Back trauma & gas

[jennye]

Update:
I have stopped the ketoprofen (vet order).

I have Mylicon drops that I am giving roughly every 3 hours...about 1 hour after each feeding. I can usually get most of the dropper full into him, but it's still pretty rough.

I have stopped the Emeraid and am waiting for some Critical Care to arrive.

I am syringe feeding a blended sludgy mix of pellets (timmy & alffy) with h2o until the CC arrives. This is pretty tough...I can get about 3ml into him and then he just refuses to eat any more. I can get it on his mouth, but he just lets it sit there. I am doing those feedings about every 3 hours.

Giving tummy rubs and warm compress as he will allow.

Reglan every 6 hours. He takes that like a champ. :thumbsup:

Trying to syringe feed some water into him, but mostly he just lets it run out.

He did have some tiny poops just a while ago. And I did notice him eating some of them. Hoping that's a good sign. ???

And he did eat about 3 pieces of hay from me that I offered to him.

I think that is everything. I am just really nervous that I am not getting enough food into him. I don't know how to get him to take more. And his fur under his chin and on his chest is a mess from all of this stuff. I did let him have a dust bath after the last feeding and he seemed very happy about that.

He is supposed to go back to the vet tomorrow (Saturday) at noon.

Jenny

 

[ticklechin]

The more food in the more it acts like a "plunger" to get the gas out and gets the digestive tract contracting more, try as hard as you can to get at least 60ml of food in him. The emeraid is nasty stuff, pellets and water are yucky so hopefully he will find the critical care more tasty. When dealing with bloat and stasis any poo is good poo, the more poo the better.

 

[JodiO]

Any updates? I've been following this thread w/ interest since my own chin just gave me a scare w/ gas. I feel your pain trying to force feed, as my little Jerry hates to be burritoed & gives an awful struggle. I was told to use unscented baby wipes & a soft baby toothbrush to clean the fur under his chin. Good luck!!! I hope he gets better soon!

 

[jennye]

I think we are getting closer to the recovery side of this. :thumbsup:

Vet visit yesterday was full of my nodding my head and saying, "OK"...while inside I just let most of it go in one ear and out the other. I really began to tune out when I told the vet that I was giving Mirko some floor time after each feeding to see if he would move around, etc. And his reply to that was, "That's good...if he is moving around that will help him to BURP and work some gas out."
Burp? Really? :banghead:

While in his carrier cage yesterday (about 1 1/2 hours) he had 25-30 tiny poos. Then nothing until about midnight. After his feeding he did move around a bit and we had some poos. Still very small. Never thought I would be wishing for those nice, big poops! LOL

They did give him a vitamin shot and some sub-q fluids yesterday. The vet also told me to stop the mylicon because he is pooping. I just nodded and smiled.

After the midnight feeding when I put him back in his cage...he didn't go straight into his tube. He stayed out and even picked up a piece of hay to munch on. And he did nibble a bit on a wooden chew toy. Hadn't seen him touch anything like that in days.

Then the really encouraging part was the fact that right before I went to bed I caught him climbing the side of the cage. He got stuck up there because there are no shelves in the cage right now. Glad I saw him do it before I went to bed. So, I had to block off the top 1/2 of cage. He was not happy about that.

Took his meds through the night really easily.

This morning I noticed some poos in the cage where I can tell he spent most of the night...but it was outside the fleece tube, so I see that as a positive. He didn't spend all night just hiding.

This morning he had his Reglan and we did a syringe feeding. He played in the play area more than I have seen all week. He actually did a couple of wall surfs. And there were about 10 little poos by the time we were done. And I had some loose hay in there that he picked through and ate several pieces on his own.

Right now he is sitting in the cage...outside the fleece tube.

I am going to continue doing everything I have been doing until I start seeing some nice big poops.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone here who has been so helpful through all of this. And thank you to everyone that helps keep this forum going!! I don't know what I would have done without it.

And a BIG BIG thank you to Dawn for answering my endless PMs and for making me feel like I could do this. And to Menagerie for getting some critical care out to me as quickly as she could. Thank you to you all!!!!

Please let me know if there are any other questions or information I can give.

Jenny

 

[Jazicat]

I have no advice but I wanted to say that I am really glad your guy seems to be feeling better. I always love it when an owner is as dedicated as you and takes the time to get the best advice.

 

[ticklechin]

Keep up the good work, you are such a good Chin Mom!

 

[jennye]

Thank you Jazicat.
I appreciate your thoughtful words. I am just so thankful that we have a place like this that we can come to...and for all of the people that are so willing to give their time and share their knowledge.

Our little guy is so special to us. We picked him out when he was 2 wks. old and then drove an 1 hour each way, each weekend to visit him...hold him, talk to him, socialize him, etc. We brought him home at 8 wks and he is almost 4 yrs. now. He is so sweet and I couldn't imagine not doing everything we could for him.

He seems to be doing really well today. He has eaten several pieces of hay that I have seen. And he has taken a couple of pellets from me. I know that's not much so we are still doing the syringe feedings, but it gives me hope. He has also spent quite a bit of time out of hiding and has munched on several chew toys. :thumbsup:

Time to get some Reglan into him...

