Baxter's med thread

Post Reply
Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:38 pm


"I feel like my pigs are messing with me."

Been there. Empathize. <primal scream>

User avatar
zazzified

Post   » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:02 pm


Baxter's eye is red and squinty this evening. I have meloxicam available, as always, because I forever have a sick or injured pig. I gave him that already (which was a breeze because he always tries to steal meds from Jeeves, so he grabbed the syringe and took it willingly while standing in the cage). Anything else I should do in the meantime? I am planning to turn down the lights in here because I don't know about him, but my eyes are very light sensitive when they're injured. Tomorrow I will see how he's doing and call the vet about getting ointment.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:43 pm


Do you have any opthalmic drops (Gentamicin, Tobramycin)? If not, a drop of something like sterile saline or GenTeal drops may make him more comfortable.

Turning down the lights is an excellent idea (and recommended by one of our best and oldest vets).

User avatar
zazzified

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:59 am


Unfortunately I don't have any drops like that, so saline it is. The meloxicam helped him quite a bit last night, but his eye was still puffy and red and tearing up, so he has an appointment tonight at 9 pm. Talk about extended hours!

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 7:56 pm


We had one vet here that had extended evening hours and Sunday (!) hours. Perhaps not the best exotics vets in the area, though not bad, and priiiiiiceeeeey ... but better them than the ER. I wish more vets would do it.

User avatar
zazzified

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:03 pm


Well, he has an ulcerated eye. They also found sticky unidentifiable stuff on his butt that they couldn't get off, and since it is irritating the skin and causing hair clumping at the roots they are shaving a patch to keep an eye on the skin. I feel terrible for not seeing it but I don't know where it came from or when. I could hardly convince them that I didn't give them HONEY! However they just shaved him and said he had a tiny injury that was creating discharge and I am to keep it clean and be sure that it drains.

Regarding his eye, they scared me to death by telling me that it could fall out. He is going on several different things... I am still waiting at the vet and am typing on my phone right now so once I have it all I'll post his treatment protocol. I am wondering if I need to ask to work from home over the next two days to try to keep his eye lubricated... I'm not positive whether he can blink completely because of course he doesn't try while I'm staring at him. Of course I'll need a better explanation than giving my guinea pig eye drops because I don't take my boss for the exotic animal enthusiast.

Sorry this is all over the place. Phone typing takes too long to keep my thoughts properly organized and they come in to update me midsentence.

Poor Baxter. My pigs cannot catch a break here.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:50 pm


Eye drops in theory are best used every 4 to 6 hours. If you can ask to work from home *safely* for the next couple of days, it would be great. Having said that, the best we've been able to manage on more than one occasion is 2 to 3 times per day, and the pig healed fine.

If you can come up with a good excuse, fine, but I don't know that you need to truly endanger your job.

Re: unidentified stuff on the rear ... they do know what a grease gland is, right?

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:11 pm


Sounds like he has some serious problems. I hope the eye is okay. Good luck to Baxter!

User avatar
zazzified

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:11 pm


Now that I see it shaved, I think that this particular vet was apparently dumb and it's just his grease gland. I wonder how it got so out of control so fast, though. I check both pigs often and neither has ever needed much more than a quick wipe. I took a picture of his shaved butt to see what you think and will post it momentarily.

I was given flurbiprofen, gentocin, and artificial tears and told to use all of them three times a day. They said use the flurbiprofen first, wait 10-20 minutes, use the gentocin, wait 10 minutes, and then use the artificial tears. One drop of each each time.

I was also given meloxicam and baytril. I'm assuming the baytril was for his butt "injury" - if the verdict is that the vet is insane, can I take him off of that? Is there any need to be on that for the eye?

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:15 pm


"I wonder how it got so out of control so fast, though."

HAhahahahahahaha. I should introduce you to Micco.

Protocol seems about right. Flurbiprofen => painkiller, NSAID. Make sure he does not ingest any if you are also giving him meloxicam. Eye injuries hurt a lot so anything dropped directly into the eye should help. The order and timing sound good.

Do you see any actual cut, sore, red spot, anything at all on his butt?

Has he had Baytril before and tolerated it?

User avatar
zazzified

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:21 pm


I don't think so. Frankly I'm relieved if it's just the grease gland, so long as the eye protocol sounds right. I'm actually amazed that a vet there wouldn't know what he/she was doing based on my past experiences there, but I'll definitely be calling my normal vet to inform her.

What do you think, see anything?

Image

Image

It's hard because I've never seen his butt hairless before.

He has been on Baytril once before and tolerated it well.

Sorry for the piggy porno.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:31 pm


Oh dear good Lord.

The only thing I see other than his grease gland is a tiny nick-reddish-spot just below his grease gland and right above his testes.

Normally I would say just put a little Silvadene cream, if you have any, on that spot and leave it alone; or a tiny bit of Neosporin if he can't reach all the way up around there. However, if he's tolerated Baytril well in the past, it will serve as a systemic defense against any eye infection. I suspect that's really why they gave it to you. I do hope so, anyway.

Post Reply