[Dailydrool] Talkin About Teeth - Droopy's 11 Extractions

[Houndy2 at aol.com]

Last weekend Dr. Marta Norbrega and Sandy Gaston helped out Droopy an  
older rescue Basset Hound in Basset Rescue of Puget Sound with 11  
extractions.His teeth were so bad. He had bone loss. He stank and he was  miserable.His 
teeth were better than when he came into us in the Summertime but  the mouth 
was in bad shape.
 
One of the big 3 root molars came out WHOLE!!! Two of the roots were   
completely black... there was PUS...it smelled baD.
 
When Joni Thomas and I picked Droopy up last summer Droopy was BARKING.  
standing on a solid 8 inches of poop in his pen. He barked the whole time  
outside but in the car h curled up and went to sleep on the two or three hour  
ride home.  He has barked most all the time his entire life I  
suppose...Nowadays  he barks when he is not WITH someone.
 
I've had to muzzle him (catch him first too) ..to clean his ears. His ears  
are a terrible mess too. I suppose that he ran from me at ear cleaning 
times  because his muzzle would maybe get touched. He ducked and snapped if 
someone  reached for his collar. That  behavior stopped  (luckily for us) as he  
learned to trust us and we got lucky with his behavior for some dogs that 
is a  "TRIGGER" for the remainder fo their lives....it was a rough first few 
months. 
 
Recently  here on the DD there has been some discussion about teeth  
cleaning and older dogs weighing the pros and cons. There is a balance that we  
all walk with care of the dogs in our care and I know DD'ers are a good group  
and the talk was caring and well thought out. I thought that I would share 
this  about Droopy and the 11 teeth Dr. Marta Norbrega  and Sandy Gaston 
helped  extract on this one particular rescue boy. 
 
Even though his mouth is now swollen and when I put his muzzle on so that  
he will stand it for the ear drops and the hugest cage type of muzzle now 
barely  fits over his  swollen face. He is on drugs. He has to endure the 
pain.Is  it worth it to us?  IT WILL BE WORTH IT TO US because in his case there 
is  no way anyone would consider him and in his case his life must have 
been so  painfull. He will now maybe not hurt when he bites down on food. Now 
he has a  glimmer of a chance of adoption at his older age with his behavior  
stuff... his love of barking and chaseing cats and chickens. 
We happen to be blessed with the great good help of Marta and Sandy and  
Jackie the owner of the clinic who let us come in and use of her clinic for 
the  day. THe operation started at 9 and we left last Saturdy at 1:30 in the  
afternoon on a beautiful sunny day. Droopy had to wait his turn to get his  
teeth cleaned and the bad ones taken out. I know the COST of this work on a  
patient would be astronomical and we are so blessed to have these Bassets 
have  such wonderful supporters and friends to them of giving up a weekend 
day of  their lives to help the animals because they need it..they need the 
help. I know  this is a rare thing of people who help and give so much of 
themselves. I know  too about the dilemma of not having the MONEY to pay for 
what needs to be  done ideally. In past times I have chipped off tartar 
myself...but that is  stressful too  for the dogs and I don't know how much good 
that really  does either as the teeth were not polished after the chipping off 
of  tartar. They don't LIKE it and so jerk and sometimes get poked with the 
 tools..so I quit doing that. Here is what I wanted to ell you about. Sorry 
to be  so long winded.
 
Reading what you have been writing about dental care has been enlightening. 
 I want to tell you about a product you can get from your Vet that comes in 
a  spray or a pink gel that you put on the dogs teeth. It does work to keep 
the  teeth plaque free. Really it does. We can not afford to clean every 
dogs teeth  and so use this product...it DID HELP with Droopy...though he 
needed REAL dental  work done. 
 
If anybody wants the name please e mail me and I will tell you. It would  
sound too much like an AD to write it here. I can not afford to clean my  
Hudson's teeth twice a year like he NEEDS...and so I have been using this  
product and it is WORKING!!! I only clean his teeth twice a week actually and it 
 could be done daily and he would be in even better shape....but it is a 
hard  thing to do to fit in all the needs of all the Bassets. It does not 
taste bad  (I've used it on myself just to see...just as I taste most all the 
foods that go  into my dogs mouths)  (ugh right?) Well anyway this stuff WORKS 
and might  be an alternative plan when you've got a Senior Senior Basset or 
one that can  not go under.
 
Love and Woofs, Lexa Owned and Loved by Hudson a Henry
Basset Rescue of Puget Sound Coordinator
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