Elvis and the tooth

Poor little guy.

Elvis has two teeth left in his head. Both on the left, and this Saturday, an infection set in. I was hoping against hope the swelling in his face was an insect bite, but when it didn't go down by yesterday morning, I had a pretty good idea it was a tooth.

So off to the clinic this morning we went. When I'd tried to look at it Saturday afternoon, Elvis wasn't a happy camper, so before we left the house, he got 1/4 of a Valium to help ward off some stress. When we got to the clinic, I had to make a pit stop first off the bat, and while I was doing that, Dr. Walthall came out and took a quick look at him. Sure enough. Bad tooth.

She also got a chance to see the mass in his groin, and the verdict there was hernia. Which is good, provided it doesn't strangulate, and considering his physical condition, we're going to rely on pumpkin to keep him regulated so he doesn't strain when he potties. It's also easy to keep an eye on since he's in my lap every morning in preparation for his morning Oats (4 Cheerios that he feels very entitled to). So I can feel it daily to make sure it's not getting larger.

Anyway, back to the tooth. There were a couple of options available. Antibiotics first while delaying surgery. Surgery first and then antibiotics. I made the decision to go with the first option because I'm going to be in Dallas the first part of November, and the schedule between now and then is terribly full even without an extraction. Also, there are reservations about putting him under, and I want to think some about that before we go that route. Also, I'd like that infection cleared up first because my thinking is he's going to have enough to deal with without his body fighting that as well.

So, we'll put off the surgery until after I get back in town. I told Dr. Walthall that I suspect he would do better waking up from surgery with me there, so we'll have to figure out a way to work that in, too. My status as Foodlady means I'm his security blanket, and he tends to panic less if he can get to me. So we'll have to figure out those arrangements.

That's where we are. He's on liquid clindamycin for the infection, and he's got 10 days of that. He'll be done with that before I leave for Dallas, and Randall knows to monitor that situation, and he'll call the clinic if the swelling shows back up.

Oh. And while we were talking about the shape he is in, she did say how good he looks. And he does. His weight is the RIGHT kind of weight, and particularly for a dog on daily steriods things are where they should be. Like she said, it's sort of like he's aging backwards. A truly wonderful thing when you remember the shape he was in when he came in here in July 2009. With his medical conditions well managed, he just looks and acts like a different dog.