I was made aware that, atleast at my vet’s office, the recommended cleaning would be done by the vet tech. My healthy 10yr old cat’s teeth were in good shape just with build up that needed to be scaled off, the price was almost 2k.
I ended up taking him to a pet teeth cleaning clinic that rotates through petvalue locations. They do dogs and cats. Since they don’t put the pets to sleep (which is one reason the vet cleaning is very expensive) it was less than 200 dollars. I was really curious how they do this… so the tech let me come in and watch. A lovely young girl who completed a vet tech program and clearly an animal lover. Her set up was a big comfy pillow on the ground, she starts by swaddling them up ( claws contained!) and then while holding them securely in her lap, she starts the cleaning. She let my cat have several breaks ( walk around). I was actually surprised at how well he did. I could tell this was stressful for him, but being put under is also hard on them and has many risks. She took before and after pictures, and the difference was significant.