Just like us it is key to our pets health to take care of their teeth. Oral health impacts over all health, all the way from heart disease to higher risks of developing cancer. At each of our patients annual wellness exams we take great care to assess each individual tooth and fairly often at some point in all our patients lives it is determined that further oral care is needed in order to provide the highest quality of life. Typically the required intervention takes on one of two forms, a COHAC (complete oral health assessment and cleaning) or a COHAT (complete oral health assessment and treatment) which includes the extraction of one or more tooth/teeth. Both of these procedures are considered surgical procedures as they require for the patient to be placed under anesthesia.
Kinvet puts patient care first, so we pretreat everyone the night before surgery with a nausea preventing medication to ensure that all the pain medications and anesthesia do not leave your pet feeling queasy. We also recommend pre-treating with an oral anxiety-reducing medication so that the hospital stay is as relaxed and happy as we can make it. It can be a new and scary experience for a dog or cat that has never been away from home before, and we don’t want that to be all that your pet remembers about the day. There will also be 7 days of post op pain management provided after the surgery to ensure that your furry companion continues to be comfortable once home with you.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why does my pet need to be under anesthesia for a dental? There are two main factors as to why COHACs and COHATs cannot be performed without anesthesia. The first is that cats and dogs will simply not allow for all of the vital components of these procedures to be performed without it. We need to remove plaque from both above and below the gumline as 60% of dog and cat tooth structures are under the gumline, and there is simply no way even the most well behaved and tolerant animals will allow us to perform such while they’re awake. The second is that trying to restrain or even hold down an awake patient in order to perform these procedures without anesthesia will only result in high levels of fear, stress and anxiety and risk pain from probing and cleaning that can be avoided with the assistance of anesthesia. Using anesthesia allows for us to be thorough without causing any unneeded trauma to your pet. It’s what’s best for everyone involved!
What protocols are followed to minimize anesthetic and surgical risk for your pet? At Kincardine Veterinary Services, all of our patients who under go anesthesia have pre-surgical bloodwork performed prior to their surgical procedure. This bloodwork screens for many genetic diseases and underlying infections to ensure that your pet is at optimal health prior to anesthesia. This also help us to customize pain medications and sedatives according to your pet’s needs.
All our surgical patients also have IV access which allows for emergency medications to be administered immediately in the event of an anesthetic emergency and receive intravenous fluids for their procedure. Our IV fluids are warmed, which helps maintain your pet’s body temperature and the fluid rate aids in maintaining blood pressure while under anesthesia. Additionally IV fluids help to flush anesthesia medications from their body after surgery while recovering in the hospital.
We also use local anesthetics in our surgical protocol to block pain prior to surgery, so we are able to reduce the total amount of inhalant anesthetic required, thus making the procedure safer for your pet.
Finally all of our surgical patients are monitored by one of our registered veterinary technicians assigned to their case throughout their entire procedure. Having an RVT perform the anesthesia for your pet allows us to keep a close eye on them, their vitals signs, and even slight changes in the anesthetic that may need to be addressed. Additionally our RVTs maintain vigilant with use of our Cardell monitoring equipment for EKG, SpO2, BP and more.
How long will your pet be in hospital? Dentals are a day surgery, we admit them at 8:40am, from there they will be cared for by our axillary staff until the time of surgery. We keep your pet in the controlled hospital environment until they have recovered from their procedure and are able to go home safely. Generally we arrange for your pet to go home later that same day, depending on your schedule and availability they can go straight home for some continued tender loving care.
What are you required to do before a dental? Ahead of time we generally like to perform a ‘pre-operative’ appointment here at the clinic. During this appointment is when the pre-surgical bloodwork is performed as well as some pre-operative medications are dispensed for you to give before your pet’s surgery. All you would need to do for your pet is ensure that they are FASTED (no food after 9:00pm the night before – water is fine) and that they receive two oral medications prior to arrival at the clinic. The first is called Cerenia, and it is to be given the night before around 9:00pm; the second is Gabapentin, which is to be given both the night before and morning of their surgery, the and the purpose of the Gabapentin is to help mitigate any anxiety your pet may experience while they are with us – we want to ensure that their time here is as pleasant and stress-free as it possibly can be.
What kind of pain management is employed for your pet? At Kincardine Veterinary Services we have developed an excellent analgesic protocol for our patients. We start by providing pain medications before an incision is even made, by using local anesthetics (freezing) and using multiple systemic pain medications in combination for a multimodal effect, allowing us to achieve the smoothest and most effective protocol of blocking the sensation of pain. Surgical pain lingers after the day of the procedure, this is why we are passionate about employing a pain management protocol that extends beyond your pet’s stay at the hospital. All of surgery patients go home with several days’ worth of multiple pain medications. Each medication works in a different way to help control pain, either from an anti-inflammatory or a neurological pathway.
The newest addition to our pain management protocol is the use of laser therapy on all our surgical incisions. Laster therapy or “photobiomodulation” targets the damaged cells to help them regenerate and heal faster while also providing local analgesia to the incision site.
What kind of care will your pet receive? A stay in the hospital can be quiet stressful for any animal but we here at Kincardine Veterinary Services with our fear free and caring first mentality will take every opportunity to make your pet feel as comfortable as possible. Patient care is the priority for our staff, every animal in the hospital is closely monitored and cared for by our kennel staff and our RVTs for medical care. Our kennel staff take great pride in providing your pet with all the love and care they can offer, as well as utilizing Adaptil and Feliway pheromones in the patients accommodations to ease any stress and anxiety your pet may be experiencing while away from home. All our animals are provided with soft, insulating bedding in their accommodations, the dogs are walked on the property and the kitty litter boxes are closely monitored to maintain your pet’s cleanliness and comfort.
During surgery all our patients are kept as warm as possible through the use of regulation aids that our RVTs keep a close eye on to ensure your pet is as comfortable and safe as possible as body temperature closely linked to your pets vitals through surgery. After recovery our RVTs set your pet up in their comfortable beds, where the lights are kept dim so they may remaining sleeping if they wish. Our patients are also fed after surgery as soon as it is safe to do so. If your pet is on a special diet we would love for you to bring some with you at admittance.
Does your pet receiver a post-operative checkup? Post-operative checkups are important after any surgery as they allow us to ensure your pet is recovering appropriately, all of our patients here at KVS are entitled to a post-op checkup the day after surgery if warranted, as well as a recheck in 7-10 days after surgery. Our staff will also remain in contact with you to check in on how your pet is doing via email/text/phone calls for the following weeks to ensure a safe recovery.
