Teef

Inspirational song: Can You Picture That? (Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem)

I was a very nervous kitty mama all day. I dropped Athena off at the vet for a much-needed dental cleaning at 8 this morning. When the vet techs came to the car to get her, they were looking over the pages printed for her procedure, and asking me whether I had any concerns first. I told them how she gets very scared when anyone other than me picks her up, and that she has been rubbing her face on me for a while, like she wanted me to look in there. (Once I did, and got past the crypt-keeper breath, I saw inflamed gums and tartar, and I explained that to the ladies.) The techs got confused expressions, looked at the clipboard, and then asked, "she's here for a spay?" Oh, God, no, I said. Please don't cut my baby's belly open for organs she hasn't had for over six years. Once they looked at the last page, they saw the estimate was for a dental, and we all nodded sagely and said, someone entered the wrong code.

I waited hours for them to call and say she was going under anesthesia. It was the same tech from this morning, so I verified they were working on her mouth, not her belly, and we laughed. Y'all scared me this morning, I told her.

I didn't get the all clear until after 4. I was a jumble of nerves by then. She did well under anesthesia, and all was well, except for her teeth. She lost five more of them. F I V E. All back teeth. She lost one molar and all of the tiny front teeth (that just fell out at a tap) two years ago. This kid. They said her x-ray showed a horrible mess at the roots. She doesn't have much more than the fangs left, and who knows how long she will keep those. I can only hope she loses those at home, because crap, this was expensive. I had pondered replacing my old laptop that wants to die, and I almost did it last night. Good thing I didn't. Athena's mouth cost as much as a really nice laptop today.

She hasn't made a sound since I picked her up. Her face is swollen, and when she ate just canned cat food this evening, she got it all over her face. Poor kid is a mess. I won't embarrass her by describing how she jumped, and almost missed twice, getting on the cat feeding counter, but I laughed when I probably should have been nicer.

I'll bury her stoned face blep pictures behind one of Jackie sleeping in the baby cradle, so I don't hurt Athena's feelings by putting the unflattering pictures where they show up first on the Facebook link.