Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Smeagol Sick

Poor Smeagol, has to spend the night at the vets. His overall health is good but his teeth turn out to be quite bad. His canines are broken, and he has some rotten teeth in the back.

It's obviously been like this for a while. He's eating OK but I noticed that he was reluctant and showing distress and I had been catching glimpses of a tooth sitting at the wrong angle. So he has a bunch of dental work, extractions, and I've ordered a basic blood workup as well while he's there.

Dentist tried to get me to sign off on FIV and FeLV tests/vaccinations. I thought the offer of a vaccine was a bit suspect and looking it up suggests I was right: there is no effective vaccine and the ones on offer are considered "non core" -- which means you don't want to use them as a matter of routine. OTOH: there is a treatment that assists with FeLV and happens to be good for FIV as well - but it is not a vaccine and not a cure.

So I am not about to buy-in to these treatments without actually seeing symptoms. Also means the vet just lost my trust.

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