Back Under the Knife...

So, dawgs...

I think some of you know that I went in to see Dr. Kate last week to fix the tooth that I broke the top off of... again. It was the lower right canine tooth. I had a root canal on that one I think with Dr. Visser in Arizona before I moved to Minnesota. Or maybe he did the upper right canine tooth. I don't remember exactly.

Anypaws, it was the lower right one that had a root canal a long while ago and then last week I broke off the restorative sealant off the top of the tooth. So Dr. Kate sedated me and tried to fix it even if it was only going to be temporary until next time I had to get the anesthesia.

Well. Dogmom says I must have decided I wanted some more surgeries. Cuz I broke off the restorative again over the weekend and had to go back to Pet Crossing yesterday. I had lots of stuff done and could feel that Dogmom was anxious about it. She kept saying "Awe, Gomer!" and "Geesh." and "Now what?" while I was sleeping.

I had to have two more big teeth pulled that were broken. Dr. Kate was able to fix the canine tooth so it didn't have to come out. (Dogmom says to tell you it's the nubby little one closest to my tongue in the top picture below.) And, Dr. Kate lanced my eyelid where the wasps or spiders bit me a couple of weeks ago and got out bunches of gunk and probably a stinger or two.

Dogmom says I don't look nearly as georgeous as Gemi when I wake up from anesthesia...


She says I look more like a drunken sailor that lost the bar fight. Not sure what that means, but it kinda made her laugh. Today... I'm hiding in the corner with my swollen cheek and eye...


Trying to avoid the dreaded ice hand that wants to hold my head.


Wuf Ya!

Gemi's Surgery Went Wonderfully!

Hi Dawgs!

We won't talk about the fact that we spent the whole day at Dog Pad on Wednesday. Or the fact that we didn't get to go to Pet Crossing with dogmom. Or the fact that dogmom spent the day with Gemi and Randi instead of with us. Or even the fact that she forgot about us at Dog Pad.

Yup... she forgot to come pick us up. Completely. She called Tory after we were all fed and tucked in for the night. Can you believe it?

Anypaws. We're not talking about that today. 'Cuz we know she was helping Gemi and Randi with Gemi's mouth surgery.

And since we've both gone through several mouth surgeries, we know what Gemi was going through. And how Randi was nervous. So it was good that dogmom was there to help them.

What we wanted to talk about today is that dogmom said that Gemi's surgery went really well! She's a little (literally!) trouper.

She had to have 14 twoofers pulled. All in the front. All her top front teeth, including her canine fangs. And all her little bottom teeth in the front.

She got to keep her bottom canine teeth. (Whole ones... not half of them like Opie and me.) And she got to keep all of the other teeth in the sides and the back that she had. We say it that way because she actually had nine teeth that were missing from her little mouth that had never developed. Good thing, cuz her mouth was so small she probably would have had to had them pulled, too.

Anypaws. Gemi still has 19 teeth so she will be able to play and look pretty and, more importantly, eat crunchy food and treats after her mouth heals.

We think she's beautiful... even with those missing teeth and her mouth a little swollen after surgery...

What do you think?

Can You Help Us Help Randi?

You remember Randi? She's the one that came to our house to take us on walks before the dogmom was downsized at the newspaper. Now we have to walk with dogmom. It's not nearly as fun.

Anypaws... Randi's dog Gemi is desperately in need of surgery to remove a bunch of teeth from her mouth. There are too many teeth for the size of her mouth and her mouth is crooked and infected because of it. They've been trying to save money for her surgery since last summer.

Then Randi's dad had to stop working because of his health. And then Randi's mom got sick and was in the hospital for a month. And Randi lives with them and takes care of them and works two jobs to pay for everything.

Anypaws... Gemi has been on pain meds and antibiotics for almost a year in anticipation of eventually getting surgery. Now, she needs the surgery SOON! The meds are wreaking havoc on her little 12 pound body. Here's a picture of Randi and Gemi (the tiny one) and Gemi's brother Teddy and Randi's dad that we posted after the Iron Dog Triathlon last September.

