some good news!

I am happy, ECSTATIC! to post that there is an improvement with Fagan. Yippee! Yesterday I noticed that he was more alert and energetic, curious about everything around him. Before he just laid around with his head down. He also started taking the syringe fed food much easier and showed more interest in eating greens ( kale and collared) But Ray and I did notice that he still wasn't making many poops , if none at all, and we still feared a problem brewing inside of him that just wasn't found with all the medical intervention. This morning though, Poop Explosion! he had poops all over his pen, they are still a bit small and unformed, but there are lots of them and that's a huge improvement and break though! Yes I am excited about Fagan's poops! I'd rather have a lot of poops to clean up then none at all. I feel that Fagan is on the road to recovery. He is still getting Chloraphenical, Baytril and Metacam each day and I am syringe feeding him two to three times a day and giving him Sub Q fluids. It is working, he's much better than he was before, and I am hoping he keeps up the improving until he is back to himself. Hooray!

Also, just for the fun of it. Our conures, Chico and Gonzo took a bath yesterday, and Chico was so wet that the orange feather on the top of his head were sticking up in a wet mass. Chico is a peach fronted conure. Look at him , he is so silly.

More Fagan News

Fagan did go back to see Dr.Fijas on Saturday, he was sedated and had those back molars trimmed. Dr.Fijas even went ahead and took more X-rays, and they were the same as before. All Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today he is still not eating and pooping well. I have been continually giving him his meds, Sub Q fluids and syringe feeding him. We have a system down now where the Sub Q fluids and syringe feeding are going a lot better than they did. I am not about to give up on him. Yet I have to wonder to myself , am I keeping him alive is it best to let him go? But what if, what if..... he needs this supportive care to recover? If I don't care for him each day until he recovers , he won't make it. I have resolved to care for him each day, unless it becomes apparent that there won't be a recovery. There wasn't any major medical problem found, not with X-rays, blood work or exploratory surgery. I will fight for fagan as long as he is willing to fight to. I am hoping every day that he snaps out of this "funk" he is in and starts eating and doing all that he normally does. Please, Fagan, get well. We all love you so much.

More news on Fagan

It is unfortunate that Fagan only ate well that one time after the metacam, the next couple of doses and days time he went back to not eating. Back to the vet he went, yesterday, and he had a whole series of blood work and X-rays. The blood work came out normal , the only thing levels that were abnormal were conclusive with a bunny that hasn't been eating well. The X-rays of his abdomen area turned out strange, it what hazy and white and Dr.Fijas couldn't see much through it. He let me know this could mean a number of things, a mass, fluid build-up, etc. So we decided to do exploratory surgery, open up that area and see what is found. Not much was found, no mass, no fluid... he started to not do well under the anesthesia so they closed him up and woke him up. We have upped his dosage of Metacam and started a new antibiotic, he still has a rapid breathing rate, but he doesn't have any fluid in his lungs, his lungs look okay ( that X-ray showed up) His whole chest X-ray was perfectly fine. I have been force feeding him baby food ( mainly carrots and bananas) mixed up with critical care, but he still doesn't take it well, he swallows some but most of it winds up falling out of his mouth , oozing out. He is going back to see the vet tomorrow, he is having those molars trimmed , he'll be sedated for a short period we are hoping for no complications. But Dr.Fijas is very sure that the teeth are not the problem, he says they are only a little long , not that bad. And he checked for any sores in his mouth or on his tongue while he was sedated yesterday, and he doesn't have any. Although it doesn't seem to be the cause or will be the cure we are going to go ahead and do it, Fagan seems to be on that thin line right now, and we are worried. There is that small chance that it could be the problem after all. Please keep Fagan on your thoughts and wish him well.

The Vet Visit

I am back after taking in 4 pets to see Dr.T, and Wow I am exhausted now, 4 carriers, had to make multiple trips back and forth to the car, into the vets, leaving the vets, and back into the house. But got to get every one better. Dr.T believes Fagan's lack of eating is due to pain. After feeling his jaw and looking into his mouth he is certain that Fagan has hyperextended roots. The roots of his teeth have grown upwards and close to the jaw/cheekbone and it is causing some serious pain for Fagan. Dr.T says that we could have his teeth removed but then there would be the problems of removing those overgrown roots which would make the surgery long and gruelling. Then, Fagen would still have some pain in his life, and would be on a liquid/ mush diet for the rest of his life. The other alternative is keeping Fagan on pain management. We went home today with Metacam, an antinflammatory and pain reducer. I gave Fagan the dosage, and he has already started eating more and pooping more, so much better :) once again Dr.T hit the nail on the head as to what was wrong and what to do about it. Fagan will more than likely be on the pain meds every day for the rest of his life or else the pain will return and he'll stop eating again. Unless we have the surgery done, but Dr.T warned us that it is risky and may not help. Hopefully the Metacam will keep fagan as our happy, eating and pooping machine.
Sweetie had the bald spots, Dr.T checked her skin, did some skin scrapes and found nothing. No mites or other problems. And since Sweetie is shedding her fur excessively like all the bunnies in our care right now ( it is that season) and she isn't chewing or itching at herself, the bald spots formed from the shedding. We do see new fur growing back in already. I've just never witnessed a bunny shed to badly and quickly that skin was exposed for a brief period of time.
Butterscotch had his mouth checked out, he had an abscess about a month ago that was drained. And it looks really good, and Dr.T wants to see him again in another month.
We do have some new arrivals here , we have a female short haired Syrian hamster, named her Ginger Snap. And two Aquatic frogs, they are African Clawed frogs, I named them Fred and Wilma. They are a boy and a girl and apparently do love each other, they mate all the time according to their previous owner who was moving away and couldn't take them with. Tomorrow we are receiving a litter of rat babies, they were an unplanned litter and will be looking to be adopted and find their forever homes.

