Kismet's face is swollen.

[Courtney]

Last night, I noticed that the left side of Kismet's face was slightly swollen. It didn't appear to be painful for her if I touched it and when I looked in her mouth, I couldn't see anything.

This morning, the swelling was noticeable bigger and she wanted nothing to do with having her face touched. Normally, she enjoys having her nose rubbed but she tried to take a nip at me. She wouldn't even let me lift up her lift to look - everything was too swollen.

I called a few of the vets that I've taken my hogs to, thinking that we were dealing with some form of a tumor. I called Ottewell - they weren't open. Hermitage no longer sees hedgehogs. When I called Crestwood Vet, they squeezed me in at 2:45 today.

After being gassed and being examined, the vet came back with good and bad news. The good news was that Kismet was in great health otherwise. The bad news was that it appeared to be an oral infection or tumor. He had extracted two samples from her face just to figure out what we were dealing with and asked us to take a seat in the waiting room while he ran the tests.

We waited for about 10 or 15 minutes, and when he came out, he was smiling. Kismet has an infection in her mouth, which appears to be centered around the root of one of her back teeth. He prescribed antibiotics to get rid of the swelling and infection and warned me that if it recurs, her tooth may have to be extracted.

You have NO idea how relieved I was to hear that it was an infection. Kismet will be on her medicine twice daily, for two weeks, to see if it helps or if it would be better to simply remove the tooth. My question is though: Does anyone have hedgehogs who had a back tooth extracted? Was there any special care for them directly after the removal and following?

On a side note, watching a hedgehog who just got gassed try to walk is pretty funny. We were watching through the door as she woke up and glared at the vet. It was like she was trying to figure out who he was and why wasn't he me. When he handed her back to me, she was so out of it that she peed directly on me, and managed to catch Adam in the cross-fire. We put her on the towel and she tried to crawl into her bag - about 2 steps later, her legs went every which way, and she just sighed and went to sleep on the towel. LOL.

 

[FiaSpice]

I'm sorry about Kimset, but I,m glad it's not a tumor. Litchi is living wel with cfhiped/misssing theet and I do hope Kimset will do well too. Sorry I'm not much of help.

On a side note, watching a hedgehog who just got gassed try to walk is pretty funny.

That's so true, it's kinda sad but so cute!

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Courtney, thank God it's an infection and not a tumour! I'm so relieved. Poor little Kismet - I hope the infection clears up with the drugs and never comes back. I know what you mean about watching a recently gassed hog try to get around... you know it's wrong to laugh, but you just can't help it! Especially when you're full of relief that nothing is seriously wrong.

 

[macygray]

Oh....such a relief. I am happy....Hopefully it clears up for her in no time!

 

[Chinniechantel]

I am so happy it is not a tumor!

 

[Nancy]

I'm sorry this is happening to poor little Kismet.

Why didn't they remove the tooth right then and save another gassing? Chances are good the infection will return either because of the remaining tooth or there is an underlying issue.

Abby had a tooth removed because she had a swollen jaw. There was some infection and a loose tooth and she was put on antibiotics and pain meds. Antibiotic was also injected in various locations around the swollen area. At the time, there was no indication of a tumour but the vet did say there was not as much puss as she would have expected for the swelling.

She had no problems after the tooth was removed but sadly, the loose tooth and swollen jaw was really a jaw tumour. When we returned a month later, she saw our regular vet who said that frequently tooth issues end up being jaw tumours. She said usually if it's a tumour the lump will be hard which Abby's was. Infection is softer.

She may prefer a soft diet right now but I usually offer both with the hard kibble broken up a bit.

Sending prayers that this will be the end of it. What antibiotic is she on?

 

[shetland]

I am so glad my baby girl will be well. A kiss to her from me.

 

[Courtney]

Nancy, the lump is on her upper jaw (kind of where I'd imagine the bridge of her nose would be) and soft. The vet checked her mouth and said there was a slight inflammation around one tooth. He also took blood from her and said there was an abnormal number of white blood cells, which pointed to an infection (I believe those were his words). The vet put her on an Amoxycillin since Kismet gets violently ill with Baytril. Last year, I gave her a dose because she was ill and 10 minutes later, she was projectile vomiting. He gave her two weeks of antibiotics just to see if it clears up and said I should notice a difference in about 3 days. If not, I'm to bring her back for an evaluation. If the swelling doesn't go away within a few days, he recommended an extraction. So far, the swelling has gone down by about half although she seems to have a bit of bruising around the areas where the blood was taken. She doesn't seem to be as grumpy as she was the last few days and seems to enjoy having her face rubbed again - two days ago, she wanted nothing to do with having her face rubbed. Last night, she was on my lap and pushing her head against my hand for pets.

 

[Courtney]

I just wanted to add a revision to the location of the swelling, because I think it makes a difference. Early this morning when I gave her the medicine, the swelling was more toward the bridge of her nose. When I checked just now, the swelling is more toward her whisker area and smaller than it was 5 hours ago, even. It almost looks like she has ingrown whiskers, from the location.

On another note, to lighten the mood: I had to get Kismet's prescription filled at Shopper's because the vet clinic didn't have the Amoxy on hand. I got some pretty strange looks from the pharmacy staff when I brought in a prescription from a vet clinic. The last time I did this, the woman actually gave me a lecture about not knowing my child's birthdate and she tried to tell me that cages weren't an adequate environment for a baby. She didn't catch that Vette was a hedgehog. This time, they were thoroughly confused because the vet wrote down "Kismet" (My last name) on the prescription. It took two pharmacy technicians and the manager to input the prescription. Moral: If anyone needs a quick laugh, take an animal's prescription to Shoppers to get filled.