Gemi's surgery will cost somewhere between $2000 and $3000. We won't know for sure until she's under anesthesia and xrays are done. She's going to Dr. Kate at Petcrossing (who does our teeth, too!) if we can help her raise the money.

If you're interested in helping, please contact dogmom by clicking on the "Bark Back" link on the left and sending an email. She'll send you information about how to donate money directly to Gemi's fund at Pet Crossing or through IMOM.org.

We'll be back to posting regularly really soon! Paw-miss!

Wuf Ya!
Gomer, Opie and Floyd...
and DogMom, too.

Clean Teeth are So Much Better

Hi Dawgs!

I'm feeling a lot better, 'specially since all the morphine and anesthetic has worn off and the world seems more normal now. I'm not hearing colors, as Tracy at Pet Crossing says!

As promised, here are some photos from my oral surgery. (If you click on the photo, you can see it bigger.) First, some "before" and "after" shots of how great a job Eliza and Tracy did when they cleaned my twoofers:

Right Side:



Left Side:



And, here is the picture they took of my broken twoofer (ULPM4 for those dentistry-minded dogs among you...) before Dr. Hollee took it out for me.



Ouch! Can you imagine if dogmom didn't find that?

I'm sure glad my dogmom brushes my teeth regularly (even though not always every day like she should... sorry Dr. Kate!). Because she brushes my teeth, she found my broken tooth before it got too infected and my whole mouth got sick. She says that's one reason why Opie and Floyd and me have to be subjected to the humiliation all the time.

We don't mind... we get special treats (Hills Prescription t/d diet) whenever we get our teeth brushed.

Look Dooley-Bean, We Posted!

Ok, dawgs. So one of dogmom's friends gave her grief the other day at Pet Crossing because we haven't posted on our blog for WEEKS! Anypaws, we're posting.

There, Dooley! Is your dogmom happy now? (Snicker, Snicker...)

Guess we should 'splain to all our regular readers and posters. See, Dooley-Bean is a cutie-pie Maltese. We wuf her. Even if she doesn't have her own blog. Even if she does run away and hide from us whenever we see her at Pet Crossing. Even if her dogmom gives our dogmom grief for hogging the computer and not letting us post so much.

Dooley-Bean had a bunkmate until recently, so we're not giving her any grief. Just her dogmom.

See, Dooley's buddy Casey had to go over the rainbow bridge a couple of months ago. He was sick and not even Dr. Kate could make him any better. We were really sad when Casey had to say goodbye. Everydog and everyhuman that knew him was.

But, Dogmom says that Casey is running and playing and feeling no pain over in the meadow beyond the rainbow bridge. And, that he probably found Skyper and Floppy, the dogs that dogmom had before she brought us home. And the three of them are all the same size and they're too busy chasing Spidey to be worrying about us right now.

Anypaws, we posted. Did you miss us?
Wuf Ya!

Update - Opie's Benign!

Anyways, I think that's what dogmom said. It's good, right?

I think that means he's insignificant and compassionate and kind, right?

Anyways, the lab said the tumor is all gone from his mouth 'cuz Dr. Kate did such a good job of taking it out and that it doesn't have any of that nasty "C-word" stuff in it.

Yay! - He's going to be around for a lot longer for me to harass and chase and steal food from.

Not to mention I'll have help figuring out what's in the bathroom!

Wuf Ya - Gomer

Opie Twoofers Update!

So, Opie's still in surgery with Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing. But, they just called dogmom with an update.

The growth on his gum and that twoofer is going to be sent to the lab for testing, but Dr. Kate doesn't think it looks as bad as she thought it did in the pictures that dogmom showed her. So, it's probably NOT cancer, but just an infection sort of thing.

Opie had to have two of his twoofers pulled out on the upper left side of his mouth, where the infection is. Cuz those two twoofers were broken, too. And then his canine tooth that you see in the picture that has a chip on it... well, that one had a pulpotomy a couple of years ago at the U of MN. It is unstable and there's bacteria growing in there now too. So, Opie has to have a root canal done on that tooth, or have it pulled out.

