Its been a while so we thought we would post an update on Arika.
A few weeks ago we noticed her breath smelled a little "sour", kind of like sour milk. It was most evident when she was being affectionate and started to regurgitate.
Not wanting to take any chances, we took her to her vet on 4/21. They did a gram stain on her fecal and also took a crop sample (that was not fun). She had to be toweled and the vet used a speculum to hold her beak open. She fought so bad she received a little chip in her beak.
It was the first time she had to be toweled and she was not happy at all. We commend the tech at doing an excellent job holding her, and they proceeded quickly to minimize any stress. When the crop sample was finished she came running back to Dad looking for protection against the evil Dr.
While letting her cool down for a few minutes, we noticed the chip in her beak.
Her vet moved slowly and tried to get a closer look at her beak, but she went into full scream alert, beak open, ready to kill mode, and would not let him near her. We've never seen her like that before, but it was justified after being toweled, beak pried open, and a swab put down her crop. I would have done the same thing
So, she is standing on my arm while this is going on and as we were loosing our hearing from her screaming in a small room, I was also anticipating the removal of a good sized piece of skin from my arm but thankfully, she behaved. The Dr. backed off and after a little more time to cool down, I was able to take a few pics with my cellphone and we looked at the photos. It was deemed not to be anything serious, just a note to keep an eye on it for any further chipping and to bring her back in if we noticed any deterioration of the chipped area.
Her fecal had elevated gram negative so they prescribed Baytril for 7 days. We mixed it with some mushed up banana and she happily devoured her "banana pudding" twice a day. We made sure she received lots of praise and treats for being a good girl. The Vet called a few days later to inform us that all other tests came back normal. It took a few days after the vet visit for her to return to normal, plus I think her jaw hurt a little from fighting the speculum.
This Saturday, she finished up her Baytril and is not showing any signs of "sour" breath. She continued to eat well while on the Baytril and is contuing to do so today. No weight change, and behavior appears normal. We discussed a post antibiotic treatment with a probiotic with her vet and they recommended waiting a few days, but noted it will help improve her good flora. We have the Bene-Bac as recommended, and will start that early this week.
We are thankful that we caught the symptoms early and the treatment seems to have taken care of the issue. How her bacteria count got elevated??... could have been numerous things. Something on our hands, something left on her fresh veggies despite washing them, who knows. Hopefully it does not return.
She had a bath this weekend in her plastic tub and loved every second of it including her regular blow dry on her play stand. She seems to like this routine so much. She even rolls over on her back and enjoys having water drizzled on her tummy with a wet paper towel. We really need to get that on video. She seems to have so much fun with her bath this way, I'm not sure if we should attempt the shower again. We will most likely stick with what works. Perhaps someday we will get her close to the shower again, but if she stresses out, we'll back off.
*** A special note to LoveMyConlan, We hope you got Rhage to the vet, they were able to diagnose the reason for his sour breath, and hopefully he is doing better. Please let us know how things are going with your baby.
Its getting late and time to call it a night. Arika and Kelly already snoring, so I must join the sandman to do the same.
Not sure if she has read my most recent updates, however she heard some of the minor back stories.. Like Rudy escaping from me twice in Rehoboth!
And many many more!
