Dental drama

This was right after Plan B was put into action.

I swore after Vince's last vet visit that I'd never take him to the vet again. At his age, I was perfectly prepared to let his vaccines expire and would assume that he'd have enough immunity to carry him through the rest of his life. But last week I noticed his breath smelling really bad, like something dead and rotting was in there and I figured he had a bad tooth. That's painful and it's not something I could ignore, so I scheduled Vince for a dental procedure.

The shot is beginning to take effect now, Vince laid
down next to me but insisted that I maintain contact.

Today was the day so I didn't feed him breakfast as usual, which concerned him more than a little. We had worked out a plan for how this was supposed to go down. I would muzzle him before taking him inside, they would knock him out and take him immediately in for the dental surgery. Vince wasn't in on the plan, however, and he wanted none of it. He freaked out as soon as he saw the muzzle, while still in the crate in my van--jumping around, snapping, and generally throwing a royal fit. We went to plan B.

He was a perfect patient at this point.

I brought him in on a leash, no muzzle, and into one of the exam rooms. They had a blanket ready, which I tossed over his head to hold it in place and pinned him against the wall while he got syringe full of happy dog juice in his butt. It was over in an instant, less trauma and certainly less drama than trying to use the muzzle. I sat with him while the drugs took effect, which wasn't very long.

They did a thorough dental cleaning and all the other vet work that he was due for or would be coming due in the next year. Vince has a condition known as tooth resorption, where the root of the tooth is absorbed by the bone, causing disintegration of the crown. The good thing about it, I guess, is that it's not necessary to pull the tooth because the root is gone and the top of the tooth just breaks off on its own. Apparently it's much more common in cats than in dogs, but Vince has it. Isn't that special.

When I picked him up in the afternoon, he headed
out and to the van as fast as he could.

His blood work was normal, his heartworm test was negative, the x-rays looked good, and now his vaccines are good for three years, so barring something serious and unexpected, he won't be back to the vet for a good long while. The teeth that he still has look much better than they did and hopefully the cleaning will clear up the gum disease that was probably causing the foul breath. All things considered, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Here is Vince, back at home, with only
a small bandage to show for it.

One part of the day that he didn't mind
was getting softened food and canned
food for dinner.