We paid between $900 and $1000 just last year for our Golden's teeth cleaning. There is Pet Insurance that covers a very small portion. (Just the cleaning).

You're getting a bargain - we paid $1400 last year, and the vet's nagging us to do it every year. If we did everything they told us we "absolutely must do" for routine maintenance we'd be looking at $2000+ a year IF everything went perfectly. This is why I told DH to shut the bleep up about whining for a cat.

We're probably going to start vet shopping before too long. We love our vet but the tenor of her practice has changed drastically (used to be a comprehensive veterinary hospital but now it's kind of more "shots and spays") and the fees are way out of control.

Wow, I must have gotten a real bargain. This time last year I had the poodle's teeth cleaned. We had just rescued her. She had been a "puppy factory" and was pretty pathetic. Her teeth were awful. She had 2 or 3 teeth pulled during the cleaning. I believe I paid $250-300 dollars for everything.

Wow,.. maybe it's a regional thing but my Grandparents have a Yorkie and I think they paid $300-400 for his teeth cleaning.

I've avoided teeth cleanings with my dogs through their younger years with raw marrow bones given once a week. However, now that the older dog is seven I don't think I'm going to get away with it the next time we go in to see the vet. I know the cost will be at least 700 or more.

Personally, I think they sell the teeth cleaning pretty hard. I'm not sure how necessary or effective it is, to the extent of annual cleanings, barring any real problems. I just don't trust the sell as a necessary procedure and don't like putting my animals under anesthesia, invasive procedures, or stress (physical or mental). I've had cats live to 19 before all the fancy procedures were available.

The dentists charge more around here. My vet does cleanings regularly, too, and is about $300 less than the group practice of specialists in our area. She is actually a bit more than others, though, as she's a feline specialist, monitors vitals, and doesn't send them home right away -- her reasons. She said she doesn't pay attention to what other docs charge. I think she was about $100 more than another source I'd checked.

This is an expensive area, and high-tech care for animals seems to be a booming business.

I would check around. It has been awhile but I don't think it was that much by a long shot.We have had both Cooper and Baileys teeth cleaned while under anesthesia for other things like neutering.Now extractions- thats another thing entirely, Cooper( who else?) had to have 4 bottom puppy teeth extracted when he was little because they were blocking his permanent teeth. Hes my snaggletooth! I can't remember but I don't think more than 500 for the extractions. Sorry, one vet bill now blends into the next... I will see if I can locate the receipt. I asked to see if they could clean Coopers teeth yesterday while he was under but they had two aleady scheduled. the tech did clip his nails and charged half price.
I know there is a vast difference in charges between the surgeon we have used and will use for the ACL repair(1800) and the specialized regional vet centers that our vet recommended(2500+ hospitalization charges and pre-op etc for the same procedure). We found the same difference when we were looking for the elbow dysplasia. Both have good reputations- but vastly different overhead, I imagine that is true in your area as well. We found our surgeon by asking folks at the puppy park- he got very high marks.Ask around you may find someone else!
Cooper has never had a tartar problem but Bailey has had some- same diet- go figure. Good luck.

I've had work done on a number of dogs by canine dentists and my advice to get another opinion. Some will take you to the cleaners, because they can. If you live anywhere near northern VA, let me know and I'll give you a recommendation.

That's an outrageous price. I've lived in several high-cost areas on the East Coast and never paid more than $300-$400 for a cleaning.

I figure at least $600 for each cat. More if extractions are needed.

Thank goodness that's one vet procedure and charge we've managed to avoid by getting our dogs used to having their teeth cleaned by us ..... or rather DH. He starts out slowly when the dogs are young but gets them used to lying down and allowing him to look in their mouths, brush their teeth, etc. He even uses a dental tool to remove tarter (and yes he is just as fanatical about his own teeth!) and our vet has always told us their teeth are in great shape. Our Dalmatian was so relaxed he used to fall asleep during the cleanings and also when getting his nails ground.

The last time Chabbys teeth were cleaned, they put her "almost under"...sedated, and the bill was about $250....$275.

The price is more related to the type of anesthesia than to the cleaning itself.

That's what I was going to do -- when my cat had to have surgery, just get his teeth cleaned too. But it was an additional $800! w/o any extractions. That was on top of a $2K operation (which ended up resulting in another $2K of post-surgical complications that drug on for a year). There was one tooth that was questionable but his teeth were in great shape because of the dry food. I couldn't do his teeth, too, with all the other bills from both him and a very sick aging brother. This was at the specialty practice. Regular vet was $500, no extractions.

