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You don’t know how many times I wanted to facepalm when an owner told me they’d read something on the internet. The information wasn’t always bad, but it wasn’t always great either, and sometimes detrimental.
If the dog is very tiny, and he’s got a canine or something in the lower jaw that needs out and it’s not loose, then yeah, things get hairy and I always let the vet do those, but I wouldn’t even break a sweat over a premolar unless it was the big one (and then that’s just because it’s big!)
Broken premolar = pull it. The dog won’t miss it (as a matter of fact, they might be thrilled to have it gone, because if it’s broken, it hurts!), it’ll save you grief down the road and money. I’d pull it soon, too.
I pulled way too many teeth to count as a CVT and I can assure you that even when I was a novice I *never* broke a jaw. Ever. And they never came back with an infection either. The vet and I always made sure that the roots came out, the cavity was clean and we sutured it up. I pulled teeth in big dogs, little dogs and cats. If they had an extraction, sometimes we would pack the cavity with an antibiotic gel, and they *always* went home with a course of antibiotics (and plenty should after a dental prophy in a really horrible mouth).
I’ve even worked with a cat that had every tooth in her head pulled because of a disease that caused her body to attack them. She never had a lick of trouble eating even dry food.
My personal opinion is that I would never spend the money on rehabilitation dentistry in my animals. IMHO it’s a waste of money for aggravation to your dog/cat and your own piece of mind that your dog hasn’t lost a tooth. Plenty of others disagree, no doubt, or those procedures wouldn’t be available!
Augh! I missed them too! If anyone did get an extra, please poke me?
Harrisburg escaped this time. No more significant damage in Southern Illinois (except I lost my fries to a wet drive thru bag dashing madly for the door at lunch).
It’s all moving east now, almost along the Ohio river, so buckle down and stay safe if you’re east of here!
Anything off of Wampus’ list is fine for now, but be sure you tell the vet what he was eating before, and what you switched him to.
As for collecting a urine sample, you can try setting out the empty (clean – free of dust and litter debris) litter box and see if he’ll use it,
If not, see if they can give you some little plastic beads to make him think it’s ‘litter’. We had some specifically for the owners to use at home. The urine flows right around them and pools at the bottom of the box, you can tip it into a sample cup from there.
Or you can try aquarium gravel rinsed clean. Just put a very thin layer on the bottom of the box so you can tip the urine out.
If all else fails, they might do a cysto, where they’ll take a sterile sample with a needle through the abdominal wall into the bladder. He has to have something in there that they can feel for that, so if his bladder is empty, they might keep him long enough for it to fill enough for them to get a sample.
Good luck!
That’s frustrating that he won’t call you back. If you can get hold of him, it’s definitely worth asking if they’d do a urinalysis while he was on antibiotics. The meds won’t do anything about crystals, but they’ll mess up bacteria count.
I wouldn’t mess with his diet too much until you see someone, but you might go ahead an switch him off Iams and onto something else, I don’t think that will hurt.
Edit: that is to say, off of Iams and onto a premium brand like Wampus mentioned. No Rx diets yet without vet OKs.
drag0n, I’m not trying to nitpick, but out of the bottom of my heart and concern for your baby, PLEASE, please please take him to his regular vet and get a urinalysis done! This is something that will have to be professionally managed and I would hate for something to happen that you might feel terrible about later.
He needs that, so that you know exactly what you’re dealing with, and if something is about to go wrong, it can be caught before it happens. It could save you $$$$ in the long run and make Ajani’s life so much easier.
Please don’t just start him on a food without a good, thorough check up. Like setsuna said, if those crystals are oxalate, you could make the problem worse.
Make him an appointment. Take him to the vet. It’s important.
If he’s going to the box often, but only producing small amounts, he might have a bladder infection.
Your very best bet, especially before you start him on a prescription diet like C/K is to have him seen by a daily vet for a check up and urinalysis. I would do that first, and as soon as you can!
Please do any food trialing with the supervision of your vet, especially where crystal issues are involved. Most should be happy to work with you to find something that eliminates those crystals.
The last thing you want to do is mess around on your own without regular urinalysis and cause another blockage or worse, stones – which do require surgical intervention and can cause UTI after UTI because they irritate the bladder.
Even if they suggest a Science Diet Rx food, consider it, but it’s fine to ask them if they have an alternative (Purina and Royal Canin have Rx diets too, and there may be more since I left practice). As a general rule, vets are not out to do you or your pet wrong, and they aren’t ignorant (while no one has said this, this is how I take some food comments sometimes. No vet I ever worked for ever took money from Hills to sell Science Diet!!! We made a profit on the bag just like everything else we sold, but that was IT). Be knowledgeable, of course, but be flexible and listen to what that vet has to say. You might be surprised, especially if they’re a recent grad.
What Koishii and Jolies have said.
Take him for a urinalysis at his regular vet where they can check for crystals. I remember the first cat I ever saw unblocked when I was doing my CVT externship. I wiped up the pee from the surgery table and the paper towel glittered like snow his case was SO BAD.
Almost always, after it’s been determined what sort of crystals are doing the blocking, a diet change is in order. The food will cost a little more, but it will help. Getting blocked is not necessarily a death sentence, but there will be management involved.
Within the next few days, sooner is better, see his regular vet and get him on something to help dissolve those crystals!
February 5, 2012 at 5:26 am in reply to: I am sad, and must briefly vent to other car people #872560OMG, I want one of those Raptors so BAD. They are gorgeous trucks, but so completely out of my price range right now it’s hysterical. I got a great deal on my car or I wouldn’t have it either! Bottom line is a need a much better job than the one I have now.
I do still really love my car, drag0n, I’m just annoyed that this stupid little problem is so…stupid and little. I fired off an email to Ford corp through their website Thursday night, dunno if anything will come of that, but who knows?
February 2, 2012 at 3:22 pm in reply to: I am sad, and must briefly vent to other car people #872193Well, got into contact with Ford Customer Service on Twitter, we’ll see where it goes from there (posted a picture there too)
February 2, 2012 at 1:19 am in reply to: I am sad, and must briefly vent to other car people #872124Well, it’s the airbag panel cover thingie. And even if I could find the part elsewhere, that’s not something I’m comfortable doing by myself.
I did that once with my Ranger, who had a stuck door switch (which meant I had to pull the fuse to stop that enraging, incessant dinging while the door was shut and I was driving) got the estimate from the dealership ($50 just to diagnose, who knew after that?) asked how much the door switch was ($16). Said screw you, bought the door switch, went home to a Ford Truck forum and asked them how to switch it out.
Fortunately someone on there stopped me and told me to try a can of WD40 first, but that was something I was more comfortable doing.
As it is, as long as the panel doesn’t get too bad, I won’t get into a big hurry. Apparently it’s not a terrible thing, it’s just a burr under my saddle.
February 2, 2012 at 12:57 am in reply to: I am sad, and must briefly vent to other car people #872115Dude, I would get into SO MUCH TROUBLE with that kind of engine. I push the limits as it is with a V6. Not to mention I couldn’t afford either one at this point. My car is nicer than my truck was, but by today’s standards, is still a plain jane.
BUT! I have power windows and locks now! And cruise!
I would totally have bought another one down the road without thinking too hard, but now, this is really going to color my decision later on.
January 31, 2012 at 12:57 am in reply to: OFFICIAL TRADE Thread for Grab Bag Baby Bunch (1/26/2012) #871860Here’s mine. I like her very much, but if someone has something with a little more cool colors (teal, blue) that likes her better, I’d be willing to trade.
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