Wednesday was a really busy day which began with driving my little dog Bo up to Apple Hill Animal Hospital for some dental work. We’ve been going there, even though it takes nearly a half an hour to drive up to Broadview Heights, since 1987 when we bought our first poodle from Dr. Burge who owns the place. At that time his was the only business in that area and he was the only vet working there. Now, I think there is no space left to build anything on and there are two, or possibly three, other vets working with him.
At any rate, I thought this was a visit to perhaps pull a loose tooth the groomer had noticed in his lower jaw and do a cleaning. So I was a bit shocked when the vet picked him up and said, “Wow, that’s quite a heart murmur”. Last May when his vaccinations were done they had mentioned that he had a small murmur, but nothing serious. But it seemed to have become much worse, though not really threatening. And when Dr. G. looked in his mouth she thought he might have to loose eight teeth. I was shocked. And since he had the heart murmur they wanted to do an EKG first to make sure he could handle the anesthetic. Well, it turned out that he could but when they called me later with the results he needed to have nineteen teeth removed! I could not believe it was so bad when we had not been aware of it. But the vet said that there was a good chance it had all happened in the last month or so, starting from a sinus infection and spreading through his mouth. She said that poodles, greyhounds and collies have more problems with their teeth than other breeds because of the shape of the muzzle. He has lots of meds at the moment, but is wonderful about taking them in a piece of cheese, and he seems to have his normal amount of energy. He’s twelve years old now which makes him older than I am, I believe, though I know the old rule of every dog year is seven human years is no longer considered accurate.
I hope he recovers well and goes on to live many more years. He is a very sweet dog, and a definite and much loved part of our family. Paul used to walk him all the time and would tell me that he could tell all his troubles to Bo and feel better afterwards.
There was a bit of sticker shock associated with this too…..I knew it would be expensive, but it ended up being more than $800.00.
Sometimes people ask me about his name. Andy named him after the dog who in Hungarian children’s books fills a sort of Lassie role. Bogancs means “thistle” and there was also a movie made about the book, a movie friends took us to see during our 1992 year in Budapest. Andy was in the fourth grade and loved the movie.
The picture above is a cover of the novel. Bo is doing very well and in about a week should be able to eat his regular dry dog food again. We’ll see about that! At the moment he is eating a special soft canned dog food from the vet. And today, when Alice was over and Andy cooked delicious filet mignon for us for lunch (even though he is a vegetarian he knows just how to do this perfectly), Bo had some soft inside bites from that. He has a good life!
I am so sorry to hear this. I have such a heart for our dear friends who cannot speak. Sending hugs to BO and hoping things go well for you.
Thank you, Susan! Bo thanks you too…..He’s really doing remarkably well for what he went through.
Poor Bo indeed! Though he certainly looks bright eyed and happy. Pets do cost a lot of money. Molly never went to the Vet for less than $300 and she went several times a year.
Ah, what a beautiful friend you have there! I too, once had a poodle, with a weak heart, and he too had to have several teeth removed – and for the last years of his life he was blind too.
Give him a big hug from me – I’m afraid my darling Åskar won’t send any hugs though!
I do hope that you are doing well, I’ve intended to mail you for so long, but my energy run low, long before every day is over.
Margaretha
So sorry for all Bo (and you) had to go through. And the vet bill! But, it’s amazing how well animals do just gumming their food! We had an old cat that had hardly any teeth, but that didn’t stop him from constantly stuffing his face. (We, however, never served him fillet mignon. Obviously not as classy as Bo… or Andy.)
I like that last photo, it looks as if Bo is saying, “Are you doing a post about me?” What a sweet, sweet dog.