What To Feed After Dental Work?

[JohnF]

Peggy, now 11, is scheduled for some dental work on Monday provided that her bloodwork first thing in the morning shows she can handle it.

I expect there will be some extractions. So I'm wondering, after the anesthetic wears off, what is the right kind of food to give her to eat and for how long? Any advice greatly appreciated.

[XTRAWLD]

The first night back she probably won't want anything until nightfall. At least that's been my experience with a few "lights out" type of work. That night I'd recommend just rice and broth. The rice might get stuck in some of the pockets in her gums, but it should be overcooked so it is very soft and will slide around! and the broth as a liquid will help with fluids and energy. She'll have to pee a lot though because of the fluids during anesthesia but will be sedate and not want to go out, so try to take her for a pee before you get her into the house so she can relax. She likely won't want to drink until nightfall as well, so the broth would help her get more liquids in. If you see she is absolutely famished that night, oversoaked kibble will work, just don't give her a full meal worth or you might be cleaning that up! Just really really soaked things that are soft for about the first week is ideal. Wet canned food works as well to encourage her to eat, but it can get stuck. Soft soft soft. Good luck!

Edited August 31, 2018 by XTRAWLD

[Remolacha]

It really depends, Conner didn’t want to eat until the next day, but wanted to drink a lot. Sallie had 22 teeth extracted and wanted her kibble that evening . Probably Peggy won’t want much to eat until the next day, and soft, soft, soft! They are usually back to normal in about two days. If she has extractions, be sure you have some old towels to put under her head, she will almost certainly have bloody drool.

[cleptogrey]

canned food and porridge once she show interest in eating. just small servings. the mouth heals really quickly.

[fionasmom]

Scrambled eggs always worked well for us. On day 2 add in some pasta.

[oldrunners]

My vet says after dentals, whether teeth are lost or not, 1/2 portion soft food, offered at regular dinnertime. If that is eaten, wait a half hour and, if all is well, offer the other half in half an hour. If the initial portion is is refused, wait until the next morning to feed.

[greysmom]

Whatever they wll eat enough of to get their pain meds down - canned food, baby food, oatmeal or cornmeal, pasta. Then they should gradually get back to normal foods, unless there are stitches or craters - then no kibble or anything that might get stuck in a hole until they are healed. Soak the kibble, overcook the rice/pasta, etc., etc., etc.,.

[RaineysMom]

our vet just said canned food, in small amounts. Ours didn't have any extractions though. Good luck and prayers!

[Remolacha]

Right after the dental the recovery from the anesthetic will affect their appetite as much or more than a sore mouth. That should wear off by the next day, but if you know your dog is slow to recover from the anesthesia, take that into account.

[FiveRoooooers]

All of my dogs have been different after their dentals, including those with multiple extractions. Canned food is good, and you can water it down a bit to make it more soup-like if necessary. As mentioned above, pasta, potatoes, baby food - all good. You can pulverize kibble in a blender and offer it with yogurt or Ensure or similar. I have to say, Trevor lost close to 30 teeth and came to me two days after that major dental. His mouth was one big blanket stitch. Yet he was scarfing up canned food and soaked kibble like nobody's business

 

Best of luck and let us know how Peggy is doing.

[JohnF]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I took her in at 8 this morning and she's having the dental right now. I'm feeling guilt-tripped over it as usual; it's always scary with the oldies.

Edited September 3, 2018 by JohnF

[MP_the4pack]

I gave scrambled eggs too.

 

Soft, slides down easy, they love it, so easy to hide pain meds.

[Greylover97]

Rebel didnt eat or drink anything the day of his dental. He ate canned food and softened kibble for four or five days after having several molars removed.

[JohnF]

Yes, although she's never had dental work, she usually won't eat anything either until the day after an anesthetic; which makes me wonder about getting the meds down?

 

I've got in some eggs, some white fish, and some deboned chicken that I can boil up soft, and found some old towels to put round her bed too. The vet just phoned and said she's had several teeth out on one side but he thought she'd been under long enough and will work on the other side, which isn't so bad, in a month or two's time. They said they'd discharge her late afternoon, so I'll have her home to look after this evening. It's not my busy week so she can have plenty of attention.

