Crack

The new vet headed out yesterday to take x-rays of Kaswyn's teeth. The firs thing she did was give him a handful of hay and he ate it perfectly fine. She said that was probably because he was getting banamine for the pain and swelling, and also because the doxycycline might have kicked in too. She asked if I thought Kaswyn needed to be sedated, and I said no, he'd be fine.

Well the first time she came at him with the x-ray machine he took two steps back and gave a little snort. The vet tech was holding him in his stall, so I stood in the aisle I told him to whoa. He had his head way up in the air like a giraffe so they were trying to reach up high and take the picture that way. It wasn't working, so finally I stuck my hand in, gave the halter a slight tug, and said "Put your head down."

Immediately my horse did as he was told, and lowered his head to about hip level. they both said "Wow!", and were able to get a few good pictures. After the first few shots Kaswyn figured out that nothing was going to get him, and stood like a bored little statue. I had to tell him to lower his head two more times, but after that he got the drill down. A few times they had the plate jammed up against his head, smashing his eye, and the horse just tolerated it by squeezing his eyes shut. At one point I thought he was going to fall asleep. Such an amazing animal.

It's times like these when I wish that everyone could know my horse and see just how awesome he is. I get comments all the time about how people are shocked that he is an Arabian, how well trained he is, and well behaved. Not only that, but this horse would do anything for me. When I ask, he gives. This is why I will continue to spend whatever I need to on vet bills to keep this boy in the best shape he can be.

Anyhow, the senior vet, Dr. M came by to give advice on the x-rays. She also made a comment about Kaswyn not needing sedation. Both vets agreed that Kaswyn has a crack in his 4th upper right molar. He has either fluid, air, or pus surrounding the root around the crack which is causing him pain. Since they don't do a lot of dental cases they are going to send the films to an equine dental specialist and get his recommendation. Dr. M said he would probably want to pull the tooth, but she doesn't think we should unless it gets very bad, because once you start pulling teeth it changes the geography of the mouth and that could cause more issues.

So the plan for right now is to keep him on doxycycline for ten days, and banamine for five days. He'll get soaked hay and his grain to eat if he can tolerate it. Once he's done with the banamine he doesn't have to be on any pain meds unless he is uncomfortable. As far as exercise goes, I can still ride him but I have to do it in a halter for a while. It's fine with me, since I can actually work him in a halter without a problem. I really want to keep him in shape.

The hope is that the cracked part of the tooth will grow out and fall out. The missing piece will probably never fill in because the crack goes up to the root, so he'll have a little space there. It's not like the tooth is cracked in half - only the back quarter of the tooth is cracked. So he'll do fine with a little piece missing. He does have a small wave mouth developing, so I need to get the tooth doctor out anyhow and deal with that before it gets too bad.

I really don't want to see my bill. Ugh.