Ginger's Medical Thread
Thanks Lynx, yes, she liked tomatoes, but not now!
Thank you Crazy4me it is good to have your support!
Ginger is doing something strange with her mouth when she tries to eat greens, and even while we are syringe feeding.
The best way I can describe it, is that it looks like she is trying to get peanut butter off the roof of her mouth and she stretches her mouth open and kinda sticks out her tongue. She has been syringe fed for almost 2 weeks.
We wonder if it is either:
1. problems with her teeth since she hasn't been grinding them by eating hay
2. problems with the tissue in her mouth from us shoving syringes in her mouth; sometimes the ends get rough from her chewing on them.
Could her teeth be a problem already? Really don't want to subject her to anesthesia and another procedure while she is in such fragile health. She is still on meloxicam and tramadol for pain relief.
Thank you Crazy4me it is good to have your support!
Ginger is doing something strange with her mouth when she tries to eat greens, and even while we are syringe feeding.
The best way I can describe it, is that it looks like she is trying to get peanut butter off the roof of her mouth and she stretches her mouth open and kinda sticks out her tongue. She has been syringe fed for almost 2 weeks.
We wonder if it is either:
1. problems with her teeth since she hasn't been grinding them by eating hay
2. problems with the tissue in her mouth from us shoving syringes in her mouth; sometimes the ends get rough from her chewing on them.
Could her teeth be a problem already? Really don't want to subject her to anesthesia and another procedure while she is in such fragile health. She is still on meloxicam and tramadol for pain relief.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
Are you using 1cc syringes with the tip cut off to handfeed her?
What I do when we've had to do this is make about a dozen of them. I cut the tips off, then pass them quickly through a flame (gas stove eye, cigarette lighter) to round the edges.
As soon as the syringe is either chewed up or doesn't push smoothly from repeated use (Critical Care chews up the inside of syringes), I toss it and get a new one. This 1) makes the "force" part of forcefeeding a little more gentle and smooth, and 2) reduces the chance of irritating her mouth when this has to be done for extended periods of time.
Any of the sharper tips (like on a 10cc, 6cc, 3cc or even 1cc without the tip cut off) will irritate their mouths over time.
In theory grinding up the Critical Care (which has hay bits and silica in it) should protect her teeth. She still has to grind it. That's no guarantee, though.
Without reading back, is she still on a postop AB and if so, what is it?
What I do when we've had to do this is make about a dozen of them. I cut the tips off, then pass them quickly through a flame (gas stove eye, cigarette lighter) to round the edges.
As soon as the syringe is either chewed up or doesn't push smoothly from repeated use (Critical Care chews up the inside of syringes), I toss it and get a new one. This 1) makes the "force" part of forcefeeding a little more gentle and smooth, and 2) reduces the chance of irritating her mouth when this has to be done for extended periods of time.
Any of the sharper tips (like on a 10cc, 6cc, 3cc or even 1cc without the tip cut off) will irritate their mouths over time.
In theory grinding up the Critical Care (which has hay bits and silica in it) should protect her teeth. She still has to grind it. That's no guarantee, though.
Without reading back, is she still on a postop AB and if so, what is it?
We apologize for not posting in a while. This is still a full time second job for all of us! Ginger is coming along very well. We removed the divider in her pen on Sunday. She must have been a little depressed up to then because she started eating hay and drinking from the water bottle within minutes.
However, when I took her out to hand feed her, Ginger's toe nail fell off while washing her feet! She had been starting to get a little bumble foot on the opposite paw so we took care to clean her feet and put soother's ointment on. We called the vet and they recommended we put her back on Baytril so it doesn't get infected... BIG MISTAKE... maybe. She immediately stopped eating and became lethargic, as all of our pigs have done on abx. We left her on it for two days and today we decided to stop it and just keep a sharp eye on her feet thinking that being up eating and walking around was better for her feet than being sedentary and not eating on her own. Maybe it did keep any infection at bay.
