Vets Make Big Bucks From Dogs With Bad Teeth!

Shadow's post surgery nap

Shadow's looking a little better after hs nap!

 

I brought Shadow to the vet to have his teeth cleaned today. To a regular person, i.e. ME!, it appeared to be a very complicated procedure involving general anaesthesia (GA)and truck loads of money! More on this later.

First, a little background. As you know... Shadow is totally alpha. Certain parts of his body are off limits to everyone except his beloved groomer Felicia, and his mommy (ME!) when he's having his bath. These sensitive areas include his ears, his teeth, his butt, his paws AND his privates.

Up until recenly, Shadow allowed Felicia to clean his teeth, so I wasn't too worried. But the last time we saw her, she reported that my baby wouldn't allow her near his mouth. EVIL boy! She noted his teeth were in bad shape and recommended I bring him to the vet to have them cleaned.

I balked at her suggestion. I knew teeth scaling required administering GA, and I didn't like that. Shadow is seven already and putting him under concerned me.

But his teeth were bad and getting worse. I tried to clean them on my own at first, but the little devil wasn't having any of it. I have the bite marks on my hands to prove it!

I finally caved and made the appointment last week. Because of the GA, Shadow had to fast from 10pm last night. No food, no water. Try explaining that to a canine! I had to work last night, so it was up to my poor mom to make sure Shadow was cut off from any form of sustenance. That was easier said than done!

I removed all his treats and chewie edible sticks from the floor before I left for work. What I didn't know was that Shadow had squirrelled away some Greenies, which he dug out and would have eaten had my mom not seen and taken them away. I would stave to death in a famine, but Shadow would have treats!

When I got home in the morning, Shadow was hot, bothered and thirsty. He couldn't understand why all his water bowls were MIA. He looked at me woefully until I told him we were going out, and then he got really excited. Bet he wouldn't have been so thrilled if he knew what the rest of the day had in store for him!

We got to the animal clinic early. The vet was a nice young man who impressed me with the way he handled Shadow. You'll be surprised how many vets so obviously do NOT like animals! He was also very nice to me... even though I tried his patience with all kinds of questions, not all of them relevant! I'm sure I came across like a high-strung mom, but the good doctor did not even bat an eyelash. He explained the procedure to me, and promised to take good care of Shadow. However, before the dental work could commence, a blood test needed to be done to make sure the mutt was well enough to be put under the GA. We also discussed the possibilty of extracting those teeth which could not be saved.

And then I had to leave. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The bus ride home was depressing and I tortured myself with worse case scenarios. Home was even worse. It was so still and deathly quiet. No patter of little feet, no ding ding dings from his little bell, no happy barking, no enthusiastic kisses...

I needed to sleep. After a long night at work, I was exhausted, but my brain wouldn't shut off. Two hours later, my phone rang and it was the vet! He said the procedure went fine and Shadow was AWAKE! YAY!

And then he dropped the bomb. He had to extract NINE teeth! Ouch! My poor baby. Apparently, his teeth were in worse shape than any of us imagined. But the important thing as far as I was concerned was... Shadow was OK! Shadow was OK!

I managed to snag a couple of hours of sleep after that, then it was time to collect Shadow. When I got there, the vet assistants were singing praises of my pup. They threw around words like sweet, friendly and playful. Were they talking about MY Shadow? Did they drop him on his head during the procedure? Did the GA have some sort of bizzarre side effect? Where was the ornery dachshund I knew and loved?

A door swung open and out lunged Shadow on a leash, tugging the vet along as he raced to me. He certainly didn't look like a dog who was just had nine teeth removed. I had another pow wow with the vet, who gave me some pain pills as well as antibiotics for the pup. He also gave me Shadow's blood test results, which turned out to be good! Yippeeee!

Thirty minutes later and $900 poorer, the mutt and I were home. He guzzled TWO bowls of water and ended up regugitating most of it. Silly boy. He was alright after that, he even ate his dinner, which was laced with crushed pain killers. I even managed to get him to down an antibiotic tablet! He's resting comfortably on my bed now. I hope he'll be able to sleep a little. Nothing helps recovery better than a good rest!

I'm hoping Shadow has a quick recovery. NINE teeth extracted in one go. What a nightmare! And on his BIRTHDAY too!

Rest well baby. We'll celebrate tomorrow...