Baxter's med thread

[Lynx]

Yes, the debridement tells the eye there is something wrong and it has to get busy healing.

[zazzified]

Hopefully his eye gets the picture! I forgot to ask her about the Baytril and Bactrim that he is on but was planning to fax his care regimen to my regular vet tomorrow anyway. I imagine I should keep him on them in case there's something behind the eye causing a problem, right?

[Talishan]

How's he tolerating them?

[zazzified]

Pretty well. I'm weighing him daily and so far it stays within a normal daily fluctuation range.

[Talishan]

If 'twere me I'd keep him on them, and ask your regular vet about them after she's had a chance to review your fax.

I suspect they've overlooked the fact he's still on them, but if he's tolerating them I'd keep them up just in case they are in fact helping, while still asking if they clinically need to be continued.

[Jennicat]

Hey, Talishan gave me a head's up. We did debride Pinball's eye and it seemed to make the eye heal. Our vet seemed to think that it was very similar to a condition that he saw in dogs. We also used an antibiotic ointment which helped the eye heal and kept it moist and that helped a ton.

[zazzified]

Ok, that's what I figured! Thanks!

Any tips on putting ointment on his eye? He hated it! I can do drops because I don't have to touch his eye with the dropper, but man, the ointment does not go over well.

Thanks, Jennicat! This vet also mentioned the similarity to dogs she has treated.

[Jennicat]

I usually pulled down on the lower lid slightly and then tried to smear it under the lid and massage it around gently. The pig will usually start biting you by the time you get the lid covered in goo.

[zazzified]

Ok, thanks. Baxter has gotten a lot of practice biting me this past week so he has his part covered.

[Jennicat]

They're always glad to pitch in and do their parts!

[zazzified]

I think we finally have some progress. He is no longer on flurbiprofen, and even so the swelling seems to be down. Yesterday when he was arguing with me about whether he needed ointment on his eye he was able to close it completely in defiance. He still doesn't close it entirely on a regular basis, but the fact that he was able to do so at all is definitely something.

I forgot to ask about this before, but she had mentioned possibly using some type of glue on the surface of his eye if the ulcer doesn't heal up? I wish I could remember what she said exactly. She said she's done it on dogs, cats, and rabbits but no guinea pigs so far. She mentioned that in dogs she's also put contact lenses on them because that aids healing somehow, but that she can't do it on smaller animals because they wouldn't fit.

[Lynx]

I don't recall hearing about that. Sounds interesting.

[Talishan]

This rings a very, very vague, dim bell with me from somewhere, sometime. For whatever that might be worth (probably not much :-p).

[zazzified]

Well, at least eyes are more similar to other animals than the rest of a guinea pig, medically.

I may have spoken too soon about progress. It looks pretty red and swollen/sticky-outey tonight. I don't know what to think at this point. If it was all just an injury causing this it shouldn't still be swollen enough to protrude, should it? I just don't know. The surface is looking better, though, I think. His eye makes me so sad to look at. :(

[Talishan]

I'd call the opthamologist tomorrow morning and use those exact words to ask her about it.

[zazzified]

Ok, thanks. If she thinks we need to take a look inside his head, would it be better to xray or ultrasound? I assume the ultrasound is significantly more expensive. Would an xray show an abscess/elongated roots well? My regular vet does a great job with xrays without anesthetic if that's a good option.

This is probably a stupid question, but is there a treatment for elongated roots? I don't know how likely it is that they are elongated, as his eating hasn't changed. The vet saw last time that his teeth are getting pointy and should be trimmed soon, but I'm not sure of the linkage between uneven wear and elongated roots. I'm assuming there is no treatment, but I want to check... I do hope that if that's the problem we still have some options.

My apologies if any of this is common knowledge. I'm doing many searches here and trying to put together information the best I can, but teeth issues continue to confuse me even after reviewing the main GL site and the forums. I'm trying to wrap my head around it so that I have some preliminary guesswork in the back of my mind while talking to the vets.

[Talishan]

I'd x-ray first ... if needed. See what the opthamologist says first. This may in fact be normal for this kind of injury.

Dental x-rays IMO if needed. He may need to be lightly sedated; dental uses a smaller area and a more tightly collimated beam (??? I think ???) and they can't move even the tiniest bit or it will be unclear. Good dental/skull rads will show elongated roots quite clearly. They should also (I think) show an abscess.

Treatment options for elongated roots include regular planing, lots of abrasive foods like corn husks, and/or a Chin-Sling. Uneven wear, points, the need for planing, and elongated roots have kind of a web relationship in my mind. A pig can have uneven wear, malocclusion, points and need a trim or two and *not* have elongated roots. Elongated roots are a disorder of the dental roots themselves. The other stuff is primarily mechanical (i.e., the grinding action of the teeth is or hasn't been correct for some reason).

http://www.guinealynx.info/chinsling.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/elongated_roots.html

[zazzified]

Thank you. I noticed that Pinta mentioned Willie's jaw hanging slack, which Baxter does not do. So... I guess there's that. Not that it proves anything. I'll definitely keep the information close at hand since it may come into play here.

I will call the opthamologist tomorrow and probably call my regular vet to update her as well. I guess on average Baxter's eye is somewhat better than it was (particularly on the surface), but it doesn't seem to be on a consistent path to healing at this point. It seems to look best mid-morning and worst in the evenings (after drops in both cases, so that's not it), unless I'm looking into it too much. I suppose it could be the meloxicam, since that's the only thing he only gets at one time of the day. Maybe it kicks in and helps reduce swelling so that it looks better by morning, and then by the evening when it has worn off and it's time for another dose it looks worse?

[Talishan]

If I remember right, Pinta originally developed the Chin-Sling for a pig of hers that had a TMJ-like condition. Then she discovered that it incidentally helped greatly to treat elongated roots as well.

Healing may not be consistent. But if you're worried, update both your regular vet and specialist, and ask all the questions you need to to feel comfortable.

I've had better luck with splitting Metacam in half and administering it in two doses. Not all will agree, but that's been my experience.

[zazzified]

Yeah, it's just making me nervous. I don't want to feel like I'm letting the problem go without attention if it's deeper than we realize. You're right, though - I need to ask away to ease some of the worrying and make sure his current status is what the opthamologist is expecting so far.

I tried splitting the dose like that in the past with Jeeves, and it helped him. I think I'm going to give it a try and see how that goes.