Today, our little 8# Chihuahua, Jessie... had to have her teeth cleaned and 11 teeth pulled. Two days ago, she began not eating and acting afraid of the food bowl. I tried to get her in sooner, but they had no openings. By late yesterday, she was even afraid to go into the room where her food is kept.... associating the entire area with pain.
We took her to the Casa Grande Animal Hospital... a very typical assembly line impersonal clinic. The receptionist doesn't even look up when you enter the crowded waiting room. After $500.00, we didn't even see a doctor and they didn't even acknowledge me as being in the medical profession.. let alone a veterinarian. They almost wouldn't let us in because we refused vaccinations, which was written all over our chart with a big !!!. I didn't even know that clinics even gave vaccinations on the same day as an anesthetic procedure. Very archaic. The pitiful part is that these clinics actually believe they are practicing "quality medicine". The whole thing brought back bad memories of when I was stuck working in a similar clinic.
The good part is that little Jessie will be out of pain in a couple of days and hopefully will start eating again. After three days of not eating, she is looking very emaciated. We are going to keep her few remaining teeth as clean as possible so we never have to do that again.
On the way home, Jasmine was carrying Jessie's dental bag and toothbrush. She took the toothbrush out and started brushing her teeth in the car. YUK. I'm pretty sure that brush had not been used on Jessie or any dog.
The photo is of Jessie recovering from anesthetic in our living room. Poor doggie.
