Could use some moral support for Skye

[NeylasMom]

If you have any good thoughts to spare (or wish to regale me with funny, distracting anecdotes between noon and 5 pm tomorrow ), Skye (disclaimer: not a greyhound) is having emergency dental surgery tomorrow. She had been licking a lot, and yawning and stretching, so I thought her stomach was upset. Vet recommended Pepcid. Didn't resolve it, so we went in to see the vet. She says some sort of acid reflux is likely, puts her on Cerenia for 4 days. She seemed to be slowly improving, then last night she starts licking her mouth non-stop. So I decided to do a really thorough exam of her mouth (which her vet did not do) and her molar is split in half. My poor baby.  

So grateful that the veterinary dentist we use for Violet (actual greyhound) was able to squeeze her in for tomorrow. They are so amazing and I will feel much better knowing she is in the best hands. But of course I will still be a nervous wreck. 

[KF_in_Georgia]

A sympathy post, anyway. My 7 year old and the 11 year old are headed for the vet's at 8am for dentals and possible extractions. I didn't budget for two dentals at Christmas, but thank heavens for CareCredit.

 

[NeylasMom]

50 minutes ago, KF_in_Georgia said:

A sympathy post, anyway. My 7 year old and the 11 year old are headed for the vet's at 8am for dentals and possible extractions. I didn't budget for two dentals at Christmas, but thank heavens for CareCredit.

 

Oh no, hope everything goes well! If it makes you feel better, I dropped my phone in the toilet a few days ago and damaged it, and I need to put 4 new tires on my car before I drive home for Christmas. Oh, and there's that thing where I just bought a house. 

[MerseyGrey]

Buddy is having three teeth (at least!) out in January so virtual back rubs and cuddles to you both, I hope your pups are ok. Hopefully they will both be recovered in time to enjoy a bit of your Christmas roast

[Remolacha]

I hope Skye"s dental goes well and she has a quick recovery! I am sure she will feel so much better once that old broken tooth is gone. Val lost 7 teeth in her dental last month, and was begging for dinner that same night

[greysmom]

 

 

      

 

 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Q's out of his dental and on his feet already. I didn't have the heart to tell the vet he stays on his feet when he's nervous so he can get a head start on his escape. (He rarely lies down at meet and greets.)

Jane still needs one tooth pulled. Vet says she's lost a lot of bone around that tooth.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Jane's awake, and I can go get the dogs about 3pm. Another of Jane's teeth turned out to be a problem when the vet started to pull the other one. There was granulation tissue between the roots on the second tooth and you could see between the roots. She gets soft food for two weeks. (When I got home this morning after dropping them off, I went ahead and dished up their breakfast kibble, added water to the bowls, and put the bowls in their crates for this evening.)

When Q broke a canine and needed to have it removed, I learned my lesson about dishing up canned food. Both dogs will want to eat it--not just the one that needs it. It's hard to get the calories right so no one gets porky. And you go through cans so fast. And it screwed with Q's digestive system. I swore that next time I'd just stick with softened kibble.

[smt]

I feel ya re: the unexpected hit to the purse.  Our girl Rosie (RIP) had to have ALL of her teeth removed bc she was one of those hounds who had such bad perio disease.  It took place over 2 surgery dates, and it cost us $3600 about 5 years ago.  She felt so much better afterwards.  If Skye is in the hands of a veterinary dentist, odds are REALLY good that she will be just fine.

[winnie]

Hoping all goes well for Skye. I'm sure she'll do great and feel much better tomorrow!

[NeylasMom]

We're home. Things went really smoothly, and surprisingly quickly. She was only under for about an hour. The tooth I discovered was broken was in horrible shape - there were multiple comments from both the vet and the vet tech so I know it was bad. Turns out the upper molar on the other side was broken too, but the pulp wasn't exposed so she was able to just cover it with sealant. She squeezed in a cleaning and polishing too so at least we won't have to do that anytime soon. 

Skye was a champ through the whole thing. She's curled up sleeping now, but she's clearly very unhappy. Before we settled she would just stand in one place with her tail hanging down. 

All for the bargain price of $2500.  I am pretty sure (I hope!) that this will be covered in part by her insurance since it was an emergency. I still have to pay 20% and I'll have to pay for the cleaning portion, but $500ish is much better than 5 times that! 

[NeylasMom]

5 hours ago, KF_in_Georgia said:

Q's out of his dental and on his feet already. I didn't have the heart to tell the vet he stays on his feet when he's nervous so he can get a head start on his escape. (He rarely lies down at meet and greets.)

Jane still needs one tooth pulled. Vet says she's lost a lot of bone around that tooth.

Hope Jane & Q recover quickly and enjoy their bowls of soft kibble.

[JohnF]

2 hours ago, NeylasMom said:

We're home. Things went really smoothly ............ All for the bargain price of $2500.  I am pretty sure (I hope!) that this will be covered in part by her insurance since it was an emergency. I still have to pay 20% and I'll have to pay for the cleaning portion, but $500ish is much better than 5 times that! 

