We first noticed something wasn’t right with dexter when he was struggling with his food, he was taking ages to eat a meal. A long time ago dexter cracked a tooth, we are not sure how but we used to call him “dead tooth dex” as the vet had said we didn’t get to it in time for root canal so it would just die, but if wasn’t causing him any problem to leave it in, so we did. So when he started having rouble eating we just put it down to his dead tooth, and thought it must be painful so we started softening his food which seemed to help. We then had a visit from our lovely friends from home who regularly walk our dogs and know them, they commented on the change to Dexter’s face shape. We hadn’t really noticed it which you don’t really when you see him every day, so chatting to vets, sending pictures and doing a bit of research of our own we booked him in to the local vets straight away, being holiday season and classed as a “visitor” the initial consultation we waited a few days, which was fine. Due to restrictions and having all the dogs, Wibbs went in with Dexter and chatted to the vet. We came out nine the wiser, still unsure of what we were dealing with and an appointment ten days later at the city vets ……. This was torture, thinking the worst and waiting for an appointment which was for an X-ray of his head and neck ….. I was slightly confused. I called home to our vets in hadleigh and Richard, as ever was great, told me all the things to ask for and look out for whilst we waited for the appointment.
Appointment day! No food or water in the morning which is hard when you have three dogs, so they all have to wait for food and water. The vet nurse met us on arrival and went through a few routine questions and I was waiting on hand with all my “vet” questions. After going backwards and forwards with the vet on that day he came out and spoke with us, also great, confirmed our suspicion of MMM(I’ll explain later) looked at the tooth said he’d examine it and take it out if needed. Off dexter trotted into the vets as good as gold with Toni our vet nurse, who continued to phone me all day to let me know how he was doing and what they were doing as we had kind of handed him over for blood tests and possibly other things so we weren’t sure what was going to happen.
Cue collection …. 5pm! I dropped wibbs off at work then drove to Truro to pick him up in our very temperamental care. I managed to get ten minutes away and broke down (fuel was low so thought it might just be that) at a round about somehow I managed to coast the car down a hill and into a petrol station and into an empty spot, hallele-fucking-lujah. Now to fill up with fuel but the fuel cap is on the other side of the car and I’m not close enough …. Fuck fuck fuck!! It’s ok, I’ll roll forward. Got the guy in front to move, I moved forward, all good filled up with fuel!! But still wouldn’t start, anyway finally got it going and made it to the vets. Finally, get to see my boy. Handover from the nurse …
Kidney failure
Tooth extraction and
MMM (awaiting confirmation of a blood test)
So out of all of that I can deal with the tooth extraction.
Kidney failure …. Dexter has had kidney stones in the past and elevated bloods but before we left to come away in the van I got a set of bloods done and in comparison there was an elevation of blood results, the treatment is a change in diet and monitor it’s something to do with how much protein he has in his food, so we now have some special kidney suitable food (which is about 8 times more expensive than the food he’s on now) kidney failure in dogs is not good as you can imagine and at six years old is not really what we wanted to be hearing for him, it will be a life long management.
Now the MMM is an especially dangerous condition in your dog where it’s own immune system attacks itself, and as a result, causes inflammation of the mastication or chewing muscles and that inflammations destroys cells totally. This could have been one of the reasons that he was unable to eat, it is also the reason that Teresa noticed a significant change in how he looks as it affects the muscles around the head giving the dog a sunken look (or Dino head dex as he’s now known, can’t really call him dead tooth now that it’s gone).
Now it’s a mixed bag of goodies as to how this came about and also to how we manage it. First await blood results but given they way he looks the vet (Truro one, not Perranporth one, he was vey vague) was pretty convinced it is MMM which stand for Masticatory muscle myositis. Now I’ve been surfing the net and it could be anything that brought it on from the kidneys to the tooth infection to bad luck. The treatment can be steroids or nothing the risk is the muscle eventually go and he will not be able to eat, some dogs end up tube fed as their jaws lock.
So that’s where we are, we are still waiting for the results. The tooth has healed up nicely and Dexter is enjoying is new kidney food, which is not surprising given the cost of it, must be like his mum and have expensive taste! He’s happy in himself but if you know dexter, you know that he’s doesn’t complain. Some articles I’ve read have said that both MMM and kidney failure can be really painful so we just have to keel and eye and hope that we can pick up on any signs. Rest assured that we are giving him his best life, what ever the outcome each day, Dexter’s needs come first. He is loved, he is on an adventure and exploring new places everyday. We will keep you posted!