Please help me figure out what is going on merged with Runny Nose thread

[ticklechin]

As long as you can keep him comfortable, he is acting like a chin and still enjoying doing chin things keep up the feeding and pain meds. If it comes to the time were he does not want to play, does not want to be fed and basically has a deflated look about him then its time to make decisions. For now keep him fed but in the back of your mind don;t allow yourself to become blind to the situation when he is telling you its time to be free.

 

[SCchin]

Update: His appetite is picking up. He came to his ledge last night and squeezed his nose through, like he was asking for more CC. He took a little more. He let me rub all around his jaw, he seemed to like it and didn't wince or pull away. Then he went to his favorite corner to sleep.

Then he ate well this morning.

 

[SCchin]

Quito ate pellets last night while we were sleeping! I also saw him nibbling on hay.

NO powder in the bowl.

Fingers crossed!

 

[AZChins]

Good News! I hope he continues to eat more and more for you over the next few days.

 

[SCchin]

We in waiting mode, its up and down. See Emergency thread for more. Two things:

He stinks, bad, probably drool. Yes he is still drooling. How long after a trim is normal to drool? I am leaving the sand bath in his cage and changing the sand a lot. We used a bathroom wipe that doesn't have aloe vera in it, didn't do much good, he needs a bath....

He is constantly itching himself. Any ideas?

Watching and waiting....

 

[ticklechin]

The stink will just come back the next day if you bathe him, until he stops drooling he will be stinky. I also leave the bath in, I don't like to do it since it wastes dust and makes a mess everywhere but it lifts the chins spirits to do their thing more often. I will spot bath a malo chin if they become a mouth swiper addict, I just use some Dawn on a wash cloth, wipe them down then blowdry on low until dry.

 

[SCchin]

Mouth swiper addict. Do they do that out of habit? He is still swiping a lot. So hurting or habit?

I would like to get him cleaned to see if its still bad. I can't tell if the wet is from hand feeding, drinking water, or drool.

Any ideas about the itching?

 

[Claire D]

We in waiting mode, its up and down.

:yes: Sadly this is how it is with sick chins - a real rollercoaster for the chin & for the owner - it's also part of the reason we try to be suportive but provide realistic advice - because there's nothing worse than being up with a poorly chin at 3am & all you want to do is cry with fatigue, sadness, & frustration but you've got to get those meds/food in ..... it's so hard at times.

He stinks, bad, probably drool. Yes he is still drooling. How long after a trim is normal to drool? I am leaving the sand bath in his cage and changing the sand a lot. We used a bathroom wipe that doesn't have aloe vera in it, didn't do much good, he needs a bath....

He is constantly itching himself. Any ideas?

After a dental some chins will drool for a couple of days or more until they get used to their 'new' bite. It can take a few days for the mouth to settle down again however missed spurs (small) or ulcers can also result in a drooling chin - if it persists then I'd say the chin was still in discomfort/pain.

Is he using his feet to scratch or is he biting his fur? Is he chewing the fur on his front paws?

Mouth swiper addict. Do they do that out of habit? He is still swiping a lot. So hurting or habit?

I would like to get him cleaned to see if its still bad. I can't tell if the wet is from hand feeding, drinking water, or drool.

If he's a messy eater & gets food on his mouth then he may swipe. If he's still got a painful mouth he may swipe. If his jaw is wet from drool he may swipe ....... if you can keep his mouth as clean as possible (difficult I know) then it may reduce the amount of swiping he does.

Not sure if Dawn has posted this on your threads already but if you can wrap a small square/oblong object (e.g. brick or cube of wood - it needs to be robust enough not to get knocked about when he's using it) in cloth (fleece or towelling) then he can use that to clean his chin on himself.
In general, chins hate being dirty so having drool down his front, wet paws from swiping, spilled food etc will make him feel miserable. Constantly wet/dirty skin can also become sore.
Keeping dental chins cleans is hard work (especially after a dental) but if you can keep him pretty clean then that will help him all round.

 

[ticklechin]

Lu is a mouth swipe addict, he has rubbed his paws and sides of his mouth raw even though his "drool" does not reach the outside of his mouth, the swiping takes it there so I spot clean him twice a day and bag balm the areas.

The brick idea does work for chins who are not swiper addicts, Lu took the idea and ran with it and would wipe his face raw after he swiped it raw. He goes back to the Dentist tomorrow so hopefully whatever the vets thought was brewing will show up now.

