A Keystone of Health

Dental care for dogs and cats.

It is important to start early with your pet’s dental health. Studies have shown that providing your pet with good dental health will extend life by years and also prevent serious disease in organs like the heart, liver, and kidneys.

Both puppies and kittens have deciduous teeth that will be replaced by permanent adult teeth. If these baby teeth have not fallen out by 6 to 7 months of age, it is critical that they are surgically removed to preserve the adult teeth.

Dental home care comes in many shapes and sizes. After consideration, you can choose those that best fit your lifestyle. Options include dental diets (either OTC or prescription), tooth brushing, VOHC chew products, water additives, and more.

Even with good home preventive dental care, veterinary dentists recommend annual cleaning under anesthesia. Veterinary dentists recommend that small breed dogs and cats have their first prophylactic dental cleaning before 18 months; medium breed dogs before 2 years; and large breed dogs prior to 3 years of age.

Services & Amenities

Requirements for Boarding

At Highlands the teeth are cleaned with an ultrasonic scaler; get low speed polishing; digital radiographs of all teeth are taken; and a complete oral exam is done to ensure there are no unerupted teeth (these can result in cysts that cause serious problems), supernumerary teeth, or other congenital issues. During the procedure intravenous fluids are given, a warming blanket is used to control body temperature, and vital signs (heart and respiratory rate, body temperature, oxygenation, ECG, and blood pressure) are monitored every five minutes by a trained team member.

When needed, surgery will be performed to remove infected and painful teeth that cannot be saved, oral masses, and gingival overgrowth. In some cases bonded sealants and/or enamel restoration can be performed to preserve teeth with enamel fractures.