possible URI or esophageal obstruction

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caiti

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Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
1,773
Location
Northeast US
My chin, Chloe, has been acting off for the past couple weeks. She's eating less hay and I caught her pawing at her mouth a couple times. Assuming the worst (dental disease) I took some sedated radiographs the next day at work, 12/2. They look normal to me and to the non-specialist doctor. Also doc saw nothing on sedated oral exam. Thinking maybe she is not a fan of her new bag of hay, I stopped freaking out.
Last night, she started making weird noises. Almost like it was painful to swallow. Her neck protrudes forward, eyes squint and ears are back. A strange purring noise follows. Also she sometimes squeaks softly. When I tried looking in her mouth again (to no avail-stupid decision on my part) amidst the squirming she made some congested nasally noise. No discharge. Decreased energy, is sleeping more on the bottom of her cage.
Last night took her to Tufts who told me she was fine. I brought her in to work today and asked the doc to give me injectable enrofloxacin. She is on 6.2mg SC once a day, began today. I calculated her dose to be 10mg/kg which the doc was fine with. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced any of these symptoms in their chin before and what dose worked for them. All images of the rads and the video was too large to attach, I can keep playing and try again. Would appreciate any advice. I can't see a specialist this weekend cause I'll be out of the state until sunday unfortunately, but I can call around for next week. Thank you!!!
 
radiographs

Attached rads. Video will not go through though
 

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Thanks. Unfortunately, she is now on her way to GI stasis. I'm doing the warm compress and massaging her belly. Simethicone and Probiotics started last night. All that's left is to syringe feed her. She definitely sounds like she has a URI. Doing the how bowl of water steam around her. Aannnddddd my flight leaves in 5 hours!!
 
First, you need motility drugs ASAP, I would do both reglan and propulsid, if the situation is as serious as you post, one or the other won't be enough. Pain relief ASAP, the chin can go into shock. Sub Q fluids-I am not a vet so this is my opinion. Syringe feeding a URI chin is tough, make sure you go slow, the chin can panic since they cannot breathe, they can aspirate easily.

X-ray #1 is suspicious in my opinion, the lower rear molar is out of alignment and is WAY distal of the top molar and looks like it might be either partially impacted or the tissue is swollen over the crown, did you get to see the oral exam and what did the lower rear molars look like?
 
I agree with Dawn about the alignment. The roots in the first x-ray look way off to me as well. I am looking at the bottom roots too and they appear to be elongated to me. I'm seeing bumps in the lower jaw line. Just my opinion though, what do you think Dawn?
 

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So I just got back from Tufts and they said she doesn't look as bad as I think but that does not give me relief. She has some nasal congestion and not as much gut noise as they would like. Rxed metoclopramide and oral baytril. They wanted me to stop the injections due to possible tissue necrosis. I had been rotating injection sites and doing it SC not IM. I have fluids here and everything. Also they said she has an infection in her mouth. When I was doing the warm compress and having her run around at like 3 this morning I noticed her mouth smelled funny but I've been trying to get her to eat so I was hoping it was food leftover. Probably should have went with my gut. No signs of infection on oral exam at Tufts.they said it might be early.
I cancelled my flights so I can watch her over the weekend like a hawk.
 
So sorry she isn't feeling good! But can I say how happy I am that you are staying home with her? You are such an awesome pet parent!!!
 
Update

So Chloe is still off her feed. I am syringe feeding her and she gets really stressed. I have syringe fed her before and she was never this bad. She is going to end up eating the plastic off the syringe tips cause she just lunges at them when she sees them. I have tried to tempt her with all her favorites, orchard grass hay, shreddies, rosehip and rosebuds. She ate a couple bites of apple this morning. Normally I am very anti fruits and vegetables but I'm out of options.
I'm worried hospitalizing her at tufts will just make her more stressed. She is defecating a very small amount but I take her out into the bathroom 3 or so times a day and do warm compresses, massages and let her run around which usually gets her to pass a few pellets.
I have not smelled any foul odor from her mouth but I have a cold and I'm shoving a bunch of food and meds down her all the time. Still runs on her saucer.
The vet at tufts said that inappetence is less of a concern baytril than I was anticipating. Less concern my butt!! She is just trying to help though.
 
I know you're desperate to get food into her, but offering her fruits like apples especially when she isn't accustomed to them can do much more harm than good and cause even more digestive issues which she definitely doesn't need. Not sure what your feeding technique is, but when I have one who protests I let them eat on their own terms. I don't pick them up or anything, I just leave them in their cage and let them come to the syringe. I dip the tip of the syringe in simethicone and that usually entices them to lap up the CC from the syringe eagerly. This has worked with several of my difficult chins that I've had to hand feed.
 
You also may want to try either Lifeline or Essentials for life for syringe feeding, lifeline is like crack for most chins, if I get one who is being a beech, I feed that and dip the tip in dyne first.
 
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