[Gpdd] HEALTH: Tumbleweed's illness

[Cindy]

I am very behind on condolences because our Tumbleweed has been ill.  
Fortunately he is doing much better, and we are hoping for a complete 
recovery. 

A few weeks ago Tumbleweed turned down his nightly carrot piece.  That 
was extremely unusual for him.  Then he didn't want his lunch treats the 
next day.  I called the vet and was able to get an appointment for the 
afternoon.

Some backstory: almost a year ago, Tumbleweed lost a bottom tooth, and 
it never regrew.  Since then he has had regular teeth trims.  We also 
cut up his veggies for him and hand-feed them to him.  (He is very 
particular.  Sometimes he wants them in cubes, sometimes in strips, etc.)

Well, it turned out that the place where the bottom tooth had been had 
developed an infection, and the infection had created an abscess beneath 
his chin.  I was shocked!  He went into surgery that afternoon.  My vet 
lanced the abscess, drained it, and put him on antibiotics.

I felt terrible for not noticing the abscess, but even after I knew it 
was there, I couldn't see it when I just looked at him, and it was 
sometimes hard to locate.  At any rate, my husband and I had to open it 
and drain it for a couple of weeks.  We never got much out of it, but 
now you can barely tell it was there.

Long story short, Tumbleweed's antibiotic regimen was metrondiazole 
(spelling?) in the morning and at night and Baytril in mid-afternoon.  
He is now through with the Baytril but still on the metrondiazole.  We 
have also been giving probiotics.  Some days we gave some plain yogurt, 
and some days we syringed chewable acidophilus mixed with water (he 
won't eat the chewable itself), but lately we have been giving Critical 
Care made into cigar-shaped forms.  (Actually they look like snakes, but 
Tumbleweed does not like that word.)

At one point we also had to give Reglan because he developed gas and 
didn't feel like eating.  There were a couple of days I actually thought 
we were going to lose him.  Fortunately he didn't have a blockage, and 
the Reglan began to improve his appetite and gut motility in a few hours.

I now realize that his abscess was around longer than I'd originally 
thought.  My other piggie, Friday, was trying to tell us Tumbleweed was 
sick.  He kept kissing Tumbleweed and would lick beneath Tumbleweed's 
chin.  Friday really loves Tumbleweed, so we just thought he was being 
affectionate.  Now we know that Dr. Friday was trying to get rid of the 
abscess!  We now watch Dr. Friday very closely to see what he has to say 
about Tumbleweed's condition.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to share the story in case it might 
help other piggies who have problems with their teeth.

Cindy, Tumbleweed, and Friday