Dogmom voted to have the root canal done.

Anyways, dogmom is convinced that we're scheming to have just one set of teeth between the two of us. Whenever I have a top tooth fixed, Opie has a bottom tooth fixed. If I have two bottom teeth on my right side pulled out, Opie has two top teeth on his left side pulled out. At least that's what it seems like to her.

Wuf Ya!

Paws Together Now ...

Hey, dogs, it's me, Gomer. I'm baaaacckkk!

And, my twofers feel much better, thanks. I have to go back to see Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing on Wednesday for my recheck appointment. I'm sure Dr. Kate will think I'm doing great and can go back to eating crunchy food and playing with my toys and stuff.

But, that's not why I'm posting today. I'm posting to ask you all to put your paws together and say a prayer or send good vibes to the Dopey Opie today. He's at Pet Crossing to get his twofers fixed. He has that nasty growth on his gums that will have to come off.

And then they're going to send it somewhere to be biopsied and examined or something. Dogmom seems a little bit worried about it... not too bad, but worried. It could be cancer. That means that Opie could lose some twofers, like I did. But he could also lose some of his jawbone and tissue and stuff.

Anyways, we'll post an update after he gets out of surgery this afternoon.

Wuf Ya!

Opie's Turn...

Yo dawgs! Opie here...

Gomer's on the mend, getting spoiled with softened food.

I hate it when the Gomer has tooth surgery. It means that the lid goes on the basket with the chew bones. It means the toy basket gets put inside the closet. It means we get yelled at when we try to play chasing games in the house. It means he gets extra treats with his softened food... even though dogmom calls the extra treats his "medicine."

We all know what that really means, right?

Well, I'm gonna get back at him and the dogmom this time.

See, I get to go in to see Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic next week on Monday. Then it will be MY turn... for the special "medicine" treats... for the soft food... for the extra hugs and kisses from dogmom.

No, I didn't break any twoofers. Gomer has the market cornered on that routine.

I, instead, grew some extra gum tissue in my mouth. It is practically covering one of my twoofers. It doesn't really bother me... not that I would let on if it did.

But the dogmom and Dr. Kate think that it might be cancer. And, definitely an absess on that tooth. So, I'm gonna go in and get those fun drugs that make me sleepy and then when I wake up everybody hugs me and coddles me and pays attention to me.

Sounds like a great plan, dontcha think?

Wuf Ya - Opie

Gomer's Dentistry

Hi Dawgs!

You all 'member that dogmom is going to school to learn how to be a veterinary nurse, right? Well, she wants to show you some of the pictures and xrays that we took of Gomer's twoofers while he was getting them fixed by Dr. Kate and Eliza and Sandy at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic yesterday.

First, remember the picture that made dogmom think that Gomer only had two broken twoofers? You can see it by clicking here. See how it looks like only the one twoofer is broken?

Surprise! Look at the xray photo below.
See how the middle tooth is actually broken into two pieces underneath the gumline? Gomey said that really hurt.








Anypaws, here's a picture of the broken twoofer on the lower right side of his mouth and it's corresponding xray.








Yikes! That looks like it really hurt, doesn't it?

Anypaws, so Gomey got three teeth pulled instead of two. And, he has to wear the famous basket mask again (Photo here). Ha!

Wuf Ya!

How Did Gomey Break His Twoofs?

The inquiring Key West Collies and their dogdad want to know how the Gomer broke his two toothies. Dogmom said sarcastically that if she knew that, we wouldn't keep breaking them. That, and she thinks he does it on purpose so that he can go see Dr. Kate.

Anypaws, what we think is that since he was in the dumpster as a puppy and he was starving to death when dogmom found him that he probably didn't get the right 'trition to make his toothies grow nice and strong. He was very very little (about 3 months old) in the dumpster. Dogmom adopted him when he was 5 months old and he had already lost all his puppy teeth but didn't have all his big-boy teeth grown in yet.

