[shinydistraction]

Hey guys! Its been a while since I've needed to post anything.

Monday night last week when we got Ash out for the evening we noticed a swollen lump on her lower jaw. So I made an appointment with the vet and got her in last Thursday. We were concerned that it might be a tumor, but we got very lucky and it was just a bad tooth that needed to come out. The vet said that it came out very easily and that the other teeth looked healthy. We were given a few days worth of painkillers and two weeks worth of antibiotics.

Well, it's been a week, and the swollen lump is still there. Not sure, but it might even be a little bigger. I'm going to give it until Monday to call the vet since I don't think they'll be able to really squeeze us in this late before the weekend. So my question to anyone that has dealt with the recovery of a tooth extraction before is how long did the swelling linger? I feel like a week of antibiotics should have made some improvement. Or am I over reacting and just need to be patient? I'm worried because she's almost completely given up on eating her kibble that I already soften with water. Id hate to leave her still hurting unduly, but I don't want to rush back to the vet right away and stress her out.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to seeing the responses.

 

[SpikyPepper]

well, I have no experience with this, but I'll try to help. Maybe you should try syringe feeding her wet cat food little by little, (do not rush her). I know you may not want to stress her out by going to he vet, So could you possibly contact your vet and ask her/him how long until the antibiotics will work?

Sending lots of hugs to Ash, hope he feels better soon.

 

[shinydistraction]

She's eating a wet cat food on her own, so no worries there. I'm just concerned about the lump, what it might be, if it's causing her pain, and if I can expect it to go away with the antibiotics or if there might be another issue to deal with.

Thank you for the well wishes, we can use all we can get!

 

[shinydistraction]

Just a quick update. We finally got back in to the vet. She was actually out of town and only got back into the office today.

She still feels that it was definitely a bad tooth, but is surprised the swelling didn't go down with the antibiotics after the extraction. She gave us a different antibiotic to try, and we have an appointment on Wednesday to have the lump lanced and drained. Hoping that will resolve the issue and ultimately make her more comfortable.

Also picked up a small bag of carnivore care. She's been fussy about eating and I wanted something that would be easy to syringe if it comes to that. Oh, and also, Ash started having really nasty diarrhea after she was done with the first antibiotic, so hopefully that will help with that issue too.

So fingers crossed.

 

[Kalandra]

How did the lancing go?

Are you giving her probiotics to counter the GI upset the antibiotics can cause?

 

[shinydistraction]

Well, it went. She got through it like a little trooper. The vet left the wound open so it could continue to drain. We're supposed to hold warm compresses up to it, but you can imagine how well that's going. Especially with having a topical solution we also need to clean it with. I was dumb and forgot to give her the pain meds/anti inflammatory last night (sigh) so it as a bit more swollen today. I gave it to her with her first dose of antibiotics for the day so hopefully when I go to give her the second it will look better.

She didn't eat much last night, but I'm attributing that to me forgetting her pain meds. Tonight should be better. I need to start her on probiotics, but I need to find some first. I think benebac is the go to for hedgehogs? But everything coming out of her is soft and green. Normally we give her pumpkin to help firm things up, but for whatever reason she's been refusing it. Which is odd since she normally loves it. For now we're just waiting to see how it heals. I'd love to hear any suggestions.

 

[Kalandra]

I take it the vet still feels its just an infection then?

I've never used benebac, but yes you can use that. I've always just purchased some high count probiotic from the human supplement section of my health food store. Open capsule, sprinkle some on her kibble, or mix it into anything you syringe feed or soft food she's eating. I think you know this, but just in case, or for anyone else reading this... keep in mind that you cannot give probiotics and antibiotics too close together else the antibiotic will nuetralize the probiotic... mid-way between antibiotic dose is preferable if you can time it right.

Soft and green can be very normal for a hedgehog on antibiotics, especially with certain types. For example, baytril is well known at causing GI upset and I always give probiotics for up to a week after they are off it to help settle the GI. Its a great antibiotic, but it can cause absolute chaos on their GI, in my experience.

 

[shinydistraction]

Yeah, vet thinks it just a really nasty infection. She took samples to have a culture and sensitivity and a histopathy done, but, I hate to say it, I just can't afford those tests right now. So hopefully the meds she's on will do the trick. She's on Clavamox right now. She was initially on Clindamycin after the tooth was pulled, but we weren't seeing an improvement after the two week round was over.

And of course I had to say that everything coming out of her was soft and green. It's now liquid and green. Lucky me. I'll see what I find for probiotics and get her started on them as soon as I can.

This afternoon looked less swollen than yesterday, so I think maybe things are improving? It's so hard to say, and she's getting progressively more cross with us. Poor thing is probably tired of getting woken up to have meds shoved in her face and her wound cleaned every day.

 

[Kalandra]

Poor girl. I'm sure her mouth hurts and she's just tired of being messed with. Its for her own good and hopefully she'll start feeling better soon and enjoying more snuggles than stuff being poked into her mouth.

Yeh, get those probiotics started. You might even try mixing some pumpkin into syringe feedng. But if she's also had a diet change (soft foods) vs her normal kibble, she's just going through so much that her GI is angry about it too. It should improve once her mouth problem resolves.