Oscar and I have been in VT for the last 5 days (work). While this is usually Oscar's favorite place ever and he can't sit still from the excitement, on night 2, he didn't sleep well and kept getting up, swallowing, licking his lips, generally looking uncomfortable. The next day he just seemed "off", mopey, slow, more unusual swallowing/licking here and there. After his episode with pre-bloat this summer (and related indigestion), I was concerned he might be having heart burn of sorts... I called the vet hospital in Boston that saw him through that previous treatment, and they said it would be fine to give him over the counter antacids. I started that the next day and switched him to a bland diet of small meals 3 times a day. It seemed to create a little improvement, but today - day 4 of whatever is going on - he's not looking so hot, and I've discovered a few other symptoms:

1. He only picked through his breakfast today and seems to have only fleeting interest in food (SOOOO not like him)

2. Appetite issues caused me to think he may have nausea OR tooth pain, so I looked in his mouth - to my surprise he actually had blood at the gumline of the rear molar directly behind the molar that had the root canal done on it a few years ago. I tried to look as closely as possible and wipe it clean, but I just can't see what the source of the little blood is - tooth does not appear broken (that I could tell through a lot of saliva and half clenched jaws), and he hasn't eaten anything crunchy in days. Concerning is that when I got real close, I smelled tooth decay... this is new - I check his mouth frequently and this is not normal.

3. While fussing with his head, I noticed swollen lymph nodes - don't know what a "little" compared to a "lot" of swelling is in a dog his size, but they're about golf ball size, both of them.

If there's an infection in his teeth, I know that could easily cause the glands in his neck to swell - and make eating uncomfortable.

I guess my question is this: we planned to leave for home first thing monday/tomorrow morning, and this morning I made an appointment at our vet promptly for 11:40am (made the apt before I noticed the tooth and gland issues) - would I gain anything by rushing to the local e-vet (hour away) TONIGHT, or do you think the poor beast can wait less than 24 hours or so for our apt back home? I certainly don't want him in discomfort any longer than necessary, and DON'T want the possibility of escalation in possible infection/illness... but I'd much rather see our home vet, who has his med history (and is also darn good).

Oscar is currently sprawled in front of the woodstove - his favorite spot - once in a while he starts breathing a tad faster and louder than normal, but he's relatively alert, he just looks bummed out every time he gets up to see what we're up to.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated,
~Natalya

Oh Natalya, my heart goes out to you and Oscar! Do you think the evet would automatically say "bring him in" if you called and explained the situation? Do you have your own vet's home phone number / relationship where you could call him/her at home? The decaying odor in the mouth worries me... as do the swollen glands, but I have no idea as to whether this could quickly escalate. My gut... I wouldn't risk that dear boy.

Oh gosh. It sounds like a rapidly advancing infection to me. Can you call your vet's covering vet and ask whether you can wait until morning? I am pretty sure I would have to talk to someone today. Can you take his temp meanwhile?

Golf ball lymph nodes sounds like "very swollen" to me.

Also, maybe Dr. Betty will see this. I will PM her.


eta: I just did.

Still, I would be trying to reach my vet or my vet's substitute.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (11/07/2010 02:29 PM)
Edit reason: eta

The e-vet here is an after-normal-hours hospital that's open all night. If I need to, I can just head on over. I haven't called either vet to ask their opinion because A. I feel like I always over react anyway, and B. e-vets generally tell you to come on in out of precaution... I'm a huge fan of precaution, and if we were home, I'd be at the vet by now, but since we're out in the VT boonies, I want to make sure there's really a good reason for hours of immediate driving - we're really talking about less than a days wait... but I have no experience with swollen glands - and as far as tooth decay, I KNOW it's not pleasant, but it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that demands the same urgency as something like bloat... that's my impression anyway.

He is my best boy though... thank you for the good wishes.

~Natalya

 Quote: connie sutherland

Oh gosh. It sounds like a rapidly advancing infection to me. Can you call your vet's covering vet and ask whether you can wait until morning? I am pretty sure I would have to talk to someone today. Can you take his temp meanwhile?

Golf ball lymph nodes sounds like "very swollen" to me.

Eeek... I'm on it.

-N

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Also, maybe Dr. Betty will see this. I will PM her.

That'll make two... I emailed her right before I did you.

We all love Oscar.

 Quote: Barbara Schuler

We all love Oscar.

He loves you too!
I get picked on all the time for overreacting, but it sounds like that might be in order right now. Both MA vet and VT vet advised bringing him in, mostly because of the rather severe 'worst case scenario' when it comes to lymph node swelling... I'm putting putting that out of my mind and just hoping he has a bad toothache or doggie flu...

We're off... will check in when I know more.
Thanks guys, I wish I could give hugs through the interwebs...

~N

I sure hope Oscar is back to his normal handsome self, very soon, Natalya

Sorry, Oscar & Natalya!

I'm always of the mindset of if there is any question in my mind about taking Turbo in, I go.

We will keep all paws crossed Natalya and will anxiously await an update on his simple tooth ache to which we all over-reacted. Sending healing thoughts your way.