[Gpdd] HEALTH: Tooth root abscess - my soulmate ARCHIE - HELP!!

Julie juwles at optusnet.com.au
Fri Mar 30 09:18:33 EDT 2007


Hi all,
 
I’m in trouble again with my dearest Archie.       I need some advice.
I adore my boy so much, that maybe my judgement is clouded as far as he
is concerned.  I don’t know if there is any hope for his cure, or if I
am being selfish not wanting to help him across the Bridge.     
 
Being my soulmate, I know he doesn’t want to die yet – he shows so much
interest in his food, he just can’t pick it up or eat it.   He tries so
hard, he is a gutsy little boy.   I am syringe feeding him both critical
care and a mash I blend containing carrot, cucumber, parsley, tomato,
celery, then I add a 125mg vitamin C tablet to the mash, and also a
probiotic tablet and critical care.      He cuddles me like a dog.  I’ve
never known such human or doggy traits in a piggy before.
 
He mostly baulks at taking the food from the syringe.   Only
occasionally will he willing accept the syringe; I usually have to
gently force him to take the syringe.
 
He has not lost any weight.    He still weighs 1.2kg.    He had surgery
on 28/2/07 for overgrown molar teeth (he also had surgery in October and
the dental vet specialist did not expect him to live so was very
surprised to see him again.   The dentist who operated on him in Feb is
known as the best dental vet in Australia.  So that gave me some
comfort.
 
When I collected Archie, the vet didn’t want him to have antibiotics
because since his surgery in Oct 2006, he has never done a pellet poop
again
.. always sloppy, soft or diarrhoea poops.  That’s why I started
immediately on the probiotic tablets – the vet said if he didn’t die
from the teeth problem then he probably would because of the
digestion/pooping problem.
 
Australia Quarantine has recently allowed Timothy Hay into the country,
so I bought a couple of bales knowing it has lots of fibre and was
palatable and good for grinding teeth.   Not one of my 4 piggies will
eat the Hay (and I paid a fortune for it!).
 
Archie was eating fresh grass (organic grass which had been grown from
corn, bird seed and sunflower seeds).  He also has a guinea pig pellet
mix which contains Lucerne chaff, pellets, and a few sunflower seeds
(not very many because I know they are bad for piggies).   He also gets
fresh unprocessed bran, celery, carrots, tomato, parsley, some pear,
corn & the husk from it, watermelon, very small amount of apple.   He
used to eat this food like a pig!   Now he gets excited seeing the food,
picks it up, throws it around, and proceeds to walk to the corner of his
home and sits all fluffed up and miserable.
 
2 days after his surgery in Feb I rang the dental vet to say he wasn’t
picking up.  He then prescribed Baytril and Metacam (why he didn’t do so
in the first place I don’t know or understand).  Also

 he told me when
I collected Archie that there was pus in the gum of one tooth – so why
he delayed antibiotics flabbergasts me.       And, why he didn’t ring me
to ask permission to remove the tooth whilst under anaesthetic astounds
me even more!   I would have thought a vet, or doctor for that matter,
with ½ a brain would do it all then & there to prevent need for further
anaesthetic.   But who am I to criticise

. Just the most willing slave
of Archie, his soulmate who knows everything he is thinking and wanting!
 
Two weeks after surgery I rushed back to Brisbane to see a vet who owns
guinea pigs and can trim the teeth using the buccal pad separators and
bone roungers.   He picked up a little after that, but I was back to the
vet for more teeth cutting within 5 days.   She took a lot more off the
molars, straightened the incisors, and said she was very happy with how
much she had been able to take off and there was no spurs or incorrect
shaped teeth after her work.   I thought he’d be okay and start to pick
up.
 
I take him back to the vet in Brisbane on Monday (a 2-hour drive).
Unfortunately he has never picked up, even after the tooth work.     So
it must be the tooth root abscess is so painful for him that it is
preventing him from eating.
 
I was told to take a tooth out is a big thing in a piggy
.. longer
anaesthetic, probably the need to cut through the cheek and get at the
offending tooth that way, then push the tooth down (I don’t understand
that, I thought it would be pulled).   The tooth vet said he could take
it out (for thousands of dollars), but that this disease could progress
to the next tooth, then the next, and so on.
 
He’s been on baytril and metacam for a month now, with no improvement.
Reading through piggy info on the internet informs me that an abscess is
very painful and if it is in the bone the oral antibiotic will not be
sufficiently strong enough to get into the bone to cure it.
 
Does anyone have any miracle cures?   Has any GPDD member had this
problem, and what did they do for their piggy?       
 
Am I cruel & selfish keeping Archie going, or should I have him put to
sleep?   Maybe the next step could be an x-ray to find exact problem.
I also thought that perhaps some cortisone might reduce some
inflammation and pain.   Maybe I should risk the surgery??   The thought
of me saying to the vet to put him to sleep is making me very ill; I’m
his mum, and I’d be condemning him to death.
 
Any advice from all the wonderful piggy slaves would be greatfully
appreciated.   I am really struggling here


 when I handed Archie over
to the dental vet for his surgery in Feb – I told him that he was
holding my heart in his hands – and as silly as that sounds, I really
meant it.  I haven’t even owned Archie for 12 months – I rescued him
from RSPCA in May 2006.
 
Many thanks to all digesters,
Julie, Archie & Dougall
Teddy & Muppet at the Bridge
 


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