Skylar's xray

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AmandaDi

AmandaDi

You Have No Idea!
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
389
Location
Central Texas
Took Skylar back to the vet today because she still isn't pooping. They gave her some fluids and did an x-ray. I'm attaching it. He said she has gas pockets, but everything else seems okay.

She makes me want to pull out my hair!

I got gas drops and plan on doing .3 every 2-3 hours. Does that sound right?

What else should I do? I still have 2 doses of metacam... should I give her one?
 

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Anyone know how long it takes subq fluids to absorb? I want to get her out to feed her, but I don't want to mess with her while the bubble is still big!
 
My friend who is a vet tech just texted me and said the vet is giving me some reglan. He probably hates me for whinning about it, but it is something everyone says works!
 
It is fine to feed her while the sub-q fluids are absorbing, it won't hurt her for you to hold her but try not to poke on the bubble spot because she probably wouldn't appreciate that! In my experience, it takes a few hours for the bubbled up area to go down. For the gas drops, what is .3 exactly? Like .3 ml? That's a tiny amount. When I have used them, I just use the dropper that comes with the bottle and give a dropper full every four hours. Other members might be able to advise you better on that, the dropper amount is just what I had been advised to do in the past, but everyone's needs are different. I have read that you cannot overdose on it if that helps you. Is the .3 what your vet advised? If so, I would follow that.

As far as the metacam goes, that's a hard call. I'm not sure if that is often given in conjunction with gut motility meds or not. One would think giving pain meds would be a good idea because it will help your chin feel better overall. I know gas bubbles are generally not a comfortable thing for chins. I certainly would not want to tell you anything incorrect. Hopefully some other folks can chime in on that.
 
Asha,
Thanks! I think it is ml. It was the first line on the dropper that it came with. The vet didn't give me a dose as it is just something I ran to get after I left the vet. I will give a little more at this next dose.
When I was researching the stasis and bloat, it said metacam was good for the pain and it was mentioned with the reglan. I will continue to research and maybe someone else will know and can post as well.
 
I usually give gas drops 1mL at a time: 1 mL before and 1mL after a handfeeding, since they tend to take in air when being syringe fed. Yesterday I came home from work and Giggy hadn't pood all day but he had eaten, so I gave him 1 mL of gas drops, then waited to see what happened. Couple hours later still nothing, so I gave him 10mL of CC/probiotic (with another 1mL gas drops before and after the feeding), with the plan to give him a dose of reglan if there was still no poo. He pood during his feeding, so I didn't give him the reglan.

Also, you can't overdose with the gas drops (but obviously don't give them an entire bottle or even half at a time). I usually use a 1mL syringe to give it to them. If you go to a drugstore and ask for 1mL oral syringes they will usually give you a couple for free. I've found that CVS has the best ones. Tip: If they look at you funny or don't know what you're talking about, say they're the syringes used to give medicine to babies. Do not, I repeat, do NOT say you need to give gas drops to your sick chinchilla unless you want to be looked at like a crazy lady! Not speaking from experience or anything :)Sarcasmd:).

Is today the 3rd day without any poo? I am not a vet, but if she has been eating but not pooing, I would be extremely concerned about stasis.
 
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I have a lot of the syringes! I an going to give more of the gas drops this time.

Today is actually day 5 with no poo at all! She really wasn't eatin much at all though. I managed to get her to eat maybe 10 ml yesterday. Not even that much today. Hoping if I can get these bubbles to move that she will be more willing to eat.

Let her out to run around in the hallway for 15 minutes as I read that exercising will help with the gas as well. Letting her rest for a bit then I will do more gas drops then wait a little and try to force feed some. The only plus to all this is that she still acts very well.
 
Oh dear! Yes, 10ml is not near enough. One thing that helps with feeding them if you haven't tried it already is to go in from the side of the mouth. This helps to bypass their front teeth which can get in the way and also makes them swallow more of the CC rather than spit it out. You definitely will want to up the CC amount to make sure she is getting adequate nutrition. Try to get her to eat 5-10 ml per feeding. Now I'm not gonna lie here, it can take at least a good 30 min to get this to happen bc they often wiggle even when burrito-ed so you have to stop and adjust the towel, etc. When one of my chins was sick, she would behave during some feedings and wiggle like crazy other times. Just make sure to sit somewhere comfy for the both of you since hand feeding can take awhile sometimes! Hope your chin gets to feeling better soon, especially since you have some reglan now too! Keep us updated:)
 
Asha, Yeah I know it isn't enough! I always worry about making them aspirate!

