Hello
I am hoping for a some advice,my lovely old pug is having a bad time with his teeth.He has terrible teeth decay but can not have them fixed etc as he cant go under anithetic or sedation due to health issues.He will be 9 in may.He has had a few teeth just fall out over time,but recently had 2 upper abcesses complete with swelling under eye,got antibiotics and within a week,abcess gone and tooth falls out.Now,he has been showing signs on and off of a cold,he keeps getting nasal discharge,he sneezes alot,rubs his nose etc,he hates it as he cant breath as it bubbles out his nose,he is so far been treated as an upper air way infection as lungs are clear,the antibiotics do work but it soon comes back again and i have just been reading up on oral fistulars and he has all the symptoms.I have also noticed he is in a little  pain today and cant put his head down,on inspection i have noticed he has a large hard swelling on lower jaw,he is already on antibiotics and they are for upper airway infection and are the same ones used in tooth abcesses.So,do i need to see the vet today,as i say,he is on the antibiotics anyway for airway infec and they are the same ones the vet prescribes for abcesses,as he cant go under the vet wont be able to fix the fistular,have any of you experianced this and can you tell me what to expect,is it cruel not to fix,is it time i started thing of pts etc etc,im so stressed right now,my vet has not said oral fistular,this is what i feel,what do i do
jo

I think you are going to have to discuss this with your vet.  Only he can realistically determine whether you can make him comfortable enough and what the prospects are that things will resolve themselves in a reasonable length of time.
I don't think you can reasonably just leave him and hope for the best.

oh no,i wouldnt just leave him go,i am just hoping to see others advice on the subject,i honestly dont see how i will get a full diagnosis without sedation etc but that cant happen due to all his issues.I just want to know if anyone else have experianced this and what their experiance was,ie,symptoms,treatment etc etc,i would neve just leave my boy and hope,bless his cotton socks,it is just pure luck i read up on it and put 2 and 2 together.

It could be infected sinuses causing the snotty nose. You may also find that if he has had alot of the same antibiotic the "bug" has become resistant so may knock it on the head initially but not enough to kill it off completely so it pops up again quickly.

Having had an abscess under a temporary  filling many years ago it was so bad I ended up in A&E during the night as the painkillers weren't working and I could hear the bone of my jaw cracking as the pus was building up with no outlet, they heavily sedated me and took the tooth out and my mouth filled with the pus but the relief from pain was almost immediate.

If it was me I'd take him to the vet as dogs don't always let on how much pain they really are in, if you can get something to deal with the pain and maybe different antibiotics I am sure he will feel much better.

How is he managing to eat or isnt he? I hope he is getting plenty of fluids.

Keep us posted on how he gets on.