Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / March 2005

I've noticed over the last year that her right eye at times will get droopy.
I even had the vet check it because when it happens the inner lid seems to
curl up some but not over the eye.  They attributed it to her allergies
since it seems worse at times during the year.

Last week I noticed her eye getting droopy again and then realized when I
looked at her that the right side of her muzzle was droopy to.  I looked at
her muzzle closely because she was going to sleep and the lip was rolling
inside her mouth and she was biting it and had it all red and sore on the
inside.  Sort of like when a person bites their lip.  I looked it all over
it's red sore & swollen some but didn't seem infected.  I thought ok it's
the stress of Barney passing away and us getting a new pup.  She had been to
the vets the week before to get a heartworm check and labs drawn for
Rimadyl.  Everything that way was ok her heartworm was negative and kidney &
liver are fine.  I figure she goes back in 2 more weeks for more labs to
follow up and I'll keep and eye on her muzzle till then.

Now last night Mike notices that between her eye and ear seems to be sunken
in some and her eye looks glassy.  So we held her still while I checked in
her ear, no signs of infection, no smell of sorts then when I open her mouth
ewwwwwwwww big time stinky.  I looked at the muzzle again it's still red but
not as swollen and doesn't appear to hurt when I do it.  Her gums are pink,
she isn't throwing up and her stools have no blood in them so I don't think
this is from the Rimadyl but I didn't give her any tonight just as a
precaution.  As much as I tried I couldn't get her to open her mouth up
enough to really get a good look at her teeth.   I called the vets this
morning and they can't see her till tomorrow and today her surgery was
booked solid so they couldn't even slip her in.  I'm going to have them
repeat the labs tomorrow to check on her kidney and liver function again to
be positive this isn't from the Rimadyl before I give her any more.  Barney
took it for years for his arthritis without problems but then every dog is
different.

I've had dogs in the past who had bad teeth and  usually they wouldn't eat
and there would be swelling along with the smelly mouth.  This seems like it
could be a bad tooth but she is eating without hesitation and there is no
swelling of the face but she does seem tender under the eye.

I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks of it.  I just want to be sure
that I'm not missing anything here and that the vet doesn't miss anything
either.

Thanks
Celeste