Glad to hear it all went smoothly. In a couple of days time she'll be feeling a lot better.  When my Peggy was on Tramadol for a few days after dental surgery (11 on one side 8 on the other), I foolishly let her run and forgot she wouldn't be feeling her arthritis so she did zoomies like a young dog and ended up sore!  Yes, I think insurance companies will pay for cracked teeth emergency work and also if infections have caused serious trouble deep in the gums.

[smt]

On 12/17/2019 at 4:46 PM, NeylasMom said:

 

All for the bargain price of $2500.  I am pretty sure (I hope!) that this will be covered in part by her insurance since it was an emergency. I still have to pay 20% and I'll have to pay for the cleaning portion, but $500ish is much better than 5 times that! 

Nyelasmom, what pet insurance company do you use?  We just adopted Bette and I am in the market for pet insurance.  Since I have never purchased such a policy, I am a bit lost and overwhelmed with the choices.  Given the risk of bad teeth with GH's, I'd love to take a look at a company that covers dental emergencies.

[NeylasMom]

5 hours ago, smt said:

Nyelasmom, what pet insurance company do you use?  We just adopted Bette and I am in the market for pet insurance.  Since I have never purchased such a policy, I am a bit lost and overwhelmed with the choices.  Given the risk of bad teeth with GH's, I'd love to take a look at a company that covers dental emergencies.

Anything related to periodontal disease won't be covered by most policies. Violet has a horrible mouth and we pay every last cent out of pocket. An emergency is typically a broken tooth, or damage due to an accident.

Having said that, I have Healthy Paws. I have been very happy with them understanding the limitations, though some very high premium increases have been annoying. And I understand they were recently bought by another company. 

There are a lot of threads on here discussing the options. Do a search for insurance in the H&M forum. 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Jen, Q enjoyed his soft kibble. He ate all of Jane's, too. She wasn't interested in eating until I took a bowl of soft kibble to where she snoozed on the loveseat. She gobbled it all down. Did seven days of chewable antibiotics and a couple of days on the pain meds. Q didn't have to take any meds. 

I have Healthy Paws pet insurance. It covered Q when he broke a canine in his crate, but it won't cover these dentals. If someone gets sick soon (Jane's working on something), I think Healthy Paws might cover part of the vet visit and lab work we did before the dentals. We spent $717 on the vaccinations, exam, and lab work before the surgery; we spent another $1,010 (that's after a 12% discount) on the dentals. (Q's was $441, Jane's was more with two extractions). I say "we spent," but these lazy dogs haven't paid their share. December has been painful. My CareCredit has a credit line of $8,000 (I had enormous dental bills in 2018), but I'm afraid to let the dogs know that. 

The vet found a black bump on Jane's ribs--not the usual blood blister thing. She offered to remove it, but I felt Jane had been under anesthesia long enough for one day. I'll let Jane's dermatologist deal with it; I hope to get her in this coming week, and then I can fax her recent bills (regular vet and dermatologist) to Healthy Paws. She has a high deductible and a low pay-out percentage because of her age, so I usually need to collect several bills before Healthy Paws does me much good.

[Houndtime]

Good thoughts for Skye.

[NeylasMom]

15 hours ago, KF_in_Georgia said:

Jen, Q enjoyed his soft kibble. He ate all of Jane's, too. She wasn't interested in eating until I took a bowl of soft kibble to where she snoozed on the loveseat. She gobbled it all down. Did seven days of chewable antibiotics and a couple of days on the pain meds. Q didn't have to take any meds. 

I have Healthy Paws pet insurance. It covered Q when he broke a canine in his crate, but it won't cover these dentals. If someone gets sick soon (Jane's working on something), I think Healthy Paws might cover part of the vet visit and lab work we did before the dentals. We spent $717 on the vaccinations, exam, and lab work before the surgery; we spent another $1,010 (that's after a 12% discount) on the dentals. (Q's was $441, Jane's was more with two extractions). I say "we spent," but these lazy dogs haven't paid their share. December has been painful. My CareCredit has a credit line of $8,000 (I had enormous dental bills in 2018), but I'm afraid to let the dogs know that. 

The vet found a black bump on Jane's ribs--not the usual blood blister thing. She offered to remove it, but I felt Jane had been under anesthesia long enough for one day. I'll let Jane's dermatologist deal with it; I hope to get her in this coming week, and then I can fax her recent bills (regular vet and dermatologist) to Healthy Paws. She has a high deductible and a low pay-out percentage because of her age, so I usually need to collect several bills before Healthy Paws does me much good.

They should cover the blood work regardless. I would submit that without bothering with the dental bills.

Skye is fully recovered. We waited a week to switch back to any raw food that wasn't ground, but no issues with that once we did. She did great through the whole thing and I'm so grateful we had quick access to our awesome dentist.