Pik, my shy baby, was with me all day today, I fed Pik and Togepi crickets at 6pm, and held them and watched them eat. I love to watch Pik eat because he just lays back and chews with his eyes closed.
Unfortunately, as of 9:00 pm, his cheek is about the size of a grape. It's hard, and seems painful to the touch. He is still acting normal, more playful even, possibly unusually clingy, but is 'trying' to eat. He just has to lick and scrape a bit with his tongue. I'm trying to get in touch with Dr Thomas now, but, you know how it is, I had to tell you guys. We'll see... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crying.gif" alt="" />
I just had a vet visit myself today... everything looked fine and normal, until dinner last night when I noticed a huge lump on Machu's cheek... he was eating, drinking and playing, but this morning, the swelling looked worse, and his eye looked gooey... so off to the vet I went... $350 dollars later, Machu is looking much better. They sent a sample to the lab, and they started him on antibiotics. I am a new glider owner, so I was thinking he just had some food stuck in his cheek, like my chihuahuas or hamsters, but that was not the case. I'm happy I got immediate vet attention. I'm hoping he recovers 100%!! I can't give advise, because like I said, I am new and I don't have much of a clue, but I am trying very hard to read everything I can and do whatever needs to be done. I would say to see your vet asap! This was not something that would get better or go away, treatment is needed. Good luck! Let me know how Pik is doing. I am hoping to gather enough info to avoid this infection issue in the future. You can see my post under "Swollen Cheek, Help!!" to see what others have said to help me.
Please let us know how the vet visit goes. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />
Chris Illusion, Malcom, Isabell, Annabelle, Zach, Isis, Aly & Indy AND Miss Emmy & Miss Chloe kitties
My Angels: You are always in my heart.
You've flown to the rainbow and wait there for me Someday I will join you together to be
Re: abcess?
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#103368 05/17/0601:05 AM05/17/0601:05 AM
I took him to two vets last night, and they both tried to send me elsewhere. "Because he ate the night before last, he would be okay until this morning." No one had vets on call that would treat gliders. Poor man can't do much but lick a grape. The swelling goes up and down, depending on if he's working his jaw, and he still seems to want to eat.
My guesstimate, is that it is not simply an abcess, but an abcessed tooth. I can only guess of course, an x-ray will tell. But when Pik drank things that are cold, he would take a lick and then hold his head back with his mouth open, then repeat 2 or three times until he was 'used to it'. I have always thought maybe it was just Pikachus' thing. Maybe it still is, but I'm reaching for straws as I don't feed any hard foods.
I've also noticed, because of paying him EXTRA extra attention (i had him on me all day yesterday) that he has overgroomed a tiny portion of the hairs off between his whiskers. It's not red, and doesn't look fresh, but is very hard to notice, because without staring & comparing, you wouldn't think there should be fuzzies there. I can only assume this was from the day before, and I can only imagine that he has one large headache. No new pullings though.
Re: abcess?
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#103370 05/17/0608:20 AM05/17/0608:20 AM
BTW, have a vet apptment (11am) at my vets, not with my normal vet, but hopefully I can at least get x-ray and meds.
Danic, I have been following you thread, I'm glad to see that you got what you need for you little one. We can recover together! I'm send Machu prayers!
Re: abcess?
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#103371 05/17/0608:33 AM05/17/0608:33 AM
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />(((HUGS))) for you both. Sending prayers that you have a successful vet visit and that they find out the cause. Keep us posted please...I hope he's feeling a lot better very soon.
Is there any chance that the hair missing you are seeing is due to the fact that he is swollen and the skin is just stretched out..? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />
Re: abcess?
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#103372 05/17/0609:08 AM05/17/0609:08 AM
It's a terrible picture, it doens't look as swollen as it is just from how he's sitting and letting his jelly rolls make it look small. But, you can see it's effecting how wide he can open his eye, unless he consciencsly widens it.
You can also barely see how where his whiskers are, one side is dark, and the otherside is light, where he has pulled his fuzzies out.
Awwww poor baby <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />. His eye certainly does look like its affected but hopefully the vet will work some magic today. Thank you for posting pics.
Re: Pik Picture
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#103375 05/17/0611:31 AM05/17/0611:31 AM
eh, They tried to pull some fluid from it, nothing came. The vet wasn't the Glider guru, so she gave me baytril and I requested torb in case. She also looked into his mouth and didn't see anything. She was very nice though. Oh and some fluids since he hasn't been eating well.
I'm probably going to go back tomorrow to see Dr Thomas. Or, should I wait and see if it clears up, and if it doesn't get any better by Tuesday (when dr thomas is back again) go for x rays? That just seems like a long time to wait, but tomorrow to soon to do anymore.
