What's this under his eye?

[Essentia]

I like SMZ for mild infections, but something like this I believe needs something stronger, especially since the infection is near the bone.

For the healing I would definitely not use bedding. If he chews on the towel he could ingest some of the threads which could cause more issues. Fleece would be ideal. When I have a wound I change out the fleece once a day to keep bacteria down.

 

[SCchin]

The vet doesn't like Baytril, says it is too strong for chins. He got all of it out, so it is just wound healing now. Hopefully the SMZ will be ok. The SMZ did shrink it some and kept it from growing. I have read other places that Baytril can kill a chin???

I think we will get a few of those $5 fleece blankets that are on sale everywhere right now, use one, wash one. I might get a fleece tube as well, I only have Pet Smart to work with locally for that. My sewing machine is broken so I can't make one (unless it can be hand sewn).

Does anyone have a picture of a collar and/or directions on how to make one? The vet that is 2 hours away (we went local for this) said to make one out of xray film.

Also, what can we put on the incision until it heals, vet said he didn't know of anything safe other than vitamin E. He knows I will ask all of you what to use, LOL! What about antibiotic cream or gel?

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[ticklechin]

I have no experience with open wounds, but I think I would use paper towels instead of fleece since fleece can have fleece fibers and I would worry about it getting into the would, JMO based on intuition.

Baytril does not kill chins, but the problem with it is that it has been over used by vets to treat something they cannot diagnose and the bugs are now often resistant to it, vets "in the know" now use other nastier antibiotics like cipro or chloro to fight nasty infections.

 

[SCchin]

We have older non-fuzzy towels we will use. I tried to find fleece, but was unsuccessful, everything was really fuzzy, more than our towels are. He is doing well, just chilling in the carrier, it is smaller and with all of the house/holiday noise going on (I have teen and college aged kids with friends coming and going) we keep moving him to the quietest parts of the house. We are going to clean his cage really well, put aspen chips in on the bottom, then several layers of towels. Funny guy, he moved the towel back in the carrier to wee on the bedding! So we will have bedding underneath but plenty of towels to lay on.

Anyone know if we should be putting any ointment on the incision?

 

[Claire D]

In theory any antibiotic can kill if an animal (or human) is allergic to it. I have seen chins react very, very badly to Baytril in the past but it is rare ( a proper anaphyllactic reaction, that is). What is more common are gut problems. Baytril is associated with small pet deaths because it puts them off their food (so they develop stasis in some cases) & also affects the gut flora which can make gut problems worse.
Baytril has it's place but I will not give it by mouth - the only way I will give a chin Baytril is by injection for deep seated or severe infections.

Can you take a photo of the wound? I would be tempted to simply flush it a couple of times a day with saline. You need to try to keep the incision open so that the wound can heal from the bottom up rather than close over at the skin level - that could lead to another abscess. I certainly would not put any cream or gel on it ATM.

 

[SCchin]

Thanks Claire, would saline (unpreserved) contact lens solution (squeeze bottle so we can just squirt it on from the bottle) work?

 

[SCchin]

I was thinking nasal spray as well, but it sprays too hard, the contact lens bottle would be lower pressure coming out.

 

[Claire D]

Personally I would use a new, clean syringe for each flush & buy some saline sachets or pods. I would not use contact lens solution.

Do you have any photos of the wound & also photos of the xrays?

 

[SCchin]

I haven't been able to catch him to get a good look at it.... the vet only took a little fur off, so the wound is actually protected. It isn't large. I figured it is better to leave him alone rather than wrestle him and risk bumping it. He is doing well today, perky, eating. We changed his bedding to aspen and put the towel over the aspen chips. He scooted the towel away from the edge last night and discovered the chips and was beside himself! I keep taking everything off of the towel, when it is clear, he rolls on the towel (he can't have his dust bath yet). It seems he knows to not roll in the hay or chips. He does paw the incision a little, but it seems ok. I don't know if I can do much else with it so close to his mouth...

I had his surgery and a caroling party to do all in one day..... It was fun and hectic, and now we will do our last minute Christmas shopping and errands. When things calm down, I can post the x-rays from the first vet visit in Oct. before his teeth were filed. I don't have copies of the x-rays taken this week.