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Post by hpdegus on Apr 29, 2022 23:44:18 GMT
No exotic vets on call or at capacity unless its immediately life threatening. Hes still not close to normal. He is moving a bit more, slowly exploring the couch with lots of breaks. Still a bit fluffy and eyes not fully open. He has pooped and peed several times and he's groomed a bit too. He fought me a tad on antibiotics and chewed at the syringe so thats something. He hasn't eaten anything in a few hours though he's picked up rice puffs/oats and sniffed them. I do have a picture of his abdomen if anyone would like to view. CW for bruising/sutures and his underside. photos.app.goo.gl/FkWjeBdk5LcN7dKMA
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 0:17:12 GMT
Just got 2.5 mL of very very watery CC into him. He kept chewing on the syringe but stopping if I sped up dispensing liquid. So maybe chewing the syringe isn't all anger?
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 30, 2022 1:17:47 GMT
Well . . . I've not got a lot of experience with degu neutering, but that looks angry to me. Is there someone at the Vet that could receive that photo and show it to a vet?
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 30, 2022 1:20:35 GMT
Looking at the photo again . . . in the incision area next to your thumb . . . it looks like the wound is spreading open a bit, and it looks kind of gray. Is that just the effect of the shadow, or is there a loss of colour to the tissues there?
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 1:45:48 GMT
It honestly doesn't look that angry in person, think my phone really pulls out reds. The only pinker area (other than bruising which has calmed down a ton over the past week) is on his lower right, near one of the stitches. I think it pulled a bit earlier on and is still a tad irritated. The grey is actually leftover cream. I've wiping it out a bit more, but he's incredibly wiggly even when not at 100%. I can definitely send these to my vet though, see what she thinks. Here's a link to more pics. photos.app.goo.gl/j3JMjeX148SvtJK8A
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 30, 2022 5:42:39 GMT
Cameras can definitely change how things look. How is his tail doing? Is the camera also making the tip look redder than it is? I suspect so.
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Apr 30, 2022 9:25:10 GMT
That’s not the happiest post-op surgical site I’ve ever seen. I’ve definitely had worse on my critters, and seen worse in human wounds, but I wonder if he was feeling a bit brighter and went for an exploratory chew on his stitches - that would have been insanely painful and would explain him feeling off and bleh?
Is he still on antibiotics? Does he let you soak the area to clean off the crusties?
Tbh, you shouldn’t need an exotics vet for a post op wound check - he is a small fuzzybutt, but a wound is a wound, and the fundamentals of wound care isn’t different between cats, dogs and degus. The on-call vet can usually call an exotics vet for advice if needed (they do at my practice anyway), for doses of meds and stuff, but if getting it checked is a possibility I’d take him in.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 30, 2022 9:26:03 GMT
I'm sorry he's taken a turn for the worse. I would certainly try and get the vet to look at the photos and speak to you.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 11:52:16 GMT
Hi all! Good news first: Tom is acting 100% fine this morning. If I didn't live it, I would never be able to tell he was feeling so low last night. He immediately ate treats with no coaxing. He fought me on antibiotics and very very much did not appreciate me trying to soak his incision sites.
This does make me think you idea is correct Titchy! Thinking back, it wasn't quite the same as his recovery after the seizure/stroke in March. He was wobbly but wanted to eat that time. This was much more similar to maybe a day postop, not wanting food, not wanting to really move.
I've emailed the vet and will call them when they open in 10 min. They don't have an exotics vet on today, but maybe they'll have some surgical techs.
Since he has had such a drastic turnaround, I'm thinking it probably isn't an infection but more of a pain response. I could obviously be completely wrong though!
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 11:54:22 GMT
Also, he is still on antibiotics and will be for another week. He's still chewing at the syringe so I know the meds are actually going into him!
He let me try to clean it up more last night and a very little bit this morning. I could get 10-15 seconds of holding a wet towel to the area before he squirmed too much. Set him down and repeated a few times.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 30, 2022 12:06:06 GMT
I wonder if you get some degu safe antiseptic spray for the wound, if the vet thinks it might help if he is chewing it.
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 12:12:35 GMT
Just heard from the vet! One of the exotic vets was actually in covering, so he looked at the pics right away.
He and the tech I originally spoke to both agree, a little red and swollen, but nothing alarming.
