Operation at 18 years old

[90girl]

hi all, my dog has to go into the vets this week to have some teeth pulled. i am very nervous because she has to got under with an anestic. she is 18years old and i am worried this will take toll on her? has anyone else been in this situation with an old dog, please let me know from your past experiances. many thanks, worried susanne. :(

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h30/90girl/PegOnTheBed.jpg

[lassie]

Hi IMO i would NOt put a dog of this age through an op, she may well not survive the anathestic. what breed is she???????

[90girl]

hi there, she is a staffy x whippet. she is very healthy and fit. she has to have several of her teeth out and the vet said if she does not have them out she will be in pain and eventually unable to eat which would mean she would have to be put to sleep. :(

[pittiegirl]

Have you had this dog under anesthesia before? Whippets have a reputation for bad reactions.

I'll try to find some more infomation and post back.

[pittiegirl]

All sighthounds are sensitive to anesthesia, their lack of body fat is the problem. The bare minimum for their body weight should be used and the vet should be familiar with sighthounds.

Your dog being a mix may have less risk.

My mother has a whippet cross who was extrememly sick for a week after being spayed at one year old.

Best of luck, this is a tough decision to have to make.

[lassie]

oh dear . what a decision:(

[Patsy]

you risk making her deathly ill from the rotten teeth. I can only tell you what I would do. I have a dog who is 19. If he had rotten teeth in his mouth I'd have to take the chance because I couldn't live with myself everyday knowing he's suffering.

Right now I think he has gallstones and I won't even consider surgery because his chances are slim to none. If they can't disolve it with medication that I'll just have to wait for him to get really ill and then let him go.

Being a responsible and loving pet owner is difficult when they get up in age. Good luck. Definitely talk to more than one vet and make sure they are excellent and very careful with the administration of anesthesia.

I would think they would only want to give gas since he could be brought out of it the quickest if a problem occurs.

[90girl]

hi eveyone, thanks for the advice!! peg has been for her operation and come out of it very well!!!!!!!! she has had 14 teeth out and now her suck is worse than her bite!! many thanks for the support everyone!!

[MrsRottie]

I'm so pleased to hear that she made it through OK :)

[Patsy]

Glad she is doing well.

[Borzoi mad]

Glad to hear she came through it okay and is one the way to recovery

[Plummy16]

Glad to hear she came through. I had an 18yr old Lhasa Apso who had to be spayed as she had developed Pyametries (cant spell) it was so hard making the decision they told me as she was fit it would be fine to operate but it would affect her worse than a younger dog. She was so unwell though about 2 months after she had a huge heart attack and brain hemerige and was still alive i had to take her to get put down, (which i probably should have done in the first place, however humans are extremley selfish when it comes to loosing things arnt they) teeth are totally different though i'm sure she will be tip top. :D you should get her some false teeth.

[LoveThatPom]

Get well soon, Peg!