Infected molar in old dog, no surgery. Are long-term antibiotics safe?

Talk to your vet about doing pulse therapy antibiotics. That is where oral antibiotics are given daily for one week each month. What you are already doing is fine but the antibiotics are what will keep the infection down. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

If Sid does have a tooth root abscess, he will likely need to have the tooth extracted. This will require anesthesia. At the same time, the rest of the teeth can be evaluated and xrayed and then cleaned to prevent or slow the progression of periodontal disease. Antibiotics alone may not be sufficient to resolve the condition. Even though he is a senior pet, a complete physical exam along with blood work will allow your veterinarian to tailor the anesthetic protocol for maximum safety. Medicating Sid without the advice of your veterinarian would not be recommended. Inappropriate antibiotic use may lead to resistant bacteria and may complicate any underlying condition.

No, this is unfortunately not possible and i am sure she needs more than one tooth removed anyway, she probably needs an extensive dental treatment. i don't think putting her under anesthesia is a very high risk, if she is healthy and once she does a blood test and everything comes back normal, anesthesia for a dental procedure should be the perfect solution.

I'm sorry to hear that. Giving antibiotics will only be a temporary fix. If she has an abscessed tooth, it is because the tooth is the problem. I'm not sure why your veterinarian thought 8 years was too old, but perhaps Sadie has other medical problems I am not aware of. Antibiotics could temporarily help, but unfortunately, I would suspect once the antibiotics were stopped, it will open back up and start draining again. I recommend trying to save up, or searching online to see if there happens to be a low cost income based clinic in your area, so that the tooth can be removed. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I wouldn't say that you can rule out an abscess, on the contrary, if it got better after antibiotic treatment, it's likely to be a tooth abscess. the antibiotic may solve the problem but you cannot know in advance, you need to finish the antibiotic course and wait a few weeks to see if it comes back or not. if it comes back he will need a dental procedure, and by the way he is nowhere too old for anesthesia, a few weeks ago one of my oldest patients, a cat 23 years of age, went through a small procedure under general anesthesia without any issues.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Sabrina! Sabrina needs the tooth extracted in order to eliminate the infection permanently. Antibiotics are just a bandaid. Once they are stopped the infection will return. Clindamycin and Clavamox are good choices for oral infections. I hope this helps and I wish Sabrina the best!

I recommend a veterinary exam to check how infected the tooth is. If they listen to her heart and it is fine and her blood work is stable they may be able to do light sedation only and remove the infected tooth. Bad teeth are very painful and also the dental infection can worsen the liver problem so extracting it if it can be done safely would be my recommendation. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Daisy.