HamNCheese
Well-known member
My black velvet, Hero, is a little over 3 years old. He started showing signs last month of tooth problems- a slight drool, some pawing at his mouth- so we took him to the vet as soon as we could get him in. Here's what's been going on:
They took a look at him; short of a few sharp ends an a slightly longer-than-normal set of bottom front teeth, they deemed him overall healthy. As he was drooling very little, they decided not to put him through anesthesia; so no x-rays. They sedated him, sanded down the sharp bits, and sent him home.
That was 3 weeks ago. The first week they had us keep him on a painkiller regimen alongside critical care feeding and an antibiotic/probiotic rotation. He never stopped drooling, though. When they called for a follow-up a week and a half after, they reminded me to double check that his weight was staying decent and to keep an eye on how much food he's eating on his own. I did- and though he started out looking fine, he was eating less and less each day and was losing weight noticeably. We amped up the critical care routine and kept him hydrated.
Took him back into the vet yesterday after we realized there's no way he's getting better on his own. He's too cold and too tired all the time. He's lost a horrible amount of weight- started at around 589 grams, now down to a little more than 400.They had us bring him in today for x-rays.
It's malo. The worst kind; his back molars are growing upwards and are starting to put pressure on his eye socket. I'll attach the x-rays in a follow-up comment. They gave him an injection of painkillers that should last 3 days and sent him home with us.
My husband and I are heartbroken. This little guy is our only pet; he's been the best companion over the past 3 years and has brought us tons of joy. He's affectionate, and would sit on our shoulders or curl up in our laps and watch tv with us...he was social, and always greeted our friends...up until a couple months ago, he would popcorn all around the living room when he got a new stick to chew on. Cutest little ball of fluff we could have ever asked for.
We're expecting to have to put him down this weekend. Even though the vet offered to keep going with painkillers for a while longer, we know that there's nothing we can do to fix it and we just can't drag it out for him. No amount of meds can make us feel like he's feeling okay.
I've never dealt with this before (Hero has been our only chin.) I don't know what kind of quality of life there is for a chin with malo like this, but I can't imagine it could be a good one. Please, if anybody else has gone through this with a chin, I could really use some reassurance that we'd be doing the right thing by putting him down now rather than waiting...thanks.
They took a look at him; short of a few sharp ends an a slightly longer-than-normal set of bottom front teeth, they deemed him overall healthy. As he was drooling very little, they decided not to put him through anesthesia; so no x-rays. They sedated him, sanded down the sharp bits, and sent him home.
That was 3 weeks ago. The first week they had us keep him on a painkiller regimen alongside critical care feeding and an antibiotic/probiotic rotation. He never stopped drooling, though. When they called for a follow-up a week and a half after, they reminded me to double check that his weight was staying decent and to keep an eye on how much food he's eating on his own. I did- and though he started out looking fine, he was eating less and less each day and was losing weight noticeably. We amped up the critical care routine and kept him hydrated.
Took him back into the vet yesterday after we realized there's no way he's getting better on his own. He's too cold and too tired all the time. He's lost a horrible amount of weight- started at around 589 grams, now down to a little more than 400.They had us bring him in today for x-rays.
It's malo. The worst kind; his back molars are growing upwards and are starting to put pressure on his eye socket. I'll attach the x-rays in a follow-up comment. They gave him an injection of painkillers that should last 3 days and sent him home with us.
My husband and I are heartbroken. This little guy is our only pet; he's been the best companion over the past 3 years and has brought us tons of joy. He's affectionate, and would sit on our shoulders or curl up in our laps and watch tv with us...he was social, and always greeted our friends...up until a couple months ago, he would popcorn all around the living room when he got a new stick to chew on. Cutest little ball of fluff we could have ever asked for.
We're expecting to have to put him down this weekend. Even though the vet offered to keep going with painkillers for a while longer, we know that there's nothing we can do to fix it and we just can't drag it out for him. No amount of meds can make us feel like he's feeling okay.
I've never dealt with this before (Hero has been our only chin.) I don't know what kind of quality of life there is for a chin with malo like this, but I can't imagine it could be a good one. Please, if anybody else has gone through this with a chin, I could really use some reassurance that we'd be doing the right thing by putting him down now rather than waiting...thanks.
