Question about SPCA
 

Recently there has been a SPCA inspector that issued an order for me to bring my dog to do some teeth washing. I took my dog to the vet for a regular check up first. The only concern I have is my dog is 11 years old and in order to wash her teeth, she has to go though anaesthesia which could be harmful to her? I explained the situation to the inspector; however, the inspector was insistant on forcing me to bring my dog for dental cleaning otherwise she would have warrant to seize my dog.

My question is does SPCA have the authority to do so? My dog is well groomed and well fed. She is old and I don't want to lose her if the anaesthesia happens to be harmful for her. I am sure there are a lot of other pets/animals out there that are neglected and need more care. Why does the inspector insist on having my dog's teeth cleaned even after I explained the situation? Are there any authorities I can consult this issue with? I am feeling the particular inspector is being unreasonable.

Thank in advance.

What does your vet say?

Especially if your dog is already 11 years old, you definately DO NOT want if at all possible, to have your dog go through anaesthesia.

As much as I hate to say it, your dog may not wake up from it.

I know from first hand experience. :(

Just out of curiousity, what led the SPCA inspector to believe your dog needed her teeth cleaned in the first place?

Why would they issue a teeth inspection?

At first the inspector came regarding my neighbor's report of us having the dog leashed outside. The inspector then continued to do a check up of our dog and thinks she has too much tartar on her teeth. We brought her to the vet to do a physical check up and the vet thinks her teeth are healthy besides the tartar. The vet says there are blood tests that can be done before anasthesia, would the blood test be a good enough indicator as to if she's fit to go through anastehsia? Anybody had any experience?

You could always have your vet write a letter stating he thinks the anesthetic would be harmful to your dog and recommending against the cleaning... then take that to the SPCA dude. If he insists that you still have to do it, write up a letter stating he takes full responsibility if your dog doesn't survive and that you have the right to sue civilly... see if he'll sign that for you. Betcha he won't.

Its usually a good idea to have dogs you dont know the history of, or elder dogs blood tests done to make sure they are healthy before any surgery.

I did have a dog under go anetheisia at an elder age, I think he was around 11 to have his teeth cleaned and gums cut. (they would grow down his canines making it hard for him to eat) he did find for this. There may also be a local they can give your animal so that he's only sedated instead of completely 'out' of it.

You (generally speaking) should give your dogs bones to help them naturally clean their teeth, like soup bones etc. This helps scrape the tarter off their teeth that can accumulate from kibble etc.

If you're worried about the 'order' to have the teeth cleaned I would get the letter from the vet stating you are going through the motions ex: blood tests and that there is a huge risk due to the age of the animal. In the meantime give the dog some frozen soup bones to help clean the teeth. The tarter can effect the health of the dog as well by means of bacteria etc.

HTH

The SPCA can't seize a dog for poor dental hygiene. What I would suggest is if your dog is fine with having ppl around his/her teeth their are people that will do it without putting them under.

Any contact info for such places?

Thanks In Advance

Wow, I would have told the SPCA dude to get the fuck off my property before I stick my foot up his ass. I highly doubt he's going to come back with the cops to seize your dog and if he did the first call I'd make it to the paper especially if all were talking about here is tarter and not any type of abuse.

i highly doubt he has the power to take your dog away just b/c she has poor dental hygiene. that's like taking a kid away from their parent b/c the kid has cavities.

get the vet to write a "report" for you and talk to the supervisor of this SPCA officer. Tell them what has transpired.

Here is a place that does it : http://www.somethingtobarkabout.ca/teeth.htm

I was talking to one of my friends who is a ACO for the SPCA and they said that they can issue you a order to have your dogs teeth cleaned but its at the discression of your vet. If the vet feels that the animal is not fit for the procedure then you have to get the correct documentation to present to the SPCA and the order is then reviewed

Brought my dog to the vet and had the blood tested first. Turns out she is in good health and went ahead with the cleaning. Thanks for the help everyone.

see the thing adopting at spca is that they dont trust u and the procedure is jus so annoying

Yeah, well, that's because they actually care about the animals... easy to forgive them being twitchy about that, since most of the animals they see are coming from people who don't give half a shit about them.