Major Foot Issue

PiggyFlamingo

Post   » Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:57 pm


Hi there,

I sent pics over to show his progress. The foot is stuck in the in between state where its not healing but not getting worse. He is currently doing cold laser therapy 2x/week on both his eye incision and his foot.

I wanted to include pics of the eye incision site as we have had so many complications with it and thought maybe it might be helpful to others as we had to get creative so it would heal.

The first eye pic is after the 3rd surgery to repair and close the incision site. The wound had antibiotic beads to keep the pocket from getting infected however, Gamba scratched his incision open (on a Satuday afternoon when the vet is closed and doesn't re-open until Monday morning) The beads ended up falling out before we were able to get him to the vet on Monday morning. 2 surgeries later and here we are.

The eye pocket is approx 90% closed now. Sutures were removed and I still need to flush the small remaining pocket 2x/day due to the fluid seepage. Its a white sticky fluid with no smell, vet said its his "washer fluid" and as we continue to flush it and the pocket heals, he should be finally ok. To keep him from scratching at it, we have a small piece of Elastikon over his front nails. The vet was surprised to see it but couldn't believe it is working. It has been 3 weeks since we started put his "mitten" on so he couldn't scratch at the face and there have been no issues. Our vet has actually started using it on other piggies that can't be scratching with good success so far!

He continues to be on CBD Oil, Vetri DMG, Baytril, Metacam and Fluconazole while he is healing.

Most importantly, he has gained 100g, is eating up a storm and is quite the cheeky little guy!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Nov 30, 2018 5:33 pm


Eating is great! To me, it means he is feeling better.

Here are your pics. What does the "Elastikon " cover for the nails look like? Sounds interesting!












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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:41 pm


Here are your pics illustrating the "elasticon".

You wrote:
The techs didn’t send pics of his foot today but this is the Elastikon that they put on his front and back paw the keep him from scratching the eye wound. It has worked really well and I change it every other day at home. Has not caused any inflammation or skin issues for him. We’ve been doing this for about a month or so. Next week the vet will keep the bandage off to see how he does.





PiggyFlamingo

Post   » Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:27 pm


Okie dokie, so Mr Naughty Pirate Gamba decided to pull his leg bandage off last night. We were planning on trying him without it next week but decided to keep an eye on him and see how it goes. The good news is he’s leaving it alone!! His gait is funny as he’s had his leg bandages to the hip for a month and a half but he’s a much happier Gamba! Came home from work just now and he’s left it alone and definitely moving around better. With that, we won’t be wrapping the leg anymore and the cold laser will now be 1x/week. His eye wound is looking so much better and we continue to flush it 2x/day with iodine/saline mixture. The bone is continuing to remodel and no swelling anymore!!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:57 pm


Good news!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:56 pm


Yay! It must really feel good to have that bandage off! Here are your pictures:









PiggyFlamingo

Post   » Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:53 am


So Gamba is continuing to heal and is actually popcorning and gaining some weight! He continues to leave the foot alone (the dead tissue is still hanging on) and his eye incision site looks good. Vet recommended that we soak the foot in epsom salt to encourage the dead tissue to come on. I'd rather not get into having to have the vet having to mess with it as they still expect it to come off on its own. Overall the vet techs and vet have been very happy with his progress the past few weeks!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:56 am


So long as you are not seeing signs of inflammation, infection, swelling, etc. and the foot is looking fairly good, I would tend to agree with you about holding off on the Epsom salts.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Dec 13, 2018 9:39 pm


New pictures! Seems to be slightly better to me and no worse:







You wrote:
Not much change and I don’t see any signs of infection or inflammation. He’s still on Baytril and Flucanozle (anti-fungal).

PiggyFlamingo

Post   » Wed Jan 23, 2019 10:23 am


Hi everyone,

I didn't want to post additional updates as there wasn't a whole ton of change plus the husband and I came down with the Flu.

Anyway, Gamba's foot is completely healed! 2 of the toes are now growing nails and the middle toe finally had the last of the dead tissue come off! His eye pocket hasn't changed in size however, even with the laser therapy so it looks like he will just have a small, weeping hole for the rest of his days. It doesn't seem to bother him at all and we clean it 2x/daily.

He had his last vet appointment yesterday morning for all this and frankly they are stunned at his progress. He's gained over 100g in the last month and has bulked up to a nice 1330g! Given the 5 surgeries needed for the eye plus how bad his leg was, they consider it a miraculous recovery! The vet mentioned that he wouldn't have had a chance if he didn't get constant vet care and around the clock care from us. He was so worth it though.

Gamba is no longer on any medications. He still receives CBD oil in the morning as well as Vetri and the Wellactin. Sending over pics of his progress! Also including a normal, cute pic of our Naughty Pirate.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:23 pm


So good to have such an encouraging update! I trust when you wipe his eye, you will notice if the amount of weeping changes, if it becomes inflamed, or smells strongly (possible indications he needs to be seen again).

Looking forward to new photos.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:26 am


Here you go!









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