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Buttercup passed away on November 19, 2015. You can read about her final story here.
Buttercup: The ever-smiling
This is part #2 in a two-part series of how Buttercup got an infection in her mouth, lost a tooth, and battled a nasty infection for over half a year.
Summary
- Since January 2015, Buttercup has undergone antibiotic treatments for an infection in her mouth
- In May 2015, Buttercup lost her front right bottom incisor, presumably due to the infection
- A culture of Buttercup’s infection was taken on 7/13/15. The results showed that Baytril and Flagyl are the correct antibiotics to be using. She is currently receiving a course of both.
- This is part #2 of a three part series. Jump to part #1 or skip forward to part #3
Buttercup’s Third Vet Visit
April 21, 2015
Vet Visit Fee*: $50.50 visit fee
Cost of Medicine*: $45.00 (Chloramphenicol)
TOTAL*: $95.50
What Was Done: Office visit
Prescription: Chloramphenicol for 2 weeks
*All prices are based on our own personal veterinarian in the Portland, Oregon metro area. For recommended guinea pig doctors in your area, visit http://wheek.it/vets
The day after Buttercup lost her tooth, The Humans whisked her off to yet another doctor’s appointment to figure out what was going on.
Just like each vet visit before, her vitals were checked; in addition, her weight was holding steady. With that nasty, bothersome tooth gone, Buttercup’s signature smile returned.
[PHOTO: Photo of Cups at vet]
The doctor informed The Humans her tooth did, in fact, entirely come out — root and all — which, he said, was unusual.
Buttercup’s “missing tooth”;
photo taken after it was cleaned and dried
He agreed that it most likely died due to an abscess, and because the entire tooth came out, it would not grow back.
After about half an hour, Buttercup and company were sent home with an antibiotic, to be given for two weeks to help her tooth socket heal.
———
Again, shortly after beginning her antibiotic cycle, Buttercup’s health improved dramatically. She began eating on her own and played with her sister each day. The best part is that she seemed not to mind at all that she was down one tooth.
Floor time for the guinea pigs got a lot more interesting once Buttercup had her groove back!
For the next month, Buttercup seemed to finally be getting over this nasty bug. She underwent as many at-home health checks that the now ever-paranoid Humans felt necessary, including frequent flushing he mouth to clean her healing tooth socket.
Ingredients for a tooth socket flushing: Salt, water, and a plastic syringe
Flushing is the worst: as Buttercup’s mouth heals, food and other debris get trapped in the tooth’s left-behind “hole” that is trying to close-up. This means The Humans must “flush” poor Cups’ empty tooth socket with a water solution to clear debris, and to check for puss.
So the Humans flushed, cleaned, checked, and repeated this process each day, several times a day.
But, just like clockwork, about two weeks after Buttercup’s antibiotic regimen ended, the infection made its lasting presence known.
During a routine mouth check, and a careful flushing, white puss emerged from her empty tooth socket. As usual, The Humans removed the infection fluid, flushed the wound, and hoped the infection stayed away.
Several weeks later, it was time for Buttercup’s follow-up visit.
Buttercup’s Fourth Vet Visit
May 13, 2015
Vet Visit Fee*: $50.50 visit fee
Cost of Medicine*: $14 (Baytril), $30 (Flagyl)
TOTAL*: $94.50
What Was Done: Office visit
Prescription: Baytril and Flagyl (a generic and anerobic-targeted anbitiotic, respectively)
*All prices are based on our own personal veterinarian in the Portland, Oregon metro area. For recommended guinea pig doctors in your area, visit http://wheek.it/vets
Buttercup arrived at the vet in happy spirit, even if she is looking a little tired from all the attention. She’s the best.
Just a random Instagram of a younger Buttercup (and Hammy). 🙂
Because The Humans noticed puss in her wound and that debris was building up, the doctor again prescribed antibiotics — this time Baytril and Flagyl (for broad spectrum bacteria and anaerobic bacteria, respectively) — to be given for three weeks to speed up her healing.
———
During the three weeks after her appointment, the routine went as per usual: Probiotics given, then antibiotics, then mouth check, then flushing out the (now healing) wound to rid it of any debris.
Unfortunately, the puss persisted until the end of Buttercup’s antibiotic cycle. So, yet another vet appointment was scheduled to take a culture of Buttercup’s mouth to help us target the correct antibiotic to use.
Here we go again, the Humans thought distraughtly!
Buttercup’s Fifth Vet Visit
July 13, 2015
Vet Visit Fee*: $50.50 visit fee
Cost of Medicine*: $14 (Baytril), $30 (Flagyl)
TOTAL*: $94.50
What Was Done: Office visit
Prescription: Baytril and Flagyl (a generic and anerobic-targeted anbitiotic, respectively)
*All prices are based on our own personal veterinarian in the Portland, Oregon metro area. For recommended guinea pig doctors in your area, visit http://wheek.it/vets
Buttercup has this down: She approached the visit with smiles and a sunshine mood, just like the patient guinea pig she is.
