So as most of you know, we stuck around Dallas yesterday to be able to see a doggy dentist. Beignet’s veterinary opthalmologist, Dr. Warren, highly recommended, Dr. Sunny Ruth at Victory Bark veterinary clinic in Dallas, Texas. We were so thankful Dr. Ruth was able to fit us in for a 5pm appointment while we were already in the Dallas area. Dr. Ruth confirmed what Dr. Brad’s told us since Beignet was diagnosed with diabetes – she has 2 fractured molars. The right side is worse with a little bit of root exposed. Despite Beignet having severe eye swelling of only her right eye, it is not related to to the fractured tooth. If that tooth were to be absessed, it would end up causing the eye on that side as well as the cheek to swell and occasionally cause a drainage tract of pus from around the eye. Yuck!
Beignet’s tooth is definitely at higher risk to absess. Dachshunds have notoriously bad dentition. Dr. Ruth said it is really impressive for a dachshund of Bennie’s age that her teeth (besides the fractures) look so great! She told me to keep up our at home regimen. I’ll post the products we use at the end of the post for anyone who’s interested. I do personally scale Bennie’s teeth every few months since anesthesia for a dental is so risky for her. Although with an uncooperative dog, scaling could be dangerous and this certainly isn’t advised to be done at home for every dog.
So what’s the plan for the fractures? Dr. Ruth said if it was her own dog with Beignet’s history, she would not do any repairs or extractions. So she agrees we should just do watchful waiting. She will be happy to help if anything changes. I avoided going into detail on all my anesthesia concerns and let her come up with her own plan. I always appreciate a vet who does whats right for the dog and not whats best for their bank account. We already have that with our personal vet, but its nice to see a specialist with that seem mentality. Hopefully since this tooth hasn’t caused issues for the last 20 months – we will keep that tract record.
As far as what’s causing the severe swelling – the consensus is its likely an unknown allergen. My hope is it never happens again in which case I will be fine not knowing what caused it. Allergy testing isn’t overly accurate in dogs and it would likely end up with us on a wild goose chase trying to find an answer that we might not ever be able to confirm. The best news of all is that she doesn’t have a tumor in her orbital area based off of her physical exam findings with Dr. Warren yesterday.
Thanks so much to everyone who’s messaged me to check on Beignet! We will continue to share her story in hopes she can help other pets!
Sincerely,
Devoted Doxie Mom
Diary of a Diabetic Dachshund 