I'm worried about Rosie.

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Paravati
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Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:48 am


When the retina detaches, is there anything you can do? Why does a retina detach? If this is what it is, will he have to have his eye removed?

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AuntyLaura

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:58 am


In the case of my dog, the vet thinks it was from some kind of a blow to the head. We're not sure how it happened. The vet also said that retinas can detatch from disease, but that wasn't the case in Jasper. Jasper's eye didn't shrivel and didn't need to be removed, it was just white and funky looking. He lived like that for about 7 years, until he died at age 14.

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Paravati
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Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:05 am


Oh, that's good to hear. Not that your dog had a detached retina, I mean, that he didn't lose the eye. I've been terrified that Rosie would need surgery. The vet won't neuter him and is very cautious about putting him under even for his teeth, because he is so old and frail. I seriously have doubts about him surviving any kind of really invasive surgery. Thanks, AuntyLaura.

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lisam

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:34 am


One of my horses went blind in one eye, she had euveitis (also called moon blindness). Eventually the retina detached, and it caused her a lot of pain, since it would "float" around and bang into nerves (that's how the vet described it!). She did have her eye removed, a prosthesis put in, and the lids sewn shut.

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Post   » Fri Nov 21, 2003 7:28 pm


Rosie went to the vet today, and I am so glad that he did.

The vet says that his eye is stuck "open" on the inside, and that the white part we are seeing is cataract that's not normally visible when the eye opens and closes with normal pupil action. So it's not unsafe, it's not a detached retina, and it's not going to explode and need removal. (Big sigh of relief).

However, he had a HUGE knot under his chin that must have swelled up pretty much over night. It was the size of a large marble, and hard. She asked me, "How long as he had this bump here," and I said, "What??"

She shaved his chin and neck area to expose the mass. Upon aspiration, almost 3ml of yellow pus came out. It stank. She looked at it under a microscope and said that all she saw was lots of white blood cells and coccic (sp?) bacteria. Rosie has been on Bactrim since the beginning of this thread, so the AB was switched to Baytril.

While she was shaving his neck I noticed his bottom right incisor looked splintered. Hard to describe - But teeth seem to me like they are made up of "layers" almost, vertically sandwiched together, and you can see the ridges in the tooth's edge. This splinter was a very thin slice off the rightmost edge of his right incisor. You could see the "crack" of it all the way down to the gum.

She trimmed the sliver off and told me to use warm compresses and do the Baytril. She thinks that the abcess is caused by the root of the splintered tooth, since it's on the same side.

His molars have already started to overgrow, and now that he's got an abcess we can't use his Chin Sling (I had been waiting until today for her to help me get the best fit of it). So we have an appointment in a week to check on the status of the tooth (she thinks it might need to be removed altogether), the abcess, and the molars.

Jeez, I am so glad that I took him in today for his eye. Even if there's nothing I can do for the eye. I can't believe how fast the abcess grew.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Nov 21, 2003 10:08 pm


How discouraging. Teeth issues are so hard to deal with -- and the pig's gotta eat! I hope he can recover from the teeth issues.

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Paravati
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Post   » Wed Nov 26, 2003 9:50 pm


Rosie went back to the vet today. The abcess under his chin was the size of a golf ball. They drained it and told us to keep him on the Baytril and bring him back Monday for surgery to extract the incisor.

However, we just checked him again and the abcess is, once again, the size of a large marble. This is only six hours or so after the last draining (they stick a needle in and extract the pus).

Of course, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Rosie has lost 60 grams since before the abcess and is not acting right. I imagine the abcess is very painful, below the chin.

What can we do? We have no pain medication here. I know of no anti-inflammatories that I might have kicking around the house safe to give pigs. I do have needles here. Should I attempt to get more pus out of the abcess? They told me to bring him back on Friday if it needed re-draining. However, I don't know how long is "safe" to let an abcess like that exist. Will Friday be too long to wait? Should he see an ER vet for the draining?

I don't understand how an abcess like this can GROW with the AB's Rosie's been on. First Bactrim, and now Baytril. It's growing so fast it scares me. I'm supposed to go out of town tomorrow, and I'm bringing Rosie with me in a cat carrier. I suppose I'll pack a triage box also with meds and subcue supplies and stuff but I have NO idea of what we should do. Leave it alone? Drain it? Wait until Friday? What if it bursts?

pinta

Post   » Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:01 pm


I think you should go to emergency, get them to drain it and show you how so you can do it yourself, and get pain meds(Meloxicam or Rimadyl). Also maybe you need a different AB. Perhaps Chloramphenicol? Was the pus ever cultured?

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lisam

Post   » Wed Nov 26, 2003 10:36 pm


I'm confused. Why don't they lance it, flush it, and leave a drain in and have you flush it? Forgive me if it's been covered before, I didn't re-read the thread.

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melcvt00

Post   » Wed Nov 26, 2003 11:14 pm


Actually, what would probably be easiest, considering the area it's in, would be to put a slit in it with a scalpel blade, then keep the slit unscabbed by cleaning it twice daily. With a slit, you can use a curved tip syringe and dilute chlorhex to flush into it, then gently squeeze it back out. And if it's caused by the tooth, extracting is going to be the only way to totally get rid of it.

pinta

Post   » Thu Nov 27, 2003 12:00 am


Yeah, I was thinking a shunt might be needed to keep it open. Damn, they always manage to have emergencies on holidays.

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Paravati
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Post   » Thu Nov 27, 2003 3:04 am


No, the pus hasn't been cultured. At the time it was discovered, Rosie had been on Bactrim for about three weeks. Maybe longer, I can't remember. I am so tired. The vet did look at it under a microscope and saw a lot of white blood cells and coccic (sp?) bacteria.

We had to go out and take care of some other things (mandatory, couldn't wait). Now that I have time to breathe I'm going to call around and see if there are any ER vets who will drain the abcess again. I seem to remember that when Tigger was sick most of them told me that all they knew how to do was a subcue.

Rosie is so old and frail I am not sure about doing a shunt or anything that would leave any sort of open wound. I just don't know if he can handle it. I have some of the blue stuff here, Nolvasan I think it is, so if an ER vet does make any sort of incision I can flush the wound.

I just feel so stupid. I know how the vet drained his "bubble" of pus last time; I was holding him while she did it. The area is shaved and it's easy to see. Insert needle, pull back. I am just scared that (with my luck) I'd hit a major vein or something and kill him. Gah.

Ok, calling around now. I'm gonna look up the meds chart again and get the pain meds dosage. Does anybody know if either Meloxicam or Rimadyl would be better in this situation? He's old, 840g or so, arthritis, blind, deaf in one ear, and apparently has an abcessed incisor. Thanks.

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