Well, Mimzy got his dental at the specialist this morning. After having to get him in there at 9:30 AM, we came to pick him up at around 3:15 PM (he was supposed to be done by 3:45 PM) to find she was just now working on him. Having done our grocery shopping just before, we despaired of getting the cold foods home before they spoiled…but decided to wait since it’s over 40 miles back home from here.
Now, don’t get me wrong…this is a beautiful OPEN office. Allow me to explain what I mean.
A peeled log cabin high on the Chena Ridge road, overlooking Fairbanks in two directions…leaded glass doors, tastefully decorated and utilitarian, a converted two story home is my guess…and two open (not even a separator, really) rooms for exams (that I could see).
I mean… there’s a set of three glass windows looking from reception and outdoors into surgery! And as I watched my bunny lying there in anesthetic sleep in the soothing sunlight of a 50 degree day, I was asked to come around into the surgical area if I wished to watch the procedure! Stunning! Techs, the doc, and people wating for their pets to wake are walking in and out of the surgery and recovery like it was someone’s living room! They even ask if you’d like tea of coffee while you wait.
Luckily, I was able to watch without falling into a dead faint, which you’d think I would knowing how I hate stuff like this.
But the doc was very kind and even had me pushing the button for the xrays when the tech had left the room to attend to another patient.
She didn’t have him under very much gas, she would take the mask away and he’d start stirring, then she’d put it back on and tell him to go “sleepy-bye” for another few minutes while she took more and more films. I swear we used up all their small animal plates today, she had a heck of a time getting them in to fit so she could see his teeth.
She also used a digital camera with his mouth winched open with tong-like apparatuses that looked extremely painful. At first I was angry because she seemed to be so rough with him I was afraid she’d break his neck the way she moved his head. I’ll have to use my hub’s DSL connection to view those dental vids, I need to know if this was normal. It was all I could do to control my temper at first. But I could see she was determined to find the cause of his problems, so I just watched in awed silence, unable to look away.
Anyway, although she thought she saw a small ‘shadow’ on his left sinus, she really couldn’t get in well enough to be certain, but she did trim some more spurs off the molars and cleaned out a lot of hay residue to see if anything was amiss. No pockets, no signs of whatever it was my other vet had seen on her films. I was still being urged this morning to do an MRI/CAT scan, but I can’t manage another $1000 for another stressful procedure for him. As long as she doesn’t find anything terminal on further review, I think we are pretty much done for now.
My poor bun, he’s had a rough day. I gave him some metacam, since shoving the films into his mouth caused some swelling on his rear gums and he must have a stiff neck from all the pushing and pulling. But the doc pronounced him healthy. So unless it’s some kind of allergy or irritant, I am now back to square one.
He ate some banana slices and some sweet baby lettuce upon coming home, and he drinks a little from his bottle, which is surprising since he only drank from a crock for a few days when my other doc trimmed him back in January. He was still boogery when I got him home, but I’m thinking it’s from the gas as it hasn’t continued this evening. I just checked on him and his jaw was moving, chewing something, so I tested it with a dried dandelion flower…it got sucked up immediately.
He recognized my voice in recovery. His litle ears perked up and his eye brightened. That absolutely made my day right there.
Mimzy says thank you all for all your good wishes and prayers for his successful appointment today. No extractions, no signs of anything serious. I’d call that a win.