Friday, November 30, 2018

How Do You Spell Relief?

Do you remember the old Rolaids television commercial? Well, this morning, I spell ‘relief’ T-U-C-K-E-R, the same way I spell ‘worry’.

Wednesday night I checked Tucker’s mouth, to see if how it looked during its healing process. What I observed was this.


I thought the tiny white object was a fragment of tooth. It was not fixed in place; it moved but seemed attached to a bit of dark grey matter. I was afraid that the surgery had not been complete and that a bit of tooth had been left behind. I sent the photograph above to Tucker’s doctor, and Thursday morning made an appointment at the veterinary hospital. I was able to bring the roly poly to his doctor late that afternoon.

The examination relieved my concerns. The little white object was gone; there were other bits of light grey, which were food. The sutures that sewed up Tucker’s gums are extant and of course are catching tiny morsels. Some of these were cleaned out during the visit. An inspection of the mouth revealed no remaining portions of teeth.

(As an aside, the doctor who performed the surgery was not Tucker’s regular doctor, whom I would have preferred for obvious reasons. But I thought it better to have the operation completed as soon as possible - in light of Tucker’s diminishing eating capability - rather than waiting several more days for an available time with the usual veterinary. The doctor who examined Tucker yesterday was his regular.)

Though nothing alarming was found, it was good that my sausage-cat had a check-up following the operation. His mouth is healing, but not quickly. There is infection, for which more anti-biotic was prescribed. His heart and temperature are healthy. My principal worry is, of course, his greatly decreased consumption of food, but only time will remedy that.

Last night, Tucker wanted to eat from the regular hard-food bowl. He waited while Renn had a turn, and then Raleigh. My roly poly sniffed at it, but couldn’t bring himself to have any kernels. The memory of them hurting his mouth is too recent. But he did eat some diabetic hard-food I provided him. He is receiving nutrition and, though not enough to keep him from losing weight, it will sustain him until his life regains its equilibrium.

For now, I will simply be glad of my spelling lesson, and hope that Tucker’s r-e-l-i-e-f soon becomes h-a-p-p-i-n-e-s-s.

8 comments:

  1. Tucker's certainly had a hard go of it. I hope the antibiotics clear up his infection quickly. If you have FortiFlora, that will help with any issues of diarrhea caused by the meds, or should. The boys are sending him their healing purrs. ♥

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  2. I'm so glad you took Tucker to be re-checked. Diabetics tend to heal slowly and they are prone to infection. But thanks to the excellent care you give your cats, Tucker's infection was promptly recognized and treated. Once the infection clears, I'm sure Tucker's appetite will improve.

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  3. I am glad your mind has been put at ease and that Tucker has had a check up. Once the infection is gone he will hopefully heal much better.

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  4. Aww Tucker, we are glad that there were no complications and you hope you feel like eating over the weekend.

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  5. Oh Tucker....lots of love to you. Get completely better darling boy.

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  6. That must have been frightening! Poor Tucker baby, but here's hoping that the new round of meds will put paid to it all!

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  7. Poor Tucker - he is certainly going through quite an ordeal. I hope the infection is cleared up soon. But it is good to hear he is on track to getting better.

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  8. That would have caused me some panic as well. Glad the check-up went reasonably well and hopefully the infection is cleared up very soon.

    The kitties send their continued purrs.
    Eileen

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