jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 20, 2017 20:22:35 GMT
For dinner tonight Madame, we have something of a 5 course medley. Carrot paste with sunflower seeds, carrot paste au naturel, a warm porridge on the side, ground sunflower seeds in case of hunger and of course some halved puffed oats. I think I've gone quite mad.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 20, 2017 20:31:29 GMT
"Nice job on the porridge human... as for the rest... must try harder." Yeah I'm barking... Attachments:
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Post by winic1 on Jan 20, 2017 20:35:00 GMT
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA!
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Post by bouncy on Jan 20, 2017 20:57:44 GMT
Superb! She's so spoilt! "hmmmmmm, not sure about the carrot, weird stuff, give me more porridge!" She's worse than us out here! We order different courses than those from the menu (Barbara, Jo, and I are the worst for it), Meno will decide he doesn't want one of the courses (six in total) but not tell the waitress, she'll bring it, go back to get the same for another table, come back to find she has too many because Johannes is already eating Meno's, but has another anyway, and will have a second main on top of that! As for desserts...... We love being pains in the backside hahaha!
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Post by moletteuk on Jan 20, 2017 21:03:22 GMT
Love the presentation
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 20, 2017 22:16:41 GMT
I haven't given her any metacam today as there was no great need with the way she was taking food, given it's her mouth where the pain should be. I think I will give her some 30 mins before the car journey tomorrow so that she feels good during the trip.
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Post by bouncy on Jan 20, 2017 22:26:32 GMT
Good plan. Until you know whether roots are involved, it's not worth overmedicating.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 20, 2017 22:49:23 GMT
Good plan. Until you know whether roots are involved, it's not worth overmedicating. I've noticed over my amateurish degu career that even though they hide pain while awake, while sleeping/dozing and believing themselves to be secure they let out low moans when in chronic pain, presumably when something is pretty bad. She did this a few days before Weds and Weds itself. Hasn't done it since. I'm taking some comfort in the fact her eyes cleared up only after a few days so hopefully there is no great root issue... and if there is we'll work with it while she still has quality of life like bouncy does. The heatpad fits in her carry cage snugly, with enough room to move off it if she gets too hot. Ah my poor girl, ideally she'd have 2-3 more days at home without stress I think, but the exotics guy agreed with you all that he needs to see her soon. He at least acknowledged what I said about her state of health and current situation, which is a step up already. He also noted she's only young for a degu right away... even that is nice to hear as I don't think my non exotics vet knew that 2 was young.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 9:41:51 GMT
She's not a morning girl at all, but going to take her barring any disasters. She's currently having some breakfast, porridge again. Figured out she only likes fresh oats for porridge, no more than a few days old haha. Walking it into the carpet of course, why not. Cursing my luck that this is one of the coldest days of the year, but will crank up the car heat and wrap her carry cage up in an old overcoat during transfer times with the top half left open for peaking. Crossing my fingers no noisy dogs as could hear some on the phone yesterday - I like all animals, but it's a shame it's not economically viable for a vet to treat exotics separately. Will report back early afternoon!
Found her in the bag of Selective Science first thing, not sure if she was just sleeping in there or having some food. Her eyes were wide open so hopefully the latter though her sister was letting out mad warbles as she does in the morning and possibly disturbing her. I'm very concerned about today overall, but I've definitely added something to her frame since Weds. Every gram counts.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 10:15:08 GMT
A touch less boney I'd say! Painful to pick her up while she's thin though. Took metacam 10 mins ago, which is brill timing. Heat pad appropriately warming her behind. Off we go.
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Post by bouncy on Jan 21, 2017 10:37:40 GMT
I put Scaredy in my hoodie for the transfer, putting him in the carry case with the seat heat turned on Good luck!
