Tooth Removal: Any experiences? Also, antibiotic.

[mbc1963]

Buddy's been having dental issues for a few months now. The vet didn't see anything seriously wrong during the exam, but chewing dry food was seeming very uncomfortable off and on - all the signs of a bad tooth. So, Buddy had a dental today and they pulled the most likely culprit: a large rear molar with a big chip out of it, which could likely have been causing sensitivity.

 

Any good advice to help him get through the next few days as the tooth heals? Poor boy is still stoned. He is a little bit wall-eyed, and his right eye keeps kind of drifting outward, with the membrane covering it as if he's just too tired and sick to focus. He's wobbly on his feet, too. Pathetic.

 

They also put him on the antibiotic Clintabs, which seem to be a veterinary version of the Clindamycin I took in May, which made me incredibly ill. Honestly, it knocked my digestive system for a loop, and I'm still occasionally feeling the effects.

 

Has anyone had any experience with this antibiotic in dogs? Good? Bad?

 

Thanks!

[SoloRiver]

I think that's what they put Fly on after she had two teeth pulled in March. She handled it fine, but there's pretty much nothing that would put Fly off her food and she didn't seem to have any digestive effects.

 

Poor Buddy!

[Smokjbc]

Buddy's been having dental issues for a few months now. The vet didn't see anything seriously wrong during the exam, but chewing dry food was seeming very uncomfortable off and on - all the signs of a bad tooth. So, Buddy had a dental today and they pulled the most likely culprit: a large rear molar with a big chip out of it, which could likely have been causing sensitivity.

 

Any good advice to help him get through the next few days as the tooth heals? Poor boy is still stoned. He is a little bit wall-eyed, and his right eye keeps kind of drifting outward, with the membrane covering it as if he's just too tired and sick to focus. He's wobbly on his feet, too. Pathetic.

 

They also put him on the antibiotic Clintabs, which seem to be a veterinary version of the Clindamycin I took in May, which made me incredibly ill. Honestly, it knocked my digestive system for a loop, and I'm still occasionally feeling the effects.

 

Has anyone had any experience with this antibiotic in dogs? Good? Bad?

 

Thanks!

 

Usually they do pretty well after extractions. My Leary had two canines removed (stupid ex-boyfriend threw a golfball and she caught it) when the root was exposed and too uncomfortable for her to eat. She recovered within a few days with help from a good anti-inflammatory and antibiotics.

 

We get very few complaints about Clindimycin tabs or drops causing G.I upset so I wouldn't worry about it unless your dog does show the G.I effects. It is VERY important that you finish the antibiotics though, so if he has problems with it, call and ask for a different one.

 

Not a vet, just work for one.

[aljones]

Although I don't have experience with that particular antibiotic, Ody had two teeth extracted and some dead gum lasered off shortly after we got him. Poor guy also had two other procedures done while he was under (neutering and tumor removal from his hip). Oh, and he sliced his tongue snapping unexpectedly at the clippers the tech was using to shave the area around the tumor. In other words, he was one hot mess when I picked him up at the clinic.

 

Because he's a decade old and had all those procedures thrown at him at once, I thought it would take him a long time to act normally again. But I was happily surprised at how quickly Ody recovered. We did keep him crated a lot, as his balance isn't that great even on his good days, and basically let him rest in peace through the next few days.

 

I hope Buddy starts to act like himself soon so that you can both feel better!

[MaggieDog]

Maggie had a molar out just about 3 weeks ago and she's back to chewing things as normal already. We got clindamycin antibiotics, metacam for pain relief and anti-inflammatory, and she was on soft food for 3-5 days before going back to kibble. She's sooooooo much happier without that tooth and was trying to chew on things at a week post extraction (we waited 10 days to let her chew).

[KrisK]

Jazz had 5!! teeth removed about 2 months ago. He was on antibiotics for 7 days. He went right back to eating his kibble...no problems whatsoever. Mojo coming for Buddy!!

[sandra s.]

Kyla broke her right upper P4 this spring (not sure how, she'd had it for a while when I found it), and it had to come out. I was terrified and sure that something (everything?) would go wrong with the anesthetic (after seeing them fail so completely with everything they'd done with my mum's cancer), but it went very well.

They closed the wound with a laser. The vet, who's just taken over from my old one last winter, put something "homeopathic" on instead of antibiotics. No disrespect to believers but I'm not one. However, I do believe strongly in things healing by themselves, so I was willing to give it a try and it healed just fine. We just took it easy on sticks and tug games for a little while.

Now I need to scrub the lonely two opposing teeth that get no action anymore. Brushing a dog's teeth, indeed, with a little toothbrush from the Other Side of dog culture . She doesn't like it but I just do it anyway, she'll survive.

[sea4th]

My old rescue boy, Billy, had dental surgery about a month ago. Most of his teeth were removed, they were so bad. He was put on antibiotics right before and kept on them after surgery. Sorry, don't remember the name, but along with the antibiotics and tramadol, he came through it like a trooper. His food is soft. He loves to eat again, and has even put on some weight. He always cleans his bowl now and looks for more. That wasn't the case before. Nice to have the feisty, albeit toothless, little sh-t back!

[diane allen]

Wow - lots of extraction experience here; me too! (well, Lucy too....) Nothing in particular to add about that. But yes, Clindamycin (recently Rx for different issue) can affect appetite. I'm guessing you have it for a week or 10 days - not so long that ANYTHING Buddy will eat will be fine for that time - soft, of course. One of Lucy's favorites is scrambled egg. I also cooked chicken and put it through the food processor - kinda like shredded, only even finer. I added a bit of canned pumpkin also, for the fiber and also because she had a bit of diarrhea.

 

I would also suggested giving probiotics during this time - you can use a specially-formulated pet variety, or the human variety found in most natural/health food stores. Just be sure it has a variety of things in it (not just one species...). Give it at a different time of day than the antiobiotics. Since the latter usually go best with food, I was giving Lucy a very small "lunch" (or you could do it just before bedtime, or as long as possible away from regular feeding time), of egg and cottage cheese, and sprinkling/stirring the probiotics into it.

 

Hope everything heals up fast and well!

 

diane

[mbc1963]

Thanks for the advice, y'all! I can't believe some of your dogs had that many teeth extracted at once. Poor wee things!

 

Buddy is much better today - apparently it wasn't the tooth extraction that was bugging him yesterday so much as the anesthesia. He was just lying in bed, whining - he knew he wasn't right, and didn't know what to do. So pathetic! This morning he woke up clear-headed and anxious to take his walk, and starving. I cooked some chicken and rice, just because it's what he always gets when he's sick at all, and I figured all the meds and whatnot couldn't help his stomach.

 

I just wish I knew I had pulled the correct tooth. The one that had the big chip out of it was on the side that I think Buddy was using - he was avoiding the other side, it seemed to me. All the teeth looked fine and healthy, according to the vet, and there was no sign of any trouble on the X-ray, so we were pretty much just guessing it was the chip leading to hypersensitivity.

 

Mary