Hello again friends,
It's now been over 3 months since Jenna's December 1, 2020 dental. As of this writing I can say she is doing better, has begun eating more and gained back some of her weight. We're still using gabapentin, 0.2 mls once in the evenings. I did ask my vet about getting the pills but was quoted $110 for a two month supply and since Jenna was only supposed to be on this medication temporarily we elected not to go to that expense. When I questioned the vet if there were someone besides Wedgewood we could acquire it from, he angrily dismissed me out of hand, saying there were only two compounding pharmacies and both were the same price, so if I wanted the drug I'd have to suck it up and pay the fee as it costs a lot to compound veterinary medications. Okay, granted, but there's no call for attitude. He's become a very surly character as opposed to how gregarious he was in past dealings with him and while I guess some of it is due to Covid restrictions that we're all tired of, it's a bitter pill to swallow when a big sign on his door claims they have a ZERO ABUSE POLICY that allows them to send you packing if you contradict or otherwise argue with them.
He actually wants to take her off gabapentin now and told me to just drop her doses completely instead of weaning her off. I've read it's dangerous to do that when they've been on it for more than a few weeks, so if we do remove it we're going to do so by degrees. I'm not convinced it helps her pain much, but my more pressing concern is that it's buggered up her digestive system: she has terrible gas now that she didn't before, both constipation in the mornings and loose stools in the evenings and a very loud, gurgling stomach which rumbles almost constantly. You can tell it's uncomfortable for her when it gets going.
Additionally it's become impossible for me to brush her teeth (what she has left) as it only aggravates her condition. Her breath is already putrid and I'm at a loss as to how to help her keep her remaining teeth and mouth healthy, overall. She still flaps her tongue about sometimes, but it's not every day anymore but mostly after she's eaten or awakened from sleep...and while she clearly still has some issue going on in her face it's not as pronounced as it was. Her eye pressures are even a bit below normal; 16 and 11 I think the vet said this last week, and her ulcer has not reacted to the flourescein stain so he feels it has healed, even though the corneal surface looks rough. She still gets lots of fur and hair in her eyes that collects under her eyelids, so this may be part of her issues there, but the whites of her eyes are quite bloodshot, probably due to severe dry eye caused by all the medications she is on for glaucoma. I do my best to keep them hydrated with Systane Ultra as needed throughout the day, as prescribed by her ophthalmologist.
The vet has supposedly examined her thoroughly and declares she is not in pain, but I'm skeptical of his findings. He suggested cytopoint for inflammation but I won't use that on my dogs. I feel it's another of those 'hype' meds that vets seem to push when they have some kind of agenda or a drug company on their backs. (Apoquel was one we tried for my daughter's dog's itchy skin, it only caused her other problems that we decided weren't worth the cost to her physically, and it stopped working as well, plus her reaction to Nexgard was similar...so these incidents set the precedent that we don't want to give the animals anything that represents a 'pushed product.' The next item to go will be the 'veterinary grade' dog foods.)
My vet's office has been sold to a corporation as the owners are looking to retire. My next course of action will be to secure Jenna's records (and those of our other pets) and find a different, and hopefully better, vet. It's obvious to me this doctor did something to her, unintentionally or otherwise, to cause her some kind of (semi) permanent damage and so I feel she is not safe in his care. Other than keeping an eye on her tonometry I won't be using him for anything else from here on in. I'm not even sure how I will handle her eventual end of life care at this point.
For now, she is happier than she was at the time of the surgery and in the immediate days and months afterwards. She is beginning to remind me of my old Jenna again and for as long as she is comfortable I'll keep doing my best to keep her happy. She deserves much more, but there are no professional resources available in my area to accomplish that for her.
In the meantime and to that end, I'll be looking into changing her diet, which is the last possible vector for her behaviour. If she's become allergic to something in her food, it might explain why she still has the mouth pawing and tongue flapping episodes and scratches at her face and ears to this day. (Ironically in the latter case...so does the other dog, despite the fact they are on different veterinary diets.) If anyone has any suggestions for how to either home cook or find a good quality prepared food for her, I'm all ears!
Thanks for reading, hope you all are well and surviving our crazy as ever world!
