I have a 13 y/o American Eskimo, last year I had taken him to whom I trusted, she did complete blood work on my dog and we talked about removing his carnassial tooth.
She also advised that additional teeth may need to be extracted but wouldn’t know until he was sedated and x-rays taken the day of the extractions.
We had an ekg and sonogram done and claimed his heart was enlarged by double, but his white bcc was low by a point and had me take him in a week later after being on clindamycin. We went back did the blood work and she listed to his heart and claimed he had a stage 3 heart murmur.
I had to take him for blood work again two weeks later and we were a go, now, I felt the blood work was a bit much considering he had an infection and it was normal for his white blood cell count to be down a bit. This wasn’t explained to me prior to all the blood work so close together.
He had his teeth extracted and cleaned and did very well, she claimed she had to pull 12 teeth and one wasn’t the carnassial,. I took for his follow ups and he was fine. However, 6 months later he developed an infection on the other side of his upper mouth and she wanted to extract it right away and redo all the tests.
I had her do the blood work and it was the same problem with the white blood cell and again, we did the test 3 times over a 3 week period then had the ultrasound done. However, I had him on antibiotic and the abscess was gone and I took him for a second opinion and a third, I was told in short they raped my wallet with so many blood tests at $240.00 a pop and the echo for $800.00 twice.
I was also told, he had an infection just as we get and didn’t need any pulling. Now the shocking part, When all 3 completely non-affiliated vets looked at all the records, they counted 4 teeth pulled and not 12.
Needless to say I left the veterinarian never to return. I had lost trust.
He recently, after 1 year, developed another infection in his back tooth and took him to another veterinarian and she advised it was an infection and didn’t need pulling but did need a cleaning.
That I will do next month, she also said she does the blood work the same-day and the heart echo as well, does this sound right to you?
Lastly, He has developed a problem with his hind legs and when I rub his back “spine” I hear snapping and cracks and moves unlike I’ve ever felt, He runs in the park but won’t walk up steps because it must hurt him, so I built steps around my home for him. I mentioned that to the new vet and felt it was dismissed.
I’ve owned him since he was 9 weeks old and is my life and I would do anything for him, Can you please give me your opinion on the above and what to look for in a veterinarian that can help him, I went through word of mouth with the last and was not thrilled. I want my boy to last another 10 years God willing.
Please help.
Holy cow!!!! You’ve been through a lot with your baby! A few thoughts about the above: Loose teeth need to be pulled. Sometimes, it takes x-rays to see some not so loose teeth that need to come out. The carnassial tooth is a bear to extract as it has 3 roots – it’s the giant chomper, slicer tooth on the side for those who don’t know which tooth it is. All that bloodwork just proves that your dog has a weak immune system, as evidenced by the repeated mouth infections he’s getting and constantly low white blood cell count. Clindamycin is a heavy duty antibiotic that goes into abscesses and tooth root infections (bone too) pretty well. But, you had quite the bad experience!
Now, let’s talk about the crunching sounds in your baby’s back – have you considered chiropractic? Works great to restore motion, improve strength and get your boy coming back up the stairs. So, your bottom line question – how to find a vet that will address the whole picture of your four-legged child with a weakened immune system, a predisposition to oral infection and a stiff back? I don’t know where you live but a great resource is AHVMA.org. They have a search for a vet option. You can find a vet in your state who does chiropractic (spinal manipulation) – this will address the creaking, cracking sounds and stiffness in the back end. Hopefully, this vet will also practice a combination of other modalities and will be able to guide you to fix the overall healthy picture so you can have 10 more years of quality. What I find is that vets who pursue alternative training have a wonderful warmth for pets that you don’t always find other places – they have more of a need to ask “why” and get to the underlying issues, not just treat symptoms. You deserve it!