Faith went to Cedarwood Veterinary Hospital yesterday.  The intent was for them to sedate her and do a thorough examination of her teeth and gums to see why they were bleeding a few days ago.

I had gone into her kennel and found blood on the floor and her chew toy was bloody.  I removed the toy and gave her a rope chew instead.  Then I messaged Doctor Sandra.  She said to bring Faith in for an exam.

I was concerned by this development because when I worked at the Humane Society of Jefferson County I’d seen several rescue deals get aborted when it was discovered the dog had bad teeth.  Repairing that is expensive, an expense many rescues are not willing or able to take on.  I feared that if this was the case with Faith, her deal with A.R.N.N.E. would get nixed.

Before she came here, Faith had spent some time at Cedarwood.  Dr. Sandra pulled her from Animal Control out of fear that they were about to euthanize her.  Dr. Sandra asked if I could foster Faith while they looked for an adoptive home.  At that time I was full, but an opening would happen in a few days.  So Faith was boarded at Cedarwood until I had an open kennel.  The Cedarwood staff became fond of Faith during her stay there.

When Faith and I arrived, the office manager had me fill out the standard permissions form that authorized them to do lab work, administer sedation, and perform various (incrementally more expensive) monitoring during “surgery”.  I did not authorize the high end stuff (triple digit expenses) since this was supposed to be a dental exam not major surgery.  Still, the lab work and sedation would run a couple hundred dollars, not counting any work to be done, if it was needed.

I asked that I be called if work needed to be done.  This would be an expense I would have to bear because Animal Control could not and would not, and A.R.N.N.E. would probably either back out of the rescue offer or prefer the work be done by their own vet partner, to control costs.  Then I went home and waited.

At 4:30 I had received no call and decided I’d better go pick her up before they close at 5:00.

Rebecca came out and explained that Faith had allowed them to examine her teeth without being sedated (I’m not sure how they did that since she wouldn’t let me get more than a peek in there – just enough to know she was bleeding) and they found some abrasions that had healed but the teeth and gums are in fine shape.  Even having just a level 2 tartar: which is low, especially for a 6 to 7 year old dog.  They even clipped her nails for me.

That was wonderful news!  I was afraid that bad teeth would kill the interest that A.R.N.N.E. had in her.  Now I can report that her teeth are great!

“How much do I owe you?” I asked, pulling out my wallet.

“Rebecca shrugged, “We didn’t do anything worth charging you for.  Besides, it’s Faith.  We love her.”

I DO love Cedarwood!

So I took her home and updated Christine, my contact at A.R.N.N.E., that everything was fine and we are still on track for a Nov 11th departure.  It’s all good!