Hello,
Looking for some potential thoughts/advice on what to do with my 4 year old lionhead. A week ago she suddenly didn’t eat all of her pellets one day (which she always does), but was still eating her hay and acting normal. Throughout the week she seemed to progressively eat less, but was still eating her hay and got excited for her supplements. Mostly she was eating between 7-12 at night, which is usually her most active time. She has still been regularly grooming herself, but otherwise typically laying around stretched out (not necessarily like she looks to be in pain, more just tired and resting). She’s extremely prone to GI Stasis episodes, but this isn’t like her usual episodes. She’s been getting Cisapride, Metacam, and syringe feeding all week and they haven’t made a difference.
Friday we went to the vet (not her usual Dr, but still an exotics specialist), and they could not find anything wrong with her. Her physical exam, x-rays, and bloodwork all came back perfectly normal. The vet agreed her stomach felt totally fine and there was hardly any gas shown on the x-ray. Saturday I brought her back in for a dental exam and teeth x-rays under anesthesia. They said her teeth looked perfectly healthy and aligned, but she did have 2-3 very small molar spurs on each side of her mouth. But no signs of the spurs cutting into her mouth/tongue. They were filed down and she came home last night.
She was very out of it and lethargic at first obviously, but she has come around now and unfortunately doesn’t seem to have improved at all. Again, we are back to her eating some hay (still not her usual amounts), and not really having any pellets and drinking little. The vet had said if it was the spurs causing pain she would go right back to eating as usual. She was laying there and I was able to hand feed her some pellets, so it’s not that she has changed her mind about the taste (I did buy a fresh bag to be safe). The vet seemed to be at an absolute loss on what to do with her. They had mentioned possibly doing an ultrasound if this continued, but it would be odd for anything to show with her x-rays and bloodwork being perfectly normal.
This is obviously a very frustrating situation. Due to Coronavirus I’ve been working from home for months now, and can see this isn’t her usual behavior all day long. It is quite hot here in NYC, but my apartment is set at 76 degrees 24/7 so she isn’t suddenly overheating or anything. No changes to her environment lately. We do have an appointment with her regular vet the end of the week incase things aren’t back to normal yet (she see’s him every few months for other recurring issues, and he knows her better than anyone), so I definitely trust him.
Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar before?
Much appreciated!
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