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old dog Pomeranian bad breadth, halitosis, pet health and welfare educational for animal lovers,
excerpts from The
Glamorous Vets, Singapore, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet.
Last Updated: 13 January, 2002 It's Now or Never Nurse Ann was now used to the characteristic stench of decomposing bacteria in halitosis. The bad breath of the old but handsome Pom wafted up from the consultation table. It was on antibiotics for the past ten days and the bad breadth had disappeared. Today, the halitosis was real bad. Most probably the medication was not given regularly. It was recommended that the dog should not be given food and water twelve hours before general anaesthesia to prevent vomitus from getting into the lungs during anaesthesia. Could the Owner live with its bad breadth for another week? Sunday was a busy day for such operations which would take a long time. The Owner might not be free and there would be a long delay as Chinese New Year was next week. It was now or never. A tranquiliser was given. The dog vomited its feed. Careful general anesthesia gas was given. Would the dog die on the operating table. It looked strong. Its heart was beating normally. Over fifteen teeth including the 3-root molars were extracted. It took a long time, maybe forty minutes. The decayed molars would not give up so easily but it was not that difficult. "How's the dog going to eat with so many teeth extracted?" the Owner asked. "It was not able to bite anyway as it had too many decayed teeth." I said. "It might have retained its teeth if it had regular or yearly dental check up or scaling after five years of age." At least this old dog survived the anaesthesia and would be expected to live for a few more years. The other alternative was death by lethal injection and that would be a cruel thing to do. It is always best to starve the dog before anaesthesia and to go for dental operations by appointment and when there is no bad breadth. I would prefer not to operate on a Sunday as it would be a busy day or on a dog that had not been starved. This case was an exception as "it was now or never" as the bacteria could accumulate and produced more toxins that would kill off this heart breaker in Singapore.
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