Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Riley Bridesmaid's Mouth

Riley did not have a good trial like the other two did. Earlier in the week, she choked on a treat really hard. It happens from time to time when they are eating treats while winded.  But this was different. Riley had to cough, hack, and gag for quite a while. Afterwards she seemed fine, but later that night she seemed sore and achy.  Her head position was a little funny and she was moving slowly. The next morning she was about the same, so I made an appointment for her to see the vet.  That afternoon, I could see some swelling under her cheeks and throat.
The vet saw nothing concerning.  Salivary glands were fine. Nothing looked infected.  Didn't look like hives. So he agreed that maybe the choking and gagging caused some trauma that has caused the soreness and swelling.  Rest and Deramaxx for a few days and we figured all would be fine.
A few days later, we were off to a trial and Riley felt much better, but still had a little puffiness.  But she was active, playful, grabbing toys, eating and drinking fine, etc. So I ran her in the trial on Friday. Well, I started to notice some resistance to drinking.  And then while panting, a friend noticed this:
It was as if Riley had a blister under her tongue on both sides. It was very strange. So then I starting to wonder if this was something else all together and that the choking several days prior was a symptom of something much greater. Saturday and Sunday were the worse days for Riley and I made plans to return to the vet on Monday assuming we would be aspirating to see what was going on. By Monday morning, she was much better, of course. One of the blisters had popped and she was much more comfortable. We headed back to the vet. Our final conclusion is that the choking on Tuesday caused swelling and trauma which blocked the salivary glands that caused the blister-like pockets underneath her tongue............... only my precious Riley Greyhound.

So we taking a break from agility for a few weeks and heading offline for awhile because Stephen and I bought a new house and will be moving soon.  Only 15 minutes from our current house, but we will be very busy prepping both houses.  We are going to keep the current one and rent it out. We are so excited to have more space.