Dental Cleaning (Doggie Style)...

You may not know that we found our dog, Gabriel, by the side of the road almost 4 years ago.  Best guess, she was about a year old then.  Hyperactive, loving and with a mouth full of broken teeth (particularly the canines).  That definitely didn't slow her down when it came to chewing.  She managed to eat the cushions on our patio furniture as well as destroy the furniture underneath.  There were a few times we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into and if we could survive her adolescence.  Thankfully we have - despite her penchant for rolling in disgusting things (e.g., deer pee, deer poo, dead animals).

Gabriel

In addition to having broken teeth, she was also developing bad tartar, plaque and gingivitis.  It wasn't a pretty picture.  We tried dental bones and such, but they didn't help, so finally we decided to get her teeth professional cleaned.  We were a little nervous about putting her under anesthesia, but knew that if left untreated, her bad mouth could lead to other health problems down the line.  We are very fortunate to have a mobile vet who comes directly to our house - or rather our driveway - for each visit and procedure.  Her name is Janine Sagris from Mobile Laser Vet if you live in my area.

Gabriel was so very excited when she saw her pull up to the house last week.  She ran out the door to greet her, but as soon as she realized it was the vet, she stopped and pulled an immediate 180.  It was kind of funny to watch.

It didn't take long for Janine to get her ready and under anesthesia.  Here you can see what Gabriel's teeth looked like before...

Before having her teeth cleaned...

Janine used some kind of ultrasonic device to remove the plaque from her teeth, along with normal dental instruments to get into hard to reach places.  She worked on her teeth for a good hour to ninety minutes.

Her tongue was like an extra appendage she had to work around.  After she cleaned all of her teeth, she polished them with berry flavored paste - just like in a regular dentist's office.  And finally she applied some kind of wax called Ora Vet to help protect them.  She likened it to waxing your car.

Although Gabriel woke up from the anesthetic pretty quickly, she was a pretty sorry sight for the rest of the day and evening.  We felt so bad for her that we even wrapped her up in a towel and put her in between us on the couch.

Gabriel recovering from the day

I so wish we could explain to them what we're doing and why.

Doesn't she look sad?

By the middle of the night (when she woke to me go out), she was back to normal.  She's on an antibiotic for a few days, but seems none the worse for wear.  And look at her teeth now...

That was actually the best picture I could get because she wasn't being very cooperative, but I think you can still see how white they are now.  The vet also said we caught the gingivitis in time and it would clear up.  Hopefully we can keep them clean for at least a few years before she has to go through this again.

Just a comment for those of you with pets.  If you can find a vet in your area that will come to your house, I highly recommend it.  It saves me and them (my 5 pets) so much stress.  I don't have to drive to the vet or wait forever in the waiting room with a stressed and anxious cat or dog.  I simply bring them right outside my door and into her van.  Then when they're done, I pop them right back in the house.  Janine is also a laser vet which is pretty uncommon right now.  She's fixed three cats for us, front declawed one cat and performed mass removals on two dogs with cancer.  The laser surgery resulted in much shorter recovery times for each of them and less pain. As for the expense, it was really no more expensive than a regular vet probably because she doesn't have all the overhead they do.

Note: This commentary was completely unsolicited.  I'm just sharing, because I wish we had had this information years earlier.

Until later...

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.  

Romans 14:13 (NIV)