Eva (our main cattledog) had a swollen face a couple weeks ago. I assumed she’d been bitten or stung by something and treated her accordingly. The Benadryl and Prednisone combo kicked in and the swelling subsided by dinnertime. Thought nothing more of it. A few days later her face was swollen again, in the exact same place.

A Roman nose does not suit her!

It was time to see Dr. Rick. He immediately found she had an abscessed tooth! Ouch! We scheduled her surgery for the next week and began antibiotics. My girl was still chewing her bones despite the pain she had to feel. Cattledogs are simply tough dogs.

Well… until they get scared about going to the vet…

Doing her best to hide under the chair.

Surgery day arrived. I have the utmost faith in our beloved Dr. Rick (Longwood Vet Clinic) but I actually had butterflies in my stomach as we waited. I was making my girl more nervous. My feelings reinforced how important this particular dog is.

The Cattledog stare. (She looks like a bobble-head!)

I made sure to completely scare the techs into believing Eva would rip the face off any dog that got too close. I didn’t want them letting their guard down where she could take advantage. I’ve had five years spent training this dog and know all her signals. I can block her behaviors before she even starts to think about them. A dog of her intensity can nip the face of another in the blink of an eye and leave everyone wondering what the heck happened! So I told them not to let another dog look at her, don’t let another dog pass by her, don’t put her next to another dog… or better, yet, how about we just keep her in the isolation room until her surgery time? 🙂

Vet tech, Kristy, keeps Eva out of trouble pre-surgery.

Dr. Rick & Kristy start her la-la-land cocktail.

Now she is off to sleep. Thud!

Breathing tube is inserted. Try that when she’s not asleep, Dr. Rick!

Yep, she’s feeling no pain.

X-rays are taken of the suspect tooth.

Root causing her problems. It’s gotta go.

Scaling the tooth.

Cutting the tooth. Good thing she’s asleep!

Elevating the roots.

Where’d that tooth go?!

There’s the culprit.

Once they were able to see completely inside her mouth they found another problem. She had a broken tooth on the other side of her mouth. That one had to come out, too. This one really should’ve been causing her pain.

Broken tooth on other side.

All done. Now just have to wake up…

Eva was his last procedure of the day so she wasn’t on the table until noon. He had me come pick her up at 1:30 since he trusts me to carefully watch them as they recover. She was walking on her own but pretty groggy!

Did you get the license of the truck that hit me?!

In my car is one of her favorite places. She’s been my co-pilot since she was 10 weeks old. She settled right in.

We going to work now? How ’bout we wait till tomorrow? 🙂

The afternoon was spent sleeping. Then more sleeping after a small meal of canned, soft food. She was back to her usual, intense, wonderful self the next day. We give all thanks and great love to Dr. Rick & his staff. They’re simply the best!