For those of you with this experience~
When they have an appitite, did they have trouble chewing? Pik can't open his mouth well, and has to take tiny tiny bites/licks of things
If it where broken, there would be blood right?
Poor wittle, he only crab when she pried his mouth open, and it struck me, I've never heard him crab.
I know exactly how you feel. About 6 months of ago i had the same problem after Chip had a feast of crickets. The swelling got worse and worse. I took him to his vet and he said it was an abcess from probably "cricket parts" Kinda like when we get a piece of popcorn hull stuck in our gum. He gave me some antibotics which Chip didnt really give me any problems. In a few days he was back to normal. I made sure that he had lots of soft food avaliable and lots of love. I hope this helps.
Yava, so sorry you've been struggling to get him proper medical care. Sending prayers the Baytril works to help him heal.
I don't have experience with this situation, but I would imagine it would hurt to eat chewy or hard foods. Be sure he stays hydrated. Maybe try licky treats/food more frequently throughout the day and night? And watermelon (foods that break down easily)?
Can you get x-rays from a vet sooner and then share them with Dr. Thomas on Tuesday? I would think any vet could read the x-rays and determine if the jaw or anything is broken.
You are quite lucky he only crabbed while at the vet's office. He sounds like a real sweetheart. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />
Forever owned in my heart by my "Eight is Enough" colony:
I went back yesterday evening, the swelling was displacing his jaw it was so bad. Dr T shaved, lidocaned, stabbed and squeezed. I have a way of going into 'medical mode' when things need to get done, so it was pretty fascinating. Still, it was my baby. Dr Thomas showed me how to do what needed done (I have done many medical type things on large animals) because she really had no choice, there isn't any other vet around who will in emergancy. The only bad thing is, that I will (if I have to) do it sans lidocane, and that just doesn't seem like a party. Hopefully if it needs done tomorrow or Monday I could take him in and get the lidocane in his face and get Dr McHugh to do it. Dr T also put it on a slide, and because he was only 3 doses into his baytril, there was all differant types of bacteria. Pretty common. This she said seems like baytril will clear it up, we'll change meds down the road if we need to.
He has never been a big BML eater, so I'm going to try some ensure for him tonight so I can make sure he's getting some nutrients. Corn and mealies and juice/h2o isn't good for a long time. Think I can use regular hertivite calcium for now?
*sign* I'm with poor danic. The squishy eye is just pityful. It's terrible to see that he wants to eat, but is having difficulty. (still he manages to fit in a mealie) He's drinking like a fish, and I can very easily 'spike' his juice with his meds.
Not fun, not at all!
Re: Pik Picture
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#103379 05/20/0612:58 AM05/20/0612:58 AM
You poor thing(s)! Thanks for the update. It will be great if the Baytril does clear up all of the bacteria.
I don't know about using the herptivite calcium with the Ensure. From this other post, calcium carbonate or calcium citrate should be used, and from the Rep-Cal label, it contains calcium carbonate. So, perhaps? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nixweiss.gif" alt="" />
Hopefully someone with experience will come along shortly.
Forever owned in my heart by my "Eight is Enough" colony:
Most know that my Riker has recurrent facial infections. In his, we have never been able to obtain a sample because it is too diffused. Counting yesterday's visit, I now have three vets that agree that a med combo works best on these..adding Metro to Baytril or Clindamycin for an 8 week course (because the head/jaw is hard to clear and takes time). My Riker's face gets lopsided as well, and his eye bulges...plus with him he tears all the hair on his head out. We finally have a plan for maintenance meds with him once this current infection is cleared (we've been battling his infections for almost 2 years). All the single meds failed to eradicate the infection, and the longest time he's had between reinfections, and the only time in 1.5 years his hair all grew back in between, was with the Metro/Clindamycin combo. From now on, he'll be one week on meds, 3 weeks off to keep it under control. I know some will disagree with this, but my newest vet also said she has seen this before and the combos were all that would eradicate the infection. It's worth a try with your guy. Keep us updated on him. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Re: Pik Picture
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#103381 05/23/0608:44 AM05/23/0608:44 AM
Pik seems to be doing much better. I thought possibly we were going to have to relieve pressure, but thank goodness the swelling has gone down. He's still eating slowly, but a signifigant amount. One thing I give him, he was always willing to try and eat.
Mike is home with him today, since he managed to hit himself in the face with a guard stake and knock a tooth out, so Pik will get lots of goodies.
Talk about sympathy pains.
Pik is still not himself, though his activity has alwys been high, still a little swelling, still a little googlie eyed, but, its better. For that, I'm thankful
I already posted this on danics thread but just so you know I went through this with Twinkie as well. It took opening and clavamox for 10 days to heal. Hers was a white hard ball of puss.
