Buh-bye to the baby teeth

Friday was a stressful day, although it applied mostly to me I think. Theo had an important appointment with the veterinarian to have his last two baby teeth removed. I'm aware that some people might look upon us as "bad dog owners" for not having all his teeth pulled at the age of 4 months, but I'm still trusting that nature has its ways and that animals would survive perfectly well without constant human interference. I'm not a very big fan of sedating animals without having a really good reason, so I decided to wait as long as possible to see if his last two teeth would fall out by themselves. We've kept a close eye on his teeth and bite to avoid doing any damage.

Theo was thoroughly checked by the vet, and there was nothing wrong with his teeth even though we hadn't gone all hysterical over his two remaining baby teeth. He was also micro chipped, and everything else was all good. The vet had one remark, and that was concerning Theo's tail. He took an x-ray and found that one of his vertebral discs had not developed normally. It was much smaller than the others, and kind of triangular shaped. This abnormality causes his tail to have a little bend about five centimeters from the base, preventing it to settle all the way over his back like it should. We were told it would be best to avoid breeding Theo, since he's born with the "flaw" and this might be a genetic problem - there's no way of knowing for certain. I don't know what this condition is called, or if it even has a name, but as long as Theo's not troubled by it I don't really care.

June 27th, 2010 - shot with an iPhone 3GS

I was very uncomfortable leaving Theo at the vets, but when Øyvind was able to sit with him until he was fully sedated I felt a little better. I know from my experience having grown up with all kinds of smaller animals around me that they don't always do well with anesthetics, and it's heartbreaking to see them laying there all helpless while sedated. When they were safely back home Theo spent several hours in his carrier, snarling every time we came too close. I guess he felt extremely vulnerable. I told Øyvind to ask the vet if there was something in particular we had to pay attention to while he was coming to himself - I remember the vet instructing me to keep the cats warm at all times while coming out of the anasthetics, but he was told to just leave him alone until he was awake enough to come to us by himself. So he just lay in his carrier, moving around a little, trying to hold his head up. When he was a little more awake he tried to walk across the floor, looking like a drunkard, and he was clearly cold. I felt so sorry for him that I decided to keep him on my lap for a while, and after a good ten minutes he stopped shivering and fell back asleep in my arms. It took a few more hours more before he was fully back to being his old self again, but then he ate, drank and played with his toys as usual.

All-in-all everything went well, but I hope we don't have to anesthetize him again anytime soon. His baby teeth are gone, he's got a nice bite, he's healthy, and his tail isn't bothering him. Thank you so much to Strinda Smådyrklinikk, for making the experience as pleasant as possible. The next thing on our agenda is the NKK Dog Show next weekend, where we'll be attending for the very first time. Please wish us luck!