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Post by yasmin on Mar 13, 2014 15:26:33 GMT
Tuesday morning, I noticed 6-year old Lilac looked a bit puffed up. That night she sneezed/coughed (?) a couple of times wiping her nose after each sneeze. Appetite and activity level were good as usual. Eating all sorts of food.
Yesterday morning, she began making snuffling sounds. Last night she began "wheezing(?)" with every breath. Still wiping at her nose/mouth area. Appetite good (still eating all sorts of food), activity level a bit slower but still active.
This morning she is puffy, continues to make squeaking sounds with each breath, still wiping at her nose/mouth area, and now her breathing is looking laboured and she is picky about what she eats (drops all food except when I give her bits that are flat like the dried carrots and flat peas in the Versele Degu Nature.) Gave her a sunflower seed as well – she hulled it and ate it.
I was fortunately able to secure an appointment with her vet at 5 pm today. I suspect it is either a respiratory infection or, heaven forbid, her teeth issues have progressed to the point of them invading her nasal space (please, please make it not that).
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 13, 2014 19:21:40 GMT
Sorry to hear this. Good luck at the vets.
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Post by anita on Mar 14, 2014 7:53:08 GMT
Poor lilac thinking of you
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Post by yasmin on Mar 14, 2014 18:00:25 GMT
Lilac's lungs are clear, heart is good, but is having alot of trouble breathing. Makes sounds when she inhales. The vet had a look at a bit of clear fluid that came out of her nose (put it on a slide then looked at in under a microscope, I think) and said that it showed wall-to-wall white blood cells. This means that her body is trying to fight off a massive infection. Would need an X-ray to see if it is caused by her teeth but the vet said that, because she is having trouble breathing, it is too risky to anesthetize her for that. So he prescribed 2 to 3 weeks of Baytril, 2x a day. Hopefully by Monday she will start showing some improvement.
If the Baytril clears up the infection then, if it's a respiratory infection, it should be cleared up for good. However, if the infection returns after a week or so later, then it is likely a tooth issue. In that case, we would use Baytril to clear up the infection the second time and then do an X-ray when she is back to normal.
If the Baytril does not help her, then we will have to decide whether or not to take the risk of doing an x-ray.
The animal hospital provided banana-flavoured Baytril. Lilac took the first dose last night but this morning refused it or any food with it on it. So I have special ordered peanut butter flavoured Baytril. Don't know if this will be easier to administer but it's worth a shot. Hate force-feeding antibiotics. Last thing she needs is the stress of that though we will have to do that until the new flavour comes in.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 14, 2014 20:19:00 GMT
Thanks for the update, it all seems to make sense. Good luck getting the ABs into her. Might she take it in baby food laced with peanut butter?
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Post by anita on Mar 15, 2014 8:06:34 GMT
Hi Yasmin poor lilac a few drops of metacam brought Gerald back from the brink a few times when his breathing was got really bad and as I have said before on other posts Septrin worked a lot better than Baytril for him. It sounds like you have a good vet lets hope he can find what is causing her problems.
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Post by jenowuk on Mar 15, 2014 12:23:16 GMT
Hi, we went through a period where we had to give one of our goos baytril, and found the easiest way was to put it on a couple of flakes of oats and let it stand for a few minutes. The goos love oats, so would woof it up regardless of what was on it....
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Post by ntg on Mar 15, 2014 13:06:36 GMT
Fingers crossed the antibiotics clear it up and it's just an infection Yasmin! I'll be rooting for Lilac.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 15, 2014 21:14:27 GMT
Me too!
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Post by yasmin on Mar 16, 2014 0:36:07 GMT
Thanks, everyone.
So far Lilac is not getting any worse. This morning I was able to get the antibiotic into her via sunflower seeds but will give the oats idea a try (Lilac loves oats) and will try the baby food/peanut butter if I continue to have issues. Should have the peanut butter flavoured Baytril by Tuesday; curious to give that a try.
Will also keep in mind Gerald's positive experience with Metacam and Septrin in case she doesn't respond to the Baytril.
