LunksandMinipli
New Born Pup
Hi all,
Just looking for some advice around my minipli. She’s 4 years 2 months. She’s been in reasonably well health since I took her home 4 years ago.
She had non-functional ovarian cysts last year and she was spayed in November. Other than that she’s been in good shape.
We found her on the 28th august covered in diarrhoea. We syringe fed her at home, gave fibreplex, supplemented vit C, all the usual things. She went to the vets on the 1st September having lost a fair bit of weight (she weighed 800g at this point).
She had bloods, X-rays, faecal analysis for parasites and her teeth were examined, the (very well respected) exotic vet found nothing. We took her home and monitored her. She lost more weight despite feeding and dropped to 735g. The drop was really sudden in the last couple of days. She gained and then maintained in the week beforehand.
She went back to the vet 13/9 and she was admitted for monitoring. Given IV fluids as a precaution. The vet called and thought she may have dental issues that required surgery and suggested PTS. My partner was at work so I asked to think. The vet then suggested we did dental X-rays. The dental X-rays found macrodontic teeth on both sides of her mouth. Her molars were also slightly overgrown and these were corrected whilst under GA.
The vet advised she required 2 surgeries at around £600 per surgery to remove the teeth and she likely wouldn’t survive.
When I took her in, she was incredibly bright, just losing weight but I agreed to PTS if we could say goodbye. They were very busy so I didn’t hear much the next day other than that she was doing well. They asked to keep her 2 more days, which I agreed to.
The next morning I called back and asked to see her and I decided to take her home as I was confused about her prognosis if she needed to be PTS and why she was still at the vet.
She’s been home since Friday and really bright. She’s having metacam twice a day and I’ve been topping her up with critical care.
During her time at the vets she ate 2 dandelion leaves herself and that’s all. Since being home she has gained 36g and managed to maintain that. Yesterday she had only 20ml of critical care.
I usually feed them haybox hay but she’s finding that a bit coarse I think so I have given her a softer hay which she’s coping with well.
I will continue to syringe feed her and hopefully put more weight on her. I wanted to see how she coped whilst eating herself but I will top her up a bit more now I know she’s eating. She has an appointment with the the cat and rabbit clinic but my vet wouldn’t send her history over as he said conscious dentals are cruel. The only option in his eyes are PTS or 2 surgeries at about £600 each.
In the last 2 weeks I’ve already spent £1.5k on her but if she needs the surgery and it is fair to do it I will make sure she gets it.
I’m just confused as I respect my current vet a lot but I have heard amazing things about the cat and rabbit clinic.
Could anyone advise about the process of the conscious dentals and what to expect? Whether my vet is right or maybe the process has moved on recently and is more fair? Are they given pain relief or local blocks?
Essentially am I doing the right thing for her? She is as bright as anything, running, wheeking, eating veg and hay and small amounts of pellets. She lives with 2 other sows, one of which has lymphoma so I’m terrified to lose 2 out of 3 in quick succession as I love them so much.
In terms of her usual husbandry they have unlimited haybox hay, an appropriate amount of burgess pellets, oxbow vit C treats as extras daily, fresh water in bottles (and now bowls in case she has difficulty). Pepper daily and an assortment of other veg and herbs making up about 10-15% of their diet.
I’ve spread some forage throughout to encourage her to eat and I’ve also had her out of the cage to ensure she definitely is getting the hay into her mouth (she is!). I feel like it’s my fault and I’ve done something wrong and I’m worried I’m not being fair to her.
I completely respect my vet and I know she’s on metacam at the moment otherwise I wouldn’t have taken her home but it feels so wrong to put her to sleep when she’s doing so well. I’m also aware that she might not be well for long and I need to make a decision.
Just looking for some advice around my minipli. She’s 4 years 2 months. She’s been in reasonably well health since I took her home 4 years ago.
She had non-functional ovarian cysts last year and she was spayed in November. Other than that she’s been in good shape.
We found her on the 28th august covered in diarrhoea. We syringe fed her at home, gave fibreplex, supplemented vit C, all the usual things. She went to the vets on the 1st September having lost a fair bit of weight (she weighed 800g at this point).
She had bloods, X-rays, faecal analysis for parasites and her teeth were examined, the (very well respected) exotic vet found nothing. We took her home and monitored her. She lost more weight despite feeding and dropped to 735g. The drop was really sudden in the last couple of days. She gained and then maintained in the week beforehand.
She went back to the vet 13/9 and she was admitted for monitoring. Given IV fluids as a precaution. The vet called and thought she may have dental issues that required surgery and suggested PTS. My partner was at work so I asked to think. The vet then suggested we did dental X-rays. The dental X-rays found macrodontic teeth on both sides of her mouth. Her molars were also slightly overgrown and these were corrected whilst under GA.
The vet advised she required 2 surgeries at around £600 per surgery to remove the teeth and she likely wouldn’t survive.
When I took her in, she was incredibly bright, just losing weight but I agreed to PTS if we could say goodbye. They were very busy so I didn’t hear much the next day other than that she was doing well. They asked to keep her 2 more days, which I agreed to.
The next morning I called back and asked to see her and I decided to take her home as I was confused about her prognosis if she needed to be PTS and why she was still at the vet.
She’s been home since Friday and really bright. She’s having metacam twice a day and I’ve been topping her up with critical care.
During her time at the vets she ate 2 dandelion leaves herself and that’s all. Since being home she has gained 36g and managed to maintain that. Yesterday she had only 20ml of critical care.
I usually feed them haybox hay but she’s finding that a bit coarse I think so I have given her a softer hay which she’s coping with well.
I will continue to syringe feed her and hopefully put more weight on her. I wanted to see how she coped whilst eating herself but I will top her up a bit more now I know she’s eating. She has an appointment with the the cat and rabbit clinic but my vet wouldn’t send her history over as he said conscious dentals are cruel. The only option in his eyes are PTS or 2 surgeries at about £600 each.
In the last 2 weeks I’ve already spent £1.5k on her but if she needs the surgery and it is fair to do it I will make sure she gets it.
I’m just confused as I respect my current vet a lot but I have heard amazing things about the cat and rabbit clinic.
Could anyone advise about the process of the conscious dentals and what to expect? Whether my vet is right or maybe the process has moved on recently and is more fair? Are they given pain relief or local blocks?
Essentially am I doing the right thing for her? She is as bright as anything, running, wheeking, eating veg and hay and small amounts of pellets. She lives with 2 other sows, one of which has lymphoma so I’m terrified to lose 2 out of 3 in quick succession as I love them so much.
In terms of her usual husbandry they have unlimited haybox hay, an appropriate amount of burgess pellets, oxbow vit C treats as extras daily, fresh water in bottles (and now bowls in case she has difficulty). Pepper daily and an assortment of other veg and herbs making up about 10-15% of their diet.
I’ve spread some forage throughout to encourage her to eat and I’ve also had her out of the cage to ensure she definitely is getting the hay into her mouth (she is!). I feel like it’s my fault and I’ve done something wrong and I’m worried I’m not being fair to her.
I completely respect my vet and I know she’s on metacam at the moment otherwise I wouldn’t have taken her home but it feels so wrong to put her to sleep when she’s doing so well. I’m also aware that she might not be well for long and I need to make a decision.
but my current vet won’t condone conscious dentals and therefore won’t send her clinical history. 
I really don’t understand these vets that think conscious dentals are cruel. My Ted had both GA and conscious. The GA dentals were both poor, not done by Simon and he suffered for months because of them. Simon always says it’s a matter of doing a dental well and that’s what is important