They don't want me applying manuka honey or the silver cream since the stitches already look like they're dissolving/unraveling a bit (maybe he is too active or messing with them?) and adding topical creams would just hasten this. If I can find a degu safe spray though, that should be ok. Suggestions?
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Post by teemu on Apr 30, 2022 14:58:12 GMT
I would hazard a guess that any antiseptic spray aimed at pets like cats and dogs would be okay for degus as well, but a pharmacist would probably be able to help with finding one that would not be dangerous if he licks the area or something(provided they sell pet supplies in pharmacies there). I've just used regular pet antiseptics for my degus.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 30, 2022 18:30:31 GMT
I am relieved at the news! It is always helpful to have the insight and the direction to move forward to. Good job, Hpdegus!!
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 18:43:59 GMT
I was so relieved when I saw him this morning, bopping around! And I was really happy that my vets have Saturday hours and respond to email, haha.
Really hoping it was just a pain thing (obviously not great, but not life threatening) and not another seizure. But in case anything does happen after hours again, I now know of 5 different emergency vets within an hour drive, all of whom have exotic specialists!
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Apr 30, 2022 21:06:47 GMT
I mean, I am a pharmacist and I don’t have any petsafe spray suggestions (in the UK pet stores are more likely to have stuff than human pharmacies, it’s just the way veterinary medicine works here). That said, while I’d like to assume any petsafe antiseptic spray would be acceptable, I am not certain.
My vets suggested buying a small bottle of hibiscrub (pink, 4% chlorhexidine topical wash) and diluting it to a very delicate pink (I want to say 1:5 dilution, but might be more) - I remember Molly saying if you could see it was pink without comparing it to white paper, it wasn’t dilute enough - and to use that as an antiseptic to wipe the area clean with. That was a degu safe option, and the formulation hasn’t changed since then.
Buy it from Amazon, who don’t ask questions about who it’s for; you can buy it in a community pharmacy but for human use only. I obviously can’t recommend that you stretch the truth when talking to the pharmacist to obtain a bottle 😉
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Post by hpdegus on Apr 30, 2022 21:29:31 GMT
Hah, I will not be stretching the truth at a pharmacy! I found some on Amazon, but the it wouldn't get here until the 17th at the earliest. Unless I wanted to pay $75 shipping on a $25 order... so I might go to CVS anyway
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Post by moletteuk on May 1, 2022 9:07:26 GMT
Dont' know if it comes in a spray or liquid form but I've managed to dredge up Yasmin's recommendation which is Polysporin. Avoid Neosporin as that is harmful to kidneys if ingested. Also check if there is an american brand of hibiscrub. As I recall, the brands are all different for this stuff each side of the pond.
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Post by teemu on May 2, 2022 16:45:59 GMT
I mean, I am a pharmacist and I don’t have any petsafe spray suggestions (in the UK pet stores are more likely to have stuff than human pharmacies, it’s just the way veterinary medicine works here). That said, while I’d like to assume any petsafe antiseptic spray would be acceptable, I am not certain. My vets suggested buying a small bottle of hibiscrub (pink, 4% chlorhexidine topical wash) and diluting it to a very delicate pink (I want to say 1:5 dilution, but might be more) - I remember Molly saying if you could see it was pink without comparing it to white paper, it wasn’t dilute enough - and to use that as an antiseptic to wipe the area clean with. That was a degu safe option, and the formulation hasn’t changed since then. Buy it from Amazon, who don’t ask questions about who it’s for; you can buy it in a community pharmacy but for human use only. I obviously can’t recommend that you stretch the truth when talking to the pharmacist to obtain a bottle 😉
Oh, that's pretty intresting. Pharmacies here carry a lot products for animals, so I get most of the stuff for my degus from there (other than food supplements, lactic bacteria etc, which they for some reason don't really have). Some big differences from country to country, it seems.
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Post by hpdegus on May 3, 2022 0:20:22 GMT
It is interesting how different these things can be! I don't think I've ever seen pet things in a pharmacy (lived in multiple locations throughout the US) but I've never actually looked!
Any thoughts on when to put the wheel back in? I think the lack is really getting to Q. His weight hasn't recovered from the vet visit stress and he's constantly going at the bars of the cage.
The vet said to keep Tom on low activity for 10-14 days.
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