bad teeth + no money= what should i do?

[Soccer37]

Ok, so my families dog is a collie she looks just like lassie. She is the BEST dog anyone could ask for. I have been away from home for about three years and just noticed the rotten state (no pun intended) of her teeth. They are really bad. I feel so sorry for her. But I am a poor college student and cannot afford thousands of dollars of surgery for her teeth. I still go home to visit her and take her for walks. My family does too but I miss her so much. Is there anything I can do to help her teeth? is there something I can put in her water? I am not sure she will chew on a bone. We used to try and get her to but she hasnt ever found any interest in it. I tried to brush her teeth for a while but I think she just ate the toothpaste and nothing got on her teeth anyway. (doggie toothpaste of course) I feel so badly for her. My parents dont have the money so I am going to take her into the vet for check up and rabies shots. I will ask the vet what I can do, but again I am poor and as much as I would like to I have my own pets to care for as well as supporting myself.

[PawsUK]

I cant believe how much money you guys have to pay over there(usa) just for a dental. I have noticed that your veterinary care over there is very expensive,for a dental at my previous veterinary practice was about $60 .

What can food is she on dry or tinned? I definetely would suggest dry as it is better for her teeth.But if her teeth are that bad she might not be able to eat it.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Here's a link to another thread that is similar to this one. Quite a few people gave advice... thought you might find it helpful, but if you still have questions feel free to ask!

http://www.petshub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17129

[Soccer37]

Thanks! I will look at that. Is there anything you can put in their water that could help? I will have to look and see how much a teeth cleaning would be at the vet. I will probably have to pay for it and right now am struggling to pay rent, so it may be a while still. My parents dont have dental insurance so she says the dog is not getting her teeth done when my sister still needs hers. ::shrug:: priorities I guess.

[IceyBlueSibes]

I think you can work something out with your vet. Some vets will allow you to pay little at a time. Just ask when you see how much the teeth cleaning is, and see if you can set up a 'payment plan', like maybe $20 a week or something.

I'm not sure about putting anything in their water, the only thing I could guess is to ask your vet or go to your local petstore and see what kind of pet teeth cleaning products they have there.

[DazyDaizee]

Okay...Ask the vet when you go in..but for a regular dental..it shouldn't be THAT much...at least I don't think it is where I work..but either way...there's a perscription food called **T/D**. Hills makes it. You can use it as a diet or as treats. It helps clean the teeth. You could try that..it'll probably be pretty espensive ...since it's a perscription food and you have to buy it from your vet...but if you use it as a treat, it shouldn't be too bad.
There are also rope toys and nylabone toys made especially for cleaning teeth. Try getting some of those toys. If you feed her canned food now, mix in dry or switch to a dry diet as long as her teeth aren't bad enough that they hurt her. Dry food keeps teeth much cleaner than canned food

Good luck with your dog, I hope there's soemthing you can do to help her out.

[Soccer37]

Thanks!! I actually called the vet yesterday and just a teeth cleaning was only 104.00$ My mother took her to a vet that tried to do a ton of stuff to the dog and told her it was going to be a ton of money, so now I am taking her to the vet that I take my ferrets to he is good and SOO much cheaper!!

[IceyBlueSibes]

Great to hear! Glad you can finally get the girl taken care of!

[DazyDaizee]

That's awesome. I'm happy to hear it.

[Kims Critters]

100 dollars for a cleaning?!!!!! That is outrageous. Here in CT, at least at my vets, a dental checkup and cleaning is about 60 dollars or so! I am at a loss for words at how much they wanted to charge you!

Yes, the food will be expensive but it is very well worth it for the good dental health for you dog. I believe 20 pounds of it is roughly 30 dollars or so. I may be mistaken though.

[Soccer37]

Maybe I should check around first. She is a Collie not a border Collie so they said for large dogs its more expensive. I havent ever taken a dog to get their teeth cleaned so I have no idea what it should cost.

I am so broke right now though it will have to wait for a little while. I am still trying to convince my mother she should help me pay for it. I am getting closer. But rabies shot is next week so I can ask them about it then.

[Kims Critters]

See if they will work out a payment plan with you.

[AngelThatKillz]

http://www.petinsurance.com/

Pet Insurance that covers ANY pet including exotics such as rats, snakes, mice, chins, gerbils, etc. And EVERY licensed vet accepts it. You can either sign up on the site or call.


hope i helped!

[ilovezorro]

This is a question for Kim's Kritters. I am in CT too and am looking for a new vet with reasonable prices. I have a cat and ferret. Do you have any you could suggest? Probably isn'tthe right place to post this but I don't know how to get ahold of you.

[Kims Critters]

Where in CT are you? With a location it will be easier to help you out finding a vet.

Kim

edited to add: my email addy is kwarren01@snet.net if you want to contact me that way.

