abcess in mouth from bad tooth

[KittyKat]

Hey everyone,

My hedgie has been lethargic for a day now I have noticed. She sometimes acts like that when she goes to the cold side of her enclosure and sleeps there for along period of time (obviously starting to hibernate its 67F in here) So I pick her up and put her back in her igloo and then she is back to her normal self after she sleeps for awhile.
So long story short... I notice tonight when I get home she is back to laying off the heating pad... So I pick her up and and she goes into her ball.... I wait for her to open up and she barely does it..... I notice her mouth is a bit swollen on one side (a bit not like the graphic hedgehog photos ) I saw that before when my old hedgie's tooth was ready to fall out but it couldn't on its own. So I have a look in her mouth... the tissue on the left side is pretty swollen, and has white junk coming out of it... I look down the back of her jaw and sure enough I see a tooth cocked sideways sticking out of somewhere its not supposed to be.... I reached in with clean tiny hemostats and grabbed onto the wee tooth and gently gave it a tug and bam came right out. No bleeding, she didn't fight or nothing. Which she did when I first opened her mouth. (ALL THIS WAS DONE GENTLY, I have much experiance with medical issues in humans and animals.) After that I tried to offer her some water by syringe onto her tongue, she didn't want any. I wasn't even going to attempt food, which obviously her mouth is infected to begin with I wouldn't be eating either.

My question is this.... I live in a small town of 1500 people. There is no small animal or reptile vet near me. The closest thing I have to me is my dog/cat vet. He did some surgery's to remove small tumors my last 8yo hedgie had until he got cancer and passed away from it. He will help me treat the hedgie I just need to know if there was a certain drug used on hedgehogs for mouth sores/infections that is different from a dog or cat? Obviously she's going to be gassed because she will not open up in a strange place with all these strangers around. Since I know she is dehydrated is there an easy way to hydrate them? I know you can't IV them... so was there any other way?

I hope she hangs on till we see the vet and get underway with some treatment. She was acting fine yesterday.... Then totally not herself today. Hope someone can let me know something!!

 

[saphire]

Hope someone could help you with her... Possitive thoughts being sent your way.

 

[Nancy]

She needs to see a vet. If it is just an abscess, it needs to be cleaned up and she will need to be on antibiotics.

It also may be a tumour and if that's the case, there really isn't much that can be done. Some people choose to have the tumour removed but the chance of it growing back quickly is just about guaranteed. Oral tumours are horrible.

You can give them subq fluids which are usually injected just under the quill line.

Her whole cage environment needs to be a suitable temperature of at least 73F. She may find the heating pad is too warm so goes to a cooler area of the cage which is too cool. Heating pads alone are not suitable for providing heat.

 

[KittyKat]

Mmmm I already know she needs to see a vet... Thats not what was being asked. I asked if there was a specific antibiotic she needed to be put on. But thanks anyway.

 

[KittyKat]

Hi, just an update... we went to the vet and she has oral cancer (which on first inspection was thought also to be an abcess, until starting to clean it up the diagnosis changed). She is eating and drinking for the time being now after giving her soft food. So the vet said as long as she is doing that I'm welcome to keep her at home. In which when she stops doing that, she will be put down. Thanks for trying to help.

 

[Kalandra]

How is your hedgehog doing?