Our dog had his teeth cleaned
He went in yesterday morning (Friday) at 8AM and by 11 they called and said he did just fine and was just coming out of the anesthesia. They normally hold the dogs till 5 to 7PM but told Joan that she could pick him up at 1. Perhaps it was the nervous crying when she dropped him off.... Well, he came home at about 2PM totally wasted. He looked confused. He just stared at you blankly. He had no interest in water at all. He moved slowly. His head is tilted to one side. He curled up with Joan and fell asleep while she was talking to TheGuru. Later he curled up on the couch with Joan, and didn't get up when she left the room or the house. Still no water, but around 8 or 8:30PM did have some interest in his kibble. He did take an ice cube or two, so he got some fluids. By 10:30PM he responded to his "last walk before bedtime" phrase to go visit with a neighbor, but as soon as he got outside he just didn't want to go any further. This morning he is a tad more lively and responded to his morning walk phrase, but again went outside and peed and wanted to return to the house. Still groggy as heck and no interest in water at all, but I was able to get him riled up a bit for his breakfast. I was hoping to inject some enthusiasm into him to get him going. He was able to easily complete all commands and he looked like a normal dog. As soon as his meal was finished, he slumped right back into the doldrums. Again no interest in water, but did take a couple of ice cubes, this time with a bit of enthusiasm. Intellectually, I am nearly certain now (especially after seeing him rally for his kibble) that these are just lingering effects from his ordeal, and he will improve. Emotionally my head is screaming "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DOG?!?!?!?" Also his tongue is a deep red color, not a normal healthy pink. It was so red last night when I caught a glimpse of it that I thought his mouth was bleeding. It was a deep crimson. This AM it looks lighter, but not yet pinkish. Anyone ever see that before? Sigh. |
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| Wow! What a difference. We just took in Baxter on Thursday to get his teeth done. Dropped him off at 9:00, picked him up at 2. Was told to only feed him half his normal dinner (assuming he was even interested). Baxter wobbled a bit getting into the car. When we got home he decided to pee....and pee...and pee. Went into the house for a short nap.
As for dinner - he was very interested in it and we got a LOOK from him when he saw the paltry amount we provided (half his usual). He went on his usual evening walk (though we kept it shorter than usual...just in case). Friday morning - completely back to normal. Baxter and Cassiopia are sending their best wishes to Mulligan in hopes that he feels better soon. Jennifer |
Ron wrote: Intellectually, I am nearly certain now (especially after seeing him rally for his kibble) that these are just lingering effects from his ordeal, and he will improve. Emotionally my head is screaming "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY DOG?!?!?!?"
It can take a while for the effects of anesthesia to wear off. I hope Mullie feels better soon. How do his teeth look? |
| Ron...I hope Mulligan will get back to his old self again soon. How old is he? Ok.....now I'm nervous to take my 13 year old Cocker, Andy to get his teeth cleaned in two weeks. Like I said....he's 13 and we are still a little worried as to what the anestesia will do to him. I say this becasue when our late Max was alive...we took him in for a procedure at about the same age as Andy is now...and he was never quite really the same after that. It's like he aged literally over night. So....I have scheduled Andy to have some blood work done to make sure everything looks good befor we put him under to get his teeth cleaned. Bob (my husband) and I were wondering if at his age, if we would be doing him more harm than good....but I don't want his dirty teeth to lead to something worse down the road....ya know? Maybe we should try and just do it ourselves. But...another reason he is going to the vet is because he has an old age mole or skin tag that needs to be removed at the same time. He's our last fur child and don't want to put the old man through something that he can't snap out of. Maybe I'm just a worry wart....  |
| At Winston's check up this week, we talked about cleaning his teeth....Doc said she thought that just might be too much "down time" for him - although they could stand cleaning, it wouldn't be worth the risk for a guy his age (he's 10.5). She said to just do our best with finger brushing and save any anesthesia for an urgent/emergency situation only.
