Levi

Canton, Georgia
Male Age: 11 months (DOB 10/21/2022) 12# Health: ANUG - Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis, otherwise healthy Adoption donation: TBA
Welcome in, Levi! Levi is a darling little 9 month old blenheim boy who comes to us as an owner surrender. Sadly, Levi has a medical issue that his family is not able to properly address. We are so thankful to be in a position to have the resources to help pups like Levi, thanks to all you generous donors 💜 While Levi doesn’t yet have a definitive diagnosis, he appears to have a gingival disease causing inflammation, infection, ulceration, and necrotizing of his gums - like ulcerative stomatitis or necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. We will be calling first thing in the morning to get him in to see a board certified dental specialist so we can move forward with getting this properly diagnosed and treated. No pup should have to have to be living with chronic mouth pain 💔 and we look forward to getting this addressed. Levi had some canine moral support 🐾 as Rosey (tri), who is currently available for adoption, came along to welcome Levi in. They made themselves nice and comfy on the way home 🚘 Levi is being fostered in Canton, Georgia, and we will have more to report soon 💕

UPDATE AUGUST 19, 2023: 9 month old Levi (DOB 10/21/2022) recently came into our care after experiencing medical issues that his family could no longer manage. We are very thankful and grateful to have the resources to be able to meet Levi’s needs and be help him to have the best outcome possible. His issues have been related to his mouth which is certainly not a typical concern for such a young dog. Things got so bad that both a feeding tube and euthanasia had previously been considered. His family was not able to bring him to a specialist and so a diagnosis was not made but he was started on antibiotics, anti inflammatories and pain medication which has helped bandaid the situation until now. We immediately got him into a dental specialist where he went under anesthesia for a full COHAT (complete oral health assessment and treatment). There were many abnormalities found during this including significant bone loss, nonviable teeth, overcrowding/overlapping, periodontal disease, gingival recession, abscesses, loss of gingival tissue, and most unexpectedly- abnormal soft palate anatomy/cleft palate and missing right tonsil, unrelated to the current periodontal issues. The soft palate abnormalities are not a concern at this time as he does not have any symptoms or signs indicating that these defects are causing any problems related to them. But the periodontal abnormalities were all addressed and treated and included the extracting of 10 teeth (see ‘x’ on chart for extractions). Levi has recovered very well from the procedure and is eating well and comfortably and seems to feel good, happy, and behave like a typical pup. We are so happy to have addressed his immediate dental needs to be able to bring him this much needed relief.As for what caused or is responsible for all the periodontal and gingival abnormalities, we can only speculate at this time and do not have an official diagnosis. Since Levi was not in our care when the issues originated and because only a limited workup was done at that time because of family finance limitations, we can only speculate and address what the current abnormalities present are. Now that that has been done, the mouth is essentially at a “ground zero” state and it will be very telling as to what happens from here. If all the same issues start to reappear - infection, inflammation, necrosis, abcessing then we know we are dealing with something like an immune mediated ulcerative stomatitis or necrotizing ulcerating gingivitis. In those cases, extracting of all the teeth is curative and we would be looking to move forward with that we know having no teeth will not jeopardize his quality of life whereas the dental issues will. There is a chance though that what happened was an acute incident where now that the abnormalities have been addressed, we do not see any reoccurrence or anything other than typical dental needs down the road. The only way to know is to wait and see while keeping a close eye on the state of his mouth which is what we will be doing with Levi in foster care. The dental specialist feels we should be able to have a good feel as to the direction this is going to go over the next month or so.In the meantime, we are finishing up his full intake vetting and awaiting labwork results. We will share a full medical update once those are in. Levi is settling wonderfully onto his foster home in Canton, Georgia 💜
UPDATE Septemer 12, 2023: Well that didn’t take long…We were in a “wait and see” period with sweet little 10 month old Levi in Atlanta, Georgia, to see the direction his mouth was going to take after he underwent an extensive dental with a dental specialist just a month ago. You may remember he was surrendered to us by his former family due to extensive oral issues that they were unable to properly address and manage. While we were hopeful that the extensive and aggressive dental would solve the problems, we were realistic that there was likely an underlying issue that would rear it’s ugly head in a matter of time. Unfortunately, despite best efforts, the gingival inflammation has returned full force and as we initially suspected and can now confirm, he does have a condition known as ANUG - Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis. This condition causes an overreaction of the gums to normal oral bacteria. Even with oral rinses, wiping gums, brushing teeth, gingival gel, and all the things we are doing, there is just no way to completely prevent bacteria and plaque from surrounding the teeth. The good news is that this will be largely improved and managed without teeth and so Levi is looking at another procedure ahead with complete full mouth extractions. This will give him the very best outcome possible with a wonderful quality of life, without chronic pain and inflammation, and will finally be able to be off antibiotics and anti inflammatories. It stinks that a young pup has to go through this, but it will be so wonderful to have this behind him so he can get on with living his best pup life, pain free! More pupdates to come 💜
UPDATE Septemer 30, 2023: It’s been a real rough start for little 10 month old Levi who has only known life suffering with severe mouth pain. It broke our hearts to read his previous medical records where a feeding tube and even euthanasia was being considered due to the severity of his issues. Ultimately, his former family decided that it was in his best interest to be released into our care where we thankfully have the resources to help pups like Levi, with extra special (and very expensive) needs. We commend them for exploring this for Levi and giving him a chance 🙏🏻In our care, Levi has been under the care of a dental specialist, has undergone extensive and expensive dental work, and has now been diagnosed with both a cleft palate and a very rare illness called ANUG - acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis. Unfortunately, little Levi is looking at more dental work ahead where he will undergo full mouth extractions and repair of his soft palate. It certainly has been a rough start to life but we have good news… it’s going to be a happy ending 🙌🏼 We actually couldn’t write a better ending to his rescue story ✏️ if we tried…Levi’s dental specialist has fallen in love 😍 with sweet, brave, adorable Levi and would like to not only continue to meet his medical needs, but would also like to give him a home and family🏡💕 We have worked through the adoption process with them, have determined it to be a match, are looking forward to finalizing the adoption soon, and will of course share a family adoption photo once it is 💜