To those with Whippets please.   I noticed the other day that my Whippet, now 10.5 years, had a distinct bulge in her face.  On checking, nothing was lodged in there but her teeth were not good.   I took her in to be looked at the next morning and yes, she is in need of a dental.   She's been on a 5 day course of a/bs to help with infection and is booked in on 20th next.   Whilst there, it was said that she now has a murmur.  Hum.  The vet who specialises in heart problems will be attending but I am still nervous and indeed had been holding off getting my Basset in for a dental because of his heart situation (neither is on heart medication, yet). 

I'd appreciate some assurance, as much as can be given, that she'll be ok and if I should be asking them to sedate only for this procedure?

Not knowledgeable on Whippets but not sure why this would be any different than another senior dog with a murmur..... although because of their lean/body conditioning I could quite imagine that a murmur can be louder??   There are soft murmurs and loud murmurs and they are graded from 1 to 6.  Sounds like your girl might have a loud murmur if the heart specialist is going to be in attendance and she has had to have a course of a/bs prior to the surgery.    My 11 year old boy had a murmur and I was really worried about the impact of the surgery but it was low grade and I was fortunate that I live near one of the top dental vets in the country and he provided lots of assurance even in that instance.  I would be asking them to give me their assessment of the risk and also ask them about the possibility of sedation.

My last dog, a small Lurcher, was 14 when I had to say goodbye. She had a Grade 5 murmer, but had a heart and lung scan under sedation, and a tail amputation under GA in the last four months of her life. My vet was sure that she would come through it, and she bounced back. Her third procedure disclosed a cancer in her nose/sinus, so I am sad to say that we did not allow her to recover from the anaesthetic that time.

Hopefully  this will assure you, my eldest was diagnosed several years ago with a grade 1 heart murmur(Doppler). Last year at the age of 12.5 she had a dental to remove a fair few teeth came through it no problems. Her Grand mother had an operation to remove a lump at the age of 15, she wasn't tested for heart problems, came through no problems & lived for another 2 years.

Many thanks Lexy and CaroleC.   I will be talking to the vet who specialises in hearts, before the dental is done.   Hopefully all will be straight-forward.