New Chin on Antibiotics

[Quillis]

I'm a new chin owner so I'm already easily spooked but here's my story.

Two weeks ago my chin, Esper, got a toe stuck in a part of his cage (which has now been sealed to prevent further accidents) but he tore the nail badly and it bled a bit. I set up an appointment the next day, but the earliest I could get out of work for a visit was a week later. So last Tuesday I brought him in and other than a little infection he was in great health so I was prescribed an antibiotic (which I will update when I get back home to check).

He hates taking it and is now very afraid of me holding him or being out of his cage, which I expected, but he seems to be eating and drinking very little and I'm really concerned about it. His toe is less inflamed but still red and he's supposed to take it for another 10 days but I'm worried if he stops eating he'll be worse off than if the infection is left alone.

He's only about 8 months old but I love him dearly and just want to do right for him. I already browsed the forum and will be cleaning up the sticky medicine residue on his fur from struggling to avoid the medicine tonight with baby wipes and such.

 

[Amethyst]

Once the meds are done you can work on re bonding with him, but for now you just need to get him well. A lot of antibiotics can cause the chin to not want to eat, so you may need to hand feed him. Depending on chin's size if he is not eating you need to be feeding about 50-100ml of food (either critical care or just crushed up pellets and water) by syringe a day, spread over multiple feedings. When on antibiotics it's also good to give a probiotic a couple hours later to help replenish the good gut bacteria too.

 

[Quillis]

Thanks, I have probiotic pills I myself take, in the right amount that should be alright right? I also tried giving him some water with a dropper and he took it well enough even tho he won't drink from his bottle right now. I'll try crushed food and water tonight and if he doesn't take it I'll get Critical Care instead.

Since he just woke up and was sitting near the front of his cage I took a good look and his paw is almost normal again, swelling is gone and it's just a bit red now so at least I know the infection is clearing up! I'll stay diligent and make sure he takes his medicine and food until it's all better.

I feel better having reached out. It has been very distressing since I've become so scary to him, I know once he's better we can get back to normal.

 

[Quillis]

I've gotten some probiotics in Esper now and he's beginning to eat again, he can't get enough Timothy hay right now but he's still not keen on his pellets, though this morning it looked like he ate the pile I left outside his food dish, so I left some more little piles for him since he seems to not want to go to his dish right now. His water bottle was a little lower today too, so I may not need to keep giving him water by dropper any more, but I intend to keep an eye on things. If he goes back to refusing food before his antibiotic is done next Monday I'm getting the Oxbow Critical Care and making sure he keeps up his health.

 

[Smidgeyy]

Be careful syringe feeding water... It's easier for them to aspirate with water than it is food. He should get enough hydration from the syringe feeding.

I spent months tormenting my guy with meds and feedings... He's back to his normal self and doesn't hate me any less Lol.