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Post by jenowuk on Mar 16, 2014 15:16:32 GMT
Good luck - keep us posted on her progress:-)
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Post by yasmin on Mar 18, 2014 15:07:30 GMT
Update on Lilac:
No improvement and she is now losing her appetite. (Is it the Baytril upsetting her stomach? Might she have spurs that need to be removed? I don't know?!?) She will eat a bit and then take what I give her and bury it so putting Baytril on her sunflower seeds only works for the first one – subsequent ones she buries. She is also still wise to the banana scent so putting it on oats is fine for the first but she won't take a second bite. We had to force feed the Baytril to her this morning but this is so difficult. Even if you get the syringe end in her mouth, a good portion of it ends up on both her and on us.
Hope the peanut butter flavoured baytril comes in soon.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 19, 2014 11:20:08 GMT
Did you get the new baytril? Is it any better?
I don't recall reading about any otherwise healthy degus losing appetite from taking a short course of baytril - say for a leg wound where the rest of their body is fully healthy. I would think it is most likely her loss of appetite is just due to feeling unwell. Unless teeth problems are involved in causing the original breathing problem, it would seem unlikely that she has suddenly developed spurs a few days later that would affect her eating.
Have you tried switching up the treat that you hide the ABs in/ on? Have you tried nuts?
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Post by yasmin on Mar 19, 2014 14:40:29 GMT
The peanut-butter-flavoured Baytril makes not difference to Lilac. She resists both unless it is put on a sunflower seed. However, she will only eat two or three sunflower seeds and then buries any subsequent ones and will not eat anything but fresh grass afterwards. The vet did not check her mouth for spurs when I took her in last week. I think he said he was afraid to give her any level of anesthetic while her breathing was compromised, and that we should try and cure the infection first. I was thinking of giving it a couple of more days because her weight so far is fine. However, my husband wants me to deal with this ASAP because he doesn't want me to ruin the weekend worrying and fussing. I will call the vet today and find out if he thinks I should bring her in tomorrow or Friday. If he isn't in, I will just make an appointment for as soon as possible.
She did eat thawed frozen peas this morning and she eats a few strands fresh grass. She buried any subsequent food I offered her. She is still running the wheel – wheezing after a couple of seconds but continues on.
There is some sort of respiratory infection going around. A second goo, I think it is Meiyo, has been sneezing and wiping her nose. I have started her on antibiotics just in case but so far her breathing is fine.
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Post by jenowuk on Mar 19, 2014 19:40:16 GMT
So sorry to hear it's not getting better. Poor Lilac, and poor you. I would recommend getting into a vet asap before the weekend. If her appetite is waning, they are so small, the loose weight very quickly...better to be safe than sorry. Fingers crossed for you.
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Post by yasmin on Mar 19, 2014 21:43:49 GMT
I have booked an appointment for tomorrow at 9:30 am. Yes, better safe than sorry.
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Post by yasmin on Mar 20, 2014 3:58:37 GMT
She will eat thawed frozen peas and cat grass. I suspect she has spurs as well as an upper respiratory infection.
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Post by yasmin on Mar 20, 2014 17:17:51 GMT
Back from the vet, though Lilac is still there. She has lost weight. Wanted to have her mouth checked for spurs. She was uncooperative as far as letting him have a look so the vet could not do it without giving her an anesthetic. Vet said anesthesia would be risky because of her breathing issues but because her heart and lungs sound clear, there was a good chance that she would get through it. I felt that, infection or not, if she has spurs and they weren't removed right away she would not be able to eat properly and would therefore not be able to fight the infection. So I gave the go ahead to give her the anesthetic and remove any spurs. He suggested that, since she would be under anesthetic, we might as well do an Xray to check to see if the noise she was making when breathing in was due to teeth growing into her sinuses. I said yes to that too.
She has successfully recovered from the anesthesia.
Diagnosis: She had spurs including a huge one that was trapping her tongue. She also has molars growing into her sinuses.
Treatment: Spurs were removed. She will get Metacam to help with the inflammation and pain caused by her molars invading her sinuses. The molar issue will likely progress and she will eventually pass away/have to be put down because of it.
We will be picking Lilac up in a few hours and meeting with the vet to see the xrays and go over everything. I will be glad to have her home.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 20, 2014 18:08:11 GMT
I'm so sorry it's such bad news Thinking of you and Lilac.
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Post by jenowuk on Mar 20, 2014 19:32:59 GMT
Oh Yasmin, I'm sorry to hear about the molars. Poor Lilac. Glad her spurs have been removed, and the metacam will hopefully help keep her comfortable.....thinking of you both. Give her lots of hugs and love from all of us.
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