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Golden Hearts Animal Sanctuary |
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A Sanctuary For Elderly & Special Needs Animals |
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Liberty |
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Liberty after her vet visit |
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Sweet Liberty (Libby to her friends!) came to us in August 2008 from the county animal shelter. She was turned in by her owner, and unfortunately, due to her medical problems, was set to be euthanized. An animal turned in by his or her owner doesn't get the 'extra' time that a stray does when it enters the shelter. As it turns out, Liberty does have some arthritis and some eye problems. She also has some chronic skin issues around her eyes and ears too. These are all problems noted also by the shelter staff. What went unnoticed was the strong odor coming from her mouth. Now, I cleaned her eyes, her ears, and removed tarter from her teeth and gave her a bath. Yet the odor remained. Off to work she went with me, where we could anesthetize her and get a closer look at her mouth. It turns out that she does have a limited range of motion in her jaw. And then there's the huge clump of foxtails that were lodged behind her last molar ~ ah, the cause of the smell! We removed those and cleaned out her mouth, and our internist Dr. Slusser also made a keen observation as he was looking at her mouth - her eye bulged out as he opened her jaw - a tell-tale sign of a retrobulbar mass, a tumor located behind her eye ~ and the big surprise of the day! Off to Dr. Steele, the opthamologist at Eye Clinic for Animals, where the area behind her eye and the area behind her molar were explored. We didn't find anymore foxtails, and at this point she will be on a pretty hefty steroid dose and major antibiotics for the next week; then we'll recheck and regroup. Hopefully, the growth is related to a chronic problem from the foxtails, and when it goes away, so will the restricted jaw movement.
Update ~ Libby is doing great! Her recheck went well. There is no tumor or any sign of trouble behind her eye. She does have ‘tunnel vision’ in that eye so she bumps into stuff on that side. She has restricted jaw movement which may gradually improve, but never be normal. She just chooses smaller toys, that’s all! |
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Libby playing with Maverick |