 

[shetland]

Hmm Courtney I bet you hid your laughter all the way at their confusion while secretly enjoying it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heeeeeeeeeeee

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Well, certainly most cages aren't appropriate for babies, but this is a FERRET NATION we're talking about here!!! :laughitup:

 

[FiaSpice]

I just wanted to add a revision to the location of the swelling, because I think it makes a difference. Early this morning when I gave her the medicine, the swelling was more toward the bridge of her nose. When I checked just now, the swelling is more toward her whisker area and smaller than it was 5 hours ago, even. It almost looks like she has ingrown whiskers, from the location.

On another note, to lighten the mood: I had to get Kismet's prescription filled at Shopper's because the vet clinic didn't have the Amoxy on hand. I got some pretty strange looks from the pharmacy staff when I brought in a prescription from a vet clinic. The last time I did this, the woman actually gave me a lecture about not knowing my child's birthdate and she tried to tell me that cages weren't an adequate environment for a baby. She didn't catch that Vette was a hedgehog. This time, they were thoroughly confused because the vet wrote down "Kismet" (My last name) on the prescription. It took two pharmacy technicians and the manager to input the prescription. Moral: If anyone needs a quick laugh, take an animal's prescription to Shoppers to get filled.

Gosh this is too funny. It wasn't written "hedgehog" on the prescription (mine always says "hérisson/Litchi") and I can believe the tech didn't realise those dose are really small for even a baby!

 

[Nancy]

Nancy, the lump is on her upper jaw (kind of where I'd imagine the bridge of her nose would be) and soft. The vet checked her mouth and said there was a slight inflammation around one tooth. He also took blood from her and said there was an abnormal number of white blood cells, which pointed to an infection (I believe those were his words). The vet put her on an Amoxycillin since Kismet gets violently ill with Baytril. Last year, I gave her a dose because she was ill and 10 minutes later, she was projectile vomiting. He gave her two weeks of antibiotics just to see if it clears up and said I should notice a difference in about 3 days. If not, I'm to bring her back for an evaluation. If the swelling doesn't go away within a few days, he recommended an extraction. So far, the swelling has gone down by about half although she seems to have a bit of bruising around the areas where the blood was taken. She doesn't seem to be as grumpy as she was the last few days and seems to enjoy having her face rubbed again - two days ago, she wanted nothing to do with having her face rubbed. Last night, she was on my lap and pushing her head against my hand for pets.

I'm glad to hear the swelling is going down and hopefully will continue to do so.

 

[Courtney]

Thanks, everyone. Yep, the swelling seems to have gone down a tad over the course of the night. I am getting increasingly nervous about leaving that tooth in there so I might just make an appointment for later this week and get it pulled.

In other news, Kismet is thoroughly enjoying this latest round of spoiling and she's taken quite a liking to moistened kibble. I let her normal kibble soak in lukewarm water until it was double it's size and soft... and Kismet went right to town. She drank the excess water and ate what used to be about 15 kibbles in 5 minutes. She was a hungry little girl. She got a bit of peach yogurt last night between rounds of medicine and enjoyed that as well. We had a bit of dark green poop yesterday evening, but nothing major. No mucous or runny poop, either.

 

[FiaSpice]

Good thing she's eating well and she seems to get better.

 

[Courtney]

Yes, she's definitely not looking any worse for the wear. If it wasn't for that lump on her face and her bout of grumpiness the other day, I'd never even know she wasn't feeling well. I've been giving her an extreme amount of attention - more so than normal - because I believe that one's general mood can have a huge effect on their health. Kismet is the type of hog that thrives on attention and her mood depends on the level of attention she's getting. She gets depressed if she doesn't get enough attention, and exhibits many of the same characteristics as an ill hedgehog - lethargy, loose poop, lack of appetite. If she gets a lot of attention, her entire demeanor changes in an instant and she just looks happier. Cuda and Vette aren't like this at all - they'd be perfectly fine if I'd leave them completely alone, aside from feeding them and putting them on the floor to play.

So, she spent roughly half the day yesterday, just sleeping on my lap while I watched TV.

 

[AlbertaGirl]

Aww, I'm glad to hear she's improving. She's so lucky to be spoiled so completely rotten!

 

[Courtney]

LOL, she's rotten all right. Adam is home today and I asked him to check on the hogs. Kismet was sprawled right out on her side, with her legs and tail sticking out. As soon as he touched her, she opened one eye, glared and rolled, very awkwardly, onto her stomach. She curled into a ball and hissed until he shut the door.

When I find her like this, I can usually remove her from her bag and she'll still be limp and fast asleep. It's amazing how they just know who is touching them.

 

[Courtney]

Quick little update for you all: Swelling is almost completely gone! It's going down in different levels, so Kismet looks like one of those unfortunate teenagers with acne. She has some teeny little red marks from where the vet took blood, and those areas are still a little swollen.

She was eating softened kibble for a few days, but yesterday, she decided she wanted 'big girl food'. As per her habit, she turned around and waited for a kibble after I'd put her back in her cage. I offered her a soft kibble, she took it, held it for about 2 seconds and dropped it. Then she looked at me as if to say, "Uh, human? Let's pass some real food over here, alright?" I handed her a hard kibble and she crunched it down like nothing. I'm still offering her a bowl of moistened food alongside her "real food", but 9 times out of 10, she goes for the hard stuff. And it looks like she's chewing on both sides pretty equally, so I'm going to assume she's not too ouchy on her left side.

 

[shetland]

I'm so glad my little angel is feeling better!