The stink is spit and bad breath can happen also if there is periodontal disease also, there very good possibility of that with the inner gums where the tongue was trapped.

 

[caiti]

I'm glad Quito is eating more.

So we were all wrong about the x-rays? I see that #2 is the only decent one (in my untrained opinion) but does it scare anyone else that we see something that isn't there?

 

[SCchin]

Caiti,
I've had several people here and by email comment about that #5. Many say its bad. But, one says their chin has x-rays that look like that, and the chin seems fine. The vet says the same, that some have x-rays look like that and they seem fine. Who really knows? I have everything I have read in my back pocket so to speak, and know that if he doesn't recover well from the trim, that his jaw may indeed hurt. I had to free the tongue though because a trapped tongue has the same symptoms as root elongation. It seems the only thing to do now is wait and see. I will give it the 2-3 weeks to heal, and go from there. Or, if he goes downhill before that, then I will know he has given up.

 

[SCchin]

Claire's question:

Is he using his feet to scratch or is he biting his fur? Is he chewing the fur on his front paws?

He is scratching with his back legs. A lot. He is biting fur on one hind side, but letting the other side grow back (??). He is not chewing fur on his front paws.

 

[ticklechin]

When he is scratching is he scratching his eyes with his back feet? Fur chewers will resume chewing if there is pain also.

 

[SCchin]

When he is scratching is he scratching his eyes with his back feet? Fur chewers will resume chewing if there is pain also.

Not the eyes, behind his ears, and under whiskers, I'll need to watch to see if its anywhere else because I can't remember much from the middle of the night. He has always been a fur chewer. I know it can be pain, but he does it more when its hotter. We live in a hot and humid climate. I do keep the air on, but he still chews his fur off near his hind legs every summer. Funny, though, he usually lets it grow back in the winter. We are having a very early spring, its 80 out today. So, the chewing could be pain, habit, or heat. (We are below the 75 max in the house, I couldn't stand it warmer than that anyway!).

 

[momenteller]

Couldn't he just be itchy from increased access to the dust bath?

 

[SCchin]

Couldn't he just be itchy from increased access to the dust bath?

That would be great if that is all it is!!! He really needs the dust bath to deal with the drool. We are going to make an attempt to really clean him up today.... hopefully he will appreciate it.

He has terrible mats on his chin to his chest. The fur is different there. I have seen where you just pull it out, but the chin is right under his mouth, and he can't be bare chested.... I was going to try to trim some only if he will stay still and I am sure he won't get stabbed from the scissors. This should all be great fun. :nah:

Loving these smileys, I need this:

:hammock:

 

[ticklechin]

I would get a warm moist wash cloth, put some Dawn soap or a real mild soap like baby soap, work it to a lather and work it into his chest and just work the large mats off with your fingers, then give him a comb out of the area, then blow dry on low combing as he dries out. The itching most likely is the dry skin, itching of the eyes means the start of a eye infection or a irritation of the eyes.

 

[SCchin]

He is clean, and oh my does he smell better. He did look pretty pitiful with a wet chin and belly. I was too tired to watch him last night, but he did take a "whopping" 3 cc after the bath...

He is running out of metacam, so I need to request more. We give him .2cc/day. This is my golden opportunity to change pain meds if anyone thinks I need to. And, give me the low down on getting it from a regular pharmacy. If that is expensive, I can probably just get more metacam from the local vet. I am thinking I want to call the vet who trimmed him first, though, but he is too far away to go get the meds. Also, do we need a compounding pharmacy or just regular, I need to know, because the compounding pharmacy closes earlier.

 

[SCchin]

Another piece of the puzzle just solved. This vet watered down the metacam to .5mg/mL, the metacam from last filing was 1.5mg/mL. So Quito has been getting 1/3 of the pain meds he got last filing.

I'm glad instinct had me call the first vet. Last weekend I was giving him .2cc of the stronger verson and that is what brought him back to himself. Now I know why Quito likes the newer metacam taste, it is watered down. Poor guy!

Is .2cc of the 1.5 strength too much, it says to give .1cc (but so did the watered down one).

 

[Essentia]

The metacam isn't "watered down" at .5mg. It's just a different strength. I usually use the .5ml, as do most others with small animals. In my opinion .2 cc of the 1.5ml is too much. Most give .1ml of the .5mg once or twice a day.