UPDATE ON DOGGIE DENTISTRY

It has been a week and one day since Fuzzy had his doggie dental surgery.  He ended up having nine teeth removed.  

He is a little eleven year old,  8 1/2 lb. Pomeranian and has a delicate trachea which is easily irritated so I was worried about the intubation that they did during anesthesia. We dropped him off at the vet's just a little before 9 am. They said they would call and let us know how he was at 2 pm, and he could come home somewhere between 3 or 4 after they were certain that he was wide awake and safe to come home.

At about 1:30 pm they called and said we could come and get him.  He was awake and ready to come home. We left home immediately to go and pick him up and as we got out of the car to go into he vet's we could hear him barking. We were on the parking lot and hadn't even gone inside yet.  I couldn't believe it was him barking, but it was.  Apparently the intubation  hadn't hindered his ability to bark.  No wonder they called us to come and get him so quickly. He was really making a racket.  We have never left him anywhere before.  He was overjoyed that we came back for him.  

Once he was home,  it became clear that he was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. His normally curled up bushy tail was drooping. He kept licking his lips and front paws.  I imagine his mouth was feeling strange.  He was also pacing and acting agitated.  He was a little wobbly in the hind legs, so we had to block his favorite chair so he wouldn't try to jump up on it. And then he started making a wheezing noise.  That worried me that his trachea may have been swelling. So I called the vet's office to check if there was anything we should do or watch out for.  I even took the name and number of an emergency after hours vet. When I started preparing dinner for my husband and I,  the sound I thought was wheezing was getting worse.  Then Fuzzy started begging for his food.  It turns out he wasn't wheezing after all, but with his throat irritation that was the sound of him whining for his food.  Earlier, when he was making that sound I guess he was whining because he didn't feel good and wanted me to help him.  He had to wait a little longer for his food according to the vet's instructions, but when I gave him very small servings of pureed chicken, smashed boiled potatoes, and  cottage cheese with most of the curds mashed out of it, he ate very slowly, but ate every bit of it, except for a few curds that must have been too hard for his sore mouth. It was a couple of days before he could pick up any of his dog toys without his gums hurting, making him yelp in pain.

By day four he was pretty much back to normal.  Fuzzy always loves to spin. Usually he pirouettes his way out of rooms instead of just walking away. It was day four before he felt like spinning.  One week after having his dental work he is feeling really good.  He has no more of the bad odor that he had before his teeth were taken care of.  He is running, playing, pirouetting, and able to pick up his ball and his toys. His eyes are bright and he is really full of zip. Today he decided my husband had enough sleep and ran down the hall and jumped up and pounced his front paws against the door hard enough to pop it open and wake my husband.

I am thankful that we could afford to have his teeth taken care of at this time. He seems to feel better than he had been feeling. Before the doggie dentistry he never did have problems eating or seem to be in pain, and certainly wasn't lethargic, but the odor coming from his mouth was really bad. His blood work showed high levels of inflammation in his body. I believe it was just a matter of time, and probably not too long, that he would have been having very serious, emergency problems from his teeth.  

It is a big decision to have procedures done on your dog (or cat), especially when they are older or have some medical issue, but for Fuzzy I think it worked out to be a healthier choice for him.