So today she is back to where she was on Sunday plus a little better. She hasn’t eaten any pellets yet but she is no longer making the odd motions with her mouth. Eating hay, greens, some treats and her house. We are still hand feeding her and doing subQs.
Talishan,
We are using the 6cc oral syringes. We are concerned what chemicals could be released by melting the plastic to get a rounded edge. But it may have irritated her mouth.
The silica in the CC may be doing its job because we did take Ginger in to get her teeth looked at on Friday. The vet didn’t want to put her under and neither did we so he spent a lot of time looking her teeth over with the otoscope. He didn’t see anything obvious or any irritation. The problem seems to have subsided.
Does “AB” = “ABx?” If so, besides being on them immediately after the surgery, she wasn’t on any until Sunday evening and we stopped it again today due to anorexia.
However, when I took her out to hand feed her, Ginger's toe nail fell off while washing her feet! She had been starting to get a little bumble foot on the opposite paw so we took care to clean her feet and put soother's ointment on. We called the vet and they recommended we put her back on Baytril so it doesn't get infected... BIG MISTAKE... maybe. She immediately stopped eating and became lethargic, as all of our pigs have done on abx. We left her on it for two days and today we decided to stop it and just keep a sharp eye on her feet thinking that being up eating and walking around was better for her feet than being sedentary and not eating on her own. Maybe it did keep any infection at bay.
So today she is back to where she was on Sunday plus a little better. She hasn’t eaten any pellets yet but she is no longer making the odd motions with her mouth. Eating hay, greens, some treats and her house. We are still hand feeding her and doing subQs.
Talishan,
We are using the 6cc oral syringes. We are concerned what chemicals could be released by melting the plastic to get a rounded edge. But it may have irritated her mouth.
The silica in the CC may be doing its job because we did take Ginger in to get her teeth looked at on Friday. The vet didn’t want to put her under and neither did we so he spent a lot of time looking her teeth over with the otoscope. He didn’t see anything obvious or any irritation. The problem seems to have subsided.
Does “AB” = “ABx?” If so, besides being on them immediately after the surgery, she wasn’t on any until Sunday evening and we stopped it again today due to anorexia.
-
Talishan
- You can quote me
"We are concerned what chemicals could be released by melting the plastic to get a rounded edge."
Our gas stove has a vent hood over it. When I do this, yes, it smells awful and is releasing who knows what chemical into the air. I blast the vent fan, open the kitchen window wide (even if it's in the dead of winter) and keep all this going for a while after the smell has subsided. So far none of us has gotten sick from it.
Once the plastic rehardens (which happens very quickly), then you're fine.
Our gas stove has a vent hood over it. When I do this, yes, it smells awful and is releasing who knows what chemical into the air. I blast the vent fan, open the kitchen window wide (even if it's in the dead of winter) and keep all this going for a while after the smell has subsided. So far none of us has gotten sick from it.
Once the plastic rehardens (which happens very quickly), then you're fine.
Ginger continues to have problems with her feet, her front more than the back. I tried soaking, but because she has fluffy legs, her fur acted like a sponge and wicked up the liquid. Then I had to clean all the solution off her and we ended up having to get the blow dryer out! I then held a soaked piece of gauze on her feet, one at a time, then gently dabbing with fresh gauze soaked in clean water. She only lets me do about 3 min at a time per foot before she becomes quite agitated. I only been able to manage this once per day for the last 2 days. Last night, I did two sessions.
We also are using a cream prescribed by the vet several times a day, Healx Soother Plus. Her bumble foot is slooooowly starting to improve. We took pictures so we could compare and make sure she is improving. Earlier this week her left front foot hurt so much she didn’t like us to touch it. It is better now and she is ok with us touching it and there is slight improvement in swelling and the redness is receding.
However, the toe that lost the nail is still looking bad. It is swollen and red. She is ok with us touching it, soaking it a bit, and applying the cream but we are not sure if it is improving. We have an appt tonight at the vet to get it checked.
