Poor, Poor Doggy.

Yesterday, Snowy had to get his teeth cleaned. For you and me, that’s not such a big deal, but dogs have to be put to sleep for that procedure. We haven’t had his teeth cleaned in the ten years we’ve had him (I know, I know, we’re bad doggy parents) but it’s fairly expensive ($160) and it was just never “a good time” to have it done. We’ve been told time after time by various vets that he needed to have it done, not just for dental hygiene reasons but also because bacteria in the mouth can also spread through the body and cause problems in other places.

So finally we just decided to go ahead and “git ‘er done.”

Sarah and I were gone to Virginia when Steve brought Snowy home after the procedure at 1 pm; he had been awake from his anesthesia for a couple hours but according to Steve, he was still rather loopy and drunk. When he walked around the living room, he kept on sliding sideways on his little rear because he couldn’t keep his balance. He had a rattle in his lungs, was in a good bit of pain, and couldn’t eat anything.

At one point, Steve couldn’t find him anywhere and went on a house-wide search for him. He finally discovered Snowy on the third floor in Sarah’s room, tucked in on the floor next to her little pink footstool—the footstool he usually sits on top of when she’s in the room with him.

We didn’t get back home till about 5 pm and by that point, Snowy was desperately needing the nursing attention of his two ladies. He was all shaky and whimpery and was making the most piteous little sounds you’ve ever heard. Sarah grabbed him and immediately went into Full Nursing Mode.

You can see the blue Band-Aid on Snowy’s foot where he had the IV.

There’s a lot of love between these two.

The vet told us that Snowy would probably not have a very good night and Sarah graciously agreed to be the one to deal with him so that Steve and I could rest.

This morning, this is how I found them.

Snowy is trying to display his newly cleaned teeth for his Smithellaneous friends.

Then he got a little embarrassed for being such a show off.

Such a peaceful scene and so good to see our little buddy feeling a little better.