Senior Grey With Heart Murmur Having Dental Surgery

[Guest Alichou]

Glad to hear that he came through the surgery OK.

 

Are they using amicar for the bleeding? Greyhounds have "funny platelets" and there can be a concern after a surgery like this that causes excessive bleeding as it helps to keep the clots intact - you might want to have the vet check this out.

 

I'm not sure what they used but his mouth is no longer bleeding and most of the swelling has gone down. He was very happy to get home into his comfy bed and has been passed out ever since. Poor lil guy, what an ordeal.

[Guest Alichou]

Dante is making a very speedy recovery. He comes off the pain medicine tonight and then continues his course of antibiotics for another two weeks. He is eating normally (but only soft food for the time being) and doesn't seem to be bothering his mouth too much. I did notice he tries every once and a while to open his mouth really wide and also use his paws to claw at his mouth but once I approach him he stops. I only notice him doing that in the morning, the rest of the day it doesn't seem to bother him.. He only has 4 canines left and all gums look good and healthy. I'm sooo happy we went through with the surgery. Another huge thing I noticed is his bad breath is now completely gone, and even though he's uncomfortable from the stitches etc, I can tell his mouth feels a lot better by his overall attitude. Thanks for all your good thoughts and advice, it is much appreciated!

[Guest Alichou]

Glad to hear everything went well and SO glad those nasty teeth are no longer in his mouth. He will feel so much better after he recovers from the surgery. I'm going to guess his cough will decrease now too now that the source of infection/bacteria is gone.

 

His cough may decrease a little but the chest X-ray showed chronic bronchitis. When we did the ultrasound we also did a chest X-ray after to get o the bottom of the cough. Right now the doctor has him on a one month trial of an antibiotic called theophylline. If that doesn't reduce the coughing we may be switching to an inhaler.

 

I'm so glad Dante did well with his surgery. And kudos to you for all the effort you went through to make it happen.

 

Just wanted to mention that theophylline isn't an antibiotic: wiki linki. I would think chronic bronchitis would have an underlying infectious cause that an antibiotic could address but I don't think this drug would do that.

 

 

See I'm not too familiar with Theophylline. I had a hard time believing he was coughing for a year due to bronchitis. We know it's not his heart, but one thing I did notice, was that after the dental surgery, I haven't heard him cough once. I'm starting to wonder if his teeth had anything to do with it. But then again the doctor says his chest xrays show moderate changes similar to that of chronic bronchitis. He has been on antibiotics every month for the last year too, so any infection would have been zapped by the clyndomycine and amoxicilline.

[tbhounds]

Knew that cough would dissipate :-). The changes in his lung pattern just might be normal aging changes.

Hopefully, once the oral sutures start to dissolve he'll feel even better!!