[ilovezorro]

West Haven but for a good vet I am willing to travel. Last time I had to get my cats teeth done it was nearly $400. I only work part time and I'm a student so that is just too much.

[Kims Critters]

Try Hammonassett Vet in Madison. He is excellent and quite reasonable. Also the Guilford Veternarian Practice is good. I am not familiar with vets closer to you though. I use to live in Guilford. I am currently living in north/central CT.

[ilovezorro]

do you have a phone number for them?

[Zouave]

West Haven but for a good vet I am willing to travel. Last time I had to get my cats teeth done it was nearly $400. I only work part time and I'm a student so that is just too much.


Jeez! What needs to be done? Braces??

Man, my own teeth are in bad enough shape. The money dentists charge for pets, or people, is outrageous! :mad:

[ilovezorro]

yea no kiddin. my cat was 400 because she had to have blood work before they did anything because of her age and then they had to remove the teeth. the longer the animal is under they charge for that too. and speaking of human teeth i have to get all four of my wisdom teeth out because and its gonna cost 1,500. thats the part the insurance doesnt cover.

[Zouave]

I once had a root canal - $1300!!!

Enjoy having your wisdom teeth out. I had it done oncfor one, and it was one of the most painful experiences ever for me. :(

[superjack]

i got all of my wisdon teeth taken out and i was so out of it that i didn't feel a thing. and i took pain meds afterwards. i did just fine. depends on how your teeth are positioned. and you don't always have to pay! some research places will do it for free if you will do a participate in a pain relief study.

[Trishy]

O_o

why don't you just hold the sucker down, bring her head straight up and brush them once every week? It does ALOT, but I guess if you need more kinds of things done it makes sence

[Spudnik]

Don't you people have a free health service? :confused:

[kitten323]

HAha nothing here is for free. We pay insane prices for health insurance. Mine is 120 a month through a govt job. And that is only for regular med stuff.. Optical and dental are extra...

[Pixiedust1393]

At one of the pet stores where I live, called Noah's Ark (don't think there are many of them, maybe just the one here in VA) but there's a sign that says it'll pay for your big vet bill, as long as you pay them back in a certain amount of time. Try checking around pet stores and see if they have anything like that

[fuzzywuzzy]

you can check here because when i went to one of the insurance sites it was 1.00 for the first month and only 12.00 a month after that and it looked like it covered at minimum 500.00 per procedure which would be a really good deal for you. I have a cat that is three and she is getting really fat...worried about her health so i have been looking into health insurance for her as i know it is REALLY EXPENSIVE.
Here is the link:

http://comfy-cozy.com/pet-insurance.htm

[fuzzywuzzy]

whoops, wrong link, i just checked and it is:

PET HEALTH INSURANCE HELP (http://artwendy.com/pet-insurance.htm)

[Ariana]

Ok, so my families dog is a collie she looks just like lassie. She is the BEST dog anyone could ask for. I have been away from home for about three years and just noticed the rotten state (no pun intended) of her teeth. They are really bad. I feel so sorry for her. But I am a poor college student and cannot afford thousands of dollars of surgery for her teeth. I still go home to visit her and take her for walks. My family does too but I miss her so much. Is there anything I can do to help her teeth? is there something I can put in her water? I am not sure she will chew on a bone. We used to try and get her to but she hasnt ever found any interest in it. I tried to brush her teeth for a while but I think she just ate the toothpaste and nothing got on her teeth anyway. (doggie toothpaste of course) I feel so badly for her. My parents dont have the money so I am going to take her into the vet for check up and rabies shots. I will ask the vet what I can do, but again I am poor and as much as I would like to I have my own pets to care for as well as supporting myself.

you can scrape the rock hard yellow/brown film off of her teeth with a dull kitchen knife, making sure not to cut her gums. i do this to my 12 year old dalmation once a year and it makes the biggest difference in the world... some of what looks like rotten teeth is actually just plaque on the surface.

heres how you do it: take a small dull kitchen knife, dull steak knife, or dental tool and while your dog is already lying down approach it and talk to it while peeling it's lips back and looking at its teeth, it should get used to it after a while, now take the tip of the tool and place it on the line between where the tooth and gums meet, press downward and drag with pressure TOWARD the TIP of the tooth. sheets of hard krust should flake off of the tooth, do this to all teeth. once all the teeth are cleaned take a toothpick, bite the tip of the toothpick so it is soft, and gently probe underneath any loose or red parts of the gumline, removing any gunk and hairs trapped under the gumline. once that is done brush your dogs teeth and give it a fresh bowl of water. do this once a year and your dog will have healthy teeth it's entire life!

[LottomagicZ4941]

I was hoping to find some good pet jokes here. Now I'm feeling guilty for not brushing the dog's teath.

All he wants to do is eat the beef flavored goo. I think I paid $10 or $11 for it and we have attempted to brush him 3 times so he is up to about 3/4ths of a brushing.