Hedgie has abscess in jaw. Advice from anyone who's been here before?

[thetorsoboy]

Hey all. To start I did go to the vet this morning, and they prescribed some antibiotics for the next 10 days which will hopefully help. I never noticed, but apparently Ellie's lower jaw/chin are swollen because of maybe a loose molar/old age.

Even though it's bad, she seems like normal ol' Ellie, doing the same things but not eating as much probably because she's in pain which really hurts to say.

Since I know it'll be hard to get her to drink from the syringe, I'm going to try to inject mealworms with the antibiotics with a needle I was given, hopefully that'll work when I try tonight...

Currently I feed her only dry cat food/kibble, because it's all I've been able to get to her eat, even after trying everything else. (Cooked chicken with no seasoning, vegetables, fruits, all that I've researched as being safe before trying)

I'm wondering, I'm going back to the Vet in 10 days to see how she's doing after the antibiotics, but in the meantime, should I try to feed her softer foods? I left a voicemail with the Vet so I'm waiting on a response.

I've been putting some water in her kibble to start, hopefully to help soften it. Then I just replace it twice a day so it doesn't get moldy or anything.

Any other tips for soft foods? If she doesn't get better she'll have to get surgery on her mouth and since she's ~5 years old I'm afraid that she won't survive the surgery.

Thanks everyone so much for any tips.

[nikki]

You can try some pate style canned cat food and mix it with a bit of water to see if she will eat that. Some abscesses will clear up with antibiotics but others need to be drained. If the tooth is bad it will need to come out or it will just keep getting infected.

[thetorsoboy]

Originally Posted by nikki

You can try some pate style canned cat food and mix it with a bit of water to see if she will eat that. Some abscesses will clear up with antibiotics but others need to be drained. If the tooth is bad it will need to come out or it will just keep getting infected.

Thank you! I'll give that a try, but until then I'll just do the antibiotics then go back to the vet in 10 days and go with next steps.