wood troubles

[WhiteTree]

I haven't been on here since I lost my boy to malo in January, bad memories.
Well I noticed on 11/18 my one chin had a weepy eye, took him into my work the next day for the vet to look at, we started tobramycin drops. Eye didn't get better, so last wednesday I brought him back in because he dropped alittle weight, vet noticed a piece of wood stuck between the back molars on the same side as the weepy eye. We sedated him and removed the wood, then the vet sent me out of the room while they were recovering him, recovery didn't go smoothly. He finally woke up and I took him home.

He was eating hay until Tuesday when he stopped eating, so I started syringe feeding critical care. I called the vet I work with who informed me to watch his water intake because he didn't get enough oxygen during recovery and could have suffered kidney damage as a result.

He's eating 35mls per feeding of critical care mixed with ground up pellets and a grain supplement several times a day. He's eating some hay, no pellets though and won't touch his treats. He's regained some weight and seems active. I'm taking him in tonight for bloodwork to check his renal values to see if his kidneys suffered any damage. Weights were 630grams on 11/18, 570grams on 11/28, 556grams on 12/4, 585grams today.

Anyone else have problems with wood? Do you think this was a freak accident or should I do away with wood? They get apple wood daily and I try to mix in other kinds like willow and mulberry.

PS his teeth are perfect, we took radiographs of his molars to check the roots. He's never being sedated again though.

 

[Strevale]

I've never had any problems with wood before. If this chin had problems, you might want to avoid giving this particular chin wood.

 

[Riven]

It's just a freak thing, do you know it came from a stick? What about a shelf? A piece of shavings? Wood is all around them. I do worry about this often with people who feed the Popsicle type sticks because they just kind of "shatter".

Try to up his CC to at least 60 ml if you can and keep us updated.

 

[WhiteTree]

Sorry I haven't been on in awhile, family health issues. He was doing well for a while even went back to eating his pellets, but now he's off pellets. We haven't been able to get blood from him to run his values but we made the unofficial diagnosis based on his symptoms that it's kidney damage that's causing him not to eat now. We suspected kidney damage from the lack of oxygen when he was sedate, during recovery he blocked his airway with his tongue, they rushed me out of the room and worked to get his tongue out of the way as fast as possible, he pulled through but we think it did some damage to his kidneys. His drinking has increased drastically. He seemed lethargic yesterday, but it a bit better today.

Normally for kidney disease in other animals we use fluid therapy, we're doing a form of that with the syringe feeding, since it's increasing his fluid intake. I'm syringe feeding him twice daily, we don't want to feed him too much that he stops eating his hay since we don't want him to have dental issues, but I need to feed enough to keep his weight up. I'm grinding up his pellets and some herbal supplements and he loves it. I get about 35mls into him a feeding and he's eating hay. I'd love to get bloodwork but every attempt has failed. The plan now is to syringe feed for the remainder of his life.

Any advice would be appreciated I'd like to keep him going for as long as I can, and as long as he's comfortable. I might try taking him to a different vet than the one I work with for another opinion.

 

[ticklechin]

Has the vet said anything about treating the issue? When I had the chin with congestive heart failure and treatment was discussed part of it was having to deal with chronic kidney failure, the vet recommended trying benazepril and vit B injections along with sub-q fluids, this treatment was not done since this chin was PTS due to other issues but as far as I know there is treatment. Also a low protein diet.

 

[WhiteTree]

We got blood today and sent out a comprehensive profile, I will get the results Tuesday. I took a suggestion from forever feisty chins and took a full body rad, he has a bladder stone. We're going to do an ultrasound to confirm that it's in the bladder then if his bloodwork is normal do surgery to remove it. I'm treating him at home with SQ fluids, pepcid and metacam. He had a very bad night last night and refused to eat or let me touch him, not like him at all. I thought I was going to be coming home without him when I woke up today. But he perked up and ate alittle before his appointment for bloodwork. He's eating a bit for me and is coming around. We do ultrasounds on wednesdays so if he's bloodwork is good and he's clear for surgery I'll bring him to work with me for an ultrasound, she wasn't 100% convinced of the stone's location and wants to confirm it. I'm so happy to have a reason finally, I've been worrying and guessing, now I can finally plan a treatment and act on it.

My vet is worried about surgery on him after the issues they had with sedating him, his tongue has a mind of it's own. I know I'll be hovering in the surgery suite if we do the surgery. I'm going to give him every opportunity I can though. I'll post his blood results when I get them.

 

[WhiteTree]

We got his bloodwork. He has heptatic lipidosis from not eating well. My vet wants to put off the surgery for the bladder stone for a week to let his liver values go down now that he's eating better. He's putting on weight now, she doesnt feel he can handle the surgery just yet, maybe next friday if his values are better. He's eating 70mls a day and eatng hay at night now. He's starting to turn around.

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

That's really good that you got the blood work and the full body x-ray. I have an elderly cat who has had hepatic lipidosis twice in her lifetime so I know what a roller coaster of emotion it can lead too. On the plus side, that your chin is getting 70mls is great, especially if hay is being eaten as well. I would keep the critical care amount high and increase it if your chin starts to loose weight again. I hope your vet can get the stone removed next week, I know leaving those in can cause further complications.
Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly! Your little man is a fighter!