Your hound's teeth news for Tuesday, 11-26-19

By JOHN E. BIALAS
Broadmoor Basset Chief

It's Tilly Tuesday, 11-26-19, and Tilly is recovering from her trip to the dog dentist, also known as her beloved veterinarian over in Biloxi.

Tilly is our lovely 6-year-old basset hound and she lives in Gulfport with me and Patty, and she went to the dog dentist to have her teeth cleaned for the removal of plaque and tartar buildup.

The stuff has to be scraped off to maintain oral health and it's worth the expense. To save money, some pet owners are DIY dog dentists and I base that on comments I saw under a vet's video on YouTube.

Here's one of the comments I'm more than happy to share with you:

Give your dog a tranquiliser and remove the tartar with a descaling tool you get from your dentist - get the right one - very sharp - must not slip up or you could injure your dog.

Tilly is such a pampered pet and fragile flower, she howls at the thought of homemade dog dentistry. Devices in the wrong hands could ruin her mouth. 

She imagines the pain would be a nightmare like the scene involving  Laurence Olivier drilling Dustin Hoffman's healthy teeth in the 1976 film "Marathon Man."

She's OK with having her teeth brushed at home because it's a simple task in which no one will ask her the crazy question "Is it safe?"

Tilly received anesthesia for her procedure, and when she got home, she was groggy and in need of rest so Patty set up a comfy area with three dog beds and a blue blanket.

I took a photo, above, at 2 p.m. on Tilly Tuesday and it made me think that maybe all adults should take a nap after their next dental appointments because, as I believe Jack Nicholson said in the movie "The Little Shop of Horrors" in 1960, "You can't handle the tooth!" 

Once Tilly woke up, she "handled the tooth" just fine. She was hungry, though she couldn't eat her regular dietary food. She needed something soft to chew, so Patty gave Tilly a rare treat: French rolls with butter from Electrik Maid.

Please come back next week for Tilly Tuesday. 

Just remember it’s not Taco Tilly, it’s not Taco Tuesday and it's never Turducken Tuesday at Pictures of Tilly. 

It’s Tilly Tuesday.