Nicki's dental ordeal

(Apologies for the long post.)

Nicki went for a dental yesterday. Fun, fun, fun.

Enlarge to read the amount! :-O

It went okay, except he had part of his left pre-molar missing and "type 2 re-absorption" with the roots. Fortunately, type 2 re-absorption meant he didn't need the roots removed (one already was absorbed into the bone), just the remaining part of his tooth. He has a couple of stitches in the gum which will dissolve in about 10 days.

However, his blood work showed his ALT and Globulin levels up -- Nicki's ALT always has been high normal (liver), but the increase in Globulin levels was new. Could be infection, inflammation, cancer, liver disease, other. Anyway, I opted to have the vet do an ultrasound while Nicki was there, to check things out. It was pricey ($275 plus tax), but indicated that his organs appear normal. The vet said he could send the x-ray to a radiologi$t, but since nothing seemed amiss, I declined.

Nicki also had his anal glands done, so won't have to go back until early April now, thank goodness. I'll have his ALT and Globulin levels retested then, and in the meantime, I'm going to try a liver/immunity support product from PetAlive.com (same company that makes the UTI-Free I give Derry daily). If nothing changes, or if blood values worsen at next check, I'll look at trying something else (the vet said they have something, though it's a pharmaceutical product).

Anyway, poor Nicki was so stoned when he got home that he was staggering around like a drunk, so I closed off the basement (open stairs) and put a litter box on the main level in the entryway. He wouldn't eat anything and was wretching a bit, but I was able to do his Flovent around 10 PM. Then I lay awake most of the night thinking he'd never eat again and it was the start of a downward spiral toward death (a bit of deja vu with Annie).

However, he made it through the night (as did I -- lol) and all told, he ate about half a can of food this morning, plus devoured the lamb and rabbit (soft) treats I gave him. No kibble for ten days, but I've ground some up in my coffee/spice grinder to sprinkle on his food, as I did a couple of years ago when Derry lost two (more) teeth.

I was tempted to stay home today, because I'm so tired and feel so crappy, but I'd just fuss over him and he really needs to rest. I gave him his pain meds this morning--crushed up the pill and mixed it with a bit of chicken juice from one of the Weruva pouches, then syringed it in--and he can sleep undisturbed.

Out of it yesterday evening. Can you see the dilated pupils?  :-)

His right leg is shaved from the IV, and his tummy

is shaved too, from the ultrasound. Poor boy!

Hopefully he'll feel better in a few days, and forgive me for the entire ordeal!

Peace.