she should pull through fine, not only is she a sweet dog, she’s remarkably intelligent, she recognizes my green laser pointer when i take it out of the case and expectantly looks at me, then the floor, me then the floor, as if to say “hurry up with the light already…”, and she’s the only dog we’ve had who doesn’t fall for the “throw the invisible ball” trick, she watches your hands, not the ball
If Hannah has trouble eating for awhile after her treatment due to pain, talk to your vet about possibly having an anesthetic treat compounded. I work in the compounding pharmacy industry, and I know of a case where a dog chewed a battery and had nasty burns all over the insides of its mouth. The pain caused the dog to stop eating. With a vet’s prescription, the pharmacist compounded a liver-flavored lidocaine popsicle. When it was time to eat, the owners would get out the popsicle and offer it to the dog, who would smell the liver flavor and take a lick. The coolness of it kept the dog licking and the lidocaine spread toptically through its mouth so it got numb enough that the dog could eat. As the dog healed, it stopped being necessary but in the beginning, it probably saved the dog’s life.
I hope the vet appointment goes well and she’s feeling better soon.
Here’s the prognosis…
Hannah’s tongue has been lacerated, however, when the vet checked it, there was no dead tissue on the tongue (maybe the HP did the trick), she does have an infection, and fever (hence the shivering last night) and she’s on a heavy dose of antibiotics for 2 weeks, the vet said the tongue could use a little trimming, but it’d be for cosmetic purposes only, it’s not medically neccecary
the vets were very impressed with her pain tolerance, “she was very stoic” (yeah, that’s what caused the difficulty of the diagnosis last night, she didn’t let on that she was in pain)
it’s strange, somehow, last night i sensed something was wrong with her, i alerted my mother, she went downstairs with a blanket for Hannah and spent the night sleeping on the floor with her
Hannah’s home now and recouperating nicely, she sends her thanks for all the well-wishers and good vibes…
i’ll give her some more sushi treats tonight, poor thing
{{{MacTech}}}
{{{Hannah}}}
Awwww! My cat Luna knows that, when I take out the laser pointer, the Laser Bug is coming, and starts looking for it. I’m not sure if it’s the sight of the pointer or the sound (it’s on a keychain), though.
Does she like the green laser pointer better than a red one, by the way? I’d like to buy myself a green laser pointer, but haven’t thought of a way to justify the expense yet.
Anne, the only reason you need to get a greenie is that you can put a green dot on anything from a long distance away, isn’t that reason enough? 
okay, reasons greenies are cooler than reds;
1; the color frequency of a greenie (532nM) is more visible to the human eye than a 650NM red laser
2; the green laser dot is up to 50 times brighter than a red laser pointer
3; the dot is perfectly round, thanks to a more sophisticated optics system, red laser pointers have an oval/oblong dot
4; the beam is good for about 9,000 feet in darkness
5; in humid/dusty/smoky dark environments, the beam itself is visible, not just the dot (heck, when i’m playing with Hannah outside at night with the greenie, at times she has actually tried to bite the beam itself, i need to turn it off very quickly to avoid getting the beam/dot in her eye
6; a greenie is great for astronomy and “skypointing”, you can follow the beam (even off-axis) to the stars you’re pointing at
things to keep in mind with a greenie;
it’s more intense than a red pointer, there’s a greater chance of eye damage from reflections, DO NOT point the beam into anyone’s eyes (or animal eyes) as it can cause eye damage, even a <5mW laser pointer can be potentially damaging to eyes
i actually got tagged by a reflection accidentally, it took three days for the afterimage spot to completely dissapear, and my greenie is “only” 3 mW, according to the documentation, i actually think it’s more powerful as i can see the beam even in a dark room lit by my TV
be very careful pointing in public, a greenie is more powerful and visible than a red, be extra careful when “skypointing”, pointing it at aircraft may get you a free vacation at Club Fed…
Day 2 update, Hannah’s no longer feverish (she had a 104 degree fever yesterday) and is coming along fine, she has a little limp due to a flareup of Lyme she had when she was a puppy, gahh, frelling stupid deer ticks, i’m the only one who checks our animals (Hannah, our dog, and Blue and Nemo, our cats) for the frelling stupid parasites…
(whoever invented ticks needs to be fired…)
the antibiotics she’s on should knock back both the Lyme and any would-be infections trying to invade her mouth, she had the last of her sushi treats tonight and she’s rapidly improving, should be back to her old self in no time
MacTech, I’m so glad. Give her a big hug from me.
In case anyone’s wondering, Hannah’s much, much better, running around happily (with a slight Lyme induced limp that the antibiotics will knock back), and begging for food, she’s no longer the poor, scared, sick dog in my OP
here’s some quick pics of her during a rare quiet moment…
http://homepage.mac.com/mactechg4/.Pictures/Hannah.gif
http://homepage.mac.com/mactechg4/.Pictures/Hannah2.gif
http://homepage.mac.com/mactechg4/.Pictures/Hannah3.gif
Oh, she’s beautiful! And I’m glad she’s feeling better. Yay for happy doggies!
YAY for Hannah! Best wishes for speedy recovery.
What a sweet doggie! Give her lots of hugs from me.
So glad your story has a happy ending. I’d suggest checking her tongue quite often from now on (at least once every week or so). If the problem occurs again, or the tongue gets better but doesn’t totally heal -you might want to have your vet. biopsy the lesion to rule out neoplastic disease.
I only suggest this because tongues are 1) all muscle with fantastic blood supplies and 2)bathed in saliva which has antibacterial properties. Thus it is quite rare for animals to develop severe infections from traumatic tongue lacertations.
I’m not raising these issues to be a buzz killer, sorry. I sincerely hope your puppy never looks back and lives to a ripe old age.
(BTW, I am a veterinarian).