Pumpkin rescued / Needed surgery

We rescued Pumpkin from being euthanized Friday after her owner passed away and no one wanted her. She was then brought in to a clinic and asked to be disposed of. We could not let that happen, we is a sweetheart and still has a whole life of love to offer. We took a peek in her mouth upon deciding to rescue her and notice her teeth were pretty full of gunk. So we decided to do a dental, we would not be able to adopt her out with a mouth like that knowing it is a matter of time before she needs the surgery or gets sick from the bacteria build up in her mouth. Little did we know once getting in there how bad it actually was. Her mouth has been literally rotting, we are surprised she was even able to eat with the amount of pain she must have been in.

The vet was in surgery with her for hours; she had to have several teeth removed.. apparently there is not much left in there. She had two huge abscesses behind her teeth, which means those teeth had to be pulled out. Along with many others that were already on their way out. The bacteria / gunk build up on her teeth are what cause the infections and abscesses. The bacteria build up also irritates the gums, so the gums get inflamed trying to fight off the bacteria, eventually realize it's a loosing battle, and then recede to the point where the teeth fall out or are close to. If we had not gone into surgery and cleaned her mouth out.. it would have been only a matter of time (probably just weeks) before the bacteria build up entered her blood system and started shutting down organs like her kidneys.

Thankfully now her mouth is all cleared up, probably very sore today but should feel much better by next week. Because of the condition of her mouth we also had to give her antibiotics. To save the foster home the trouble we chose the ($$$) kind that is one injection and last 2 weeks. Not to mention she probably would not want anyone playing in there to pill her considering how sore her mouth is.

Pumpkin is now for adoption with a new smile (missing a few teeth), she is also spayed, de-clawed (done by original owners), vaccinated, de-wormed, and FIV/FeLV tested negative.

- We also owe a huge thank you to Dr. O'Brien from The Poirier O'Brien Veterinary Clinic for doing Pumpkin's marathon of a dental. She is also Eleven Eleven's number one recommended veterinarian in Montreal.

****Moral of this story - take good care of your pets teeth and mouth, maybe take this opportunity to take a look in your pets mouth today and see if it might be time for a clean up for them as well.. before it is too late.