[Gpdd] health - Cocoa

[Suzy Dünser]

  I just got a phone call from the vet following Cocoa's dental exam  
under anaesthesia and x-rays. He thinks Cocoa has a dislocated jaw. He  
couldn't confirm it in the x-ray, but that's what he felt when he  
manipulated his jaw. According to him this is not fixable. He said the  
back molars were a tiny bit overgrown, but not enough to be causing  
any problems. After each thing he said he just kind of stopped and  
waited, which made it really clear that while he wasn't going to be  
the one to say it, that he thought the only option is to put him to  
sleep. I said, "So the only way to keep him alive will be to syringe  
feed him forever and get his teeth trimmed?" He said pretty much, yes.  
I asked if I could bring him home and try feeding him for a few days  
on the off chance that this isn't what's going on, and he said he  
could send him home with some painkillers and I could try. When I  
talked to Tom just now, he thought that it wasn't humane to keep Cocoa  
alive with this being the situation. I don't know if the actual  
dislocation is also painful; if it is, does that mean that I've been  
hurting him by making him move his jaw to deal with the food I'm  
syringing in??

I read on the guinea lynx site about using a chin sling for a  
misaligned jaw, but misaligned and dislocated are not the same  
thing... also I doubt I can get a chin sling here. I'm going to bring  
the printout with me when we go to the vet's at 4:30 today. Tom is  
meeting us there. I don't want to put Cocoa to sleep without hearing  
from you guys what you think (you're probably all asleep now), but  
part of me is dreading that you're going to tell me about people that  
could fix it, or devices I could use, etc, except for the fact that  
where I am I don't know of anyone who does these things or where I can  
get something like a chin sling etc.

Miserably,
Suzy