Sakura - Medical Thread

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Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 10:36 pm


Miss Sakura is happy (despite the shaved tummy from her ultrasound, the very bad butt cut from her past experience with incontinence, the loss of her famous "rooster tail" (she shed all of it during her illness), and a strange bald spot on her back from the subcue fluids and injection at the last vet visit).

She is also very suspicious.

Image

Her appetite is good, and she has been drinking between 4 and 5 ounces of water per day on her own.


For anyone interested, this is a photograph of the type of deposits that she has been leaving on her bedding every day:

Image

There are usually between 3 to 11 deposits each 24-hour period.


Sakura has an appointment tomorrow for more fluids. Despite all of the good advice and techniques that everyone has generously shared, I'm not able to give her subcues or injections at home. It has been almost an entire week since the last time I was successful, and she still screams and jumps sideways if I just try to touch her back. I do not envy the vet tech that will be handling her tomorrow.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue May 11, 2010 11:15 pm


That is definitely sludge. Poor Sakura! I hope the fluids help considerably.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 11:39 am


Tracis, if you change your mind and decide to take another stab at it (pardon the expression) yourself, I found this website last night that sells 25g butterflies at a really good price:

http://www.shopmedvet.com/product/6962/ ... es-needles

cutemomomi
Obey My Authority

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 12:52 pm


That is sludgey alright. :)
Thank you for updating Miss Sakura's thread, we were all getting worried about her.

Can you blame her for being skeptical of y'all?
You've shaved her pretty belly, flowbeed her rooster tail and stabbed her with needles! :p

She is looking good Tracis. :)

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 1:10 pm


Sakura is happy & that is good. I hope this situation resolves soon.

egustavson

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 2:57 pm


Tracis, I did not purchase the butterfly needles. A friend got them for me from work. Talishan did send some links to me for suppliers, but I don't remember what the prices were.
Here is a link to Sylvester's thread (page 7) with the source Talishan sent:

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... &start=120

Sylvester had (and still has, occasionally) deposits from her urine that look like that. They feel chalky, not gritty. I took a sample to Dr. Nakamura and he was not at all concerned. I don't know what to think about the calcium residues. Now I see the deposits when I give small amounts of kale or other high calcium foods. I think only Sylvester leaves deposits, not S'more or Cookie.

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Bugs Mom

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 3:25 pm


Hello beautiful Sakura. You're still looking adorable despite everything that's been done to you. I'd be leary of humans too sweetie : )

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 8:21 pm


Correction: calcium compounds, not sludge in my post. Ditto on the mention that sludge would be gritty. My pigs had these powdery deposits.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed May 12, 2010 8:26 pm


" ... and she still screams and jumps sideways if I just try to touch her back."

This is what Spikey did. It took her a while to get over it. It was upsetting not just for her and for us, but it made her (more) very difficult to catch and I worry about that when you think about having to get the animals out of the house fast if necessary -- gas leak, etc.

If she keeps dumping deposits like that, though, I'm hopeful she'll be nicely cleaned out before too much longer.

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Sun May 16, 2010 3:40 am


Thank you for the links, sef and egustavson.

Miss Sakura is on Day 3 of Baytril. The veterinary office compounds some of the medication, and this Baytril is hot pink. It looks pretty, and it smells like strawberries. Sakura is still not impressed.

Enrofloxacin (Baytril) 25 mg/ml, 0.57 ml every 12 hours for 14 days.

She has been pretty good about taking her medications, until the last subcue.

I usually give them to her while she is sitting in her cozy on the bed, with a blanket over her body (she likes security blankets). I hold her against my body, sometimes holding her head in place. She gets three syringes in the morning, and two at night.

Last Friday and Saturday nights, she started jumping and turning around like a wild bronco. It was unsettling, and very much like what she does immediately at the vet's office.

I had to hold her firmly in the cozy with one hand, and give her the medications with the other hand.

I am glad that Spikey eventually calmed down, Talishan. I hope Sakura will relax, too.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun May 16, 2010 11:59 am


That Baytril sounds pretty good!

Were the fluids warmed up first? Sometimes if I didn't have the temperature quite right, Bassy or Zach would do that.

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Sun May 16, 2010 10:11 pm


Fancy Baytril:

Image

I've watched the vet tech warm up the fluids before giving them. Sakura has become very jumpy at the vet's office, and doesn't trust anyone who combs through her fur.

I think that I've figured out why she has been acting so jumpy at night, when I give her the oral medications, but not during the morning medications.

I weigh her at night. Somehow, I must be touching her back (The Forbidden Area) when I put her on the scale.

She needs her toenails trimmed and a bath. I keep postponing them, since I know that these things will stress her out even more.

I'd also like to get a good look at the bald spot on her back from the first subcue, but again, I know it will cause stress.

Am I being a wimp, or should I continue to try to keep her stress-free until she is healthier?

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