Defanging and X-raying the Moo

I noticed a cracked tooth in Molly's bottom jaw a few weeks ago and groaned.  When Ein had his carnassials broken, they were not like this.   The tooth was slab fractured diagonally as well as a small crack in another direction.  It was also starting to turn grey and I was worried that it would break off and become very painful.  At times the tooth would bleed out of the crack.  

I took Molly for her "pre operative" exam and bloodwork last week, and yesterday was the big day.  I requested hip x-rays for Molly while she was sedated, just because I am curious and it is good to know these things.

Everything went great with the extraction of course.  Molly was discharged to me in an exam room and as soon as she saw me she let out a delusional shriek and then would not stop crying!  She whined, chattered and stared into space.  Molly had a similar recovery from anesthesia several years ago when her mouth was injured with a stick.   Clinginess, crying...total pathetic behavior!

The vet and I went over the x-rays while Molly sang miserable chattering pitbull songs.  Molly is not dysplastic, but she is showing some arthritic changes.  I have had Molly on glucosamine chondroitin for about a year now, but the vet recommended moving to Dasuquin.  Ein takes Dasuquin regularly with wonderful results, so I am happy to do so.   She also recommended some cold laser therapy, another thing that Ein has benefited tremendously from.  I am going to need to make an effort to get Ein and Molly both to somebody for cold laser treatments at least one time per month!  The only other thing was that the vet pointed out a calcification on Molly's left knee, evidence of a past strain.  Molly's knees felt good on manipulation currently, though.

I feel like this was all good information for me to have, even though I'm not really sure how that bad 10,000 mph brindle puppy will be six years old next Friday and has arthritis starting in her hips!   But what can I expect from a hard hitting girl like Molly.  She's in great shape, has amazing muscling in her rear, and will respond well to Dasuquin I'm sure.

Molly is enjoying her vet recommended wet foot diet (so that her gums can heal).   At this point, 24 hours post op, Molly is back to her normal food hound annoying self.  I will cut the Tramadol down to half the dose tomorrow morning and see how she feels with that.   Her mouth looked sore and angry this morning, but this evening it has really calmed down and looks great.