In my opinion, part of owning an animal is making sure it is taken care of. My little Tank is probably one of the most well taken care of animals there is. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as Tank. He never misses a meal, a treat, a doctor's visit or shots/medication. Yep. I do my best to keep him healthy.
I guess part of "old doggy age" is that their teeth break. Tank is no exception. We had noticed that one of his bottom teeth had completely fallen out and two of his bigger teeth were broken off and were flush with his gum line. Worried about what was going on, we took him to the vet. Since Tank is as old as he is, the vet was leery of putting him out to work on his mouth, not knowing if his kidneys and liver work correctly. I guess older dogs can die while having a procedure if their organs don't function normally.
The test came back looking good and Ken and I decided to go ahead with Tank's dental procedure. I was a basket case the entire week and worried that my little guy might not pull through. This whole ordeal was going to cost us just over $1000.00 and I wasn't about to come home with an empty wallet and a dead dog. In fact, I scheduled Tank's surgery at 8:00 a.m. on a day that Ken had off from school so that I wasn't the one who had to take him to the vet. I would have cried and cried and sat at the vet's office all day. I don't think the vet's office would really appreciate that.
Tank was knocked out for about 4 hours. They had him hooked up to IV's and had a tube down his little throat during the procedure, poor little puppy. The vet ended up pulling out several teeth that were either lose, cracked or broken off. Then they cleaned all of his other teeth and they look great now! I think we definitely added a few years onto his life by doing this. I hope we did anyway.
The BEST part was that when we went and picked him up from the vet that evening, they had just taken him off of a morphine drip. Oh yeah... you read that right. Tank was stoned out of his mind! He could barely keep his head up and wouldn't even look at you if you said his name. It was hilarious! More than anything, Tank just wanted to be held. But once the medicine started to wear off, he got grumpy and wanted to be left alone to sleep.
Here's Tank home from the vet after 10 hours of being there. Look closely... he's wedged himself in the crack of the loveseat.
Awww... my stoned little guy with his IV site. Doesn't he look pathetic and ornery?
Anywhere we carried Tank, he just melted in our arms.
We made a little "nest" for him on the floor in the kitchen while we ate dinner. We knew Tank was REALLY out of it because he didn't once beg for food.
And these are the lovely images sent home from the vet of Tank's before and after pictures.
I am hoping that this is the last big medical hooray for Tank. Check ups and shots are one thing, but everything else scares me too much. I'm glad he's fine and he seems to be back to his happy little feisty self. I seriously had no idea that doggy dental issues were so expensive and worrisome. Glad it's over!
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