My little Cinnamon (5 yrs old) had 15 teeth pulled yesterday. It was a shocker for me because I have been brushing diligently AND spraying Petzlife. I'm so anal about her teeth. I've been going to the same vet since I've had her at 15 wks old. Her teeth were great for the first 2.5 years, then last year at 4 years old, I noticed about 2 of her front teeth were loose. He did a teeth cleaning and had to extract three of her teeth; two on the front top and one on the bottom. Oh, Cinnamon only eats dry kibble; she used to eat Royal Canin, then I switched to Solid Gold Health Just a Wee bit about 1.5-2yrs ago.
Two weeks ago, I went to the vet for a checkup. Her teeth looked great to me, and I didn't see that any were loose or dirty. I was actually proud of how her teeth looked!! The vet said, her teeth looked great too just by looking at them, and he can see that I am brushing them. However, the vet showed me how how gum was recessing on one tooth, and it was sign of peridontal disease. She went for her cleaning yesterday, and after the cleaning, he called to let me know that he wanted to pull at least 9 teeth, but there could be more because of peridontal pockets. I felt horrible. I give him approval to do it because I don't want it to cause her health issues in the future. He mentions her mouth is tiny, and her teeth were so crowded that it would be very hard for me to clean perfectly. When I went to pick her up yesterday, he pulled 15 teeth and showed me the x-rays of her little mouth and the crowding, and he gave me her teeth and explained each tooth's issue and why it needed to be pulled. Some could have remained to see if the issue progressed, but to save the major teeth from having issues in the future, he pulled them. So now she has about 20-23 teeth left, but can be back to eating dry kibble in 1-2 weeks if her mouth is not sore.
I picked Cinnamon up 4 hours after the procedure (4:30pm), and she was completely out of it. She recognized me, and went crazy for me to hold her, then just dead weight in my arms. She couldn't really do anything except moan; she wouldn't walk or stand or drink water. Her nose was dripping. I called my vet (his office number goes straight to his cell phone after hours which is great!), and he says to give her some food with a drop of her pain medication. At about 8pm, she was almost back to her Cinnamon-self. This morning, she is her happy little self (with a little moaning sometimes) running around and giving kisses.
I just don't know what else to do about keeping her teeth healthy. I don't know if I should switch foods or give her different dental treats. My vet says to keep giving her dry kibble and continue brushing as thoroughly as I can. |