A Pain in the Mouth

When Argus was a puppy he liked to chew on rocks (he now enjoys demolishing our wood pile). This habit led to him breaking his lower canine. At the time, my husband was told he could take a wait and see approach; and hopefully Argus would have no problems with the broken tooth. Alas…it’s been seven years and that tooth has finally decided to give Argus grief.  About two weeks ago, we noticed our boy was just not himself, and then we saw that his face looked weirdly lopsided. Argus had developed an abcess.

Monday he went in for a dental procedure to extract the dead canine and clean up the abcess. Because he is a Golden Retriever, he was happy to go to the vet (afterall, there are many hands there to pet him and sometimes he even gets a cookie). Later in the day, when Kip went to pick him up, he was most eager to leave. He was a bit woozy and confused last night (although confusion for Argus is generally the norm). Today, he is a bit put out by the way his tongue slides out the side of his mouth, unhibited by his missing canine. He keeps slurping and pulling his tongue back inside, then looks at me as though it is my fault (which is partially correct given it was my American Express card which paid for the surgery).

The upside to all of this? The vet says Argus must eat only soft food for a week. So Kip went out and purchased top of the line, 100% organic, canned dog food that smells better than what we eat each night. Oh, and handmade soft treats made with real meat that smells like meatloaf (I’m tempted to try one). Argus is very happy about all of this. I don’t want to tell him that in six days he’ll be back eating kibble again.