VDS Samaritans made a two-day shelter trip to The Animal Foundation, in Las Vegas. There we performed necessary dental procedures on pets who would otherwise not be able to afford care.

Best Friends Animal Society, the largest no-kill animal shelter in the country, is one of the shelters where we donate time to provide veterinary dental care to animals who are in need of adoption and important dental care. Last year our staff traveled to the sanctuary in Utah where we completed 66 dental procedures including: 32 dogs, 32 cats, one potbellied pig and one rabbit.

This is Princess. Though she looks like a puppy, she is about 1.5 years old. She was surrendered to the San Diego Department of Animal Services (SDDAS) along with her sister because they kept getting in fights and their owner couldn't care for them. They may have been more likely to fight because neither pet was spayed... Decreasing aggressive behavior is just another reason to spay and neuter our pets! Princess had obviously lost the most recent fight. She had multiple lacerations all over her body and on her intake exam, it was noted that she was missing a lower canine tooth. Since this is a very large tooth, the vets at DAS feared the worst and brought her to us for further evaluation.

Beauty, a four year old cat was transferred to San Diego Humane Society from another shelter with just one flaw. She had a cleft palate, which is an oral defect causing an opening in the roof of the mouth. If left untreated, animals with this defect remain at risk for developing aspiration pneumonia, which can be fatal. This condition also put Beauty at risk of not being able to find a family to adopt her.