Getting worse after teeth filing op, major issue

[Benji and Bauer]

Hey guys,

We're having a big problem with one of our Degu's, Bauer, who's now 2.5yrs old. Last week we noticed that he had started drooling so we weighed him and he'd gone from 230g to 160g in the last couple of months since we'd last weighed him, we hadn't really noticed him not eating as both seem to sit at the bowls and eat at the same time. We took him to a (useless) local vet who hadn't even seen a Degu before (!), they sent us home with just critical care and Metacam to keep him going over the weekend so that he could see an exotic specialist on Monday.

Monday came and he had the operation to rasp down his back molars, the vet said they had overgrown and were spiking into his tongue. We thought that would be the end of the problem but did wonder why we hadn't been sent home with any painkiller / anti-biotics. He slowly started to recover and ate a *little* but suddenly on Friday when we got home from work we noticed a slight bit of drooling again and he was hunched up.

We took him to a another Exotic Specialist last night who was brilliant; he clipped his incisors and had a look in his mouth... he said his tongue looked inflamed and he may possibly have an infection. The vet weighed him and he was 147g by this point...

We got sent away with Baytril (0.05ml twice a day), Metacam (0.1ml once a day) and critical care with pro-biotics and supplements to mix a pinch in.

We've given him Baytil / Metacam twice now which seems to be going down but not having an affect yet. The critical care has proven a little more problematic this weekend as he seems to let most of it run down his front from the syringe and we're not sure if he's swallowing any of it.

This is a major concern as we've not seen him eat or drink anything since Thursday night... obviously the critical care has water in it so he has had some fluids. Today he's developed a clicking / popping noise when breathing from his nose and his heart rate is excessive and way higher than normal. He's still moving around (but only around the top cage), whereas last weekend before the op he stayed in bed most of the day, but because of the excessive weight loss he must be very weak and can't even balance that well.

We've tried giving him wet / dry oats, mushed up P&H Degu pellets (normal food) as suggested on here and even his favourite treat (peanuts) but he won't take anything from us and pushes it away. We're going to now go and buy baby food, but we don't hold out much hope as he has never taken any veg from us (unlike Benji). We also tried hay / herb mixes but none of this is working either.

Has anyone that has had similar problems got any guidance on how long the Baytril and how long it takes to start working as it's now getting to the point where we're not sure what the 'right thing to do' is as he's gone down hill so much and so rapidly? Or any other advice?

We're desperate to get him better especially as his brother would be left alone... We're thinking of taking him back to the vets sooner than the appointment he was given for Friday if there's no improvement by tomorrow but we're not sure what else they can do

Thanks
Em & Stu

[Jaiye]

I hope the little guy gets well soon =(

[deguconvert]

I'm so sorry to hear of this, you must be feeling very anxious and upset. He doesn't sound well at all, poor fella! I would go with the peanut butter as well, at least it will get some calories into him . . . maybe even grind up some oats and mix them with the peanut butter, but keeping it fairly loose so that he is able to lick it and not have to chew it. You may need to add a drop or two of water to keep it soft. Dried herbs are high calorie, and so you might try giving him some of those as well, IE dried dill, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme are some suggestions. I hope these will tempt him enough to get him to start taking in food and liquids. Please let us know how he is doing!

[Benji and Bauer]

Thank you for your messages. We tried the baby food last night and even made our own food from your recipe (deguconvert) but to no avail. We suspect his tongue is inflamed so he can't get anything down, even water just gets dribbled out.

We have taken him back to the vets this morning and got them to keep him in so he can get the painkillers/anti biotics direct by injection as we've heard this has an affect much faster and we weren't sure if he was taking it in by mouth.

The vet doesn't seem to be very optimistic and said that if we can't get him to accept syringe feed there isn't much they can do. We knew this already but it's still very upsetting. It seems likely we will have to look at introducing some new degu's to this brother in the future....

[deguconvert]

The thing I don't like about force feeding for anyone, animal or human, is the potential for the fluid/food to be inhaled in the process of the fight. That would then lead to asphixiation, or pnuemonia. Either is nasty. I think if the vets will give him fluid by injection, that at least will prevent him from dehydration, and the painkillers will enable him to start feeling better, and maybe he will begin taking in fluids and foods on his own. I hope they will find that they can be of great help to him!! I'll be thinking of you!

[Benji and Bauer]

Just heard back from the vets; they put Bauer under again this afternoon as the treatment isn't having any affect and they wanted to do some blood work to look for other things. They found a wound at the back of the mouth, either from the previous op or the spikey molars they can't be sure. He's still not eating but has enough strength to be a "difficult patient", he never was very cooperative!

He's also developed pneumonia so he's receieving inhalation treatment for that. The vet gave him a 50-50 chance of survival so please keep your fingers crossed for our little guy.

[Jaiye]

So sorry to hear that! Fingers crossed for little Bauer..... Maybe he'll be like Jack Bauer (from 24) and bounce back even though everyone thinks he is dead!

Get well soon Bauer.

[Benji and Bauer]

Apr 11, 2011 18:45:51 GMT Jaiye said:

So sorry to hear that! Fingers crossed for little Bauer..... Maybe he'll be like Jack Bauer (from 24) and bounce back even though everyone thinks he is dead!

Get well soon Bauer.

Thank you for your best wishes. He's named after Jack Bauer so hopefully he'll bounce back just like him

We went to visit them earlier and to take in the wheel / dust bowl for Benji as he's been without it for almost a day and with Bauer obviously not wanting to play he must've been very bored. Bauer was in the inhalation chamber when we got there getting the pneumonia treated. The vet nurse said he looked better than yesterday evening and even tried to run away from her when she tried to catch him; we're still not holding our hopes up but it's reassuring to know he might be suffering a little less. Emma (being an Animal Welfare Graduate) thought it might be best 'to let him go' to stop his suffering before today's anaesthetic but he managed to come round from that (2nd time under in 7 days) so I'm clinging on to hope at all costs (and it's costing a lot :s).

[Jaiye]

Brilliant name sake! ^___^ Hope he pulls through sooner rather than later!

[Benji and Bauer]

Hey all,

Just an update on Bauer, yesterday we had a call from the exotic vet saying that he was accepting syringe feeding and looked a little brighter as he had come out of his bed by himself. At this point he weighed 126g.

Fast forward to 7am this morning and he's in a critical care incubator and won't take the syringe feed. By 12pm the vet had put him to sleep at our request, he weighed just 115g at death

His brother, Benji is now on his own but we're not sure if we should get him 2 new little brothers as at the moment he seems as lively as ever, although he keeps searching around the cage. He was at the vets with Bauer and has just come home so it'll take a day or so for him to get back to his usual routine at which point he might well start to feel lonely.

We're going to see if any of our local pet shops (maybe Friday) has a couple of youngsters to keep him company if he starts to look depressed. He's 2.5 years old, is he likely to accept pups at this age? We'll have a look around the forum in the introduction section to get a bit of advice.


Thanks for all your good wishes... R.I.P Bauer.

[hellsbells]

Aww really sorry to hear that, RIP Bauer.

Any introductions have a chance of not working but our experience was positive - when Billy died last July, we got two pups a week later and Joe took to them really well - they're one happy family now. Joe was 1 and a half at the time. Hopefully you'll have the same experience if you get some new pups.

[Jaiye]

Sorry to hear he didn't make it after it was going so well =(

Hope Benji takes to his new friends without too much stress on your part!

[Kins]

Aww so sorry to hear of your loss, it's always so hard!

Run free Bauer, enjoy chewing all those lovely things up in goo heaven!