Buttercup insists on showing you her mouth. And her fierce pose.
This visit was relatively short: The doctor examined Buttercup’s mouth and extracted a bit of pus to collect for the culture. Soon after, she was sent home to wait for the five days it would take for results to come back in.
———
Buttercup has yet to get rid of her tooth infection. Boo!
But she seems to be improving, albeit slowly. The cycle of Baytril and Flagyl from last visit didn’t seem to be able to clear up the infection. Thus, she was taken off both drugs for several days and then put on a cycle of Chloramphenicol — a stronger and, hopefully, more helpful antibiotic. Since starting this new drug, the swelling in her jaw has subsided, and drainage seems to be improved.
If this doesn’t do the trick of riding her of the infection, a vet appointment will be made to reassess Mrs. Cups. Stay tuned!
———
And that brings us to now.
Granted, it can take months for such a wound to completely heal. And, this is all dependent on what the culture reveals. The Family Vet should be able to pinpoint the exact type of antibiotic to use, which should expedite Buttercup’s healing.
Until there is more news, The Humans will continue to clean Buttercup’s mouth, check on her every day, and spend as much time giving her the love and attention she deserves.
It’ll be a journey we’ll share together.
Share Your Story Below
Does your guinea pig have a history of health problems? How do you manage to keep up with frequent medicine timelines and care checks? Any secrets to share? 🙂
We’d love to hear from you! (And it may make Buttercup feel a little bit better to know that she isn’t alone.)
Leave your comments and stories in the comment section below!
Catch up on Buttercup’s story. Read part #1 of this story or skip forward to read part #3 of this story.
Oh, I hope buttercup gets better soon! I am the owner of four guinea pigs. two of them are almost two years old, and the other two just turned a year not long ago. One of my oldest, Charlie, he’s albino and probably the sweetest of them all, when I first got my guinea pigs, I was really ignorant and didn’t know much about them. I hadn’t studied anything about them and I regret that a lot now. A lot. When I first got Charlie, he ended up with an upper respiratory infection just after a week, the vet told me it was due to stress and that albino guinea pigs can tend to get sick easily, a lot. I was like.. wow I didn’t know any of that and so I studied a CRAP TON about guinea pigs, and I probably still don’t know everything I should, When he was about half a year old, I noticed that Charlie’s eyes were looking kind of weird and he was sometimes running into things, well I immediately took him to the vet, scared to death that something terrible was happening to him and it turned out that he was quickly going blind in both of his eyes and there was nothing I could do about it. It broke my heart, he was running into things and bobbing his head around, not knowing which way to go. Well, after a few weeks he got really used to it and he maneuvers himself around very well even though he’s fully blind now. It still makes me sad to think that he’ll never be able to see again. Well, this past Christmas Charlie and his cage mate (Finn) had their first birthday which they had turned a year and during the time I was pretty busy studying with school stuff and I guess I hadn’t payed enough attention.. but when I did I noticed Charlie has lost some weight and his breathing was labored, he had even gotten really quiet, when he’s usually ALWAYS squeaking. That guinea pig was neeever quiet before. I freaked out and I told my Mom and we couldn’t get him into the vet at that moment so my mom crushed up some bactrim and mixed it with vitamin c and we had to give it to him through a syringe, we didn’t know if he was contagious or not so I separated him from Finn (which made Finn VERY upset) and I gave him several breathing treatments throughout the night and the following day. He wasn’t eating and I couldn’t do anything but cry and fear the worst. Now, my mother ran an in home day care at the time so she took Charlie to the vet herself and I needed to stay home and watch the kids, which I was very upset about, but I was younger and couldn’t drive at the time. Well, when she finally got home with Charlie, she had tears in her eyes and didn’t want to tell me what the vet had said. He said Charlie had was dying of ammonia and he had given him a shot to give him a fighting chance to live for about seven more days and that he would probably die after. I held Charlie for a long time after that, crying all over him and refusing to let anyone else touch him. I just a awful meltdown, honestly. But, I wasn’t giving up on him, I held him everyday and continued with the breathing treatments everyday, gave him bactrim and vitamin c through the syringe everyday. He slowly started to eat again, but just barely. I took a break from school for Charlie and spent all my time with him, taking care of him and I don’t know how it happened, but Charlie has now completely recovered and is perfectly healthy again. he hasn’t gotten sick since then I hope he never does. He eats like a piggy, squeaks non stop and popcorns again. I look at that piggy everyday, and I’m really grateful for him. I’m glad he’s in my life. I’m not sure what in the heck possessed me to want guinea pigs, but I’m glad I have mine. Sorry this story is so long. Lol..
Well done to your human Buttercup for looking after you so well. And you have been very brave and smiley for the camera even with a missing tooth. And you still look pretty! *rumble*