Bowpi had oozed over into my vacated warm spot on the bed this morning. I was reluctant to scoop the sleepy Basenji puddle into my arms, but we had an appointment to keep!
Dropped her off at 8 in the morning, picked her up at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Our entire “pack” of humans and Bowdu went to pick her up, just so we could all get treated to her vigorous curlytail wags in the lobby. Quite special for our typically restrained little gal! She received a glowing report from the techs who had accompanied her all day. It’s nice to know that at least one of the Bows isn’t a total nightmare at the vet’s office…
Meanwhile, Bowpi seems to have discovered her voice, or at least the power of a whimper. She whimpered for about twenty minutes straight after we came home, until I offered her some yogurt laced with Rescue Remedy. She eventually drifted off to sleep, and saw fit to protest her rough day whenever she briefly regained consciousness, but mostly she stayed asleep.
She got a little bit of food, which was eagerly consumed after not having eaten all day. The vet recommended just half her usual amount, and then the remaining half later in the evening if she seemed interested. And she was.
A dazed and confused 15 February 2011
Her teeth do look great! I’m awaiting the official before and after scans from the vet, since they were able to pry apart her gums and get a good shot. Meanwhile, here is today’s tally:
Dental exam, $0.00
Catheterization I.V., $45.00
Peri-op IV Fluids, $55.00
In house preanesthetic panel, $89.00
Canine Periodontal therapy, less than 30 pounds, $101.50
Dental anesthesia, small dog, less than 30 pounds, $138.10
Anesthetic monitoring, $57.00
Hospitalization Day, $40.90
Antibiotic injection, $31.75
Butorphanol injection, $38.94
OraVet barrier sealant, $21.00
Toe Nail Trim,$27.00$0.00TOTAL BEFORE DISCOUNT: $618.19
TOTAL AFTER DISCOUNT (25%): $463.64
Thank goodness there were no extractions, and this is not meant to be a regular procedure! And yes, I did shop around… but in the end, I thought it was important to try and cultivate a relationship with a regular vet, which this clinic is becoming. Given our past experiences with less accommodating practices, I’ve been impressed with this vet’s level of communication and their willingness to try a range of options.
I hope my praise doesn’t jinx this relationship.
I hope to have more good things to say about this vet later.
Even if Bowpi would sooner leave the memory of today behind.
Still pricey even with the discount. Oy.
Let us know how it looks in a few weeks – do they say how long the effects of the cleaning will last? How deep/thorough do they go?
Unfortunately, all costs are skewed towards the cost of living in my area. I’m sure there are other major metropolitan areas that can compare, or go higher… but this is seriously some incentive for relocating to small town Montana or something!
Maybe the local SPCA could have gone sub-$400, but I would be surprised if they could beat it by much.
It’s as deep a cleaning as one can go. But they did say the plaque came right off, so I wonder if that is to be attributed to the anti-plaque additive we’ve been using (which, as far as I know, doesn’t *dissolve* plaque or anything that convenient, but makes it harder for plaque to stick). The sealant is just a temporary thing — lasts a few months? Just long enough to shield her teeth from any immediate invasions since they’d just been scraped and cleaned up.
Some other clinics tried to sell me some other regularly re-applied oral gels, and a dental vaccine. Those are unnecessary, IMO. The post-cleaning sealant? Well, I’m willing to give that one a shot.
I’m hoping that if we keep up with routine dental maintenance, she *might* never need another dental cleanup again. After all, it gets dangerous to anesthetize them after a certain age. I hear that sighthounds are generally more high maintenance when it comes to teeth for a variety of reasons — shape of muzzle? hardness of teeth? We’ll see…
What is the dental vaccine for?
It’s supposed to prevent the spread of the few most common dental bacteria… I guess whatever could possibly get underneath the gumline and infect those teeth. I didn’t get very far into the tech’s explanation before I brushed it off — it’s no guarantee, and I think we’d get more mileage out of general maintenance.
Aw, poor Bowpi, but you know, you got a great deal on the teeth cleaning. Each time we had Deedle’s teeth cleaned it cost us $1,000. The last time it was about $1,500, and they extracted a ton of teeth! I don’t think she will have to have her teeth cleaned again, though, as she is probably too elderly to handle the anesthesia.
$1K! *faint*
Yeah, I’m hoping this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Or that I’ll at least have a real job, or be living somewhere with more reasonable costs of living by the time she needs this done again.
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