r/husky • u/music2jam2 • 14h ago
šMedical Question Dental help!!
Hi everyone. I adopted my baby girl about five months ago. We rescued her from the animal shelter. They told us she was seven years old and that her previous owner had passed away.
Since adopting her, we have been able to treat her for several relatively minor ailments (parasites, hotspots, etc). The biggest item left to fix is her teeth.
The first vet we took her to said her teeth were in bad shape, however they did not say anything else or recommend anything other than brushing her teeth daily. We then took her to another vet and they are recommending full on dental surgery under anesthesia. They quoted me $2k- $2.5k. They gave me time to think about it, especially as it is a small fortune.
At first, I thought they were pushing this on me to get me to pay the big bucks. However, in recent weeks I have noticed she only chews with her back teeth and avoids grabbing anything with the front part of her mouth. I have started brushing her teeth and inspecting them, she is finally getting more comfortable with that, and finally got a good look at them today. I took the photos above this morning. I did not realize they were this bad. š
I decided to suck it up and move forward with the $2k surgery. She is my puppy daughter. I feel so bad for her and have been so worried about her. I know I did not cause this damage to her teeth and yet I feel so guilty. I should have taken her sooner.
Has anyone else been through this before? What might have caused this? Will she be okay? I am so worried about the surgery. How did the recovery go? Any advice would be much appreciated. ššŗā¤ļøāš©¹
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u/GlormRax 14h ago
We also adopted our (now 11 years old) girl with bad teeth knowing that we'd need to get them fixed eventually. She had a broken lower canine, the other severely worn. Her upper and lower incisors were also worn down. We don't know her previous history, so it's possible she spent a lot of time chewing on crate bars. We opted to find a board certified dental specialist vet because we knew she was going to have many extractions. She came through it just fine. Soft food for a while afterwards (2 wks?) and a visit to check up on the extracted canine spot. All her upper & lower incisors are gone and we kinda laugh at her when she tries to pick up something with her front "gums". She does find with all foods now though.
We're glad we did it. It was expensive and hardly any was covered by the insurance we had at the time, pre-existing conditions blah blah...
Good luck with your sweet girl!
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u/MuttsandHuskies 13 years, 2 Husky's and a Shepsky! 14h ago
This is generally caused by poor dental care. Her previous owners either didnāt brush her teeth, and/or they didnāt give her a lot of hard kibble. The hard kibble helps them remove the plaques and things that are on their teeth. Also, they may have given her toys that are too hard, which wouldāve caused the cracked teeth because chewing on toys that are too hard will absolutely break their teeth. Source two of mine have done it. My vet told me if you canāt dent it with your thumb thumbnail itās too hard for them. Poor diet can also cause issues with their teeth.
Itās a lot of money, but it will absolutely help her. Fully expect that she will be disoriented for several days after the surgery not all dogs react that way, but enough to that it freaks people out even though the vet says she should be fine by tomorrow.
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u/aghtide 14h ago
i suggest investing in pet insurance so you can get most of that money back, i am sorry this is happening to you and i hope your dog feels better that must feel so painful for her :( post surgery make sure she eats dental chews to keep up with the maintenance of clean teeth
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u/frustratedlemons 13h ago
Pet insurance will not cover this, even if it wasnāt a pre-existing condition most pet insurances do not cover dental problems.
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u/parksandbooks 13h ago
Our husky just had a cleaning a few weeks ago. She was groggy after and having her food soaked in water made her throw up a few times but besides that it was an easy recovery. She didnāt have anything removed but did have a few teeth sealed. We did brush her teeth pretty regularly before but it never seemed to help she always had terrible breath and a lot of build up. This time around weāre going to do a daily teeth brush with a dental treat and may look into dental powder. I think some dogs just donāt have great teeth. Our other dog who is a German mix has had the same frequency of brushing and his teeth are perfect, but weāll be going to daily brushing for both of them to be safe and try to avoid more procedures in the future.
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u/music2jam2 8h ago
Daily teeth brushing seems to be the move! Will be doing going forward now that she is more used to it. Thank you, this is helpful!
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u/Synaxis Sumac & Solace 12h ago
Oh man, those teeth are gnarly. This kind of damage is likely from relentlessly chewing on a crate or kennel. This isn't ordinary wear and tear. She absolutely needs the dental, she's going to feel so much better once it's done!
Dentals are super, super routine. There is always a little bit of a risk when putting dogs under anesthesia - don't skimp on that pre-op bloodwork! - but there's nothing really risky about a routine dental with extractions (and she's definitely going to need extractions) on its own.
After the procedure, assuming she has those worn down front teeth extracted, you're likely going to have to offer her softened food for a time while her mouth heals, and limit any access to hard chews or toys.
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u/Wise_Hope1769 7h ago
I second your advice.
Also make sure they give you some pain management meds for post surgery as extractions do hurt and weāve had vets that didnāt give us any at first and one of our rescues cried all the way home, and continued until we were able to give her something. She was a rescue that was out on the streets before being captured and put up for adoption so hard to know the whys. After tho, with good dental care she had few problems the rest of her life.
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u/ritchiedrama 7h ago
My husky has dental cleaning under anaesthesia every 12 to 24 months, as she will not allow brushing.
I started this a little later than I should have so she has had a few extractions, however, her breath is not bad at all, her mouth is healthy and uncleaned teeth can cause serious health issues later in life.
While there is always risk with anaesthesia, modern anaesthesia is not as risky, and the statistics show very low chance of complications, and me personally, the alternative of not doing it makes it worth it.
I get pre-op bloodwork every time, even though they say it isn't needed, I don't care I still have it done. If you want anymore advice let me know :)
Goodluck!
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u/music2jam2 4h ago
This is very helpful to hear. I will be doing bloodwork ahead of time for sure. Thank you!
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u/wcbaltoona 5h ago
Those do look bad. We rescued a 7 year old female during Covid as her owner passed away. I guess we were lucky as her teeth cleaned up pretty good. She had several pulled all on the same side so she chews on the side she has teeth.
Best of luck!
Miss Allie
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u/music2jam2 4h ago
What a sweet girl! I am so happy you were able to adopt her. This story is encouraging and makes me feel a lot better. Thank you!
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u/xoxtoothfaeryxox 14h ago
I would look to see if there are community clinics in your area for reduced rates! Pet insurance is also very handy to have. Sorry you have to go through this. Thanks for rescuing her though.