dental surgery on a 13 yr old dog
My 13/14-year-old dog recently had bloodwork done before a possible dental surgery/tooth extraction procedure, and I honestly don’t know what I would do in this situation, so I wanted to ask for opinions/experiences from people who have gone through something similar.
He has pretty severe periodontal disease, and the vet said leaving it untreated also has risks because the infection/inflammation can keep affecting his body and quality of life. But they’re also worried because his kidney values aren’t great and anesthesia would be higher risk.
Some of the bloodwork values:
- BUN: 81 (high)
- Creatinine: 1.7 (slightly high)
- Potassium: 6.2 (high)
- ALT: mildly elevated
- Albumin: slightly low
His red/white blood cell counts were otherwise pretty normal, and he still acts like himself most of the time. Eats, walks around, gets excited, etc. He’s about 13.7 kg.
We also did dental X-rays, and thankfully his jaw bone itself is apparently still pretty healthy, which made the vet feel a bit better regarding fracture risk. But because the periodontal disease is advanced, there’s still concern overall.
The vet mentioned options like IV fluids and careful anesthesia monitoring, but I’m struggling with whether it’s kinder to proceed with the dental despite the risks, or avoid surgery and risk the dental disease getting worse over time.
If this were your dog, what would you do?
Especially interested in hearing from people whose senior dogs had kidney issues + dental surgery.