# Cats - Dental Work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 19, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460 "2023-01-19T16:08:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460/21 "2023-01-20T08:03:26Z")

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I’ve owned about a dozen cats in my lifetime, and only one has had dental problems: when she broke a canine tooth. She looked funny, with half a tooth sticking out of her mouth. Naturally, I called the vet, who diagnosed that the tooth was infected, and needed removing. Okay, let’s do that. General anaesthetic, and a surgical removal of the infected tooth from the root.

But at no time, then or subsequently, was “deep cleaning” involved, nor was any kind of daily dental care for her. She went on for another ten years, happily crunching down on solid food and crunchy treats. And remaining as happy and active as she ever was. She was a wonderful cat, and I was sad when it was time to let her go.

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**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460/22 "2023-01-20T20:03:58Z")

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I’ve had dental cleanings on my cats, and the cost was nowhere near a single grand, never mind two.

A couple of hundred as I remember.

I’ll bet the vet is pushing the dental work for some extra cash.

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**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460/23 "2023-01-20T20:57:52Z")

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Did they do cleaning without anesthetic? Because with the bloodwork required for anesthetic plus the cleaning it’s hard to imagine it being so cheap. I do think the vets push cleaning too much but if your cat breaks a tooth you’ll be glad to pay the price.

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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460/24 "2023-01-20T21:48:45Z")

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> [@kayT](#):
>
> Because with the bloodwork required for anesthetic plus the cleaning it’s hard to imagine it being so cheap.

A search for “average cost of cleaning cat’s teeth” is getting me results mostly below $500, quite a few of them considerably below.

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-dental-work/978460/25 "2023-01-24T00:13:28Z")

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I couldn’t imagine an unanestheized cat having a cleaning, even if it was totally strapped down.

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