Earlier this week, we stopped the morning SubQ. She was in such distress when we would give it to her and she still screams every time we pick her up, thinking she will get a shot. Also, she started munching on greens herself; we think she would be ok with only one subQ per day and we are pushing extra fluids during feeding time. She is still being syringe feed several times a day as she is not eating any pellets or enough hay on her own. She munches on hay but not much.
Last night, she started freaking out when we got her out for the foot soak and her subQ. We had her on a towel on our bed and she just started frantically running in circles and jumping about. This was not popcorning and it was not happy laps, she was panicked and frightened! We calmed her down with some greens but when we would pet her, she started the freaking out again and ended up scattering the greens and forgetting about them. I picked her up and snuggled her to calm her. She started these episodes a couple of days ago right after her subQ. So we think she is frightened of getting the injection. We did not give her the subQ last night and instead, gave her more fluids during her feedings.
I have never heard of anything like this before. Maybe it was a panic attack? Not sure. She even did it while I was feeding her last night and again this morning. My husband researched the side effects of her meds and the tramadol may cause anxiety and hallucinations, so we are skipping that today to see if things improve. Not sure if the meloxicam along will make her feet comfortable.
Has anyone else had a pig have such a panic attack? It is not mites, she seems to be in a state of panic or terror.
We also are using a cream prescribed by the vet several times a day, Healx Soother Plus. Her bumble foot is slooooowly starting to improve. We took pictures so we could compare and make sure she is improving. Earlier this week her left front foot hurt so much she didn’t like us to touch it. It is better now and she is ok with us touching it and there is slight improvement in swelling and the redness is receding.
However, the toe that lost the nail is still looking bad. It is swollen and red. She is ok with us touching it, soaking it a bit, and applying the cream but we are not sure if it is improving. We have an appt tonight at the vet to get it checked.
Earlier this week, we stopped the morning SubQ. She was in such distress when we would give it to her and she still screams every time we pick her up, thinking she will get a shot. Also, she started munching on greens herself; we think she would be ok with only one subQ per day and we are pushing extra fluids during feeding time. She is still being syringe feed several times a day as she is not eating any pellets or enough hay on her own. She munches on hay but not much.
Last night, she started freaking out when we got her out for the foot soak and her subQ. We had her on a towel on our bed and she just started frantically running in circles and jumping about. This was not popcorning and it was not happy laps, she was panicked and frightened! We calmed her down with some greens but when we would pet her, she started the freaking out again and ended up scattering the greens and forgetting about them. I picked her up and snuggled her to calm her. She started these episodes a couple of days ago right after her subQ. So we think she is frightened of getting the injection. We did not give her the subQ last night and instead, gave her more fluids during her feedings.
I have never heard of anything like this before. Maybe it was a panic attack? Not sure. She even did it while I was feeding her last night and again this morning. My husband researched the side effects of her meds and the tramadol may cause anxiety and hallucinations, so we are skipping that today to see if things improve. Not sure if the meloxicam along will make her feet comfortable.
Has anyone else had a pig have such a panic attack? It is not mites, she seems to be in a state of panic or terror.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
"Has anyone else had a pig have such a panic attack? It is not mites, she seems to be in a state of panic or terror."
Yup. One female in particular, after repeated subcue injections.
If you can get enough fluids into her orally, drop the subcues. I doubt it's the Tramadol. In my opinion and experience it is exactly what you think it is -- terror and apprehension at being stuck with a needle again. After a few days, she should learn that being picked up no longer means being stuck with a needle, and calm down.
Yup. One female in particular, after repeated subcue injections.
If you can get enough fluids into her orally, drop the subcues. I doubt it's the Tramadol. In my opinion and experience it is exactly what you think it is -- terror and apprehension at being stuck with a needle again. After a few days, she should learn that being picked up no longer means being stuck with a needle, and calm down.
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