It is SO much harder to hold her without a tail!!! She wiggles and worms and it is hard to get ahold of her! She bites too!!! Lol
 
Most of my chins are wiggle worms for sure! My girl that has half her tail is super hard to get a hold of!! She's never liked being handled much, but enjoys being pet. When its playtime, I've actually had to train her to hop in a carrier because I always felt like I was stressing her out too much by trying to grab her and carry her into the play area. I can imagine hand feeding would be pretty tough when you have no tail to hang onto. Here's a thread with a few tips that helped me though hand feeding one of my girls! http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32023. I totally understand your concern about aspiration, just take it slow. Just squirt tiny bits at a time. When I was hand feeding, I started out squirting too much (and spilled alot!) because I just didn't realize exactly how small their mouths are. I've kind of found that if I relax more, my chin will relax a bit more (most of the time this is true, but its not always the case of course!). Hope the link helps!
 
Aww man, just realized the links for the videos on that thread weren't working. I found the hand feeding video on youtube though, here it is.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFF1Xg_6pHw. It was made by one of the members here, ticklechin. Not sure why the link isn't working on the thread I gave you, but glad I found it anyway bc it was helpful for me.
 
Thanks. It is totally not peaceful here! She almost made 5ML this time around. Tonight she faught the baby gas drops though, boo. Hopefully it will go better the next time around.
 
Just an idea, but have you tried just holding her semi-upright against your body with her head in between your thumb and forefinger? Roo hated being burritoed and did much better once I found this position for him.I could get about 10ml in him,let him down to play a bit and then give him some more.I just kept one towel in my lap and one on my shoulder(for wiping his mouth).I also found that it was easier to use several syringes rather than one big full one.I kept the meds and food syringes in a paper cup right beside me so I could grab the next one when one got empty.Just thought I'd share what I found out worked best for me.
 
Thanks Mercynursie - I did try it that way today actually and she appears to hate it just as much. She grabs the syringe with her teeth and shakes it like a mad woman! She takes her front feet and just digs like she is in the yard or something! I have no idea where she has all this energy bc she isn't eating enough to have it! I mean I am lucky if I can get her to eat a good 15 ML a day right now!!! Im so irritated! She is going to starve herself to death and the reglan will do no good if there is no food in there!!! Heck, I don't even know if her gut is working at this point! Its been almost a week with no poo now!

She took about 5 ML each feeding today. She is the most STUBBORN chin I have ever had! I mean you can put the food in her mouth and put some in and she will open her mouth and just let it drip out! Today I am alternating Rice Cereal and Critical Care because she doesn't really seem to like either!

I even cut up tiny pieces of apple just to try to get SOMETHING in her. She showed no interest. I covered one in her probiotic paste and she ate that one, by mistake I think. I did it to another one and she dropped it, licked off the probiotic paste and left the apple! Anyone know if they can eat apple sauce?? Was wondering if I could try mixing that with rice cereal. I'm almost at the point of not caring what she eats if I can just get her to eat!!!
 
Plain pumpkin in the can from the grocery store works great to mix in the syringe feed.Roo hated both flavors of CC and unfortunately didn't like Fuzzie's EFL either( I know picky little Momma's boy).He did eat his own pellets ground up in the blender,mixed in probiotic powder, and moistened to paste consistency with the pumpkin and a tad of warm water.Also I'd keep a bit of the pumkin close by and dip the end of the syringe in it to get him interested if needed.
 
Mercy, I tried some pumpkin and rice cereal this afternoon and she ate about 5Ml again before she quit. She gets fed again as soon as I finish eating and I think I might try pumpkin and CC this time. I went to PetCo and bought a new syring with a longer tip so I might have more luck getting it in her mouth and over the tongue. I'm thinking I will just change it up each time and see what we get. Right now I just want to try to get that gut moving, then I will worry about real nourishment. I just keep praying it hasn't quit already.
 
Finally got a full 10ML in her in one sitting! She chewed the **** out of my syringe I just bought though.

Tummy doesn't feel hard, but its obviously got some stuff in it now, so I can only pray we start seeing poo soon! She gets her 3rd dose of Reglan tonight.
 
AmandaDi said:
Finally got a full 10ML in her in one sitting! She chewed the **** out of my syringe I just bought though.

Tummy doesn't feel hard, but its obviously got some stuff in it now, so I can only pray we start seeing poo soon! She gets her 3rd dose of Reglan tonight.
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That's great you got her to eat 10ml in one sitting! Hope she continues to eat more and more for you! Stinks that she chewed up your new syringe though. She does sound like a rather stubborn girl! I would stick with Mercy's formula, and stay away from any applesauce. Even 'no sugar added' varieties will still have alot of natural sugar in them. I understand your desperation to get her to eat though. It can be such a frustrating process to hand feed and worry about getting enough food in them. I did the same thing with one of my chins, I was like "here eat some hay! here eat some plain cheerios! something! anything!". I know it can be so stressful :(

It sounds like you are doing the best you can and are taking all the right steps! Hang in there!
 
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