[Dailydrool] Update on a toothless Emma

[Karrie Kuecker]

Thanks to all the wise droolers who sent messages, or responded to thing on
facebook, etc! Your input has been very helpful! Tomorrow is Emma's
recheck, a week after having the 10 teeth pulled. We still have a couple
days worth of meds to go (Clavamax for the antibiotic, something else
starting with a c for inflamation, and some Tramadol as needed). The
Tramadol was the hardest thing to deal with! Let's just say I know see why
people joke about pilling a dog by saying 'stick your hand down throat,
halfway to the stomach, drop pill, hope hound doesn't puke!' Emma's a
puker, yes she is! There was A LOT of patooying of pills (tramadol &
clavamax more than once sadly! At least once Joey ate the Clavamax before I
could grab it!) But, after someone explaing that it *does* actually taste
horrible, I see why she wouldn't eat it! I didn't realize that you can't
handle the food w/the hand you handled the Tramadol in, or the taste would
transfer to the food! Also, Emma lost a bit of weight, I blame chasing the
puppies at the park, which's a good thing! But, she's about 45-ish lbs, and
they said to give her 1/2 a tramadol 2x a day, which, as I was told, was no
where near enough!! I thought it seemed low, but the Drs. should know best,
right? So, poor little Momma Dog whined all night when she got them pulled,
and I felt bad, knowing that she was probably in pain & didn't have to be.
I went to the vet's the next day & got more Tramadols, and upped them to 1
pill 3x a day, which seemed to be good for her size.

As for the whole eating thing, she's still on soft food, until the recheck
tomorrow, to make sure she's all healed up. I don't want to push things &
have her in pain or hurting her gums. The biggest adjustment for her, I
think, is the whole not being able to itch her back. She's always been a
bit of a 'chewer,' meaning if she has an itch on her back, she'll stretch
out, contort funny, and do that 'I'm chomping on my back to scratch it'
thing. But, as all of her front teeth canine to canine are gone, she can't
really scratch her itch any more. She's taken to licking her back, which
must help a bit, but for the most part, I try to scratch her when I see
that. She's also had to kind of relearn to eat; she can't stick her nose in
the bowl & snatch the food any more, since there's no teeth up front to
keep it in. She licks it more, and has to kind of go at the food sideways.
I occasionally put my foot under her dish, and raise one side of it, which
seems to help some.... I'm hoping that as she gets used to it, she'll get
the hang of it. She's definitely NOT starving! She actually snarfed a mouth
full of catfood on her way out of the vet's the day she had the teeth
pulled! They clearly underestimated the will of a 'starved' basset (she
couldn't eat prior to the procedure!) but, so far it all looks good!

I really don't think that this transition would've gone as well as it did
if it wasn't for all the info from folks with toothless houndies, or
houndies that've had the meds she's on! Just more proof that droolers are
the best!

-- 
-Karrie, momma to Joey & Emma, with Slater (ATB), Aunty to Checkers, Domino
& Crispin (wb)

Joey's dogster page: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/637473
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