From:
InYourDreams@kc.rr.com
Date: 2004-12-07 13:38:44 UTC
Subject: Hershey's Abscess
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2661059.1102426724753.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Background: Hershey is 4 years old. She has had both adrenals removed thi=
s year. She is an Addisonian ferret. She had her first Addisonian crisis =
on October 1st, 2004. Treated with .06cc percorten (supposed to be once ev=
ery 4 weeks). She's also on .06cc pediapred daily.
A lot of this is copy pasted from my journal...please excuse the bad gramma=
r if applicable. Thanks.
November 21st Hershey appeared to be having her second Addisonian crisis. =
She wasn't due for her 4 week percorten shot until November 27th. I though=
t maybe the tweenager party my daughter had the night before might have tri=
ggered her crash. Or maybe we don't have the correct dosage and time span =
yet on her percorten.
Anyways, I called the vet and they suggested that I go ahead and give her t=
he percorten shot. Did that and wrapped her in baby blankets and kept her =
close to me and warm and fed/watered her with an oral syringe until she cam=
e out of it. I figured it would be a couple of days until she was back to =
'normal' again.
November 25th, she was still not back to 'normal'. She had started to paw =
at her mouth like she was nauseous. I called the vet November 26th and too=
k her in to see him. She was very lethargic. He didn't think she was goin=
g to make it through the night. She got 50cc of fluids, a dexamethisone sh=
ot, a dexatrose shot, and a penicilin shot.
The next day, November 27th, I took her back in to get more sub-q fluids. =
He also gave her another dexamethisone shot. He said she fought it this ti=
me. I thought that was a good sign. She backed out of her baby blanket swad=
dle to piss on my credit card. *and THIS is what I think about you sticking=
me with the needles* LMAO! Oy! She still was not very active but she didn'=
t appear to be in shock like she did the night before. One week since she c=
rashed. It didn't take that long for her to recover last time. Only two day=
s and she was all ferrety again. I thought maybe the sub-Q had something to=
do with it and hoped she'd be back to her ferrety self in a day or two. We=
alternated food/water every 30 minutes. She ate well from my finger that m=
orning before the vet visit. Which was good. The day before, I had to feed =
her and water her with the oral syringe. She wasn't fighting it either. Jus=
t letting me put food/water in her cheek and then I'd pet her throat to get=
her to swallow. Was not fun. :(
November 29th, I took Hershey to the vet again. Her head was swollen. It fe=
lt like there was some liquid in there. Her eye was swollen shut. The vet t=
ried to look in her mouth but she wouldn't let him. I scruffed her and got =
her to open her mouth and he looked in and noticed pus. He thought she migh=
t have an absessed tooth. So, she got another shot (poor Hershey) and medic=
ine (Clavimox) to be administered twice a day for 2 weeks. He said the swel=
ling should be down in the next 24 to 48 hours. If not, she may need a toot=
h pulled. Ack! He thought that the tooth infection triggered her Addisonian=
crisis this time.
December 1st, the watery stuff that was under her skin on her head is gone,=
but it had been replaced by something really gross looking. At the time, I=
guessed that the abcess is draining out the top of her head. She was stil=
l having to be fed and watered via oral syringe. She had a little of her st=
rength back. She wasn't laying around all the time, unable to move. She cou=
ld walk around (wobbly and still falling over). Her eye was still swollen s=
hut. I talked to the Topeka vet (he was on call). He said to clean it out =
with soap and water and put some hydrogen peroxide on it and get her to see=
the local vet in the morning. I held a warm washcloth to it before cleanin=
g it out. She didn't even move.
There was a big sore/scab under her eye, on her cheek as well. I also notic=
ed that there was a hole right next to her ear (where pus was coming out...=
EW!). OW! I wondered if that would need stitches at the vet's office the ne=
xt day (I had called and made an appointment for the next day). Pus also ca=
me out of her eye (EW!) when I wiped the icky stuff out of it.
December 2nd, the vet looked at her and talked with me about what was comin=
g up. He drained pus out of the large q-tip size hole in her head and then =
injected betadine into it and drained that out. From her ear to her eye, do=
wn to her cheek...about a 1/2 inch strip...the skin was dying. He said the =
skin was going to fall off and leave a very nasty open sore on the side of =
her face. He talked about doing surgery to try to close the wound after the=
skin falls off. He wasn't sure if he would be able to do that or not. It d=
epended on how much skin fell off and from where. He said it was possible s=
he'd need to see a specialist.
He told me to just keep giving her the penicilin (Clavimox)...keep feeding =
her and watering her...keep trying to get the nasty pus to drain out of the=
hole in her head...and wait for the skin to die and fall off.
