I'm sorry you lost your other kitty before, however I'm inclined to think that the other health problems had alot to do with it.

Anesthetics today are much safer than they were 10 years ago. Pre-op lab work helps the vets to find any hidden health problems before they even begin. The results may also influence which choices of anesthetics they use for your particular pet to make it as safe as possible.

All anesthetic carries a minimal risk, however LENGTH of time influences the risk more. If you keep up with dental cleanings then the pet's time under anesthesia is much shorter, thus a smaller risk. If you let the pet's teeth go untreated, it will take much longer for the work to be done and increase the risks. Not to mention that it would not be good for the pet's health at all.

Bacteria on the teeth get into the gums, which then get into the blood stream. Not only could untreated teeth/gums cause pain and tooth loss which can cause difficulty in eating, but also can and do cause abcesses, infections in the jaw bone, and eventually organ failure (heart, liver, kidneys). I have personally seen too many animals at work die at very young ages from organ failures because of untreated oral disease. It's completely preventable with regular dental cleanings done by your vet.

Although Dusty is no longer with me, she passed away last year for reasons unrelated to teeth. I did have her teeth cleaned when she was about 15 years old which was the second time she'd had them cleaned in her lifetime. She had no complications during or after the dentals.

In the years I've worked at the vet hospital I've never seen a pet lost because of doing a dental cleaning, however I have seen pets lost at too young of an age because of NOT having dental cleanings done. I have personally seen pets as old as 19 have their teeth done without problems.

If you still have concerns talk them over with your vet, he/she should be able to explain their particular procedures that make things as safe as possible for your pet. Vets don't like to lose patients anymore than we like losing our furbabies and vets go through a great deal of things before/during/after any anesthetic to make it as safe as possible.

There are places that advertise 'non anesthetic dental cleanings' however I would never recommend that in place of a vet done dental for a number of reasons. Since the reasons are lengthy I'll simply refer you to these two sites.

http://www.avdc.org/position-statements.html#cadswa (this is from the American Veterinary Dental College)

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/20...e-dentistries/


And since I see that you're needing the consent of someone else to have the dental done, if they can stomach the accompanying pictures, here is a website showing some of the nasty peridontal diseases on pet teeth and some of the reprocussions of not having them timely done.

The website is from a vet hospital in CA. and does have some rather graphic photographs of nasty teeth and some of the consequences of not taking care of them. Be warned the pictures are very graphic but if you really need to convince someone else this needs to be done for your pet's health, I don't see a more dramatic way of showing it. http://lbah.com/dent.htm

Keep us posted on what happens.