I really don't like the idea of having my pet's mouth busted up removing teeth. Very unsure about the repercussions of something like that (bacterial junk flooding into his blood stream). My 18 and 19 year olds each dropped a fang tooth when they were ready. Seemed to work alright that way!

Another kitty was estimated at $600-$800 at my regular vet a number of years ago. A tooth would likely be coming out for the higher amount.

In August of '08 I paid about $250-300 to have my dog's teeth cleaned, and that included three extractions.

I did shop around as my original vet charged more, as did the Humane Society. Then I found this little homey small vet practice with reasonable rates. I now go to them for everything.

It is important to clean the dogs teeth, however. Years ago my mom's dog died from an infection caused by tartar that had gotten into his bloodstream.

Nicole

I think my dogs' bills have been about $300 if nothing else is done. Some cost is for medical testing to make sure that they are healthy before the anesthesia. I always make sure I get the dental done around the time of the yearly exam then I don't need more testing.

Another kitty was estimated at $600-$800 at my regular vet a number of years ago. A tooth would likely be coming out for the higher amount.

Oh, yeah, and the new vet says her teeth don't look that bad. Not the story I got before, at all. And her teeth were never done.

Our cat was about $250 for cleaning and one extraction, including pre-anesthesia bloodwork (required for a cat over 10 at my vet) and anesthesia. It was done by the dental specialist at my vet's practice. This was a year or two ago. $800-930 sounds insane to me.

Yowza!! Howard had to have 11 teeth extracted about 8 years ago and we paid $300 for that and to clean the remaining teeth. He used to chew on rocks and destroyed his teeth.

We give our dogs chew bones and the vet inspects their mouths when they go in for their routine stuff. Our vet is quite reasonable...I paid $125 to have Max sedated so they could deep clean his ear (bad fungal infection) and cut his nails. This was shortly after I rescued him. I guess I never really thought of costs for my pets, since our vet is not exhorbitant.

It certainly is interesting to see the range of fees for dentistry. It's nuts alright and just seems to be getting worse. I shudder to think how many animals are losing their homes due to the extraordinary cost of taking care of them these days. I know several people who usually have a handful of animals but aren't going to be having them anymore after they pass.

WOW!
Check some other clinics--that seems so very high.
I'm in Northern Virginia, too, (suburban Washington, D.C.), and the cost of living is high here. But I spent only a few hundred for my terrier's teeth cleaning. Plus she had some extra monitoring cuz she had a slight heart murmur. And they didn't keep her overnight--she was there 6 or 7 hours, max.

Thanks everyone for responding. I am really in a quandary.

Last night I took a good look at my dog's back teeth, and there is no question that a good cleaning, and perhaps an extraction, need to be done. I am feeling badly that I have been remiss in caring for our puppy's teeth, and I have resolved to do better in the future.

I did look up some stuff. The anesthesia the vet uses is a lot more expensive than the older stuff that was used (isoflurane is the older gas, sevo is the newer stuff). Apparently the sevo is better tolerated, and is out of the dog's system faster. But it is about $56.00 for every 15 minutes under. And of course, to do an extraction requires more time of anesthesia.Anesthesia charges account for $300 of the estimate.

But it seems like there is a lot of nickel and diming too- like a charge for the dog to rest at the vet's afterward- they won't be keeping the dog overnight, but still charge a $24.00 hospitalization fee) and a separate charge for putting the iv in ($26.00) and running an iv ($27). There are charges for antibiotics which I am sure he will need.

I like this vet. And I had a very bad outcome for a cat at another vets. But I am not made of money.I called another vet, and they would not give me an estimate over the phone without taking the dog in to be seen.

I may be over a rock and a hard place. On the bright side, I have been looking to tone down the gifting craziness at Christmas- this year I may not only have an excuse, but will have no other choice.

I'm wondering how necessary this expensive cleaning is. My family got a dog when I was about 11, a dachshund, and I was his primary bather and groomer. On a vet visit, the doctor told me just to scrub his teeth with a wet washcloth when giving him a bath. Buff lived to be 15. Another dog, a beagle, came along with marriage and kids, and I'm still the primary caretaker. I clean his teeth with a washcloth, and Sarge is a terrifically healthy 12 years old. My niece was a vet tech and complained often about seeing clients ripped off. I wonder if this is the case with pet teeth cleaning.

