I am very excited to share my excitement and gratitude to the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation for joining me at our facility this August to perform several much-needed dental procedures. While we have had the medical facility for several years, much to my frustration, the specialized medical equipment necessary for advanced dental work on creatures as large as our cats were not accessible to us.

We hosted a team of 15 Veterinary Dentists and Veterinary Technicians who performed anesthesia, dental radiographs, root canals, and extraction of broken teeth on six of our most needy cats. It is one thing to accomplish held sedation for examinations, bloodwork, or minor procedures. QUITE another thing to perform general anesthesia on a 4-pound creature with big teeth and claws. So please give all those who helped LIFT these creatures not just a PAT on the back but an excellent back RUB – they earned it!

I am grateful to Dr. Tony Woodward and Dr. Jamie Gaynor for bringing additional anesthesia machines to get more cats done. Several of these cats were so significant that we connected two devices to keep them anesthetized! Also, thank you to Dr. Cynthia Florek and her team, who assisted me on Day 2.

One example of the type of work done is with Jamma, a black leopard with a draining wound on his chin for several years. He had removed two root canals and one infected tooth & bone, which took almost 4 hours to complete. Kasper, a white tiger, had three root canals done on broken canine (fang) teeth. All of our patients were on antibiotics, pain medication, and, as you might imagine, soft food for several days and are now doing quite well,

We had a few “exciting moments,’ and I learned that managing many Vets makes you TIRED! However, the PEIVDF team reported that they enjoyed working in our facility and would love to come back to help us provide more dental care to the cats who need it.

Dr. Melanie A. Marsden