Sandi
non-stop poop sweeper
I have a few questions regarding my chin CJ. He's been through quite a bit these past few months. Some background first...
* First, he was separated from his cagemate 1.5 months ago due to his cagemate chasing him and causing lots of fur slips and some weight loss in CJ.
* Then one evening at the end of January, I noticed his chin wet and him pawing at his mouth quite a bit. I took CJ to an experienced exotic vet right away and on Jan. 30 she trimmed and filed his incisors as both sets were angled. The vet also said that CJ had a bone defect and called it "a functional abnormality" on his upper left molars, so she filed those down as well at the same time. No xrays were taken, I did request them but in the vet's opinion, they weren't necessary, she also prescribed metacam for pain. At first it seemed that he was going to start to eat on his own as he nibbled on hay but he would not touch his pellets nor drink from his water bottle. Even though I was handfeeding him as well as syringe feeding water to him, his poops were way off meaning there weren't too many of them and were small and dry. I called the vet who prescribed Reglan. After 2 weeks from the filings, he wasn't any better and had stopped nibbling on the hay and the oat supplement. Still, he has never touched the pellets or water.
* Friday, Feb. 12th, I schedule a vet appointment for xrays for the following Monday. Glad I did as on Sunday around 3 a.m. I noticed him pawing at his nose a lot and I thought I saw some flaky substance at the edge of his nostrils. I believed it to be dried up critical care as that is what it looked like but it did not look like a wet discharge. Then the next morning, he looked worse than he did the day of his filings. During the drive to the vet I heard CJ sneeze and saw his nose wet and knew right away it was a URI and the vet confirmed it. No xrays were taken that day due to the vet not wanting to sedate him because of the URI. Vet put him on oral Baytril and told me to keep him on the Reglan. After a few scary days and now on the last day of the Baytril, I believe he has recovered from the URI. No discharge nor sneezing and he never had labored breathing.
Ok, here are a few of my concerns and questions. One is since the filings, he has never touched nor eaten his pellets, hay, oat supplement nor drank on his own again. The only thing that he will eat on his own is about half of a shreddie, the other half he drops so that he can paw at his mouth and he does not struggle with hand feedings and he loves the apple/banana critical care. He continues to paw at his mouth during and after feedings as well. He used to love apple wood sticks but he has not touched them either. When he paws at his mouth its usually on the right side and on that same side the fur around the right eye is matted down but I don't feel it wet (pic of it below). This eye has been this way on and off since his filings but looks worse since the URI.
I want to schedule another appointment for the xrays but is it too soon from the URI? Sorry, it got so long. I thought I needed to put it all out there to get the best possible advice. Thanks.
here's my cutie, 2 pics of him from last night, bottom one you could see his matted down fur around his eye ...
* First, he was separated from his cagemate 1.5 months ago due to his cagemate chasing him and causing lots of fur slips and some weight loss in CJ.
* Then one evening at the end of January, I noticed his chin wet and him pawing at his mouth quite a bit. I took CJ to an experienced exotic vet right away and on Jan. 30 she trimmed and filed his incisors as both sets were angled. The vet also said that CJ had a bone defect and called it "a functional abnormality" on his upper left molars, so she filed those down as well at the same time. No xrays were taken, I did request them but in the vet's opinion, they weren't necessary, she also prescribed metacam for pain. At first it seemed that he was going to start to eat on his own as he nibbled on hay but he would not touch his pellets nor drink from his water bottle. Even though I was handfeeding him as well as syringe feeding water to him, his poops were way off meaning there weren't too many of them and were small and dry. I called the vet who prescribed Reglan. After 2 weeks from the filings, he wasn't any better and had stopped nibbling on the hay and the oat supplement. Still, he has never touched the pellets or water.
* Friday, Feb. 12th, I schedule a vet appointment for xrays for the following Monday. Glad I did as on Sunday around 3 a.m. I noticed him pawing at his nose a lot and I thought I saw some flaky substance at the edge of his nostrils. I believed it to be dried up critical care as that is what it looked like but it did not look like a wet discharge. Then the next morning, he looked worse than he did the day of his filings. During the drive to the vet I heard CJ sneeze and saw his nose wet and knew right away it was a URI and the vet confirmed it. No xrays were taken that day due to the vet not wanting to sedate him because of the URI. Vet put him on oral Baytril and told me to keep him on the Reglan. After a few scary days and now on the last day of the Baytril, I believe he has recovered from the URI. No discharge nor sneezing and he never had labored breathing.
Ok, here are a few of my concerns and questions. One is since the filings, he has never touched nor eaten his pellets, hay, oat supplement nor drank on his own again. The only thing that he will eat on his own is about half of a shreddie, the other half he drops so that he can paw at his mouth and he does not struggle with hand feedings and he loves the apple/banana critical care. He continues to paw at his mouth during and after feedings as well. He used to love apple wood sticks but he has not touched them either. When he paws at his mouth its usually on the right side and on that same side the fur around the right eye is matted down but I don't feel it wet (pic of it below). This eye has been this way on and off since his filings but looks worse since the URI.
I want to schedule another appointment for the xrays but is it too soon from the URI? Sorry, it got so long. I thought I needed to put it all out there to get the best possible advice. Thanks.
here's my cutie, 2 pics of him from last night, bottom one you could see his matted down fur around his eye ...
