Plaque and tartar
Hello! I have a 14 y/o female non spayed (i know) cat. She is doing well health wise and no complications or diseases thankfully.
I have had her since she was a few months old and for many years, she has had plaque and tartar build up on her teeth. They look like a brown layer over the top part of her upper teeth specifically. She has never shown discomfort and has always even preferred dry food over wet food. Especially after she got older, I would observe if she’s bothered and check her gums every once in a while. She never showed any other symptoms, her gums are normal and everything is fine. Her teeth are still strong and weapon-y.
She saw a vet a while ago and he said this would’ve been removed with teeth brushing years ago, but unfortunately education about pet health was not a thing where i live until recently. This was the first veterinary clinic in the area ever, it had opened this year only. So we did not know about brushing a cat’s teeth being this important up until this build up appeared. Not like she would’ve let us brush her teeth anyway.
Due to her age, he was not a fan of the idea of sedating her to do the dental work. Which I understand that there’s a risk even if she has no health issues, but I’m now concerned for the future.
He then said since she was fine all of these years even with this build up, and that everything else dental wise is okay, then she should be okay without intervention.
I’ll be taking her to another vet, however I’m currently in the process of moving to another city so I wanted to ask this in the meantime until I have fully moved to register with a new clinic.
Has anyone had similar experience? Will she potentially get worse in the future? What will happen if she ends up needing surgery? Any opinions would be helpful.