December 3rd, I sent the following email to Troy Lynn...
I talked to the Topeka vet today. He said the blue stuff is called Nova=
lsen...comparable to Betadine. He said Panalog is comparable to Neosporin. =
So, I picked up some Betadine and Neosporin today. He said to keep the sore=
clean and keep draining it. He said it should heal on it's own, but the de=
ad skin will need to be cut away.
I feel a little better after talking to him. I still want Hershey to be=
better yesterday. At least she is improving and not getting worse now. She=
has good energy and is rooting around like ferrets do. Still isn't bouncy =
or back to normal, but improving. yay!
I picked the yucky from her right eye today and opened it a little bit.=
She was peering out at me through the tiny opening, it's still not anywher=
e near open again. I set her down on the floor a little to see how she's wa=
lking. She didn't fall over. She didn't appear to be drunk as she has the p=
ast few weeks. I take this as a good sign. Just gotta get this head boo boo=
cleared up and hopefully she'll be back to happy, bouncy, kissy, Hershey a=
gain.
Still on Clavamox twice a day and still syringe feeding her...though, s=
he's started licking from the syringe now so I don't have to stick it in he=
r mouth. I was using the little 1cc syringes to feed/water/medicate her, bu=
t they kept getting clogged up and then wouldn't work anymore, so I asked t=
he pharmacy if they had anything bigger and they gave me two 10cc syringes.=
yay! Don't know if those will get clogged up and stop working too, but it'=
ll be nice to get all of her meal into one syringe so I don't have to 'relo=
ad'. heh. She likes to take off across my bed, wiping duck soup along the w=
ay, while I'm reloading. heh. I also have a dropper that holds 1 teaspoon. =
That has worked very well, especially since she's started licking from it.
Going to keep on doing what's been working over the weekend and call th=
e local vet on Monday to give an update. Hopefully all will be well.
Later that night, Hershey's boo boo decided to 'open up' while I was cleani=
ng it. BLECH!!!!!
December 4th, called the vet to remove the skin that's flapping around on h=
er head. He didn't remove the skin. He talked about surgery. I called the =
Topeka vet, but he wasn't in that Saturday. His partner was, I talked to hi=
m briefly. I also called Troy Lynn and talked to her about the situation. T=
he skin on Hershey's head was hanging on by a thread. Really. Blech!
December 5th, Hershey was back to lethargic and dizzy. She whined more. Whi=
mpered. I put her in her sick cage to see if she had to potty. She just lai=
d there. Tried to move. Her head flies back. Tried to move again. Head flop=
ped forward. :-(
I guess she attempted to do something in the litterbox but didn't look like=
there was any deposit made. She kept falling over in there. :-(
December 6th, I called the Topeka vet at 8:00am and made a 10:00am appointm=
ent. The first thing he did was clean off the area and then removed the sk=
in flap. Cleaned it out and put some SSD on it (said I'll need to do that 2=
-3 times a day while it heals). He put three stitches under her eye on her =
cheek to keep the skin over her exposed cheekbone. Gave me ointment to appl=
y to her eye 2-3 times a day since the stitches pulled her eyelid down a li=
ttle and might make it hard for her to close her eye. Upgraded her to Baytr=
il medication to ward off infection. 2 times a day. He tested her glucose w=
hile we were there because she had a seizure in his office. It was in the 8=
0s. He also got a fecal smear done. Ok. She had a sample in her blanket whe=
n we got there. She can't move to go eliminate so she just goes wherever sh=
e is now.
He said to feed her about 10cc of duck soup each feeding and try to get her=
to take 50 - 60 cc of duck soup per day. WOW! That seems like a lot. I got=
a 10cc syringe so I can better track how much food she's getting now. Goin=
g to keep watering her every 1/2 hour.
She has been having seizures since we left Topeka. At first they were not-=
even-five-minutes between seizures. It turned into constant convulsions wi=
th seizures mixed in.
She is aware of sounds and movement around her face, but she doesn't seem l=
ike she's very coherent. I've been holding her in baby blankets all night =
long. Talking to her and keeping her from whacking her open sore on stuff =
and possibly injuring herself further. She hasn't slept at all.
Her seizures have turned into constant jerking and spasming.
I've given her three dexamethazone shots (.30cc each) last night.
He said her brain could be affected by the infection.
It could be swollen.
She's in a daze. Almost glazed. Like she's blind.
I had the vet paged tonight.
He said it's an uphill battle and we need time.
Hopefully she will improve in time.
I'm really worried that she isn't going to.
Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to get the whole story out and see if =
anyone has any ideas/suggestions/help.
Thank you.
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