Barb, I'm wondering if the lower costs might have to do with the type of anesthesia used. My vets use what they use on babies these days, which is probably the expensive stuff you quoted. I had no idea it was that expensive. One has to wonder what corners are being trimmed for the huge discrepancy in pricing we're seeing here. I don't think it's all 'greed.'

My vet had also said that she would never just send a patient home. She keeps an eye on them, overnight, for bleeding (and any sign of infection, I'd guess, but can't remember exactly all the things she'd said she was concerned about). I would expect to be charged for the after-care, but it is tough seeing all the nit-pickin' itemizations on the invoice list.

It is very difficult, and like being caught between a rock and a hard place. Between the ever-crazy expense and not really knowing ourselves what's best for our animals, and what's big business, it becomes increasingly difficult. One thing that really came home with me with the last two cats who were under treatment, however, is how much of a toll the interventions take on their health and well-being. I'm sure my one kitty would have been around longer (and happier) if he hadn't had so much stuff done to him. He was totally asymptomatic until all the stressful stuff he was continually put through began. My other cat's good health also went terribly haywire after his stressful operation (benign fatty lympoma removed). They are definitely 'delicate flowers' and sometimes it's best to just back off, as two of my vets recently noted.

Can you share a bit of what happened to your other cat at another practice? Was it related to teeth?

barb5-

An alternative viewpoint...

I confess that my pets are just that, pets, not my babies or my best friends, so take my response FWIW. My stinky, doofus mutts, ages 7 and 5 ish (she's a rescue, so we don't really know) are well loved, live indoors, have all shots, the best flea/tick/heartworm medicine on the market, eat grocery store dog food (oh! the horror!) and are allowed to run free at my rural home on my property (I know, the uber pet mommies don't approve of that either).

And while I would certainly have a sore or absessed tooth evaluated and extracted, I would never, ever spend hundreds of dollars cleaning a dog's teeth, I wouldn't even have to think about it for one minute, just an automatic "no". So, don't feel guilted into having this done, follow your gut and do what you feel is right and can afford.

sandyponder

I believe dental work is important because just like people, an infection in the mouth can lead to other problems in the body. It's easy to brush, or even scale, a dog's teeth, but I'm admittedly awful at keeping up with it, given that we have a large number of dogs. So, I have dentals on them, but very, very sporadically. Of course, the cost is less if they're already under for another procedure.

That being said, I have used a specialist twice - one to remove an epulis on my first Golden and another to remove a more invasive type of epulis from a different dog - that involved losing a tooth and some bone. A quote I got from the first dentist (an alarmist, who tried to convince me my dog was in dire condition) I visited was twice the one I got from the dentist I ended up using. The second guy turned out to be the dentist for the animals at the National Zoo :) He used the newest anesthesia and rarely kept patients overnight.

Do you have a vet school near you? Often their fees for procedures are more reasonable. I'm honestly shocked that people are paying up to $1,000 for a dental. They're just no reason for it.

When

Sandy, thanks for your response. I entirely understand your viewpoint. But I am worried about my dog having a dental abscess. The tooth that the vet scratched at has redness and swelling in the gum to such as extent that the tooth can hardly be seen. The rest of the teeth that I see just have the brownish tartar on them.

SH, the sad story of my cat involved a neutering. We had gotten him as a young kitten from a rescue, that gave out coupons for discounts for neutering at certain participating vets. When the time came for him to be neurtered, I selected a vet that was located in the ritzy part of town, figuring he would do a good job. When I picked up the cat after the procedure, they gave me antibiotics for him. At the time, I thought that was routine. Ten days later, the cat was very short of breath, I brought him in to another vet who took a chest xray. The cat had large amounts of fluid in both lungs, most likely due to massive infection. I don't know what that vet did, but he certainly knew something had gone wrong and that was why he gave me antibiotics, or he reused an ET tube to save money or something.Anyway, I had to put the cat down.

Warning- don't read on if you get queasy about body stuff. I talked to one of my sisters about this who said that one day her cat had pus coming out of one of the cat's tear ducts. Turned out a tooth abscess had backed up into the sinus cavity and was draining out the tear duct. It cost her over $1000 and to this day the cat's eye is teary.

She now has her cat on Science or ?Hills HD- the D stands for dental I think. It is a hard kibble that scrapes the cat's teeth clean.I think she has to get it through her vet.

