The Pet Thread

[BlueBlueprintPE PMP]

@Supe …I’m thinking of Ursula this morning!!! Let us know when her teefers are all nice and cleaned and she’s back home snuggling!

likewise!

 

[snickerd3]

Saw on FB she did well....although wearing the cone of shame. Poor thing

 

[MeowMeow PE]

Saw on FB she did well....although wearing the cone of shame. Poor thing

YAY!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!! I’ve been worrying all day and last night haha! I’m so glad!

 

[Supe]

Sorry everyone! Ursala update:

Ursala's teeth really went south over the course of a year. While we weren't anticipating any extractions around the time that Annie passed (August 2020 is when they both went in for pre-dental blood work, and that's when we found Annie's leukemia), her softer diet and acid reflux tied to her GI issues really pushed her teeth over the edge.

Consequently, she needed/needs a LOT of extractions, more or less everything except the very rear molars from the canines back. Even when numbed she showed "severe pain reactions" to being probed, and the x-rays showed bone loss under the exposed roots, so the poor girl has been hiding the pain from her dental issues for quite some time :'(

Due to the anesthesia concerns, they removed I think 7 teeth on the right side. Everything went great! She handled the anesthesia like a champ, has had no post-operative bleeding, and has been full of energy. She has the cone of shame on for just a couple hours, since she would paw at the tingling sensation as the anesthesia/numbing agents wore off, and they didn't want her sutures to open.

The downside is that due to the number of extractions, she has to go back a month later to have the left side teeth removed. So I'll still be a nervous wreck, but feel MUCH better/more confident about the procedure since she handled the last one so well, and this one will be a bit shorter since they won't have to do x-rays a second time, etc.

So hopefully a month from now, Ursala will be completely pain free. Since she can't really chew anymore and was already at a high risk of choking due to her laryngeal paralysis, she is THRILLED because she no longer has to eat yucky old kibble, and gets soft food - i.e., the super expensive but oh-so-tasty Freshpet meat logs, which she absolutely INHALED. The one positive side effect to the meat log is that it did not cause her any gastric distress, and her poop looked the best its been in months! Now, some of that may be attributed to her post-surgical antibiotics, but I suspect a large part of it is the reduced grain/filler content no longer being present in the food, which often feeds the bad gut bacteria. The other pro is that her breath is ONE THOUSAND TIMES better with only half the teeth gone - makes me feel much more comfortable knowing that all that mouth bacteria will be gone as well, making her much less prone to infection/issues in her twilight years.

 

[Supe]

I’m sorry it does get real scary as they get older. Fingers and toes crossed. She’ll be great though! The vet will take great care of her.
That reminds me I need to schedule the yearly dentals for our greys next month during discount month I always hate dropping them off and feel so bad when they have to get teeth removed, which is most of the time.

Ursala was a bit of a rare breed - her teeth were IMMACULATE with almost no intervention until she was over 8 years old. They started going south as she was 9/10, and then the extractions happened at 11 3/4 years old. Dert is doing pretty good as well, since he's an aggressive chewer. Deker will likely need his first "forever home" dental at age 5.

The one thing that made me feel better last Thursday, was that as I was giving Ursala my nervous wreck hugs and kisses in the vet's lobby, a woman walked in with another senior female grey who was there for her 2 week extraction follow-up appointment - so obviously she did just fine as well!

Thankfully the vet and her staff sent me a short video of a loopy but alert/awake Ursala lounging on the floor all snuggled up in blankets as soon as she came out of anesthesia, so I could breathe easy until they discharged her later that afternoon.

 

[JayKay PE]

I'M SO HAPPY THAT URSULA CAME OUT OKAY.

I'm now fretting on if I should get Odin a yearly tooth cleaning or wait...I just get so worried with the smaller animals and anesthesia...

 

[BlueBlueprintPE PMP]

that's great news for Ursula! It's so sad when they're in pain! We have a 10 yr old chihuahua mix, Ollie, who may need some extractions soon too.

I feed a raw diet to all 3 of our pups so their food is generally soft. they get plenty of chewing activity in with antlers and raw bones. It is definitely more expensive than kibble.... especially when feeding 3 dogs, but totally worth it!

 

[MeowMeow PE]

I am so glad Ursula did so well!!!!! That is really amazing that her teeth stayed in such great shape that long! For those who don’t know, greyhounds tend to have horrible teeth haha! We thought we’ve been lucky that at 7 years old ours have only had to have about 5-6 teeth each extracted so far!

I’m so happy for her that she can eat her delicious food and will no longer be in pain from her teeths!!!! And she’s a tough badass too!! YAY URSULA!!!

 

[squaretaper LIT AF PE]

Hooray Ursula!!

Took Sofie to a well deserved dog park trip:

 

[Supe]

Poor Ursala was not feeling well after a walk today. She had one of her episodes where she pants and paces because she can't get comfortable. She reacted in pain when I manipulated her hind leg, which leads me to believe its the arthritis in her hip acting up. Gave her a trazodone to calm her down. She's now passed out with the boys, and will hopefully feel much better later on after some rest.

On the plus side, she had fantastic solid poops on her walk, which she hasn't done in YEARS. So the new diet/medication combo seems to be working very well.

 

[BlueBlueprintPE PMP]

Piper: "No... you may not have my ball......"

 

[Supe]

Poor Ursala has developed a small lump under her left eye since waking up this morning. I figured it was likely a root abscess, and the vet confirmed. Since it's above one of the teeth that are supposed to come out anyways, they have moved her second dental/set of extractions up to this Thursday instead of next Thursday, and she starts antibiotics tonight, so send some extra luck and good wishes her way!

 

[snickerd3]

Hope the second round goes as well as the first!

 

[Supe]

Thanks, fingers crossed. Yesterday afternoon was pretty hectic, because I had to scramble to find the clotting medicine she has to take as a preventive measure. Last time, it took a full week almost for CVS to order and have it. Thankfully one of my greyhound friends was a former vet tech and gave me the name of a compounding pharmacy a town over, and they had just enough in stock. Raced over there just before rush hour to get it just before they closed so she could start it this morning.

Fortunately, the facial swelling isn't any worse today, and she doesn't seem to be in any noticeable pain from it other than not wanting to chew much on that side, so my hope is that it doesn't complicate the procedure any.

 

[Supe]

Just dropped her off, worried sick as always! I will keep you guys posted when I hear back that everything went OK.

 

[BlueBlueprintPE PMP]

Timber, Piper, and Ollie are wishing Ursula luck today! And everyone else a Happy St Patrick's day!

 

[MeowMeow PE]

Just dropped her off, worried sick as always! I will keep you guys posted when I hear back that everything went OK.

I'm thinking of her and sending positive vibes!!!!!!!

 

[leggo PE]

Sending positive juju to Ursula!

Here is Pluto, living his best life with the heat on:

 

[Supe]

Just got a text - they are in the home stretch with Ursala's procedure. So far no issues with the anesthesia and no excessive bleeding, so fingers crossed they wrap up soon!

 

[Supe]

Just got another text - everything went well. Tooth that caused the abscess was removed (among many others), and after removing it they noted an oronasal fistula had formed (basically a hole connecting the mouth and sinuses) - but, they expect that to heal without issues. I asked them to let me know if she has any issues coming out of the anesthesia, but we should be in the clear! Discharge is 5:15 PM.