Homeless pets with dental disease are among those most at-risk in the city shelter. So at PAWS, we talk about teeth a lot.
Many stray and surrendered cats and dogs—who have already been through so much—arrive at shelters with painful dental complications like fractured teeth, stomatitis, and tooth resorption. With proper treatment, they can go on to live full, happy lives and make adoptive families complete, rather than face continued suffering and euthanasia.
Often, their only barrier between life and death is a rescue organization’s ability to afford their costly dental surgery.
PAWS is able to perform most dental surgery in-house — we have an extraordinary team of veterinarians, including a part-time dental surgeon, and we recently acquired necessary dental x-ray equipment. This expansion enables us to accommodate more animals with dental disease than ever, but the surgeries remain costly and some complicated or urgent cases still must to referred to outside veterinary practices who partner with PAWS to save lives. These surgeries typically cost us just under $500 per animal but can be as expensive as $1,500.
Right now, there are more animals who need our help than we can afford to treat. To continue leading Philadelphia to become a no-kill city, we must provide what these animals need. Because we can only save them if we can pay for their dental care, we have created the Tooth Fairy Fund.
