Small poops, not eating after 2 weeks on critical care

[nicoleac]

Hi, my chin recently had a tooth infection and he was put on baytril and flagyl for 17 days. When he was on those meds he stopped eating so we had to handfeed 60 ml critical care daily. The vet now says the infection is gone, so we should wean him off the critical care so he starts eating again on his own.
The problem is, it's been three days with no meds and, while I've seen him eating small amounts of both pellets and hay on his own, he is still dropping weight and his poops are much smaller than they were on the critical care. Should we continue to handfeed?? I don't want his teeth to overgrow because he isn't wearing them down properly, but I don't want him to starve himself!
He will still chew on his chew toys, except he refuses rose hips except occasionally. We have been weaning him off his pain meds too, but whether or not we give him metacam seems to make no difference as to whether or not he eats.
Any input would be great!

 

[nicoleac]

By the way, on a different but relevant note--regarding his heart murmur. I really want a dental x ray so we can absolutely rule out root elongation or other dental problems, to make sure the problem is that he doesn't want to eat rather than that he can't. However, the vet expressed concern about putting him under anesthesia while he has a heart murmur, even though his murmur is a slight one (grade 2/6). She suggested a possibility is to put him on a heart medication and then putting him under. Does anyone have experience with this? She said the medication would slow down his blood pressure or something like that. What do you think?

PS. how many posts do I need to post before an admin doesn't need to approve them? lol

 

[ticklechin]

Its good news the baytril/flagyl combo worked and the infection is gone but the bad news is those drugs wreak havoc on the digestive tract, it can take awhile for things to get back to normal and his appetite returns. Just recently I dealt with a URI that all three of mine got, chin one started eating on its own 3 days after baytril was stopped, chin two took 8 days, chin three took 3 weeks. I would hand feed for another few days then try to wean again, just don't hand feed the full amount, when I went through this I hand feed 1/2 the usual amount since I knew the chins could eat, they just chose not to.

As far as the murmur goes, I have had a couple of malo chins who had class 3 murmurs, one with a class 5. The problem with murmur chins is what valve is is the murmur on, the aortic valve murmur can cause issues with health and is problematic when going under, the mitral valve usually does not cause issues and the chin can be treated and have a long life. Personally I would not use a ace inhibiter for short term use during anesthesia, especially on a class 2 even if it was a aortic murmur unless I was going to commit to long term use. Aortic valves treatment can be problematic, mitral valves can be treated with meds long term but a class 2 in my opinion does not need any proactive treatment, only reactive.

 

[nicoleac]

Thank you for all your replies these last couple weeks, Dawn, you've been very helpful and informative! Unfortunately I believe I remember the vet saying the murmur was aortic, I will double check. Do you think the murmur itself is likely to cause problems later if it is aortic?

 

[ticklechin]

It can cause issues, but since its only a 2 it may not. Usually class 5 and above are serious.