What could it be? Re-occuring malo? root issues?

[mishellyshel]

i comepletely agree with everything dawn said including in her other post about the famotidine. upon dawns suggestion my vet also prescribed that at a regular phamacy in a fruity flavored liquid and the bottle was about 12 dollars. i give it with the Tramadol, which is the pain med i use for long term pain managemnet. after a filing though, i will use metacam for a few days as that is an anti inflamatory and the Tramadol is an opiad used for pain relief. if your vet is experienced, definitely have a sit down and metion the care route & script routine that some of us use and see if she agrees.

 

[Tillygizmo]

That does sound like the best option we have at the moment.

How long term would antibiotics need to be to deal with an abcess for those of you who have been through this?

 

[ticklechin]

Gino, the chin who had the CT, was on trimethsulfate for 20 days on, 10 days off, 20 days on, we were fighting other issues so baytril at that point was not a option. He was also on buprenex, reglan, propulsid, and metecam-the max dose of .25ml.

Metecam is not effective IMO for dental pain, tramadol used with the famotidine is a better choice for long term pain management. Buprenex is very heavy duty and this chin was in extreme pain so I chose to take the chance of stasis for the pain relief.

 

[mishellyshel]

dawn--do you think the metacam would help in the beginning though because of its anti imflammatory properties??

i agrees about at least 20 days on. it is fairly mild of an antibiotic and i didnt notice that it really affect s the appetite. you may want to add a probiotic or lifeline or something.

try to get the vet to prescribe both the tri meth & the famotidine at a regular pharmacy. it will save you bundles.

 

[ticklechin]

Gino was on the max dose of metecam, .25ml along with the opioid, that is how painful apical abscesses are.

 

[Tillygizmo]

I am waiting for the vet to return my message as she is away, but I think the trimeth and famotidine combination sounds healthier than the metacame. She does admit to not knowing all that much about the long term affects of pain meds on chinchillas and I have come across to her as being dedicated to my pets in the fact that I research and find out what our options are so hopefully she will be responsive to my suggestions.

Right now she has been on metacam 2x at .05ml and baytril at .15ml 2x a day for 10 days. As of today the vet suggested cutting the the metacam to 1x daily so we can try to get away with the very lowest amount possible while still keeping her comfortable.

The vet won't be in until monday. My plans is to discuss your suggestions with her and ask for bloodwork to find any infection that might exist since she has not ordered that yet.

 

[Tillygizmo]

I am waiting for the vet to return my message as she is away, but I think the trimeth and famotidine combination sounds healthier than the metacame. She does admit to not knowing all that much about the long term affects of pain meds on chinchillas and I have come across to her as being dedicated to my pets in the fact that I research and find out what our options are so hopefully she will be responsive to my suggestions.

Right now she has been on metacam 2x at .05ml and baytril at .15ml 2x a day for 10 days. As of today the vet suggested cutting the the metacam to 1x daily so we can try to get away with the very lowest amount possible while still keeping her comfortable.

The vet won't be in until monday. My plans is to discuss your suggestions with her and ask for bloodwork to find any infection that might exist since she has not ordered that yet.

If there is an abcess will it show up in bloodwork? and if so could it be considered ruled out if there is no infection showing in the blood work?

 

[ticklechin]

I personally would go with the tramadol, famotidine and trimeth-since she is still drooling and acting like she is in pain metecam is not going to cut it-metecam is like taking a tylenol strength wise, tramadol is like tylenol w/ codeine strength wise, when dealing with malo chins or chins with malo like pain the key to quality of life is pain relief, whether its getting them filed before they drool, or being on pain meds, she needs to be comfortable to get through whatever is bothering her-if she is in constant pain the immune system gets knocked down and she will be suseptible to URI's and the such, its the main reason malo chins die of sudden death.


I only had blood work on one malo chin, Gino the CT scan chin, the vet did it for who knows why and without asking nor did she discuss the results so I assume nothing showed up.

 

[Tillygizmo]

Apologies, I did mean trimadol as well. The t's confused me.

Thanks so much for your help and I will update you again as soon as I speak to her.

As of now tilly only has her metacam and I am watching really close to see if she is grinding or drooling or pawing at her mouth at all so I know to increase it back to the 2x daily if needed. I am really most concerned with her pain : /

 

[ticklechin]

Let me know how it goes, and give Tilly a scritch for me!

 

[Tillygizmo]

: ) Thanks she will like that

 

[Tillygizmo]

I wanted to get back to you and let you know whats going on with Tilly. I asked the vet to do an x ray of the head again to look for an new abcesses or issues we aren't aware of. It turns out that her roots have grown much farther up and are pressing on her sinuses a good deal. Additionally, the top teeth in the back angle forward and the bottom teeth are normal causing a mismatch when they meet (or don't meet). The teeth also have large spaces between them on top.

The Dr. (my regular one) thinks that the pushing into the sinuses are what is causing most of the pain and the drooling is caused by the strange angle of the teeth and the pressure it causes. She is not sure where an abcess would be located being that she did a lot of palpating and she felt nothing and nothing showed up on the xray. Today was the 14th day of baytril and so she advised we stop.

It looks like Tilly will be due for a trim in 2 weeks so she is going to do some basic bloodwork to get her levels as we begin the long stretch of her her metacam regimen. She will remain on it probably for the rest of her life. She seems to need a trim monthly now.

Because Tilly is still very happy and well adjusted I have decided to go forward with this treatment. I couldnt even think of putting her ddown yet because she has so much life left and she is still so much herself.

 

[ticklechin]

Your vet seems like she has control of the situation, have the liver enzymes checked every 6 months if she is going to be on 24/7/365 metecam, if the metecam does not help use the tramadol. Keep the baytril on hand, chins with this condition can be prone to URI's and sinun infection. Keep a open mind, she will let your know when you need to make any quality of life decisions. Kissy for Tilly please!