Re: Pik Picture
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#103383 05/30/0609:54 AM05/30/0609:54 AM
Pik has flaired up again over the weekend. It's bad, the swelling goes out past his ear almost. I feel bad for being away this weekend. (I had our roomate medicate and play with them) I have to believe him when he said it wasn't that bad 2 hours before when he gave Pik his baytril, because thats how fast it(swelling) popped up the first time. The overgrooming only just started again last night anyway.
I think I'm going to request and injectable anitibiotic, as I have learned from his previous owner, he has had one incident. I want this one to be his last.
his eye is almost closed, what you can see, is his 'inner eyelid' and he's been trying to overgroom his face, but I gave him the last of his torb last night and this morning.
I dropped him off, and they are going to put him under, and remove all of the abcess wall she can get. He has viewable infection, so Dr Thomas is going to stain and culture the pus to see what the best antibiotic would be. Until the culture comes back, we will continue with baytril, only injectable now.
I prefer the injectable, because it won't have such an effect on his gut flora, and will get right to the site. Hopefully it will stay cleared up.
Poor Pikachu!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I am all too familiar with that sad look. Our thoughts are with you and hope for a speedy recovery! From what I gather, it's different in all cases, but when I switched from the Baytril to the Clavamox is when Machu's swelling finally started going down. Like I said, not that that helps, it can always be different. I hope things are better soon! Sooooooooooo hard to see them this way!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/upset.gif" alt="" /> Hugs to you! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />
After Vet
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#103390 05/31/0609:12 AM05/31/0609:12 AM
Dr Thomas was amazed, and didn't try and hide it. If this where a person, the fluid would run from your collar bone, up your neck, across your cheek, back to your ear and up over your eye. OWWWWW <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crying.gif" alt="" /> Apparently, Pik had three, not one, THREE well formed abcesses. She said as she was removing the abcess walls and expressing the fliud, puss started running from his ear canal. From what I can see, it looks as though a fissure formed right at the base/outside of his ear. We are both hoping that is where the fluid came from. If it did come from the ear canal, he probably doesn't hear in it anymore. They don't have scopes that can look in a sugar gliders ear, so time will tell.
She looked long and hard in Piks' mouth, and could see nothing that had to do with infection. The mouth wall looked healthy, considering the pressure from the other side. She also carefully checked the expressed fluid for any foreign objects, finding none.
She placed absorbable internal stitches to reattach the skin to the muscle wall. She looked at it under the microscope, and there was still a good amount of germ in it. She sent it off for culture. She believes that its most likely in the bone, but since the treatment will be the same, she's trying to save me an x-ray. I came away with baytril injectable, and another, stronger oral antibiotic. It's at home and the name has left me at the moment. Starts with an a...Antarobe? I also got a new thing of Torb, since I was out.
When I picked him up, the swelling was gone, but his poor eye. It looks like his inner eyelid was stretched from the swelling and now won't go back into hiding, so that it covers more then half his eye. The vet said the eye should be fine. I tried to get a picture, they didn't turn out.
This morning, there is a taunt swelling above his eye, so now it is completely closed. He's lost 5 grams, probably in goo alone, but his appatite is waning, whether it's pain or the medications, or both, who knows. He's eating Ensure High Calcuim, Mealies, and chicken. Dr Thomas said to try the hawiaan delight, because it has calcium also.
Mike is having more trouble with it, seeing Pik like this makes you KNOW that it has to hurt. He isn't used to having animals, or any of the things that can come long with it.
Re: After Vet
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#103391 05/31/0609:25 AM05/31/0609:25 AM
Last night went decent, he was VERY active considering the torb and antibiotics. He took his shot like a trooper, just hid his head and made me feel terrible. Pik also ate more(solids) last night then any other before. His eye was also partially open last night; It was fully closed in the evening/afternoon. It is again fully closed. When it was open last night, it seemed as though it where 'stained.' I don't know if any of you have had experience with eye staining, it almost had a flourescent glow to the outer film.
Now, the pocket above his eye is very swollen. Looks like he got sucker punched. His various 'holes' have been oozing, which is why I don't think there is swelling anywhere else. I'm just afraid that the one above his eye will open, and infect his eye. I've already put a call in to my vet to see what she thinks, if it may reabsorb, or needs further treatment.
Re: After Vet
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#103393 06/01/0608:25 PM06/01/0608:25 PM
Oh my goodness... I'm so sorry to hear what all of you are going through right now... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> tough to be the sick little one I'm sure, and realllly tough to see them sick! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/upset.gif" alt="" /> We're hoping things go as smoothly as possible on the ever bumpy roads to recovery. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/multi.gif" alt="" /> Lots of love and well wishes!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug2.gif" alt="" />