Posts Tagged ‘antibiotic’

Wet Poo Poos

May 21st, 2010

The bad pet owner that I was gave in to that cute begging face of Winnie’s & gave him apple skin. Not a good idea. The next day (this was the beginning of last month), Winnie had diarrhea .. really bad diarrhea!

Winnie diarrhea

Compare the above picture with a picture of normal poop. Because chinchillas poop constantly, Winnie kept stepping onto his own poop & smeared the wet poop everywhere; it was such a mess.

When the vet performed a gram stain on Winnie’s poop, the vet said that the ‘bad’ bacteria outnumber the ‘good’ bacteria; the ‘bad’ bacteria have always been present in Winnie’s stomach, but because of the apple skin, Winnie’s stomach got upset. Here is a detailed timeline:

  • 5 April: started on Baytril (0.2 ml twice daily for a week) & Bene-Bac (a pea size, approximately 1 gram, once daily for 2 weeks).
  • 7 Apri: I started to syringe feed Winnie with Critical Care because the Baytril reduced Winnie’s appetite.
  • 15 April: no improvement, so the Baytril was discontinued & Winnie was prescribed another medication that’s labeled as “SMZ/TMP Ped Susp” (0.25 ml twice daily for a week), which didn’t help much.
  • 19 April: started on Doxycycline (0.2 ml tiwce daily for a week), which was given alongside the SMZ/TMP. Winnie’s poop improved considerably.
  • 26 April: the course for Doxycycline & SMZ/TMP was over, but Winnie still continued on the Bene-Bac.
  • 9 May: Winnie finally finished his course of Bene-Bac & was diarrhea free!

I always made sure that after being in contact with Winnie while he was having diarrhea, I would wash my hands before touching Tubby. But I guess that wasn’t enough, Tubby eventually fell ill too; I have a feeling this was a parasitic infection that was easily transferred from my clothing because I didn’t change my clothes after being in contact with Winnie. Tubby’s poops were soft, but not as wet as the photo above. Tubby saw the vet on the 28th of April. Because Tubby’s poops weren’t as bad as Winnie’s, the vet didn’t want to prescribe Tubby with antibiotic that would kill the ‘bad’ AND the ‘good’ bacteria. Instead, the vet wanted to try a more ‘natural’ approach, by encouraging the ‘good’ bacteria to multiply. Tubby was prescribed Diarysanyl (a pea size, approximately 1 ml, twice daily for 5 days) & Bene-Bac (a pea size, approximately 1 gram, once daily for 2 weeks). Unlike Winnie, Tubby’s initial recovery as much faster. But the strange thing was that Tubby’s poops would get better one day & the nexy day he’d revert to soft poops. This continued even after his medication course was over. Tubby didn’t return to the clinic though, I just kept an eye on him & eventually the soft poops didn’t return.

*sigh* The troubles my animals went through just because I gave 1 chinchilla a fruit treat .. I’ve learned from my mistake & I no longer give in to those sad-looking eyes that seem to say “Puuhhhllleeeassseeee give me something sweet!”

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Posted in Chinchilla care, Chinchilla health | Comments (1)

Skin Tumour .. Gone!

May 16th, 2010

Earlier this year, I noticed that Joy had something that looked like an abscess on her tummy. After conservatively treating the area with antibiotic & Hydrogen Peroxide, the lump wouldn’t go away. So on the 19th of April morning, Joy went in for a surgery to have it removed. The procedure wasn’t too life threatening because it was the surface of Joy’s skin that was being operated on. The surgery was a success; Joy bounced back fast & managed not to chew on the stitches. The vet explained that operating on such a small creature requires some improvisation. For the Oxygen mask, he had to cut the tip of a small syringe; the cut syringe tip was placed over Joy’s face, secured with a small piece of latex cut from a latex glove. I think it would’ve been neat if I could have watched the operation :-)

Joy went home later that afternoon & acted as if she didn’t have the surgery at all. 2 weeks later, she returned to the clinic to have her stitches removed. Today, she is herself and is tumour free!!!!

Joy skin tumour free

I know Joy has no fur on her chest & on her belly, I think that’s because she constantly pees on the wheel & her chest & tummy rub against the wheel. At least she looks much better now than she did a month ago.

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Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (0)

Recovery

May 13th, 2009

YYyaaaayyy!!!! I’m so happy to see both Dee Dee & Brain are doing much much better!

Brain already seemed better after a day of antibiotic. Now she lives on her own & is already her old self, running on the wheel & climbing the cage bars. The reason why she’s alone is because when I tried to put her back with her sister, Pinky, after a 24-hour separation, I guess Pinky doesn’t remember her anymore? Pinky kept picking fights with Brain even after I’ve continually stopped Pinky.

I can see the improvement with Dee Dee after a day of antibiotic, too! It’s amazing what these antibiotic can do, huh? Whenever I try to give her the antibiotic though, she always struggles, I guess that shows the old girly still has long ways to go :-D No more clicking noises when she’s breathing & I can see that she can breathe a lot easier now (before, I could see her back going up & down rapidly as she was trying to inhale). She doesn’t like me syringe feeding her with drinks & food, but I don’t mind because Dee Dee is eating & drinking on her own.

I think they will all be okay, thanks to the wonderful wonderful vets & all of the best wishes.

Another interesting thing, I bought some baby food, pureed carrots & pureed peas, all of the hamsters love them! Except for Dee Dee. I guess Dee Dee is like one of those old ladies who is set in her ways :-) I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but she’s my favorite Russian Campbell.

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Posted in Hamster care, Hamster health | Comments (1)