Dentals

[Guest Rogersmom]

Roger had his first dental today. We went to National Greyhound Adoption Program's clinic on Dutton Road in Philadelphia. My vet wanted at least $300 to do the dental. It only cost $150 at NGAP. News to know, the clinic is now open to all breeds. I also had blood work done on Roger as he never had it done before. The site where the blood was drawn swelled up like a golf ball. The vet told me Roger's veins were not good and that he had a coagulation problem. I am very concerned and wonder if anyone has had this problem. Roger did have blood drawn two years ago for allergy testing. I was not made aware of swelling at that time. The vet said that Roger should not be a blood donor as he would really have a problem. The vet was surprised that I wanted to make Roger a blood donor and asked me why I wanted to do that. Given I am a blood donor, I wanted Roger to be one also. So, Roger's mom is worrying that the swelling at the site of blood being drawn is a sign of something seriously wrong with my puppy.

[Batmom]

Not necessarily. Could be just a torqued up blood draw -- hematomas happen sometimes if needle goes all the way through the vein, not enough pressure applied after the needle is withdrawn, dog (or person) jerked when needle inserted, etc.

 

Do you have the bloodwork results yet?

 

If his bloodwork is good (adequate platelets, for example), two things you could do are: coagulation panel (costly), and speak to the vet who did the dental. If there was a bleeding problem, dental vet would have noticed that any little nicks along the gum while cleaning didn't stop promptly.

 

Hope it's just a hematoma and no cause for concern.

[3greytjoys]

Batmom offered you an excellent answer re: Roger.

 

On the flip side just for educational purposes: For any other readers' Greyhounds who might fall into a very rough estimate 25% range of Greyhounds who bleed excessively and have trouble clotting well, it doesn't hurt to be proactive before any surgeries. You might consider asking your vet if "Aminocaproic Acid" could help. I ask my vet to call in a prescription for Aminocaproic Acid to a human "compounding pharmacy" about one week before any of our hounds' surgeries (even minor surgeries and dentals with extractions). The compounded liquid form is very cheap (approx. $25 to $35. for a 5-day treatment supply on the west coast).

 

Dr.Couto from OSU often recommends Aminocaproic Acid (also used in people) to help prevent excessive bleeding post surgery in Greyhounds. Greyhounds can potentially start internal bleeding anytime within about 4 days post surgery. I know of a few cases where surgery day was a challenge for vets to stop their Greyhound patients' bleeding on the operating table, they finally got it stopped, then hounds started bleeding internally again many hours later. (In one of our hound's case, internal bleeding started again 30 hours post-op from a tiny - less than 1/4" surged area where a tiny benign growth was removed.)

 

If your vet has questions about whether Aminocaproic Acid can help clot excessive bleeding in Greyhounds, here are a couple of informative articles from OSU:

 

The Aminocaproic Acid is mentioned in this article under "Treatment and Prognosis" section: https://greyhound.osu.edu/resources/freeresources/bonecancer/index.cfm

 

Greyhound Bleeders article from OSU: (Caution: pictures of post-operative internal bleeding in this article.)https://greyhound.osu.edu/resources/freeresources/greyhoundbleeders/index.cfm

 

Edited August 19, 2011 by 3greytjoys

[GeorgeofNE]

Around here, $300 for a dental would be a bargain!

[tbhounds]

Unless they ran a coag panel and confirmed a clotting problem I would have to say it was a blood draw where the tech didn't apply pressure to the puncture site. This is not an uncommon event if you don't have an on-the-ball tech. This is the same reason we have to hold our own arms above our heads and apply pressure---hard to do with a dog

Edited August 19, 2011 by tbhounds

[Guest kydie]

the cost of dentals here is always a topic,,, a year ago in July our old vet did a dental on our old girl (non-grey)plus 2 teeth extractions,,, labs,, pain meds, and an antibotic after and charged me $245.00,,(this included 2 office vistis too) but he has retired,, new vet,,,,from the city took over his practice,, (via the grapvine),, now charges $700.00,,, he won't be see me anytime soon

[Guest Rogersmom]

Not necessarily. Could be just a torqued up blood draw -- hematomas happen sometimes if needle goes all the way through the vein, not enough pressure applied after the needle is withdrawn, dog (or person) jerked when needle inserted, etc.

 

Do you have the bloodwork results yet?

 

If his bloodwork is good (adequate platelets, for example), two things you could do are: coagulation panel (costly), and speak to the vet who did the dental. If there was a bleeding problem, dental vet would have noticed that any little nicks along the gum while cleaning didn't stop promptly.

 

Hope it's just a hematoma and no cause for concern.

 

I did get the results of Roger's blood work. His platelet count is 164 on a scale of 170-400 10 ^3/uL

the comment was that his platelet count reflects the minimum number due to platelet clumping. Platelet EST Adequate in a range of Adequate.

Thank you for youir reply.

 

Batmom offered you an excellent answer re: Roger.

 

On the flip side just for educational purposes: For any other readers' Greyhounds who might fall into a very rough estimate 25% range of Greyhounds who bleed excessively and have trouble clotting well, it doesn't hurt to be proactive before any surgeries. You might consider asking your vet if "Aminocaproic Acid" could help. I ask my vet to call in a prescription for Aminocaproic Acid to a human "compounding pharmacy" about one week before any of our hounds' surgeries (even minor surgeries and dentals with extractions). The compounded liquid form is very cheap (approx. $25 to $35. for a 5-day treatment supply on the west coast).

 

Dr.Couto from OSU often recommends Aminocaproic Acid (also used in people) to help prevent excessive bleeding post surgery in Greyhounds. Greyhounds can potentially start internal bleeding anytime within about 4 days post surgery. I know of a few cases where surgery day was a challenge for vets to stop their Greyhound patients' bleeding on the operating table, they finally got it stopped, then hounds started bleeding internally again many hours later. (In one of our hound's case, internal bleeding started again 30 hours post-op from a tiny - less than 1/4" surged area where a tiny benign growth was removed.)

 

If your vet has questions about whether Aminocaproic Acid can help clot excessive bleeding in Greyhounds, here are a couple of informative articles from OSU:

 

The Aminocaproic Acid is mentioned in this article under "Treatment and Prognosis" section: https://greyhound.osu.edu/resources/freeresources/bonecancer/index.cfm

 

Greyhound Bleeders article from OSU: (Caution: pictures of post-operative internal bleeding in this article.)https://greyhound.osu.edu/resources/freeresources/greyhoundbleeders/index.cfm

 

 

The vet was the one who drew the blood. I was petting Roger to keep him still. Roger has had surgery for a bite and also he was neutered. I was never told that he had a bleeding problem. Thank you for your reply.