Anesthesia is hard no matter what - but for an older dog...pretty tough recovery. |
| Ron,
How old is Mulligan? (and is he perking up yet and how does his tongue color look now?) |
| Hi Ron,
Sending belly rubs to dear Mulligan and not to worry about the red as he probably had gingivitus and after cleaning the mouth is left looking red. Not to worry it will return back to normal in a few days! Jennifer - sending Belly rubs to Baxter as well! td - I just had my 18 year old BlueHeeler/Labs teeth done 2- 3 wks ago. At an advanced age surgery is always risky and it's worth the extra cost to get the extra fluids and monitoring done. My Ole Blue had an abscess tooth and so surgery had to be done and while under he had his teeth cleaned as well. He has always been extremely healthy and the only other time he was ill was with an abscess on the other side of his mouth aprox 10 years before. That time I didn't notice it right away and it blew a hole in his cheek. Yucky! Sounds so gross but that's why dental checkups and cleaning for pets is important. My poor ole guy still has a scar on his cheek as a result and I imagine the pain he must have felt. The older they are the longer they take to recover from surgery and Ole Blue took about a week where he was back to normal. It would probably only be a day or two for a younger dog. Ron, I bet Mulligan has nice white teeth! Hopefully he's forgiven you and Joan and is now giving you smiles with his pearly whites! Marianne |
| Ron, it will probably take all of today to get him ''back to nromal'' ....when we had panda spayed at 7 months, she was the exact same way.....it took 2 to 2 1/2 days for her to act puppy like....but she did mope for at least a week or so.....
Take a picture of that sparkling smile!! and no wonder you were freaked out, if he didnt even get up when joan left the room/house  |
| We just had Frank's done a few weeks ago. He went under around 11:30-12 and by 5:30 we were picking him up. He seemed a hair out of it, but nothing like you are describing with Mulligan. Do you know how much anesthesia they gave him? I know with teeth cleanings at our vet they give them a mild version - nothing like a general anesthesia. I have concerns about anesthesia as it weakens the immune system a bit.
We didn't have the change in the tongue either. Hope he feels better soon. |
| Thanks for the post Ron. Tasker was supposed to have his done last month but I put it off til after vacation and haven't gotten the nerve to call for an appointment yet . Maybe I'll get the courage to call and schedule it Monday!! |
| Mulligan is gone. Out with Joan for a walk.
He is now nearly normal. His tongue's color is getting better, but still looks red. He finally took some water, and as I'm typing this he just came back from the walk where he went potty. 
He is going to be 5 in a couple of months (October 25, 2007.) @Marianne; I don't know why his tongue would be such a dark red. It is very odd. I looked carefully at his teeth the night before the cleaning and was considering canceling as his teeth looked pretty good to me. He gnaws Nylabones all the time and plays with ropes and stuff for a good flossing  . The vet had said his teeth were a 2 out of 4. That's probably not too bad for a 5 year old dog.
I haven't yet looked at his teeth closely. Earlier he was just staring at me oddly as I was trying to open his mouth and I decided I didn't want to be bitten, and I haven't forced the issue since he's come around other than to take a quick gnder at his tongue color. Thank you all for your replies and concerns! I'm happy my boy is feeling better. |
Ron wrote: Mulligan is gone.
Out with Joan for a walk. You evil, evil man! my heart skipped again...dont do that to me! |
| JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
That was mean ROn, my heart dropped into my feet. My computer is slow so the emoticons didn't pop up til after I read the first line.  DON'T DO THAT |
| I'm glad he's feeling better, Ron. I'm sure it's a big deal. I hate going to the dentist and I only have 6 months in between cleanings, not years! |
Happy to hear he is feeling better  |
| Give that sweet boy an extra rub from us!
Ron, you don't want to give them much water after anesthesia because it makes them throw up. I had the opposite problem Hannah kept crying for more water and I wouldn't give it to her. Previously after anesthesia she had a little too much and threw up. I think a red tongue is pretty normal for what he's just experienced. He'll be himself in a few days. Just give him extra attention as I'm sure you are. Always scary anytime they go through something! Bet he has beautiful pearly whites! |
| Glad he is feeling a bit better, just wondering how much of an anesthesia they did give him, usually it is minimal just for a teeth clean.
Some react worse to it then others, Kelsey has a hard time after any anesthsia and also coming out of it. She always has so the vet just uses the gas now not an IV anesthesia so she comes out of it quicker and we don't have days of her being a mess. I would not put her under now at her age it was bad enough when we had to at 10 years old. The tongue the redness could of just been a bit rough there, they sort of clamp the tongue out so they don't choke on it while under. Hugs for your boy and photo of the pearly whites.  Mulligan definately wanted his mom after, nothing like a mommys love to make him feel better.  |
Aw... Poor puppy! Glad to hear he is perking up and feeling somewhat better  |
Just catching up from the week-end posts. Glad to hear Mullie is feeling better. Boy he sure is a Mama's boy, isn't he??  |
| I'm glad to hear he's feeling better. I am sure I would've been equally concerned. It is frightening when they don't act like themselves for a while after a procedure.
