that would be this Friday. :)
Padre came in here back in October needing a dental very badly. One delay after another and here it is mid-January and he still has a nasty mouth.
Sunday things started moving into more critical territory when his face began to swell a bit on one side, and lifting up the lip showed some ulceration on the upper gum line by a tooth I *know* is going to have to come out.
So off to the clinic we went yesterday morning, and came back armed with antibiotics and Metacam and an appointment for Friday morning for a dental (and at least one tooth extraction I'm pretty positive). And the pain med is making a BIG difference for Padre. I got enough for three days which should give the antibiotics time to start working well on the infection and helping with the pain from it.
Friday morning we'll take him in around 10. Considering his insecurities - and they can be considerable - I'll be there when he goes under and then when he begins to come out of the anesthesia. I used to have to do this for Elvis (the puppy mill refugee foster dog we lost last summer), so I have no problem doing it for Padre. He just about shakes himself to death when he thinks he's being abandoned, and there's no point in putting him through that for no good reason.
If I'm right, this dog's mouth has been causing some of the interpersonal relationship issues. I think he's been in low grade pain for quite some time, and having the Metacam here is showing me a very different, and positive side, to this dog. Generally around 4:30, he becomes very animated and outgoing. That's about an hour before he gets fed, and he's hamming it up. I never see that at any other time. This morning, I'm seeing it, and I think it's the pain meds giving him the relief he's needed.
It will be interesting to see how he comes out of the dental and if the changes I'm hoping to see happen. I sure hope so. Padre is a sweet, sweet boy, and he deserves to be happy and pain free.
I'll post again on Friday after the dental.