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Post by bouncy on Jan 21, 2017 13:14:45 GMT
How'd it go?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2017 14:26:09 GMT
Yes please update us when you're home and settled
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 14:30:09 GMT
Right sorry for long gap - tough day so far!! So v good news is the vet says he can treat the tooth (he says it's actually only one that is completely overgrown and messed up). He didn't seem to understand why the other vet said it was entirely inaccessible as he could see the whole issue with his scope while she wasn't even sedated. She is going in Monday. He said they could take her in, board her, and give her high cal liquid by syringe, but I thought with all these methods of getting food in her I now know and the less stress that I'd bring her back and keep feeding her here where it's very warm and quiet. Unluckily for him a very aggressive iguana had basically attacked him (!) and so he was overrun by 30 mins, but she coped with the wait ok and all quiet dogs so was lucky there. Her weight is a very sobering 153g . He said she does have a small frame and that 170 wouldn't be too bad a weight for her, but she's obviously still very underweight. So hopefully can put on a few grams between now and Monday. I've bought some sesame seeds, some bananas, walnuts, hazelnuts, more baby food and puffed oats. If she takes mushed banana is that ok - I think someone said it was ok for refeeding, but obviously not long term? I will keep trying combos of pastes and mixes and provide the ones I know she likes every time (currently the only consistent winners are plain carrot and porridge). He gave me a liquid feed called Ocoxin that would apparently fatten her up fast, but I've not heard of this used for degus before and the ingredients list says it includes green tea... hmmmm... caffeine for a degu?? He said he treats degus often so presumably it is safe in short term use, but not sure if I'll use it, will wait for opinions here. He said I should keep giving her metacam as so soon since her last mouth surgery. I think that's all I had to report...
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Post by bouncy on Jan 21, 2017 14:35:49 GMT
Cool!
Did he check her roots, or will it be Monday when she's under?
You're certainly adept at satisfying the goo palette, so I'm sure she'll be fine.
Bet you're glad you didn't take the other vet's advice now!
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Jan 21, 2017 14:37:37 GMT
Definitely keep going with the Metacam - pain makes people (and presumably degus) nauseous, which makes us and them less likely to eat.
I gave River mashed banana as a treat for taking his antibiotics, not huge quantities but he ate it and in the short term it's probably not going to do more harm to her than her not eating if that makes sense. I've not come across Ocoxin before, so can't be much use there.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 14:43:43 GMT
Cool! Did he check her roots, or will it be Monday when she's under? You're certainly adept at satisfying the goo palette, so I'm sure she'll be fine. Bet you're glad you didn't take the other vet's advice now! I think the X-ray will be done during the Monday general - I'm hoping it won't take that long procedure wise because it's only one and a half teeth to treat as the others he said were burred down well enough. There's something she picks out of the Rosewood Summerfield mix so I'll leave a new bag of that open on the floor when it arrives. Amazon making a small fortune from my degu orders. I don't actually know what it is she likes in there with her bad mouth. There's definitely something about imitating foraging that encourages them and makes them happy. That other vet is no friend of mine for sure!
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 14:46:38 GMT
Definitely keep going with the Metacam - pain makes people (and presumably degus) nauseous, which makes us and them less likely to eat. I gave River mashed banana as a treat for taking his antibiotics, not huge quantities but he ate it and in the short term it's probably not going to do more harm to her than her not eating if that makes sense. I've not come across Ocoxin before, so can't be much use there. Thanks! If she doesn't eat much after the stress of today I'll consider giving her this stuff.
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jr
Foraging Degu
Posts: 90
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Post by jr on Jan 21, 2017 15:02:36 GMT
How truly terrible is 153g? I saw a post from an experienced owner in Germany that she'd adopted two 2 year old adults at 100g each (!!!) before fattening them back up to 240! This seems like an extreme story though and amazed they could survive at 100 if this is how boney 153 is. Man oh man how did I not notice.
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Post by savvy on Jan 21, 2017 15:19:28 GMT
Don't be too hard on yourself JR, degus have thick fur which can disguise their weight and as the vet said, she is small framed. Just learn from it and weigh them regularly.
As I said in a previous post, 2nd opinions are worth their weight in gold, especially when dealing with exotics. It could be that the previous vet thought degus are like hamsters where 2years is average. But I'd be very tempted to put in a complaint about the treatment you received at the hands of the original vet.
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