Fagan- still not out of the woods

Fagan saw Dr.Fijas on Saturday morning, I called to get him in as soon as they opened on Saturday. He gave Fagan a gut motility injection to start up his gut to take in food and make poops again. I am also following up with a gut motility drug in pill form every 12 hours. Dr.Fijas also discovered that Fagan has long, sharp molars that will need working on, but he wasn't sure if that was the source of his sudden lack of eating and pooping. He also wants me to force feed him critical care ( a mushy food that is high in nutrients for sick/thin, etc herbivores) but he isn't taking the critical care very well for me, he lets it drip and fall out of his mouth and doesn't eat much of it. He's eating very little and pooping very little. He still isn't doing well. He is seeing Dr.t today at 4:30, that was his original appointment just to look at his watery eye. Now I am wondering if his watery eye is a result of his molar problems. I feel he will be going under to have those teeth trimmed down ASAP, it is apparent that is the problem.

Also seeing Dr.T today is Old Man Butterscotch to make sure that his abscess in his mouth healed up well. And Sweetie the rabbit, she has had some Bald patches form after a heavy shed.

We had some adoptions yesterday :) Buttercup, our sweet , deformed bunny is now home, and also Melody. And Leroy the Russian Tortoise, who was rescued from a busy road.

I will leave pictures of the newly adopted pets, Buttercup (brown lop with deformed back leg) Melody ( black and white Dutch) and Leroy

An emergency with Fagen

I wanted to let everyone know that we'll be rushing Fagen ( our head tilted rabbit) to the vet tomorrow morning. He was going to see Dr.T the upcoming Monday to have a runny, watery eye looked at. But today he hasn't eaten much or produced many poops ( that is BAD for a rabbit) and his breathing rate has quickened. These symptoms spell emergency! I am hoping I'll update with news of hi getting better after treatment at the vets. We do not need anymore, bad news, sadness or tragedy.
Please Fagen, get better, get well. Everyone send him well wishes, please....

Found this on our digital camera

I had forgotten that I took a picture of Tawney after a nice bath a couple of weeks ago. It popped up as Ray and I were downloading/uploading the picture of Leroy the tortoise I took. When I saw Tawnsters there, it made me cry. You can see though that he was very happy and content, he did have a good life. I only wish it had been a longer life and he was still with a now, I miss our cooing, purring boy.

Here are those pictures, he still a bit damp from the bath and I used a hair dryer on low to dry him the rest of the way. I did need to wash him ocasional because he didn't lick/wash himself like a normal piggy. I could always tell when his fur was getting dirty by how it felt.

Tawney, our guinea pig

Tawney, passed away today. Tawney was our inspiration for Life Long Tails, his picture and story can be found on www.LifeLongTails.org you 'll find it on the page -ABOUT US.
We adopted Tawney, he had a severe neurological disorder. He improved after supportive care although he always had a head tilt. Two years ago he started having seizure episodes and we tried different medications that our vet prescribed to control the seizuring , but they didn't help. I am afraid that a seizure took his life today. I am so crushed and sad. This has been a hard blow to the family and rescue.

A tortoise in the road?

First of all I want to say that Sweetie's spay went really well :) She started eating and drinking right away when we brought her home and her incision site is almost already healed up. I am so pleased with how well it went.
Our Kitty, Jade ( with renal failure) is doing okay. She has lost some more weight , she is so thin and bony. She is started to pee all around the house too, I am doing my best to find all her "spots" in the house and clean it up really well. I know it is not her fault, she is very sick. She is still active, sleeps with Ray and I at night, eats a can of food in the morning and at night, her appetite is excellent, most days she wants to steal our food. We give her tidbits of what we are eating, we figure at this point in her life, it can't hurt her and we want her to get the best of her days. But I know she would steal an entire hamburger from us and gobble the whole thing up and I am sure it would make her sick to her stomach so we stop her from doing that. Considering that she is still eating great , drinking well, and also affectionate and energetic we know that it is not time yet ..... time for her to be at peace. When she declines to the point where she is not eating, or laying about all the time, or hiding from us, that's when we'll know she is suffering too much. I do dread the day that will happen...
Pinkie the guinea pig is doing so much better still on the Lasix medication. It helped her heart disease so much. She is enjoying life with Mom, Dawn, and her guinea pig girlfriend, Abby.
We have a new arrival here, a Russian Tortoise I named Leroy. Someone found Leroy about to cross Union Road near Cayuga. She told me she had to dodge a motorcycle to save this poor tortoise, and save him she did! I am certain a tortoise never would have made it safely across Union. Leroy's savior couldn't keep him, she wasn't prepared or able to keep a tortoise indoors and provide him with the tank and heat light and UV light he needs. I searched all papers and web sites to see if someone in the area is missing their tortoise and I also posted that a tortoise was found and where , but I am certain that whoever previously owned Leroy just didn't want him anymore, and let him go. I'll have a vet appointment for him real soon make sure he is healthy and parasite free, then he'll be up for adoption. So far, he has had a real healthy appetite, he has been eating broccoli, romaine, collared greens and kale. I'll keep adding different types of greens and veggies to his diet, variety is best for these herbivores. That was a close call for Leroy though. Good thing a caring animal lover was there to save him in the nick of time.