My George has a Salivary Gland problem...Sialocele
 

My sweet George had a dental last Wednesday and had some issues with the anesthesia ... at the very end of the procedure his oxygen level dropped and he was blue. They kept him intubated and put him in oxygen and he came out of it just fine. But...he now has an issue with his salivary gland that I am sure came from that dental..possibly the intubation...or the trauma at the end. I don't know. I am not blaming them because these are things that can happen. Actually he could have done it since if he chewed on something sharp (highly doubtful). Bottom line, I just want it to go away. :(

This evening I noted a 1 1/4" mass on his neck. At first I thought it was a node, but after really feeling around, I realized it was more toward the center where there is no node. At first I thought going to the EC was a bit reactive, but then I started to think that it could be an abscess that may have developed due to some possible bacteria being dislodged during the dental. So....I decided to take him to the EC since tomorrow is Sunday and I would not want an infection brewing until Monday. The vet there said he felt it was from an injured salivary gland leaking....and suggested aspiration which of course I agreed with. Yep...all filled with saliva. This is not something I have ever heard of or dealt with. Wondering if anyone else has? He told me that they often will resolve, but if they don't then surgery is needed and his suggestion was to go to Texas A&M if that becomes necessary since it is an area that has a lot of nerves and other important structures. I SO hope this resolves, but from what I am reading on the web, he may indeed need surgery. :( I am especially upset now because of the issue he had recently...I really don't want to think about what could happen if he has another problem with anesthesia. My George is at least 12, possibly older. He is basically very healthy. His labs are always good and he has never had major health issues. This just has me SO upset tonight. Not that I can do anything now.

He said I could try warm compresses which I have already started. I will be taking him to my vet on Monday.

Oh...here is a link about it....Sialocele is the diagnosis.

ACVS - Salivary Mucocele

If anyone has had a pup with this, I would love to hear about it.

I have no info but want to offer my prayers and concern for George. I hope it resolves itself. Bless his heart.

Oh Linda. I am so sorry. Poor little baby. Bless his sweet heart. I know you are upset. It is hard on us when one of our sweet ones are sick. I keep hearing about all this stuff with dentals. :( I know nothing of this situation but will keep you and sweet George in my prayers.

OMG poor George. I am so glad you took him in. I have not heard of this condition either. :(

Oh, I don't regret the dental. George is healthy and alive imo because he has had dentals regularly since I adopted him! He has terrible teeth and needs them cleaned every 6 - 8 months. If I had not done that, I can guarantee he would have health issues because of the bacteria. These things just happen. I mentioned the dental more because of the issue with his oxygen level and my fears of having surgery done on him. I would feel better if I knew why it happened. It was not a typical reaction to anesthesia and my vet was baffled about why it happened. No vital sign changes...just oxygen level. I have been taking pups to this vet since 2001 and many pups for dentals...this was the first time there was an issue. I am wondering if maybe he has CT which has gone undiagnosed...I don't know. I am just freaky scared now to have him put under again especially since we dont know why it happened.

I will never stop doing dentals. I firmly believe in the importance of them for the good health of our breed. There are very few yorkies that can go for long periods without dentals.

It shocked me....last thing I thought. I had so many ideas of what it could be....not that...very weird. Leave it to one of my pups though...I swear they teach me more than I really want to learn. :eek:

I am glad you said that. They want to do one on Mikki and with everything I read I am very hesitant. But I know it has to be done. We need to pray very hard that he can handle surgery if needed. So he obviously has had anesthesia many times before. I know it was shocking for you that there was a reaction. But there will be lots of YT prayer to see him through it if needed.

George a few years ago:


Attachment 357703


And this past year:


Attachment 357704

I'm so sorry, Linda. How scary. :(

Never heard of this. It does ring a bell though. Saw a cat a few weeks ago that had some weird swelling post dental. Ended up behind the eye. No tooth extract from up there, so there was no pathway for infection. It was so odd. Now I'm wondering if it was this and I just didn't catch the name.

I'd just have the anesthesiologist at A&M try and sort out what happened. No new/different drugs used before intubation? If your vet uses Iso, but A&M has Sevo. I'm sure they can figure out a way to keep him safe. That does seem very odd though.

I agree. Never be too afraid of dentals to get them done when they need to be. My vet does dentistry all the time. I'd say she deals with very few serious complications. And she didn't have any serious anesthetic problems for about 5 years straight. Make sure your vet has a good anesthetic protocol and has experience with dentistry and trust them with it.

Awwww, what a beautiful boy.

Thank you. He's a sweetie. :)

I can tell. :)

Hopefully, having caught it very early he will be able to make a quick and complete recovery without surgery. :)

I've seen Salivary Mucocele's before. no biggie. some do go away without surgery, but, being that I worked in the surgery department, the ones i saw required surgery.

As far as the anesthesia goes, I wouldn't worry too much since he'll be at A&M. They will have far superior monitors, techs, and protocols then a regular vet. From what i've seen in general practice, during dentals there is usually no one monitoring the anesthesia except the person actually doing the dental (tech or vet). During a surgery, especially a major one, there will definitely be an anesthesia tech there to monitor George.

I am happy to hear that you have seen them resolve!

As for A&M, yes they are awesome. I have been there quite a few times; but I actually almost lost a pup there because of a problem with anesthesia. He had to remain intubated for 24 hours after surgery and was on a respirator and then had to have a trach. Luckily, after a few days they were able to remove the trach, but I was told he had a 50/50 chance. I do believe that he would have died in another facility....they do have the resources for dealing with such emergency situations.

My vet always has someone in the surgery room to only monitor a pup's vitals during dentals and surgery. I have actually been back there many times while there for other reasons and I have never seen less than 3 people in that room during dentals and other surgeries. It is a standard that all vets should follow....and if I ever had to go to another vet is certainly a question I would ask.