Drooling, now not eating.

[rem]

Hello all,

One of my chins started to drool a week ago. I immediately took him to the vet and the vet took x-rays as well as scoped the chin's mouth. All to find nothing wrong. The vet is experienced with small mammals and chins in particular.

The vet informed me of such and prescribed general antibiotics. The drooling stopped within 24-36 hours. I thought everything was just fine. I took the little guy back yesterday for a checkup and he had lost another 100g in weight. The doctor was concerned, but overall happy with the results.

What I didn't think about / tell the vet at the time, was that I haven't seen the chin eat in some time. Even treats, which I rarely give and they really love. I only realized this once I got home and tried to give him a shredded wheat and a papaya. He didn't even touch the Shredded Wheat, and took the papaya, but immediately put it down. I gave him a pellet of his normal food and he took it from my hand and ate the entire thing, but he wouldn't take a second one.

He has been sleeping mostly, but gladly woke up to take his antibiotics. We tried to get him to eat some liquid food (Life Line and Critical Care) to no avail. The Vet has asked me to pickup some plain yogurt and to try to get him to eat anything at all.

The Vet thinks that maybe the antibiotics upset his stomach too much and the yogurt will help give him normal bacteria in his digestive tract. But that if he doesn't eat anything else in the next 24 hours to bring him back in.

Does anyone have any clue what could be the cause or a possible explanation? He hasn't had any antibacterial meds since Friday night, and to this chin, 100g is a lot (at his heaviest he was only 640, and is now at 490).

I believe he is still drinking, but am not sure about poos as he is in with another male and they get very upset when apart, I don't want to add even more stress to his situation.

 

[aznmexaggie]

Observation is often key in these situations.

If you take him out and hold him on your lap for a bit or let him walk around a bit, does he poo at all? If you feel his belly, does it feel firm as if it's full of gas? A dropper of Simethicone (baby gas drops) are helpful in aiding the chin in expelling gas. If he poos at all, then that's good that he at least does not have a blockage. If the poos are small and hard, then he is dehydrated and his gut is not keeping things moving well (he could be going into stasis). Some oral antibiotics can cause gut motility to slow which can result in a chin going off feed and thus, not passing many droppings. When administering a course of antibiotics, I like to feed a probiotic in between the doses (I do not use yogurt because the dairy can possibly cause other problems; I just break open an Acidophilus capsule and sprinkle it on a small moistened plain Cheerio or piece of shredded wheat if the chin is eating willingly, or add a bit to the Critical Care handfeeding formula if the chin is having to be forcefed) so that the chin's intestinal flora - important for digestion - can be replenished. If your chin has passed droppings (meaning, no blockage) but is not eating on his own, he will need to be handfed. Oxbow's Critical Care Fine Grind is the best, in my opinion.

Could you by chance post the chin's x-rays? There has to have been a reason for the drooling (a splinter in the gums, a tooth spur, malo, etc.). I am just wondering why a vet would prescribe an antibiotic if there was no sign of an infection. Also, what antibiotic was prescribed?

 

[AZChins]

He could be drooling from pain. If the vet couldn't find anything in the xrays or in his exam, it's probably not the teeth but it still could have something to do with the drooling. I've had chins that will drool for a short time because of pain or something stuck in the teeth, it could definitely have been an abscess or an infection in the mouth that cleared up.

The chin is no longer drooling, right? Antibiotics can cause a decrease in appetite and that can cause weight loss. You can get probiotics that will be a little more concentrated in a caplet form to put in the lifeline or critical care. It's probably going to take a little while for the weight to come back on him.

 

[ticklechin]

The only way a vet can actually see the entire dentition and soft tissue is by putting the chin under for a full exam-a otoscope only gives the vet a idea if the chin has bad issues, it can't see subtle things, especially when there is drool. That said a chin who is nauseated can drool, so there is that to also look at, the gut.

 

[rem]

After taking the chin back to the vet and having another x-ray, we saw that there was a lot of food in the chins' stomach, despite not eating, but none in the gut.

The vet recommended hand feeding critical care/life line mixed with pedialite every 2 hours. We did this for a day with no poops and the doctor took a new xray. It appeared that there was now food in the intestines, but still a huge amount 'stuck' in the stomach. He recommended continuing the feeding.

We did that, and this morning woke up to find the chin almost completely immobile. He can barely hop to a corner of the cage. I'm really afraid we will have to put him down, he won't take anything to eat or drink, I can't even get his jaw open to put water in. When I can get water in his mouth, it just dribbles out like he's not swallowing at all.

Is there any thing anyone can think of or is this really the end for my little guy? The vet said he very very likely wouldn't survive surgery as he is so very weak.

 

[ticklechin]

Sounds like the chin is in stasis, did the vet RX any motility drugs? As far as food "stuck" in the stomach, does the vet mean their is a impaction or is it just stalled food? Treatment for impaction and stasis is different at the outset, and the longer the gut is in stasis the lower the chance of survival. I would want if this was my chin a ultrasound to see if the gut is actually contracting before I made any decisions.

 

[Wall-E Kips]

does anyone have an update on the chin?...it's been about 2 months since the last time someone posted, but the thread owner didn't post any updates.

 

[rem]

Sorry for the lack of updates, unfortunately Peanut didn't make it.

The vet did x-rays, and found that no food was moving past the stomach and switched him to a liquid diet, after three days of this, there was no progress, our only other option was surgery, we would have gladly done the surgery but the vet we have was out that Friday. I tried several times to contact him and found another vet who was familiar with small animals enough to accept the chin. They tried to stabilize him so that we could perform surgery in the morning, however they were unable to do so and he passed that night.

Peanut is now cremated and sitting on a shelf, the ultimate cause was cardboard stuck in his stomach that was blocking the intestines.

Our only concern now is for his brother, should we get a new chin or will he be okay by himself. He is only three years old, so still very young.

 

[ljiayi]

Sorry for your lost, I recently lost a chin as well and she was barely two years old.

Back to your concerns, how has his brother been acting ever since? Has he been eating less, behaving differently or is everything as per normal for him? Also, may I know how there could be cardboard stuck in Peanut's stomach? Where did the cardboard come from?

 

[starrynight0621]

We used to have a cardboard playpen for our chins, and they would try to chew it and rip pieces of it off and eat it. They were successful quite a few times but fortunately it never caused impaction. There are some cardboard chin toys at pet stores too

 

[Cuddlebug]

This is the very reason that I do not allow my chins to have any cardboard at all. My sister lost her guinea pig to the same thing.

 

[rem]

Jelly, (Peanut's brother) is acting and eating and pooping just fine now. He comes out and plays a lot and seems to be happy.

Peanut got the cardboard from a combination of hanging toys and a play house (typically used for bunnies). We thought they were both just chewing the cardboard off the toy and throwing it down, I never saw them actually eating anything, but apparently he found some that he really liked. I have since taken all the cardboard out of Jelly's pen and removed the play house from play time. We still have some cardboard up to prevent chewing on the wood/walls, but we tell him no and shoo him away anytime he starts to nibble at it.

 

[Pikaia]

Oh wow. I am really sorry about your Peanut.

I used to let the chins play with cardboard boxes in their playpen (under supervision). They started chewing on it and I wasn't sure whether they were ingesting it, so I took out all the cardboard. Better safe than sorry! This makes me wonder about those birdie bagels. They are made from cardboard? I wonder if those pose a risk?

 

[Cuddlebug]

Any type of cardboard will swell up when it gets wet. This can cause a blockage in the stomach or intestines, possibly killing the animal.