Has anyone gotten their dogs teeth cleaned with a heart murmur?

[Guest]

She’s between a grade 1 and grade 2 heart murmur. She was diagnosed last year and recently got another echo to see where she was at and there were no changes thankfully.

They said she would need dental at some point but the idea of it is freaking me out. Her two top back teeth definitely need cleaning but all of her other teeth look pretty fine (she just makes it difficult to reach her back top teeth).

She is a 10-year-old chihuahua.

[Courtney]

Your vet will use heart friendly drugs to make it as safe a possible. I've seen many older dogs with heart murmurs do great under anesthesia! Also keep in mind as your dog gets older the heart murmur will likely progress so it may get more risky the longer you wait. If it's just a cleaning, the good news is they can wake your pet up anytime of its not going well with the anesthesia.

[Melody]

If the vet and cardiologist clear her for anesthesia, do it now. If her tartar isn't that bad, she'll *probably* only be under for 10-20 minutes. That's a lot less than if you let the teeth get worse and she ends up needing extractions later on, which is the whole point of doing dentals when the teeth aren't horrible. The less time under anesthesia, the better. After they're professionally cleaned, it will be easier for you to maintain that clean afterwards and hopefully go longer before needing the next one.

There is ALWAYS a risk with anesthesia even with the healthiest pet. You really just never know, but you trust the professionals to do right by your pet. Always have your phone on you and ready to receive a call when your pet is under.

[Cheryl]

She should probably be pre medicated with antibiotics before cleaning. You can also ask if they have an actual anesthesiologist monitoring her during cleaning.