update on malo chin

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WhiteTree

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
123
Location
South Jersey
I have Scamp at a specialist today. As I had told you in the last thread I had xrays done about a month ago but I still don't know the results of the xrays, Dr. Goode had told me about an exotics specialist in the area, I called then and he's there now. They're putting him under, examining the teeth, trimming if necessary and drawing blood for bloodwork. He seems to think that it could be an underlying issue causing him to not eat. After digging through the paperwork from Dr. Goode's office I found two forms with two weights, the one from last December said 658grams the one from September of this year says 578g, today he's 575g. So he definately lost weight this year but thankfully has only lost 3 pounds since this last bout of teeth issues started, which is good considering he won't eat on his own. I'll find out what this doctor thinks when I pick him up and then hear about the bloodwork in a few days. I actually was going to euthanize him alittle over a week ago because he was just laying around all night and morning, he wouldn't move or do anything. I scheduled the appointment and 30 minutes before we were suppose to leave he jumped up and started running on the wheel and playing and hasn't stopped since. I'm still hopeful. I'll keep you updated and I'll get a card with the name and number of this place to post in the vets section for people in south jersey. They really seem to know what they're doing and the pricing is very good. He's suggesting an MRI of the jaw if the drooling continues.
 
well the problem is his gums grow over his back teeth because during the last filing the vet took too much off. The specialist pushed the gum back and puss came out. He has him on metacam and an antibiotic I can't seem to remember the name right now. He said he has to see him in 2-3 weeks for another filing and to push the gum back more and he might need further work on the gum. But he seems fairly confident that in a few more treatments he'll be able to go a few month between filings and he'll be back on his regular food. I really like this vet. Dr. Kupersmith with animal and bird health care center and hospital in cherry hill new jersey. The xrays that were taken were of no use to either the vet today or the board certified radiologist, the quality of picture was too low to make a diagnosis. So there's $335 down the drain for nothing.
 
wow, some specialist. even though the xrays werent useful this time, they are always good to have as a baseline. Thats how I was able to compare Tillys malo progression
 
He's recommending in the future MRIs if necessary because he says several of his patients actually have normal looking xrays even though they have severe teeth issues, the MRI shows the damage when the xrays didn't. So it's something to consider in the future, the other problem with the xrays was according to the vet and the board certified radiologist was how they were taken. They weren't taken properly, too much contrast to make a diagnosis, so they can't be properly read. I'm calling tomorrow because I'm pretty annoyed that one I didn't get the results for a month and they never gave them to me the specialist had to call them to get the results so I still haven't heard from them about the xrays. And two the xrays that cost me over $300 were unreadable.
 
Yeah definitely lay down the law with that one. One time, when I was much younger and more naiive, I had a vet tell me they took xrays and they never did. I even paid for them. Never got them obviously. I also had the last vet I used lose Tills x rays. idiots.
 
MRI's in this case are better for looking for soft tissue issues, CT scans for hard tissue-both together as far as the pocket book goes should really only be used if the good quality x-ray shows squat. I paid around 1600.00 to have both done on a chin so its nothing to mess with if not needed, the MRI was the most expensive part.

That said, the gingival curretage (gum cutting) is a tricky thing to deal with if the cleaning of the pockets and meds don't help and I hope your vet RXed you at the least baytril, which is not very effective with dealing with periodontal issues but its better than a sulfa antibiotic, the open pockets with active infection IMO is a crisis waiting to happen. In this case again IMO with my experience I would want baytril with flagyl, the flagyl to deal with the anaerobic bacteria deep in the pockets, the baytril to deal with the other infections such as URIs that malo chins with active infections get.
 
He's on ciprofloxin twice daily for 14 days. I was actually surprised that Dr Kupersmith called me today to check up on Scamp and that he already had the results of the bloodwork back. The bloodwork is all normal, no signs of disease. He said he won't be in the office next week so he informed another the Dr about my case so that if I have an issue next week someone is there with knowledge of Scamp's case. I really like this office, I even got a welcome to the practice card in the mail today and I was just there for the first time yesterday.
On an another note after discussing the issues with the xrays with my instructors they advised me to push for my money back for my xrays. They're fellow vets so if they're telling me to I know I should. I called the corporate office and filed a formal complaint for reimbursement. I'm a non-confrontational person but at this point enough is enough. I don't have unlimited funds and it's the principle that I paid for something and it wasn't done correctly. I took radiology in school and quite frankly it's not that hard if you have experience, they have digital and he was under anesthesia so they can't even say it was because he moved. Honestly I think they had someone who wasn't very experienced taken them, which yes we all need practice but not when a client is paying a good chunk of money for xrays, practice on your own dime.
I'm switching my chins over to Dr. Kupersmith and my dog was leaving banfield anyway since I'm starting at local vet office in December right after graduation she's going to be seen there. So I'm done with banfield.
 
Ciprofloxacin is related to baytril so you are good to go there with at least the antibiotic to treat the gingival infection.
 
well banfield called and they're refusing to refund me. And according to them the specialist lied to me about the results of the xrays. They said the radiologist said it was a tooth root abscess. Which is was but at the same time when I filed my complaint I mentioned the infection of the back tooth so I don't know if they just made it up. Someone's lying to me and since they also say that I never called them when I called multiple times I'm going to go with them. Plus Scamp is doing much better and has even stopped drooling, so I'll go with the vet that actually fixed the problem and returns my calls. I'm very annoyed with banfield saying I never called them after I left multiple messages and even called four times in one day when Scamp was really doing bad. They want me to come back saying they'll discount my office visit fee for Scamp and Andy, no thank you I'll go to the specialist with all four of my chinnies from now on.
 
i just did a google search 'banfield vet review', and wow! a good number of people not happy with this vet at all, with some mentions of lawsuits.

glad to hear you have a vet now that is on the ball, and seems to care about the animals and owners they see.
 
They called me a liar, called the other vet a liar, and I still haven't heard back from Dr. Goode, even though the manager swore she would personally see to it that she called me. I'm calling the home office again. If this issue isn't resolved I'm reporting them to the veterinary medical board. This can't happen, we're taught early on to treat clients with respect and treat their animals like we'd want ours to be treated. I have been disrespected and my chinchilla received in my opinion below average care. If she had gotten back to me sooner he would have been treated for the infection sooner. He's doing really well now, he's not drooling and he's starting to eat on his own already. I'm so happy with my new vet and so disappointed with the old vet. Dr. Goode is recommended on here and I'm seriously wondering why because I don't think someone who can't return a phone call about a medical issue with a patient to be a good doctor. I will never go back to them and I'm taking this as far as I have to. Our animals deserve the very best care, that's why I'm in school, in this state you don't need an education to assist the vet, but I'm in school so I can do it better and provide the best care for your animals. Maybe the people at this office should go to school or go back for a refresher course, they seem to need it.
 
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