SMILE - Checking In for the Day

Your dog (or pet of choice) needs to get their teeth cleaned.  You've made your appointment.  Now what?

Because a dental cleaning requires anesthesia, you will likely get a phone call from your veterinarian's office about fasting your dog.  This usually means something like no food after 8pm the night before the dental and no water after midnight.  The purpose of this is to reduce the risk of vomiting during the anesthesia.  When an animal is anesthetized the swallowing reflex is gone.  If vomit makes its way into the mouth it can be inhaled and cause infection in the lungs.  Fasting will help keep this from happening (as well as endotracheal intubation, but we'll talk about that later).

You've managed to be strong against the dirty looks your dog is soaring at you from across the room because they have not received any food or water.  They sense a visit to the vet is forthcoming - that special sixth sense animals have - but you have managed to get them to the vet's office.  Now, you check-in at the front desk.

Every hospital is different regarding their check-in procedures.  At our veterinarian's office, there are a couple of forms to sign and Heidi and the dogs are whisked back to the treatment area.  The forms that most hospitals will want you to sign are general consent forms allowing them to anesthetize your dog, perform the dental cleaning, perform anything that may arise from the examination (pulling a tooth, radiographs, etc.), and perform pre-anesthetic bloodwork.

At our hospital, the pre-anesthetic bloodwork is offered as a choice.  It is always a good idea to have this done.  A lot of people say, "well, she seems healthy" when there could be subclinical problems that might be found with bloodwork.

Once the forms are signed, Heidi and the dogs get plastic collars with their names written on them.  All other collars and harnesses are removed - this is very important.  Collars and harnesses can catch on a part of the cage and cause injury or death.  The plastic collars that they acquire at the hospital can be ripped off easily if they should snag on something.

An assistant or vet tech comes out, takes a cage card with their name on it and they disappear to the "back".

Heidi's a bit apprehensive.  Heidi, it's not that bad, I promise!

Next up: Pre-anesthesia