Elsie's ugly teeth

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whittibo

Post   » Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:37 pm


I hope Elsie is OK! She's been through so much! Hoping for the best for your little girl!

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LER

Post   » Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:14 pm


Elsie is in my thoughts! I'll be looking for updates.

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:37 pm


Well, Elsie made it and the vet said she did very well. What a relief! I get to pick her up and bring her home in an hour.

She has a drain in and I'll need to isolate her from Annabelle and Sophie while she heals.

I'm keeping her on Baytril although she was on it once and developed diarrhea and stopped eating. The vet's giving me Bactrim in case it happens again so I can switch her over. I also have critical care home to feed her if she stops eating.

Her molars were in good shape so she only needed her bottom teeth trimmed again. At least she was already under anesthesia so she didn't even feel it this time O:).

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:45 pm


It is reassuring to hear she made it out of surgery okay. Keep us updated. Go Elsie!

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:20 am


I kept Elsie in a separate cage last night but I was concerned she was depressed this morning. She didn't eat much on her own so I gave her Critical Care and she took in a lot.

I put her back in the cage with Annabelle and Sophie. Do you think that's okay? I'm pretty sure her abscess problem is related to her tooth problem. I think it was Pinta who pointed out the problem with the teeth usually mean there's an underlying problem somewhere.

The other thing I am concerned about is the vet wants her on an antibiotic for 4 weeks. Right now she is on Baytril and doing okay. Is it safe for her to be on Baytril 4 weeks or is Bactrim better?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:43 am


I'm sure you know it depends not only on how well she will tolerate the medication but how effective it is on the bacteria involved. I don't know the answer to those questions.

I think putting her back with the others should be fine. It is basically with major abdominal surgery one has to worry about adhesions. I imagine you'll be weighing her daily and making sure she gets enough -- or hand feeding.

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Thu Aug 18, 2005 10:48 am


Update: It's been two weeks and Elsie had the original drain replaced last week. I was unable to get any pus out on my own, even with the squeezing I did! So, the vet had me bring her back every couple of days so they could do it themselves.

After the new drain was taken out, I was given Betadine and a curved tip syringe. I was instructed to dilute the Betadine to the color of weak tea and flush the abscess through the holes left by the drain. Wow! It made a big difference as I was finally getting pus out!

So, two weeks later and I am still getting pus out. I am determined to not let the holes close up until no more pus comes out. This morning after some pus came out there was blood which I think is a good sign.

I'm adding this update since there are a few folks dealing with abscesses at this time. I believe the Betadine flushing began to dilute the pus which allowed me to get it out easier.

The key is to get it all out before letting the holes close up or the abscess will reform. That's not something I wish to deal with!

Good luck to the others dealing with the same problem at this time.

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:36 pm


Update: Elsie's been getting her teeth trimmed every 4-5 weeks. Tuesday when she went her teeth were so badly covered with gunk on the bottom that Dr. S clipped them real short to get rid of it.

Now, poor Elsie can't rip pieces of greens so I hand feed small pieces into her hungry mouth. I lay on the bed with my knees propped up with her back against my knees facing me.

So, this morning as I'm feeding her, suddenly her body begins to jerk and I'm thinking oh geez...she's having a seizure or heart attack!!

Then, her mouth begins to mouth rapidly back and forth. Now, I'm really scared......all of a sudden she starts chirping like a bird real loud. Whew! It was quite the experience having her do this while staring right at me so close.

At least she won't have to go back for a trim any time soon. I also got my first "free" visit..thanks to the list of 14 guinea pigs I showed the vet as referrals he got from me!

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amyjane

Post   » Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:03 pm


To the anesthesia question: I understand your concern. You can do it without anesthesia, but its not very comfortable for the pig (at least from my viewpoint of watching). You can usually give a pig a few whiffs of isofluorane and they wake up very quickly.

Edit: Just realized this was an old thread and I missed that last entry. Oops! Ignore me. :)

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:32 pm


Poor Elsie. I imagine getting the teeth trimmed so drastically has her peeved too. Good to see you got a free visit. 14 referrals is a bunch!

GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:23 pm


Aw...she's okay. I meant the gunk was on the side of one of the teeth, not the bottom.

Her problem is due to having 4 teeth on the bottom, it's hard for her to grip the food because the 4 teeth are all flat now.

pinta

Post   » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:59 pm


I wonder if that gunk is an absorptive lesion. Bo has this on his lower incisor. Crap and scale runs up the side of the tooth and there was a cavity easily visible. Dr. Legendre filled the cavity but couldn't give me a prognosis since he doesn't see them in pigs very much. In cats, they've given up trying to fix them and just yank the teeth.

Sure enough as Bo's tooth grew out the lesion came back. His tooth recently broke off(eaten thru by the cavity) and we're waiting to see if it will grow back. He's gained weight so his eating isn't being affected and we're assuming only the tooth is involved. There is some concern the lesion could grow down faster than the tooth grows up, affecting the bone and if it gets to that point, we'll have to extract.

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