Possible Uri, But Chest Constantly Wet Due To Drooling (long, Sorry!)

[LozzyBee]

First, I don't know I'm necessarily asking for advice, because I don't know if there's an answer....just feeling like if I offload here and some of you guys chip in, I may come to some answer.

Ok, I may be jumping to conclusions, but I now suspect Elvis may have a URI. He spent a lot of yesterday hunched and puffed up. I stupidly put it down to being in pain from his dental (with Kim at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic) the day before, but yesterday evening I just felt it wasn't that. He just seemed generally uncomfortable - kept shifting around to try and get comfortable. I suspected bloat at first, but he has been producing normal droppings. I phoned the vet, they couldn't book me in for today, but did say if I phone at 8am this morning I should be able to get one of the book on the day appointments they keep aside.

This morning, he has been breathing noisily, with a rattle on his chest (whilst I've been doing this message he's done a sneeze/cough thing and cleared it a little).

My concern is that if this is a URI, I feel I am fighting a losing battle as he is currently having bad dental issues and as a consequence his chest is just constantly damp. I hoped it would improve after his dental on Tuesday but it hasn't at all.

I am reluctant to give up on him as he has gone through a bad patch before and pulled through, and also, besides this time where he's been hunched and just looking uncomfortable, he's generally been ok in himself - he hasn't been sitting around looking poorly. He can't eat enough at the moment to sustain himself, but he does eat softened nuggets by himself if I've left it too long between syringe feeds (he's quite often at the bowl when I come down in the mornings). Added to this, I made the wrong call re PTS with our other piggie Barlo - asked for the vet to euthanise him as I was sure he'd had it (he was a lot more poorly than Elvis is now), the vet wanted to try a different med for a couple of days and then decide, and it did the trick and he's alive and very well 6 months later. So, I'm not sure I trust my own judgement anymore.

As I said, I don't really know what it is I'm asking, I feel like this is more a therapy session than anything else. Kim did say in her opinion it may be worth thinking about what we want to do with Elvis as his teeth just aren't consistently improving. Sometimes he can go 3 weeks between dentals, sometimes he can barely make it just over a week. I think my concern now is what I'm dealing with his chest constantly being damp. If I'm at home I'm picking him up at least every couple of hours, and he's just always drooled so much he's damp.

I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle with him with his teeth, and now I'm wondering if I'm going to be adding a URI the mix.

If you made it to the end, congratulations! I'm so sorry for this message

 

[Tiamolly123]

I think all you can do is ask & ask again. It must be a roller coaster in your house. The only other thing you can do is ask Kim or Simon outright. Luckily mine have never had dental issues. At the end of the day it's your call. But if he's having dentals every week how is that affecting him. Don't say sorry for long posts, I could write a book everytime. Lol Good luck lozzyBee x

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

Sometimes dental piggies get food caught at the back of the mouth and sound grunty, which is then cleared by a cough. However, it could also be a URI and probably best to get him checked.

I do think it would be worth getting him to Simon, just so you get a different pair of eyes taking a look at him. We have had piggies go through a blip, where they don't do so well, only for them to suddenly improve and make significant progress. Occasionally you do get a piggy who doesn't do so well, for various reasons and then it is important to give some serious thought as to whether they have a life worth living. Benji took dental disease to a whole new level, needing lots of supportive care, but he loved life and I could provide the care that he needed, so we let him live his life, the way he wanted to. However, when the Benji sparkle disappeared, I didn't hesitate in making the decision to help him over the Rainbow Bridge xx