Designer Dog Blog for sands904

by sands904 on 3/10/2010 at 8:07 AM in Logan

So, we started going to a new vet a few weeks ago. We started by taking Logan in for a checkup. She is an awesome vet. One of the few that has actually studied dog behavior and knows how to deal with fearful dogs like Logan. She checked him over and he got his heartworm test. She also recommended that he get a dental. He is almost 4 years old and has never had one which I guess is good. I though since we brush his teeth very often (started with 2-3 times a week as a puppy but lately have been doing it everyday) he may never need one.

We were debating on whether to take him in and have this done now or wait but he cut his foot last week and despite or keeping it clean and bandaged looked a little swollen between the toes. I called yesterday morning to make an appointment for his dental cleaning and to see if they could look at his foot while he was out since he hates the vet. They wanted to get him in right away just incase the foot was infected. So I brought him right in.

I left him there about 9am and about 11am I got a call that they had just started what we thought would be just a cleaning and found that Logan had extra teeth. I was so caught off guard by this not because it is uncommon in dogs but because our previous vet never informed us of this. She said they were going to do x-rays and make sure the teeth were not too crowded and call me back.

About 15 minutes later I got another call that not only did he have extra teeth but he had two that were fractured and one root remaining from a tooth that was previously removed. I told her to do whatever she needed to make him healthy. I was just totally flustered how come our other vet did such a poor job in diagnosing this. In fact they were the ones who removed the other tooth, which I found loose one day while brushing his teeth, and didn't even remove the entire root.

Needless to say Logan had some major dental issues but everything should now be cleared up and hopefully that is the last of his dental adventures. He has to have soft food for 10 days and I cannot start brushing his teeth again for 2 weeks but after that it is back to everyday and hopefully no more suprises.

The moral of the story is don't always trust your vet. If you don't feel comfortable and can't ask questions switch. Your dog has the right to a helpful and knowledgable vet. If our previous vet would have informed us of this I would have had Logan's teeth checked long ago and maybe he wouldn't have had to live with this for close to 2 years.

Poor little boy :(
No Comments | Login to Comment | Login to Subscribe

by sands904 on 3/2/2010 at 10:06 PM in Lance

Our day started out like any normal day today. I woke up, let the dogs out, fed them their breakfast and sat down to work while they napped. I worked for a couple of hours and about 9:30 I got up to get some water. All three dogs got up to go outside. I looked at Lance and his face was swollen up. His muzzle was very puffy and his eyes were swollen. Even the top of his head was a bit swollen.

I called the my husband to see if Lance got into anything I didn't know about. He said no so I called the vet immediately. All three dog have been getting home-prepared meals for about 4 or 5 months. I had some left over round steaks from our meal a few days ago so I cut them up and fet them to the dogs for breakfast with some veggies and rice. My first thought is that this was a reaction to the steak which Lance had only had once before. They typically get baked chicken or ground turkey or ground beef baked into meat loaf like meals with veggies. I told the vet about this but he doesn't think that this was a reaction to the food. He believes that Lance got into something which is possible or it was a reaction to a bug bite. Both are possible but Lance has never been one to get into much and there are not too many bugs around Chicago in this weather.

They gave him a shot of benedryl and told me to give him a couple more later that night. The swelling has gone down quite a bit and he is sleeping now so we will see how he looks in the morning. Crazy Boy!!!

You can see a picture of him here View Picture
No Comments | Login to Comment | Login to Subscribe