Furbabies' Adventures

Just catching up! So sorry for poor little Odi, I think dental problems are the worst. It is heartbreaking seeing a heathy piggie struggling to eat. Hoping he can keep going with his 3 weekly regime x
 
Bill & Ted said:
Just catching up! So sorry for poor little Odi, I think dental problems are the worst. It is heartbreaking seeing a heathy piggie struggling to eat. Hoping he can keep going with his 3 weekly regime x
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Yes, it really is. But I'm still hoping that the situation won't get any worse in the near future.
At least, he is still happy at the moment.
And a very good boy at feeding times.
 
Yesterday Billie had a check up with the specialist vet at the university clinic. Odi came along to get a second opinion in his tooth situation.

The good news is that he was very pleased with Billie. He said that she looked very good for her age and that her weight is perfect.
That's a first because usually I get to hear that it would be better for her condition if she was lighter. Her weight hasn't changed much since her last appointment, she only got older and is now 6+.
We will continue the medication of Meloxoral, Baytril, Rodicare artrin (for the joints) and Novalgin (the second pain medication).
 
He also did a thorough exam of Odi and Odi's teeth. Like my usual vet, he found Odi to be perfectly healthy - apart from the teeth.
He had a good look at the teeth with the endoscope. The upper teeth are fine, the molars looked perfectly even and healthy.
The lower molars were okay and shouldn't cause any trouble right now. But they are not quite right.
Anyway, they wouldn't look this good if Odi wouldn't be able to eat hay. So that's good.

The lower incisors are the cause of the trouble, especially the left incisor. It has turned really big and it is probably painful for Odi to bite with it. Unfortunately, pain medication doesn't really take all the pain away. That's why he isn't able to eat bell pepper por cucumber on his own, but manages hay and a bit of lettuce.
It wasn't clear if the second incisor has changed as well. It does look a bit like it, but the vet said that it would be quite unusual. Most of the times only one incisor is affected.

But he didn't find the jaw to be painful as my usual vet suspected last time. So that's also good.

The next step is a CT next Friday. Odi has to have a sedation for this. I hope he won't have any troubles with the sedation.
And then there will be a tough decision to make. If only the left incisor is affected and everything else looks okay, the vet would advice the tooth to be extracted. Odi should be okay with three incisors and most of the problems would be solved.
That sounds great in theory but apart from the risk of an infection, there is no guarantee that the right incisor won't be damaged. And if this happens, we're back to frequent dentals because the upper incisors don't have a counterpart anymore.
So I'm not really convinced it would be a good idea to try the extraction. :(
 
It’s a tough decision you have ahead of you.
At least you know already what the CT scan may or may not find.
This allows you time to reflect on the options for Odi.
Why not make a decision and live with it for a few days to see how it feels and if it doesn’t feel comfortable then you can make a different decision.
You are held in my thoughts at a challenging time.
 
Yesterday, Odi had his CT at the university clinic. I'll get the results next week.
His appointment was at 9 in the morning and it took him untill early evening to be fully awake again.
I knew that it would take a while because it was the same with Chelsea a few years ago. But it's still hard to watch.
Luckily, he is his usual self today.
I'm just dreading the decision ahead of me.
If I don't follow the advice of the specialist vet, I'll never know if the tooth extraction would have given him a better quality of life for a longer time.
And if I go through with the extraction and it doesn't work out, I'll never be able to forgive myself because it made everything worse than it is at the moment.
But the situation is worsening ... so he could have quite a short time left without the extraction.
It's heartbraking because he is such a happy boy full of energy and otherwise healthy.
 
Viennese Furbabies said:
Yesterday, Odi had his CT at the university clinic. I'll get the results next week.
His appointment was at 9 in the morning and it took him untill early evening to be fully awake again.
I knew that it would take a while because it was the same with Chelsea a few years ago. But it's still hard to watch.
Luckily, he is his usual self today.
I'm just dreading the decision ahead of me.
If I don't follow the advice of the specialist vet, I'll never know if the tooth extraction would have given him a better quality of life for a longer time.
And if I go through with the extraction and it doesn't work out, I'll never be able to forgive myself because it made everything worse than it is at the moment.
But the situation is worsening ... so he could have quite a short time left without the extraction.
It's heartbraking because he is such a happy boy full of energy and otherwise healthy.
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I really feel for you, dental issues are just awful! I think the main reason is because they are usually in perfect health whereas a poorly piggie you know intervention is the right and only thing to do

Wishing you both every luck whichever you decide to do x
 
Viennese Furbabies said:
Yesterday, Odi had his CT at the university clinic. I'll get the results next week.
His appointment was at 9 in the morning and it took him untill early evening to be fully awake again.
I knew that it would take a while because it was the same with Chelsea a few years ago. But it's still hard to watch.
Luckily, he is his usual self today.
I'm just dreading the decision ahead of me.
If I don't follow the advice of the specialist vet, I'll never know if the tooth extraction would have given him a better quality of life for a longer time.
And if I go through with the extraction and it doesn't work out, I'll never be able to forgive myself because it made everything worse than it is at the moment.
But the situation is worsening ... so he could have quite a short time left without the extraction.
It's heartbraking because he is such a happy boy full of energy and otherwise healthy.
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Huge hugs to you.
 
Poor Odi had another trip to the vet today. It was his regular dentist appointment and I discussed the results of the CT with my usual vet. She is really very good and experienced with teeth, does conscious dentals and sees a lot of piggy patients with teeth problems.
She is not in favour of a tooth extraction - opposed to the specialist vet. But today the tooth that grows fastest because he doesn't have an exact counterpart any more, was all wobbly and showed a crack at the gum. So she removed the woobly part and we will see if it comes back.
She also did the rest of Odi's teeth.

Odi was a very good boy but he left a lot of poops behind. Protest pooping, my vet called it. :))

Back home, he looked quite sorry for himself at first. But it took me some time to get their evening veggies prepared and by the time I was ready for feeding, Odi was back to his usual self, eating his veggy stripes very nicely.

Now I hope that he can have a short brake from vet's for the next three or four weeks.
 
Viennese Furbabies said:
Odi was a very good boy but he left a lot of poops behind. Protest pooping, my vet called it. :))
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Thea does "poops of protest" when I have to clean her eye which I have to do every so often now after that nasty hay seed was hidden behind her eyeball for around four months. So protest pooping is not really a surprise to me. Go for it Odi!
 
Odi can be very generous with his poops. But I'm sometimes surprised with the quantity he can provide. Sometimes it's just a small amount, but sometimes... :yikes:
Usually he wouldn't pee on me, but the last time we were at the university clinic, he peed on me three times! The first time didn't surprise me because it was a frightening situation of course. But three times? And we are not talking about just a few drops.
How does he manage to save up so much poop or pee for just the right time? :))
 
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