[Greylover97]

Check with your vet to see if they will do injectable pain medication and antibiotics today so you dont have to stress getting anything into her tonight.

[JohnF]

Check with your vet to see if they will do injectable pain medication and antibiotics today so you dont have to stress getting anything into her tonight.

 

Thanks, yes I did. They have almost wiped out poor Peggy with a lot of teeth taken out on one side! Apparently one of the top ones ended up causing a small hole into the nasal cavity. From a happy dog on a walk at 7am we now have a devastated one high on Tramadol that won't look at water nor even sniff at food. They gave her fluids until I picked her up at 5pm so at least she shouldn't dehydrate. The only positive sign is that the bloody drool has more or less stopped. I'm hoping she gets thru the night without a trip to the E-vet 20 miles away for a pain relief injection as there's no way I can see to get tablets into her.

However, this is my first ever dog in more than 50 years of owning dogs with teeth, I mean bad teeth needing extractions, so I don't have the coping strategies.

[tbhounds]

Tramadol doesn’t do much for pain -more and more vets are getting away from using it. Do you have an nsaid and gabapentin to give her?

[XTRAWLD]

Takes a while for them to get back, 24 hours at least til she might be acting normal. Pill giving is the worst like this. Have any soft bread on hand, will she lick some peanut butter? How is she for pilling without food?

 

Also try to stay upbeat, she'll pick up if you are upset about food or pilling in a heartbeat and make it worse with refusal!

Edited September 4, 2018 by XTRAWLD

[FiveRoooooers]

Takes a while for them to get back, 24 hours at least til she might be acting normal. Pill giving is the worst like this. Have any soft bread on hand, will she lick some peanut butter? How is she for pilling without food?

 

Also try to stay upbeat, she'll pick up if you are upset about food or pilling in a heartbeat and make it worse with refusal!

This!

How is pretty Peggy this morning (your afternoon?)? How are *you* doing?

 

[JohnF]

Well, we got thru the night without having to drive to the E-Vet, so that's a positive. I suppose the Tramadol zonked her out if nothing else. At six this morning she wanted to get up and go outside. She had a stretch and drank some fresh water for the first time, then came back in. I managed the pills which were 1 big Synuclav tablet which I had to break into 4 and feed in some peanut butter wrapped in very thin sliced beef (like pastrami but not so 'chemically'), and the tramadol tabs she took in some soft cheese. These things are her favourite foods and its good she still fancied them; goodness knows how I'd have got pills in on their own with one side of her mouth so sore. I've yet to get her to take her regular Zantac but I know myself how horrible that can be if not swallowed immediately. (Can't give NSAIDs because of the sensitive stomach issues from last year). There was some black tarry stool, which I reported to the vet as no-one can be sure how much blood was swallowed. Quite a lot of 'gurgling' going on last night too.

 

It's all left me too much in the dark with a bunch of teeth being taken out at the same time. My local vet doesn't keep them in overnight now like they used to, as it's not constantly staffed, so it would have needed to be done much further away in the group's E-Vet hospital. With all of Peggy's previous treatments there has at least been a mouth that can be handled to get pills down or syringe water into. Her teeth were fine until she was 8-9 too.

[MP_the4pack]

My Diamond had 23 teeth removed at once. She bounced back fairly quickly. Peanut butter and eggs, not together, helped a lot with getting pills down. And Ensure helped keeping food going in her.

[JohnF]

My Diamond had 23 teeth removed at once. She bounced back fairly quickly. Peanut butter and eggs, not together, helped a lot with getting pills down. And Ensure helped keeping food going in her.>>

 

Ensure.... that's a yogurt powder thing isn't it? She never would lick yogurt pots though, but ice cream she didn't mind.

I guess the best thing to do is to cook food that I might eat myself if she wont eat a tiny piece of it. Omlette, scrambled eggs, chicken etc.

[FiveRoooooers]

Ensure

[XTRAWLD]

It sounds like you are doing great and that she is coming along as she should. Your version of "Pastrami" is the perfect solution.

 

Ensure or Boost is used as a nutritional supplement in liquid form. Great when you need to get them some nourishment when they won't eat, but one or two days shouldn't be too big of a stretch provided she is interested in a meal a day later.

Edited September 4, 2018 by XTRAWLD