Another update
I believe we are finally headed in the right direction
So to re-cap - Before going to the vet our chinny weighed in at about 590 grams. We also noticed this issue as shown below
There was a very distinct bald patch/lump right above her eye.
At our initial vet visit, the vet felt the bump and noted that it did not feel solid, but a bit "squishy" implying the lump was full of liquid. They advised us to lance it, and by seeing the discharge it would be quite telling as to what we are dealing with.
After coming back they noted that the discharge was a thick white liquid, the consistency of almost toothpaste.
After the lancing and first draining this is what it looked like
The vet also noted that when lifting our chins eyelids to look at the "whites" of her eyes, that it was a very veiny "bloodshot" looking.
The vet noted that it looks a lot more "dramatic" then it really is. She sent us home with a prescription of metacam and baytril/enrolfloxacin. We noticed an immediate drop in our chins appetite and her weight went down from 590 to 560. We updated the vet, and the vet told us for now to take our chin off the meds until her appetite returns, which we did and her weight stabilized in the 550-560 range.
We also force fed a mix of Sherwood SARx, Sherwood Appetite stimulant and also critical care to supplement her drop in food.
The second visit, the vet noted that the wound looked ok and showed us how to force feed more easily, though we noticed that her appetite was still very here and there. She was eating her pellets, hay, water and limited amount of treats we gave to her but overall her appetite was definitely down.
Upon the third visit to the vet, the lump looked like it was filling up again though it was showing signs of improvement. The whites of her eyes were now completely white, and the lump was smaller, though still present.
This time the vet advised us to do a pathologist report to determine what is the root cause of this lump. They told us that with a culture, it would determine if its a lot of neutrophiles (white blood cells) and if there was bacteria present which we agreed to.
He then took a needle and took a sample. After taking the sample and sending us home, we noted the lump now looked as follows
Notice that there is still a distinct area that is "yellowy" compared to the rest of the area. Mind you this is now the third week since we first went to drain it and we noted that she was not gaining weight, and her hair was not growing back still.
So we continued to force feed her this past week, and on one of our force feeding I must have accidentally burst the abcess. It was pretty freaky at the moment, but once we got things under control we took the opportunity to take a couple of q-tips to massage out as much of the yellow/white pus as we could since there was now a "point of entry".
We also got the test results as follows
The lab results cost about $240 CDN to obtain.
The lab results noted that while it appears that it is highly likely it is an abcess, that no bacteria could be found. Our personal theory (aside from the vet) is that maybe there is no bacteria, as she has been able to fight off whatever the infection was, and now its just the remaining left over white blood cells that are left filled up.
Yesterday night we were able to massage out the rest of the white pus in her abcess. It is like how people say, take two q-tips and massage and "pinch" the abcess a bit - Just like popping a zit. This was the end result
If you take a close look, the abcess is significantly smaller/nearly gone and there is lots of little hairs growing in. So the amount of skin she has showing is less and less. The hair regrowth seems to start showing fuzz with a few days.
Initially after the first time draining the abcess from the vet, we didnt notice any hair re-growth. But the last two times that we were able to drain the abcess on our own, we can totally see baby hairs regrowing. So we suspect the hair re-growth wasnt happening since it was still pussey underneath. Now its just a small scab and pinky skin.
So I think we finally have the abcess under control and heres her grumpy look
So I dont think we need to give anymore medications (as that caused a huge appetite loss), and currently she seems to be eating/drinking/playing normally. So we dont want to stress her out to force feed her, since she is able to eat on her own, and eating on her own is always better.
But our main, and biggest concern now is that although her weight is holding steady - How long does it take a chin to regain weight?
As noted, she was initially 590 BEFORE going into the vet. Now after seeing the vet a total of 3 times over 3 weeks, taking baytril/metacam, force feeding shes sitting right in the 530-540 gram range.
Is it too optimistic to expect 10 grams weight gain per day? Or are we looking more at like 2-4 grams of weight gain per day?
Over the last two days we did notice that her lowest weight went from 528 to 530 minimum - Is this what we should be expecting?
If we need to force feed, we can - But from what I have been reading critical care isnt used for weight GAIN - Its more of a supplement to help MAINTAIN and PREVENT weight loss. But since she does seem to be able to eat on her own, we are thinking the benefits to letting her eat on her own out weigh us force feeding her.
Any thoughts of advice would be much appreciated