I am going to have to schedule a teeth cleaning for Genevieve soon, too. She's only been sedated once since I've had her, for x-rays when she tore her cruciate ligament, but she did okay at that time. It still concerns me, though.  I hate having to have them sedated.  |
Darcy wrote: Ron wrote: Mulligan is gone. Out with Joan for a walk. You evil, evil man! my heart skipped again...dont do that to me! DITTO!  Ack! |
ravenmoonart wrote: Darcy wrote: Ron wrote: Mulligan is gone. Out with Joan for a walk. You evil, evil man! my heart skipped again...dont do that to me! DITTO! Ack!Ditto me too!! Poor Mulligan! Wow, He's younger than I thought he was. For some reason I thought he was like 7 or something. |
| Do alot of you get your dogs teeth cleaned? My Vet wanted to do Millers, but I really didn't and don't have the money right now. How important is it? Now Im concerned that this is something I need to do? |
Shelly wrote: Do alot of you get your dogs teeth cleaned? My Vet wanted to do Millers, but I really didn't and don't have the money right now. How important is it? Now Im concerned that this is something I need to do?
We've never done it before, but my parent's sheepie's vet keeps telling them they should do it. She constantly gets UTIs and the vet believes that bacteria from the mouth could be part of the cause, so they are probably going to break down and do it. They figure it'll be cheaper in the long run if it turns out that the dirty gums are the cause b/c they've spent a ton of $$ every few months taking her to the vet for her UTIs |
| Poor Mulligan! Glad he is feeling better though. Bad Ron - not much I can say about him. Don't scare us like that!
I do have a question though. We have had 3 of our dogs teeth cleaned in the last few weeks (for the first time each). All three went in at 8 am and came home about 3:30-4 pm. All acted the same, pretty droggy the first night, better the next, etc. The smallest dog 8 lb. chihuahua seemed to perk back up the easiest, then the 11 lb. rat terrier and last of all Sadie, OES at 70 lbs. It took her a good two days, perhaps a little more. That was just introduction. My question is about the invoice. It states: "Anesthesia - Induction - Ket/Val $60.00" It is the same on all three. Just curious, is this a general anesthesia and why would it be the same for all three - 7 lbs. to 70 lbs.? Any thoughts? Or how do your invoices read?
(Really like our vet and hadn't really looked at the charges until the questions about anesthesia came up and I went to the file to check it out.) |
| I know the anethesia charges at my vet's office vary by the size of the pet. There is a "range" for each, but it is definitely not 7-70 lbs.
But, if you're curious, I'd just ask the vet. |
| Thanks, Tammy. I do plan to check with our vet, but still wondering how it works in other areas of the OES network. Thanks for your response. |
| Ron: I'm sure Mulligan is better by now! We had Beau's teeth cleaned 2 days ago. He is a 7 year old Bichon. When we picked him up at vets, he was totally out of it.....could barely open his eyes. Brought him home and he slept the rest of the evening. Around 4:00 PM, we tried to take him outside but his back legs wouldn't really work. He couldn't really walk... like he was drunk.... still hung over..... We picked him up and took him outside and he just sat there. Finally peed a little. Brought him back inside and put him in his bed and that's where he stayed the rest of the night. Got up this morning and he is alot better but still looks at us like he doesn't know us and acts as though he doesn't know where he is. When he walks around, his tail is between his legs and he just has that far away stare. He is drinking water and I was able to get him to eat a little of his kibble. Mostly, he just lays in his bed. It's been over 48 hours since his procedure.... I thought he would be back to "normal" by now. I can't get him interested in anything. I called my vet. He said as long as he is improving and not getting worse, he will be o.k. and that it just takes time. I can't help but be concerned.... It's like his spirit has been broken and it makes me sad to see him this way. Hopefully, he will be much better by tomorrow. |
Yes- that was totally mean of you. Started to read the email and said out loud "oh no" hubby came running to see what was wrong, looked at the email and burst out laughing! Blooming dogs.    |
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