 

[caiti]

I'm so glad to hear he's doing better!! Hopefully he's turned a corner.

I'd think you can keep giving the simethicone for as long as you think you should.

 

[jennye]

Thanks Caiti!

Update:
We had two big poos during playtime tonight! He was nicely active...I wouldn't say 100%, but active.

Still continuing with simethicone & Reglan for now. Still doing some syringe feeding, but also trying to give him a chance to eat on his own. I have seen him eat several pieces of hay and a couple of pellets.

He has never been a big pellet eater, so I am actually having to count pellets to know if he has eaten any through the night.

Any suggestions on a pellet that a picky chin has loved??

I have done APD for most of his life, recently switched to Mazuri to see if he would eat more. Thinking of trying Purina Rabbit Chow Show or Oxbow.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that his back seems to be doing better also. I have noticed that he is not as lopsided when he runs and he is able to balance on the left leg (the one that he was favoring to begin with). He wasn't even able to balance himself to scratch with his right leg before. :thumbsup:

 

[ticklechin]

Good news! Instead of counting you can weigh the bowl at night and in the morning to see if food is missing, also weigh him daily, when you see some gain you know he is eating and you can start cutting back on feedings. The gut is sore after bloat so it takes a couple of days after the gas is gone for him to resume eating on his own. As far as pellets, its a hit and miss on what chins like, you can request samples from vendors here to try them out. Sandi here sells oxbow I am sure she would send you a sample to try!

 

[mishellyshel]

I agree about the food & chin weighing. As for the food, I would say for right now to not mess with making any changes until he is completely out of the woods. The last thing the little dude needs is more changes to his diet.
Once his appetite has returned, I would again agree with Dawn and try the Oxbow. With only one chin, the added cost of the Oxbow is worth it. You can also do a search and read reviews on a lot of the other feeds like Mazuri and Purina Rabbit Show Chow, etc...

I have a couple guys that are not huge pellet eaters but love their hay. There have been many chins who were on a strictly hay diet and did well. Personally I would still offer the pellets but I would also expand the types of hay you offer. If you are just doing the Timothy hay, i would add some Orchard Grass, Alfalfa hay, Blue Grass, Oat Hay, Botanical Hay. You can also try different cuts of hay. I would also maybe buy a small amount of hay cubes to offer a different texture every now & again. Plus make sure he has plenty of wood chews to wear down his teeth if he isnt eating too many pellets.

 

[jennye]

We've got poo!!! This morning there were lots of nice sized poos in the cage!! :dance3: As soon as he noticed me in the room he came right over to the door of the cage.

When I got him out to give him his Reglan and try a syringe feeding...he was very fiesty! I didn't get much into him during the feeding. I decided to let him have some playtime to see how he behaved.

He was very active!! I even noticed he has some "spring" back in his run. And we had some poos during playtime! He is a bit frustrated in his cage right now because the space is so limited...still no shelves, wheel, etc. So, I am trying to give him extra floor time.

Thank you Dawn and mishellyshel for the most recent advice. I won't change up his pellets right now, and I will request some samples for some vendors here.

I did so much research 4 years ago before I got him and I thought I had it all figured out...and then he decided differently. I think I have thrown away more pellets in the last 4 years than he has eaten. He does get a variety of hays and he seems to go back and forth as to whether or not he likes certain ones. Sometimes he will eat the APD hay like crazy and sometimes not, so then I switch to Oxbow and before I know it...he's over that. :banghead:

But I will do whatever it takes to keep him happy. My human kids are just as picky!

Thanks again everyone!! :hug2:

 

[ticklechin]

:woohoo: Happy poo dance!

 

[jennye]

Poo Here...Poo There...Poo Everywhere!!! :dance3:

Got up this morning and there were more poos in the cage than I could count!! Ok, I didn't really try to count them, but there was A LOT!!

There was a pile of hay outside the hay box, so I know he must have been pulling some out. And his hay "toy" was completely destroyed and most of the hay from that was gone. (The toy is one of those cardboard rings with Orchard Grass in it...kind of like a napkin in a napkin ring) I can tell pellets were missing. And the water level in his bottle went down. I know he wasn't drinking any water out of it before because I was marking the level each day when I put in fresh water.

I'm going to get him out for some play time because he is pulling on the bars of the cage each time I walk by.

We have a vet visit this afternoon...which I'm pretty sure will do nothing for us except take more money out of my pocket.

Thank you thank you to everyone who helped us through this and to everyone who just read and was thinking of us. I thank you and Mirko thanks you!! :hugs:

 

[mishellyshel]

haha......now you've got a spoiled chin on your hands! my handfed baby boy still throws tantrums if he doenst come out every day and i have not handfed him for 8 - 10 months.
he is also the most friendly and mischievious of all my boys and the one that just hops out of his cage into my arms. last night he actually jumped on my head! i think they realize that we were trying to help them and they have a different level of trust. of course there are always those who buck the system and go back to their skittish selves. lets hope Mirko stays sweet.

 

[ticklechin]

Long term hand fed chins become very VERY tame and they can become addicted to it and be hard to wean off.