Anypaws, he has lots of fractures in his enamel and so that makes it easier to break them. We don't think he eats rocks. He sometimes likes to play tug-toy with dogmom and with Opie. And he doesn't really like to chew on retriever rolls.

Anypaws, he just has soft teefers and keeps breaking them. Dogmom's tempted to just pull them all out at the doggie dentist (Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing!) and give him mush for the rest of his life.

Opie thinks that would be ok...

:)
Wuf Ya!

Gomey Broke Another Tooth!

Gomey has to go see Dr. Kate today. He broke another tooth... See it?

Update... Gomey actually broke TWO toofers, the one in the picture and one on the side of his mouth, too.

So he has to go get some more surgery on the day after Christmas. Dogmom says she's taking donations...

Wuf Ya!

We Got News!

Well, not really... but made ya look!


... If ya wanna watch Opie come without craning your neck sideways... thanks to Johann, dogmom figured out how to change the video! Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRamRtN8fro.

... Gomer's still gimping. Dogmom thinks the only reason he is putting any weight on his right leg is because of the Rimadyl ...

... Opie got to go to Dog Pad by himself again yesterday. Tory said he doesn't even act like he knows that Gomer isn't there ...

... Dogmom got a job offer from Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic in Bloomington. We wuf Dr. Kate! Dogmom wants to do it cuz she'll learn a lot and the extra money will help pay for her classes. But she still has to work full-time at the paper to pay for stuff like our rent and food and her health care and our Dog Pad bills...

... We're going to Dog Pad tomorrow for the weekend so dogmom can go to a wedding in Milwaukee for one of her cousins. She has a lot of cousins... and a lot of weddings.

... Oh yeah, we had company at our house last night. That doesn't happen very often, since we kinda bark and jump and most of dogmom's friends just ask her to meet them somewhere else. Silly humans... maybe if they came over more often, we wouldn't get so excited that they're here!

Wuf Ya!

Now Just a Dog-Gone Minute!

Dogs! I've got a bone to pick here. And it just won't wait until the DogsAyeView 10K is over. OK?

Now, here's my beef.

Dogmom came home at lunchtime today and she let Gomer & me outside to do our business, like she always does. Then, she got us each a Haleigh treat (remember the girl in Ohio makes them for us from scratch?). Anyways. We do our business and we get a Haleigh treat and then, know what?

Dogmom puts a leash on Gomer and tells me to stay. Apparently, he gets to go some place and I have to stay home? What's up with that?

So, I'm working really hard on the whole listening-better-so-I-don't-get-in-trouble thing. No, really, I am. Ok, maybe I'm not ..., but that's not the point.

The point is... Gomer got to go to see Dr. Kate at Pet Crossing and I didn't. Hmmmph.

Something about having to get his tooth checked (which I, like, totally don't understand since the tooth isn't even there any more!) and his funky-fungal tail checked. Double hmmmph.

Know what else? I know he got hugs and treats while he was there. I could smell 'em.

What did I get?
(Well, besides an hour and a half with the house to myself...)
What did I get,
hmmmmm?
JUST LOOK what the she did to my tail!


All because I left a few bloody-tail-swish marks on the patio blinds.

Geesh. You all better really start posting comments and clicking the purple button and telling your friends about our blog this week. Cuz the dogmom and Gomer, they really gotta pay, now!

Wuf Ya - Opie

Big Weekend of Dog Events! -- UPDATED!

Ok. So, really there were two. But we don't usually get to go to two in the same day! We were sooooo excited AND we were really good boys! Can you believe it?

Dogmom couldn't...

Anyways... we went to the first event first on Sunday. FUREVER FUN DAY! It was at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic in Bloomington. That's where Dr. Kate is. You remember Dr. Kate... she's the one that fixed our teeth -- especially when Gomer had all that trouble with his? (She's also the one that just had to help Spidey over the rainbow bridge a couple of weeks ago... :( )

Anyways. It was fun.

