Swollen Tongue - protruding from closed mouth.

Eugene Krabs needs your thoughts and prayers right now.

Got up this morning, gliders were sleeping. I took their food dishes and kitchens out of cages as usual and went about my business and then took a nap this afternoon. I got up around 5pm and went to clean their dishes and kitchens before feeding them and opened the little quad's kitchen and though they are the messiest eaters, ever - I thought how much messier they were last night. Then, I realized that the majority of the splatters and spots and mess was red & they hadn't had anything red to eat last night. It was blood. So much blood splattered all over the inside of the kitchen. I was so scared. I grabbed their pouch, thinking I might only find 3 of them. All 4 faces peeked out at me. Whew! So, I took them out one at a time and looked them over checking for open wounds or anything I could find. The girls were all fine. Eugene, on the other hand, had his tongue sticking out of the side of his closed mouth. He wouldn't put it back in. I put him in a bonding pouch and then grabbed plates for the gliders and threw their food on them & put them in the cages and grabbed Eugene and headed for the e-vet. It's usually a 30-40 minute drive for me, but took more than an hour because it's snowing and the roads are hell. I kept stroking Eugene until I felt him moving and knew he was still with me like every 5 minutes on the looooong car ride.

When we got to the vet, they took him in back right away and started to examine him. He was such a good boy for them - he let them open his mouth and poke and prod him. The only thing the vet could find wrong was that his tongue was swollen so bad it wouldn't fit in his mouth and they couldn't even see the back of his throat. He had bitten the heck out of his tongue, and that's where all that blood came from. It had stopped bleeding, but we have no idea if he bit his tongue and that's why it swelled or if it was swollen and that's why he bit his tongue. I didn't give them anything to eat or anything that they haven't had tons of times before, so I don't think the swelling was an allergic reaction. We just don't know what happened. When the vet came to talk to me, she honestly seemed to expect me to just put him down. She told me that the only thing she could do was give him pain meds and antibiotics and keep him overnight and keep the tongue moist and keep trying to stick it back in his mouth. She really was not optimistic that he would make it. I told her that I needed to call someone (Val) and would get back to her on what I wanted to do. I called Val and she calmed me down a lot! *hugs* Thank you, Val!! She said we should give him convenia and metacam and call Dr. Walsh, her vet, to consult. Val agreed with what I was thinking - that I could do everything for Eugene in the comfort of his own home where he could be with mama that the vet wanted him to stay overnight for.

Well, the vet didn't understand why I wanted her to call Dr. Walsh - she felt she knew exactly what she was saying and recommending and didn't need any help. She informed me that they won't use convenia because if there are side effects, it's not like you can stop giving the meds since it's one shot for 2 weeks worth of meds. Okay, fine. She was going to give him a shot of metacam but then gave him something else since she didn't want to mess with what my vet may want tomorrow. I asked her about his hydration and if she could show me how to sub-q since he doesn't seem able to swallow. She refused because I could OD him on fluids and she also informed me that the tent test doesn't work with gliders because they have too much skin or something like that. Okaaaay...now, I'm really anxious to get him to my regular vet who knows a lot more about gliders (even if it's not as much as Dr. Walsh or Dr. Tristan, etc...) So, she sub-q'd him there before sending him home with me.

When we got home, I made more HPW (I ran out tonight) and I pureed some veggies and some fruits for him. He was able to get a little bit of the antibiotic in his mouth - no idea how much got swallowed - and I am moistening his tongue with water and tried giving him some of the liquid fruit. He's in a hospital cage on my coffee table right in front of me and is acting fairly normal although confused about why he's in there. He keeps chewing on his tongue and I'm afraid he's going to chew it off. The vet was worried about self-mutilating as well as nerve damage. She basically said that if it was nerve damage, he's not going to live (Val helped me see that she could easily be wrong and that he may be able to adapt just fine if that is the case.) So, yeah, that's where we are right now. My vet is about 45 minutes away and opens at 8am - I will be up all night with Eugene and will probably just hop in the car at 7am and head there and call on my way.

