Thank you to everybody who wrote me about my dilemma of whether to risk
getting my 17 year old cat's teeth cleaned.

I took him to the vet today for an exam, to see if he thought we should
risk the cleaning.

His heart murmur is the same (moderate) and he took blood and urine for
a senior wellness panel.  We'll have results tomorrow.

He looked at his teeth and saw the huge clumps of tartar on his upper
molars that have been worrying me.  He flicked them off with his
thumbnail - man, they stunk really bad!  Sylvester's gums started
bleeding - one side pretty badly for about five minutes before it
stopped.  Then he was fine.   The vet said that now that we have those
big chunks off, his gums should fill back in where they are raw and
exposed now, and the rest of his teeth look okay for his age.  Based on
that, he recommended skipping the dental - not worth the risk in his
opinion.

He gave Sylvester a penicillin injection in case any bacteria was
disturbed when he chipped off the tartar, to avoid any problems with his
heart.

Sylvester was such a good boy through the whole thing...they took blood,
expressed his bladder for a urine sample, then chipped away the tartar
on his back molars....he sat there like a trooper and never tried to
bite, scratch or hiss.  :)   All the vet techs were saying how handsome
and cute he is and nobody could believe he's 17.   :)

Even though it would have been nice for Sylvester to have clean teeth, I
am pretty relieved that we are avoiding the risks involved.  I just had
this sense of foreboding about it...and I've learned to follow my gut
instincts.  I never would have gotten over it if he hadn't pulled
through it, when he's been doing so well all this time.

Thanks again everyone!

Jennifer and Sylvester