First, we noticed Lisa from Top Dog Country Club. She was sitting out in the cold at her booth. But she recognized DogMom and then realized that she hadn't met us in dog before. Lisa gave us hugs... but more importantly, Lisa gave us TREATS! We liked her. You remember Top Dog, right? That's where we had our adoption day party last year that dogmom wrote about in the newspaper.

Then, we saw the guy at the Science Diet booth. And, know what? He gave us TREATS! We liked him, too.

Then, we waited while dogmom looked at some handmade jewelry. They had some doggie collar charms, but we told dogmom they were a little too fancy for our dogblood. We tried to knock over the display, but they had them tied really good, so that they just swayed back and forth...

Then, we went and visited Wendy at Fresh Air Training. And, know what? She gave us TREATS! But, she made us sit first and dogmom made us say our prayers.


Then, dogmom talked to somebody who turned out to be a veterinary student... and she asked us if we wanted to take a bath. By this time, we had gotten so many treats that we didn't care what she wanted us to do... so we got a bath from the vet students. They were giving half the money to the Humane Society and using the other half to fund some of their trips to help out on things like Hurricane Katrina efforts to rescue dogs and stuff.

Opie was really good and went to get his bath, but I started being scared and barking at the students... so dogmom came and put me in the tub and told me to be good or I'd have to go home. I was good after that... and, know what? They gave me TREATS!

Then, dogmom talked to Mr. Benda at Benda Photography... you remember him -- he took our portrait pictures with dogmom a couple of years ago... He didn't give us any treats on Sunday... but we like him anyways!

Oh... by the way... here's a picture of us with Dr. Kate (kneeling) and dogmom (red SW Metro Animal Rescue sweatshirt) and one of the vet techs/students (that Opie is kissing)! And, the dog in front belongs to Luanna, one of the volunteers at Southwest Metro Animal Rescue... we don't remember the girldog's name, but she's a patient of Dr. Kate's too... and, besides, she's cute, dontcha think?

UPDATE! Dogmom got an email from Luana (sorry we spelled it wrong before...). Luana is the girldog's mom... the cute girldog's name is SYDNEY! We wuf Sydney!



Wuf Ya!

Comments for Dr. Kate

We're very sad today. Cuz Dogmom is sad today. Cuz Dr. Kate is very very sad today.

Dr. Kate Knutson is the doggie dentist that fixed our teeth last year. You remember... when both Opie and I each broke off a canine tooth the same day? Dr. Kate fixed them both... and then I broke mine again and she fixed it again. Remember?

She's at Pet Crossing Animal and Dental Hospital in Bloomington, MN. www.petcrossing.com. It's a special place!

Anyway, we wuf Dr. Kate. We don't hold any grudges about her fixing our teeth. They feel a lot better now than they did before, that's for sure. I mean, Opie actually eats his food instead of just nibbling at it. (Though I still beat him done!)

Anyways... Dr. Kate had to put down one of her bestest animal friends, "Spidey" the cat. Spidey is to Dr. Kate what Floppy was to dogmom. That one-in-a-million-bestest-friend-totally-understanding-and-understandable-pet. You know the kind. The kind that we all strive to be...

But some animals and humans just click in that special way and there's no fighting it or trying to horne in on it. I'd like to think dogmom and me are getting there and Opie's just "the other dog," ya know?

Anyways... dogmom said we could try to collect some comments that will help Dr. Kate to maybe not miss Spidey so much... or at least to let her know that all our dogblogging buddies understand and are sad when somebody special like her is so sad.

We'll get things started: "Dr. Kate, we're so sorry that you had to help Spidey over the rainbow bridge. I had to help my doggie siblings and Opie, well, he's a dope, and dogmom still misses the Flopster dog. Anyway... if you want to share some Spidey stories with us that remember all the bestest things about her... we're listening. We wuf ya and are sending lots of goofy and dopey vibes... can ya feel 'em?"

Will everybody leave a comment for Dr. Kate? Dogmom will collect them and send them to her in a pretty package. Thanks!
Wuf Ya!