Please keep Eugene in your thoughts and prayers tonight.

Here are some pics (they're not that great but you can kinda see what I'm talking about - click the thumbnails to see the pics bigger):

The kitchen (looks worse in person - a lot of the blood spots don't show on camera)








Eugene

Well, I LOVE my vet!! He is so upset with the e-vet, he's going to have a talk with them. The ONLY thing he agreed with her on was the convenia (2 week course of antibiotics in one shot) and that's only because it hasn't been tested enough for his peace of mind. He anesthetized Eugene and found that the tongue was still pretty swollen - but not terribly so. He gave him a shot of antibiotics and a shot of metacam and wants me to bring him in tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday for the same (I don't care that it's 44 miles one way and the roads are bad because of snow - I'll just leave early!). He is hopeful the tongue can be saved, and if it can't - he said we may have to try amputation (the e-vet wouldn't even consider it!) He doesn't understand why the e-vet didn't call him since they have his number and often consult with him even on animals that aren't his regular patients - so he's REALLY upset that they didn't call him for one of his own patients because he would have insisted on starting the metacam right away. He told me that if I ever have problems at the e-vet again, to have them call him. Dr. Baillie made me feel sooo much better and was way more optimistic than the e-vet. So, now we wait and hope the antibiotics and metacam do their job and Eugene's tongue starts working properly again soon. I'm going to take a nap - after I try to get Eugene to eat some liquid foods...

Eugene acts like nothing is wrong. I had him out and he was jumping from me to anything he could in the living room and back to me. He did try to lick me several times which made me sad that he couldn't. He made me so proud tonight, I was crying. He found the water bottle in his hospital cage and he figured out to stick his thumb into the spout so the water drips into his mouth since he can't lap it up. One thing that worries me is when I feed him, he tries to grab his tongue and pull it out - like it's a piece of food stuck there or something - so, I just have to keep his hands away from his mouth while he's eating. I'm going to give him and his girlfriends some supervised playtime tonight - I just hope they don't mess with his tongue and that he doesn't get too distraught that he can't lick and groom them. Speaking of grooming, I think I need to get a toothbrush or something. He's getting food all over and since he can't groom himself, he's getting kinda crusty.

Thank you so much for the update Brenda! I actually did read this on another site but was busy at the time to respond there. Gotta love being a member on multiple boards sometimes huh?

I'm still praying for you and Eugene! I sure hope and pray that it won't go as far as needing amputation.

Did the vet ever figure out WHY or HOW it became swollen?

Thank you! No, we really have no idea unless he accidentally bit it or he and one of the girls were fighting over food and one of them did? I didn't hear anything abnormal that night.

Well I'll be praying that he accidentally bit himself and that he'll be just fine!

Thank you! :hugs: I swear his tongue is sticking out less today! But, Dr. Baillie wasn't in to let me know if he agreed - he had a family emergency so another vet gave Eugene his shots. That same vet will be giving his shots tomorrow, too - so hopefully she'll see some improvement.

He's doing so well! He's eating (HPW, anyway), drinking, and even grooming himself all the best he can. I really think his tongue is less swollen - here are some pics for comparison (clickable thumbnails):

Day 1




Day 2




Day 3

Both my vet and the vet who saw him yesterday were in this morning and checked him out. Most of Eugene's tongue is much better. The tip, on the other hand, is dying. The vets believe it'll just die and fall off. They say that's okay. Anyone have other opinions about that?

I am soooo happy!!! The vet is VERY pleased with his progress. His tongue is barely sticking out now & he should be able to be back with his girls in a day or 2!

Day 4




Day 5




Day 6

Eugene Krabs is looking GREAT! I'm so happy for you both! I know this has got to have been hard on you, probably harder on you than him. LOL

But by the looks of how well he's doing, you've done an AWESOME job at helping him to get better!

I'm just so excited about his progress!

Thank you, Sherri!

There is now nothing sticking out of his mouth - but he wouldn't let me see his tongue yet - so I don't know what it looks like. However, he is now back with his girls!

YAY Eugene!!