Zoo Dentist 

Please do not feed your pet breakfast on the scheduled surgery day. You can feed dinner the night before, but it is important that the stomach is empty for general anesthesia. Please allow your pet to continue to have access to freshwater until your scheduled appointment/drop off time. Please ask your veterinarian for recommendations if your pet is very young or takes regular medication (ie insulin for diabetic patients).

If your pet is easily stressed out by coming to the clinic, please talk to your veterinarian or Dr. Berning about possible medication you can administer prior to the scheduled surgery.

Plan to bring your pet to our clinic the morning of the scheduled procedure. You should plan to leave your pet with us for the day, unless otherwise arranged. Please be sure to provide contact information where you can be reached that day. You will be asked to sign a consent form prior to anesthesia acknowledging that, while we do everything possible to minimize and reduce risks, there is an inherent risk associated with any anesthetic event.

Bring any medications your pet is currently getting. If your pet has food allergies or other dietary restrictions, please bring a small amount of food with you.

Upon arrival, your pet may be given a cocktail of medications to help reduce pain and anxiety prior to surgery. Then, he will be placed under general anesthesia, and the veterinarians and technicians will monitor them closely throughout the duration of anesthesia.

2D and 3D Dental x-rays will be taken of the entire mouth to determine the exact plan for your pet. Dr. Berning will perform the dental procedure(s) necessary, and once your pet is recovered from anesthesia you will receive a phone call update. Please know that even though your pet may arrive to the clinic early in the morning it is possible that he will not be ready to go home until later in the day. We will call you during the procedure to discuss any unexpected dental findings, and contact you immediately if there are any problems.

Patients will go home the same day. If your pet is having a major surgical procedure, we may them transferred to a local emergency clinic for overnight monitoring.

An average dentistry/oral surgical procedure can take around 1-3 hours.

In order to accurately evaluate the extent of disease in the mouth above and below the gumline the patient must be under general anesthesia. We can then perform a thorough oral exam as well as diagnostic imaging, including 2D and 3D x-rays.

We will happily work with any pet insurance company by aiding in providing medical records or signing all appropriate claim forms for your reimbursement after you have paid for the service in full.

We are happy to provide low-stress out-patient hospitalization for both dogs and cats. When we have canine and feline patients scheduled for the same day we are able to provide separate housing for them.

We are proud to have a cozy cat condo that gives our feline patients a quiet and low-stress space on the day of their procedure. We use Feliway and other fear-free practices for cats at our clinic.

Feliway is a product that mimics a chemical that cats emit through the glands on their faces when they are feeling calm and want to communicate that to other cats in the area. This pheromone works on cats' brains to calm them down and help relieve stress and anxiety.

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Yearly dental cleanings are recommended under general anesthesia for small dogs over 2 and large dogs/cats over age 3. Yearly comprehensive oral evaluation and imaging is recommended. If your pet has come to us for an advanced dental procedure we will make individualized recommendations for follow-up care.

We accept all major credit cards over the phone. We cannot accept Care Credit payments over the phone. Click Here to make a payment through Care Credit.

We will provide you with a dental chart at your pet's discharge appointment. Dogs have 42 teeth and cats have 30 teeth. We treat each tooth as an individual patient. Because there is significant variability in tooth type and size, we do not count teeth as they are removed, but rather approach each tooth individually. All treatments are charted and a team member will review this chart with you at your discharge appointment.

Because we have an extensive waitlist, our surgery slots must be reserved. We require that a deposit of $500 be collected in advance; this deposit is refundable until one week prior to the surgical procedure appointment. If we are unable to collect this deposit at least one week prior to a surgical appointment, this appointment slot is filled with someone from our waitlist.

We strive to send our patients home with a comfortable and functional mouth. When we remove teeth that are causing pain and discomfort, our patients go home and eat much more comfortably than they did prior to the procedure. We do recommend soft food for 10-14 days post-operatively. After that most dogs and cats go back to eating their regular diet.