Acting Strange After Dental

[Annette]

Miriam had a dental yesterday. She had to have one tooth pulled and one corn hulled. The vet and the techs Miriam did well, no problems waking up from the anesthesia and there were no other problems. She was under for about an hour during the procedure. She is eating basically canned dog food soup with antibiotics twice a day and a deramaxx once a day. She doesn't really like it, but she eats it.

 

At about 9:30 last night it was as someone flipped a switch. She started pacing. She seemed to be frantically searching for something. She wouldn't lay down. She walked behind the wood burner (luckily no fire lit last night) which really scared me. I even walked her on a leash inside our fenced yard because she was acting so strange. When we got back in she continued pacing. She eventually paced right into her crate. Once she was in there, I closed the door. I closed the curtains and closed the bedroom door and left her in the dark to help her calm down. I called the vet to see if it was ok to give here melatonin and L-Theanine with the medication she is on, and he said that it was okay. I left her in the crate over night and she was better by morning. Unfortunately she is back to pacing again tonight. Has anyone else ever experienced this after a dental?

 

btw, Miriam isn't a full-blown spook, but she is not completely comfortable in her skin and she is afraid of her dad. Normally I give her an L-Theanine and Melatonin with her meals and this seems to take the edge off.

 

Thanks.

[Guest OPointyDog]

We went through this exact behavior with Mika when he had a dental last year. He was frantically searching for things that weren't there - almost like he was hallucinating, and would not lay down. Pacing, panting and looking around frantically. I also took him for several walks in the yard on a leash in the middle of the night. It was very worrying!

 

In his case, we figured out it was the pain medication he was on - some greyhounds have reactions to opiates that make them really agitated. He was on tramadol. What did they give your dog for pain after the dental? Any chance there's an opiate mixed in there? We called the vet, who switched him to an NSAID and the behavior stopped the next day.

 

Good luck! It is scary, I agree. Hopefully it's just the meds.

[a_daerr]

Yep, 100% agree with the above poster. It sounds like a bad reaction to opiate-based pain meds. They can also have similar reactions to sedatives or anti-anxiety meds (my Truman can't do Xanax, Ace, or anything in that drug family). It's a very scary experience. Truman had to be hospitalized and get IV fluid therapy because the meds made his blood pressure and heart rate so high. I'd call the vet ASAP and see if they can switch her to something else.

[greysmom]

Agree. Sounds like classic opiate reaction. Unless the extraction was very severe, she probably doesn't need an actual pain med. An nsaid such as rimadyl or deramax will probably be sufficient.

[BatterseaBrindl]

How is she today??

[galgrey]

My girl, Princess, did this after her dental last year. She was up all night long panting, pacing, searching, and whining. In her case it was the tramadol. She will not be taking that again. I hope your girl is better today.

[Shaysmom]

My guy is another one who has bad reactions to the opiate pain meds and other pain drugs as well. After his last dental, he was in an agitated state for almost 24 hours. There is really not a whole lot you can do except wait it out. I hope Miriam is feeling better today.

[Annette]

She is doing better. She only paces a bit and eventually settles when I tell her to lay down and chill enough times. She not acting anything like Wednesday night.

 

We were sent home with Rimadyl. The tooth that was extracted was an upper tooth on the right side of the mouth, third from the back of the mouth. The vet explained to me that the tooth had to be removed in three pieces. (I can't remember why, unfortunately my mind has been preoccupied with a friend who, last Friday, was told she had a week left to live with the possibility of two to three weeks. She was admitted to a hospice facility on Thursday and has rapidly gone down hill.) In addition to having her tooth extracted, Miriam had a corn hulled.