Actually any surgical procedure along with a dental.

My vet has done spay/neuter/dental's on many of my dogs. On my senior he did a dental and fatty tumor removals.

I've been hearing alot of vets will not do a dental with any other surgical procedure, as bacteria will get into their system. I don't quite understand this. Wouldn't it get in their system anyway?

Is my vet wrong to do them at the same time?

Is it dangerous?

Debsdogs,
I am not real sure. I have not heard of this. Although when my hubby had is surgury the beginning of this month they made him rinse his mouth out with mouthwash twice before he went into surgury. (He had one testicle removed, so I guess you can compare it to a nueter :-) **don't tell him i said that though** )Once when they hooked up the iv fluids and once right before they wheeled him through "the doors". They said there has been a study conducted that proves this prevents infections, so if you are talking dental cleaning then I don't think it would be a problem. Not like they are pulling teeth or whatever.....

I havent really heard of it before with just a dental, like weimgolden said its not like they are actually pulling teeth, just cleaning them up. Tater had his dental and what we thought was a nueter done at the same time.

The think he was getting nueter is a story in its self. I had him nuetered when he was 6 months old but he still had a thing that looked like a testicle there and even a few vets looked at it and made the same assumption. The vet that did the origional nueter was in a hurry and they were a bit hateful to me so I thought maybe he had an undescended one and the vet just took the one that was down and left the other to have it descend later. When I thought there was another testicle there I had his 1 year dental scheduled with the partial nueter, it turned out it was just a scrotal hernia that the orgional vet didnt bother to repair and it was just a bunch of fatty tissue.

For my guys they are at a higher risk of complications just for being under anesthesia in the first place so to weigh the risks they are more likley to have complications to the anesthesia than they are the dental/nueter combo. While I do have them Iso gassed, IG's are ultra sensitive to all anesthesias than most other breeds. So the dental/nueter combo is one less time to put under anesthesia.

With my fosters, they always have at least one tooth pulled during their dentals. So teeth are pulled.

When they're puppies, retained baby teeth are always pulled during spay/neuter. I don't get it.

I really would like to get to the bottom of this, as if it's dangerous, I won't allow it. Then again, I would hate to have a senior go under anesthesia for a second time. One for spay, and again for a dental.

Safety always comes first, but this also costs rescue twice as much money.

Debs, dont know if I edited my post in time but I feel the risks of anesthesia are greater than the risks of doing dental/surgery combos. More dogs probably die just because of anesthesia than they do from blood poisoning from dental work. Especially on a senior anesthesia is an even greater risk. My friend who is a vet tech, they just recently lost an older dog on account of the anesthesia, but they have never lost any due to dental/nueters.

Tatersmom ~ Yes, I see what you've added now. And that's how I feel. The anesthesia scares me to death.

Thanks for the input from your friend. I tell ya, half the vets the other foster parents go to, will not do combos. Yet the other half will.

My vet declawed my cat and did a dental at the same time.

My vet does spay/neuter and dentals at the same time. The less you have to put them out, the better. Anytime he does a dental, he does put them on Antirobe, anitbiotic. My vet and my dentist have both told me there is great risk of infection going to your blood stream when you have dental work done.

I found this on the vetinfo4dogs website:

It would be best to have your vet remove the lump, spay your chihauhua and clean the teeth. It would be a good time to remove any teeth that need removal as well. This would make the most efficient use of one anesthetic procedure and these things are commonly done together -- there is little increase in surgical risk, if any, by combining these procedures.