Pocky's dental exam showed that her teeth were in good condition, they were filed down a bit but there was nothing that would cause her to stop eating. She seemed bothered after her procedure and showed no interest in even nibbling anything. I had stopped giving her antibiotics thinking that the exam would bring to light a dental issue. After another visit to the vet we switched her to Baytril, a different type of antibiotic in the hopes that it would target different bacteria, but again, Pocky still didn't eat on her own.
Miso went through his surgery just fine. The abscess wasn't related to a tooth, which is a good thing, and was most likely due to an external puncture wound like a bite (I'm looking at you, Archie!) The doctor wasn't able to take out the abscess cleanly, however, it burst during the procedure. They had to suture the incision open as they couldn't close it up as a sterile wound, and I was given the responsibilty of flushing it out with an antiseptic and packing it with Neosporin twice a day. When I first saw him, I cried. It looked horrible! It's really not as bad as it looks, the vet told me it's mostly scar tissue with no nerve endings so it doesn't hurt. Miso acts like it's not even there, he eats and drinks and goes about his daily life as if nothing were different. When I brought him back for a follow up exam his wound was doing fine with no signs of infection, and on the next visit his sutures were removed. At that point I only needed to cover the incision area with Neosporin twice a day, and continue to give him acidophilus and antibiotics until he's fully healed. This morning he's healed up to where his incision shrank to a tiny dot, it looks like when you get a spider bite and scratch at it. I gave him meds this morning, but he won't be needing anymore after today. He still looks silly though, since they shaved his whole chin and the fur hasn't fully grown back yet. X3
I've had Pocky on baytril for almost 2 weeks. She's been very affectionate and vocal, and gets excited when it's feeding time but still didn't eat more than a nibble or so. I could see that whatever was affecting her still wasn't being treated, so I brought her in again to the vet when Miso had his stitches taken out. Her front teeth were getting misaligned, the lower tooth was very skinny and long, and the top was very thick. She squealed like I never heard her squeal before when they trimmed her teeth. The doctor felt her facial muscles, especially around her jaw, and could see that they'd become rather emaciated in comparison to the rest of her body. I also didn't realize that Pocky wasn't opening her mouth very wide until I had to give Miso meds and saw how enunciated his chewing motions were in comparison to his sister's. Taking all this into consideration, and seeing how she didn't have any bad teeth and probably not an infection, the vet said that she probably has some pain in the main muscles of her jaws, and that would be the cause of her lack of desire/inability to eat. He prescribed her a form of cortizone for the pain, so now I'm giving her that and acidophilus til her poops regain their normal consistency, but no more reglan or antibiotics.
Pocky's appetite, or ability to eat, is getting better. Her chewing is becoming more and more animated. She's started eating full meals of greens. We brought her back to the vet yesterday for another tooth trimming, and when I came home from work we got our delivery from Kleenmama's Hayloft, a big box of half bluegrass and half 3rd cut timothy hay. It's wonderful! The piggies love it. It all smells so fragrant, the timothy smells like veggies and the bluegrass like herbs. Pocky's started eating a lot more of her hay now, but her weight is still extremely low so I had to get another bag of Critical Care. I'm glad she's made some improvements, I'm just wondering now if I'll have to give her cortizone for the rest of her life and how often. I won't mind having to give her meds, I just want to know that my efforts are actually helping her.
As for my plushies, I've gotten some new furs cut and ready to make into more critters. My new job is giving me more hours than I anticipated (which is good, I have a LOT of vet bills to pay off!) but I'm hella busy. I got a new phone and phone number, my cell is an 8 megapixel camera so I'll be able to take some really good pics of my plushies. Ive got a half-finished rat plushie sitting on my desk whose begging for my attention for so long now... I'll be doing more updates, slowly but steadily.
Hmm, I was going to do the features promised in my last journal, but this one ran a bit too long! I'll put them in my next journal, and you can still comment here to get your work some exposure.
My Squeakies
