In my half-assed attempt to cover a couple of issues before guests arrive on Sunday, I scheduled Murphy's grooming and vet visit for the same day. Normally this would be no problem - drop at the groomer around 7:30-ish, get a call to fetch him at 1, or 2 at the latest. Often, earlier. I made the appointment yesterday and then kind of wished the dear lady who owns the shop had just told me up front that they were overbooked with getting dogs clean for Christmas.
I dropped him right around 8, and picked him up at 5:15 this evening. Wow. That alone is a lot of stress for His Delicateness. But we just had to go diagonally across the highway to the vet, where we were issued another bottle of prednisolone and got the bad news I'd expected regarding his teeth. We just DID THIS! He had a cleaning and 3 extractions in March, but his teeth have turned brown and stinky again already. And I suspected his mouth was hurting him, because he doesn't want to chew chewies anymore - he'll take one, sure, but abandon it after a couple of bites, so Sophie gets two - but the vet swabbed his gums and the blood on the swab made me cringe. I am wondering if the general upsettedness that is lymphangiectasia leads to rapid dental deterioration - it does see logical, if his body chemistry is not balanced his mouth may be insanely acidic. He doesn't throw up, he actually seems fine except for the fire extinguisher liquid poop of late, but his teeth are falling apart way faster than they should be - an annual cleaning doesn't begin to keep up.
So, the Bossy One is about to cost me still more money I should be spending on myself, but of course, he's worth it.
I think you might be onto something with Murphy's dental woes.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar shock with old Boris (Italian Greyhound) he was on medication for congestive heart failure (some 10 years ago) and as the dosage increased to meet his needs, his mouth became a horror.
Nothing else changed, his regular diet was the same, including regular raw chicken wings. The trouble was that by this time he was too sick to tolerate treatment, or at least the anaesthetic. Our present Iggie, Ace, is in the early stages of heart problems, but the medication is different, so might not have the same problems.
Have a wonderful Christmas,
Gae, in finally summery Callala Bay
I think it's actually his condition and not the medication, because he really isn't ON any daily meds. He's on a special diet and a probiotic, the prednisolone is only given when there is a flare-up, to calm his innards. I'm thinking his condition has changed the pH of his innards and his saliva is different and it's eating his tooth enamel. Most dogs with this condition don't live long enough to develop random side effects.
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