I got to be a doggie dental assistant today for the first time in close to fifty years. It was a lot of fun, and I get to do it again in two weeks!

This morning at about 10:30 (2.5 hours after Cindy and I walked her dogs, as usual), Doctor Cristina returned to my abode to give Charli her booster shots  for rabies, FELV and Rhinotracheitis-Panleukopenia and Calicivirus. Before she got here, I put Charli into her harness and attached a lanyard to it. I also gave her a calming treat about  an hour ahead of the scheduled visit so she would be as calm as possible when the vet arrived.

That worked out great

…because we had Charli boosted in  no time flat.

Dr. Cristina checked Charli’s mouth to see how her teeth and gums were doing, too, and said Charli still has a little bit of infection in the gums where the tartar was so thick a couple weeks ago, so she gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I can crush a half tablet and put it in a Churro or other soft treat to be sure she takes the six doses that she needs to have.

Dr. Cristina also gave me a prescription for an antacid of some kind for Charli’s stomach because she says that some cats have a kind of stomach acid that can cause gums to be/remain inflamed. She says Charli may be a victim of that, but wants to try to see if these two prescriptions clear it up.

Cats with the offending stomach acid sometimes need to have all their teeth pulled to keep their gums healthy, but she doesn’t think this is (necessarily) the issue with Charli. This regimen should help determine that.

(Cats can get along fine toothless but we don’t want to be pulling her teeth unless we have to!)

As soon as we finished with Charli

…she forgave us immediately. She didn’t race off and hide the second I took off her harness and let her get down. She simply jumped casually to the floor and walked off as if nothing at all had happened to her. She didn’t even feel the needles go in, so she had no reason to run off, other than to get away from the “intruder” (the vet), and she didn’t seem at all inclined to do that, either. She was very ho hum about it.

Those calming treats work pretty well, it seems! It also helps that Dr. Cristina LOVES Charli and treats her like an equal rather than like a patient.  Letting cats feel in charge really helps them cope!

When we finished with Charli, I knew the vet’s next patient was one of Cindy’s dogs (Ivy, a teenager).  Dr. Cristina didn’t remember exactly where Cindy’s place was, so I volunteered to ride down with her to direct her in.

When we got to Cindy’s gate

…I was going to walk back up the hill and return home, but Dr. Cristina asked if I could stay and help since she wasn’t sure Cindy would be able to assist. (Cindy has an intense fear of needles, so helping hold Ivy while a needle was put into her leg and secured there would have been a deal breaker. She needed to leave the patio when we did that.)

I responded, “Sure! You bet!”

So, we carried everything in. Dr. Cristina set everything up while Cindy’s dogs milled around, wondering what was up.  Ivy was particularly interested, which was fascinating to me, since she was about to become the patient and didn’t know it (unless she happens to be able to read minds, and if she is, she would probably have gone somewhere to hide)!

I filled the reservoir with water that would be used during the teeth cleaning (twice) and brought a cup of water for the vet to drink, too.

When everything was ready to go, Ivy was lifted to the table. I held her head away from  Dr. Cristina’s face while she put a port catheter in a front leg, secured it with tape, and gave Ivy a sedative through it, just enough to make her groggy and lay down.

Since Ivy is an old dog, she didn’t want to risk over-sedating her, so Dr. Cristina kept a little more sedative aside so she could add to the sedation if Ivy started to come out of it more than she wanted her to. It worked out perfectly.

I was put in charge of the suction machine

The process took about 30 minutes. I didn’t think to take pictures (I was fully occupied with my responsibilities, suctioning Ivy’s mouth and lips and monitoring her tongue color and heartbeats!) but Cindy did, fortunately… so here you go!

Following the procedure, Dr, Cristina and I carried Ivy (on the blanket) to a spot on the patio where we could place her on the ground during the first part of her recovery period.  Dr. Cristina propped her head on a towel and balanced her on her sternum rather than on her side so she would stay semi awake while the sedative started to wear off. Had she put her on her side, she would probably have just gone to sleep and the sedative would have taken longer to work its way out.

By the time Dr. Cristina had everything boxed up and gathered, Ivy was licking and blinking, so she carried her into one of Cindy’s bedrooms (on the ground floor) and put her on a rug there with her head and body propped as before.  That way, Ivy would be able to start moving at some point without hurting herself during the “dizzy period” of her recovery.

Cindy wants the vet to return in two weeks to do dentistry on two more of her dogs, so I asked Dr. Cristina if she would have an aide for that or if I should come back to help then, too. She said, “Please do come back.”

So I will, happily! 

I love being useful!

Dr. Cristina drove me back home.

But before she did that, Cindy showed me another of her wonderful creations:

AMAZING! 

THE PATIENCE THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS TAKES ASTOUNDS ME!

Cindy and I will go into Grecia tomorrow to get the antibiotics that we need for our critter patients.