After that story I think I am going to schedule my pup. And then I am going to be as good as I can about cleaning his teeth. I am going to look into the HD diet (this after I switched to Wellness- both cats and both dogs and their coats are soft and silky, but maybe their teeth are rotting?)

I think that is about all I can do. Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me your feedback. I very much appreciate it.

Oh, Barb, what a sad and sorry tale. Poor little guy. I shudder to think. I think it is SOP to be on antibiotics after a procedure like that, though. I guess it didn't work on whatever bug had him sick. : ( I would die.

I had a few tooth abscesses growing up, on my back molars, and the dentist would just slice them open and drain. Wonder why they just remove the tooth on these guys. Certainly, an abscess needs to be taken care of. Abscesses can cause systemic blood poisining too (whatever the correct term is).

As far as routine care, it probably is a good idea to wipe the teeth down periodically. My vet recommends gauze and hydrogen peroxide to get the scum off, esp the back teeth. Two of my kitties would probably tolerate that well.

Well, my cats get better medical care (and food!) than I do. I hadn't had my own teeth done in about 15 years. Ha, when I had them done this Summer, the hygienist looked like a deer caught in headlights when I answered that question! She was also in shock when my gums/teeth came up at 3's and 2's (very good). And I only had two cavities to be filled. Maybe that doesn't speak, overall, for what gets into my blood from chewing, but my teeth and gums are in good shape from daily care.

One of the big reasons I had stopped getting my teeth done, though, was after reading about disease transferance through the dental drills and other tools. And I also remember how our family dentist had died of some weird (blood, as I recall) disease. Even with all the cleaning they do, there can be remnants from other patients stuck on or lodged in the tools. And, as I recall, there is specific difficulty in managing cross-contamination, in dentistry, with respect to prion diseases. I wonder if they're as careful with the instruments for animals as they're learning to be with people. Will have to ask my vet!

They did have a new way of cleaning teeth, though, which I really liked! and the tool would seem safer. Forget the name, but it was with a strong water jet. They just blast the gums and teeth, like a power wash. Wouldn't want to take a blue light to that exam room or tech, though, lol.

Barb, just do what you think is best for your furbabies. I'm on the same page as Squirrel....it's so hard for us to Really know what's crucial and what's not for our pets. My new vet is VERY heavy on the pressure to get my cats' (ages 1.5 and 3 yrs)teeth cleaned every year. I had the "older" cat's teeth done at age 2, and the tartar was back in less than 6 months. She is more of a "gobbler" when it comes to eating dry kibble, so maybe that's why, but the procedure really did stress her out...she lost gobs of hair over the next two weeks. I really miss my old vet...he would clip my cat's nails and scrape their teeth as part of their annual check-up. No anesthesia needed; he would just calmly hug them and talk to them as he did it. Sadly to say (for me), he retired because he wanted to take his wife who had multiple sclerosis on a world cruise before she got too disabled. He was one in a million.

Dee, this is the way it used to be around here too. And if the anal glands needed to be popped, they just were, boop! Now all those things are extra service charges, $18-$20 each. I guess they also worry about being bit. I was in the back area of my vet's a few weeks ago and, whoa, they had a couple wild ones! lol.

I wonder the same thing. So their teeth are real clean -- for how long? A month or two?

Aside from all the high-tech stuff of today, I do remember reading, decades ago, how vets were poor at running their businesses and really needed training on that aspect of things. It seems they've gone way far in that direction, managing their fees down to nickeling and diming us for every little thing they do that can be called a 'service.'

I wish they'd promote the scraping (which I usually forget about when we're there). Instead it's always cleaning that's mentioned. Maybe I'll have routine scaling just added to our file!

One of the other issues I have with spending so much on something like teeth cleaning (with four cats, down from five, here), is that I know I've got other age-related health problems coming down the road with my two 14yos. They usually don't just quietly die in their sleep. So very much is spent on just the routine things like bloodwork, or teeth, each year, telling me what I already know -- my cat is fine! I need to exercise reserve for the real problems as they age. I'm expecting hyperthyroid with the one, though it's not showing on the diagnostics yet. In my experience, that condition usually winds up needing a costly $1500 radioactive iodine treatment, sometimes twice.

The whole thing is just very stressful and confusing, and you do just have to do your homework and do what feels best and right to you. You can usually find others, medical or laypeople, to support any opinion out there.