dental day

Today was a no-fun-for-anyone-at-the-vet day. Myself included, and I am not even a dog or cat!

Gaara, the orange tabby, had to go in for oral surgery. It seems he has some strange kitty disease that causes kitty teeth to rot out of their heads. The doc said it was caught early enough that he only needed 8 (8?!!) teeth removed.  Today was the big day. Not a happy kitteh.  I did get a call from the vet tech after surgery though, and apparently it was not quite as bad as they thought, and they only had to remove 4.  I'm sure it will not reduce the bill much.  And poor Gaara had to spend the night in kitty jail.

But then there's the dog. Remember how poor Riley was attacked by a pitbull only July 4th, 2011?? (If you want some crazy drama, go back and read all of July, maybe even some of August...it's a doozy)  Well, if you will recall, part of that attack included a portion of poor Riley's jaw coming undone.  That's right.  The front right corner of his bottom jaw was just sort of hanging there. His canine and 3 or 4 front teeth were sort of hanging in the breeze.  The emergency vet sewed it back on and hoped it would take.  There was always a question that he might lose teeth down the road, but it seemed to stick, and it's been over 18 months.

Well, it would appear time is up.  Or something new has happened. I can't seem to get the full story.  I picked Riley up from doggie daycare yesterday (he goes once or twice a week), and they said a couple of hours near the end there, he was "licky".  Like when a dog eats peanut butter, that sort of licky.  I didn't observe it myself, until I got him home.

Lick, lick, lick in the air. And then he spent a good long time lick lick licking the big scar on his side that also came about during the same dog attack.  We looked in his mouth, on his tongue, under his tongue, around his gums, and couldn't see anything stuck there. I check the injured jaw as best as I could for looseness, and I didn't see anything.

Until today, when I came back from dropping Gaara off for his surgery.  The canine tooth has turned gray and it is loose.

*sigh*

I am hoping like hell it is just that the tooth died and it is now loose. I am hoping like hell that the whole jaw isn't somehow loose (I'm sure not poking around and making matters worse!). I am hoping like hell that if he looses that tooth that it doesn't affect the structural integrity of the jawline.  I have spoken to the vet and since he is eating, and doesn't seem in pain, and is acting normal (aside from the licky-licky thing), that it didn't need to be an emergency visit.

I have a 9am appointment tomorrow, and Gaara is set to be sprung at 10am, so I have a hunch I will be exchanging one dog for another.

I am freaking out about it in all sorts of weird ways.  It's that deer in the headlights thing where I forget to eat and drink and take care of myself but have no problem watching 4 episodes of Chopped on the Food Network.  It's nuts.

Anyhow, hopefully tomorrow will be full of good doggie news. Please...cross fingers for us!!