Big Update on Gunther’s Health!

This is a HUGE update for us!

This update actually starts about eight weeks ago.

Gunther was acting off, something we generally call ADR, Ain’t Doin’ Right. I was at first suspicious of a foreign body, because it’s Gunther. However, X-rays showed a normal gut.

This started us down the road of diagnostics. Over the last 8 weeks or so Gunther has been doing so poorly I thought we were looking for cancer. We (his veterinary team and I ) had been unable to find anything wrong with him.

Then, the first week of December, during a follow up exam, a doctor found a broken tooth. Both a groomer and I had had our hands in his mouth a few days before and we were confident that the tooth had not been in that shape. But in those few days he managed to break it seriously.

Today: Monday, December 11th, Gunther had oral surgery to extract the broken tooth. The tooth was very badly broken, and the doctor had to pull shards out of the poor poodle’s mouth. The doctor also had to go in to drill out a root that had broken off. All of this, and the break had caused a nasty infection.

All of this nastiness gave the doctors and I a much clearer picture of what has been going on.

Gunther must have managed a hairline fracture in his tooth (# 308 for those interested) about 8 weeks ago. This caused the pain and general ADR symptoms I had noticed. (I am super frustrated about this. The fracture must have been small, because he has had 2 exams and 2 people’s hands in his mouth multiple times since then. )

The steroids that Gunther has been on has made him very hungry and he has been chewing his antlers more aggressively. He must have chomped down on one just right, and bam. Shattered the tooth.

Based on the shards of the broken tooth and the severity of the infection, this must have been brewing for a while. It would explain all of the symptoms I have been seeing over the last couple of months.

I am hopeful that once Gunther bounces back from the anesthesia today that he will continue to improve.

For now, however, he is fighting to stay awake, and loosing. The pink elephants are on parade, and it seems to be distressing for him. We will see how he is doing in the morning…