat is not allergic to any type of chemical. Her gums are now exposed to chemicals, because they are inflamed, so making sure she can take the right medical treatment and getting rid of any black blood.





Dont worry, we dont clean our kittens teeth yet, good thing you took her to the vet.





Take care, hope this helped


Love Zinat x
Reply:When they clean the cat's teeth, they have to put the cat under anesthesia. The blood work is required to make sure that there will not be any unseen complications, due to an underlying health condition.


My cat (who is 10) just underwent the same procedure last spring. It was a good thing I had it done. They ended up having to pull all four of her "canine teeth" because the decay was so bad. She is so much happier now, I can't imagine the pain she must have been in.


If your vet recommends this, I would seriously consider it. Your cat could be miserable and you would not even know.
Reply:Usually they want to check and make sure that there are no infections, or that the cat doesn't have a problem like renal failure.





btw renal failure is common in cats with dental problems.
Reply:I am a veterinary nurse.


We run pre anaesthetic blood tests to check the liver and kidney function to make sure that the anaesthetic we would usually use is going to be ok for that animal. Or to decide even if we wil put them under and anaesthetic.


After this dental it is important to maintain healthy teeth so avoid getting another dental.


I highly reccommend Hills Prescription Diet t/d which is teeth diet.


How it work is it is a bigger kibble. The animal then has to bite into this biscuit.... it will not break until the whole tooth has penetrated so it works just like a toothbrush removing all the plaque everyday when it eats this food.


This food is alos based on a senior diet so it will be good for your cat since it is 9 years old.


With dentals it is much the same if we have our teeth professionally cleaned. Except we need to knock them out for the procedure.
Reply:Vets always do this because of the anesthesia which can have a bad effect on a senior cat's (age 8+) kidneys and/or liver.





It is a safety precaution for the cat. My Cameo had anesthesia every year of her 22 yr life (technically I only had her since she was 15). She definitely had severe kidney issues in the last four years of her life. They would take her in in the morning and give her fluids, do the cleaning around midday and then give another course of fluids following the procedure.





It's a good idea to keep a cat's dental health at an optimal level. Bacteria shed into the cat's system from tooth tartar can adversely affect the kidneys and liver.
Reply:Kudos to your vet for wanting to do bloodwork before administering general anesthesia.........It is to know the state of your geriatric cats' health....how are the kidneys, liver, glucose.....good to know if the cbc shows an elevated white count or anemia, low platelets, ect.......





If you were going to have general anesthesia, your primary care physician would want to have the same kind of information on hand BEFORE any surgical treatment......better to change the anesthesia protocol before the procedure rather than after, or find out that you have compromised the liver or kidneys with their administration.





I hope that your vet will also have the procedure done while on IV fluids, to additionally protect the kidneys.





Good Luck



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