Oh Boy...Mouth rot...

I was feeding my female SD Retic last night and noticed something odd about how she held her lower jaw. She sort of let it sag on the sides while she located the head of the rat to begin eating it. Once she opened her mouth to beging feeding...I noticed all of the symptoms of mouth rot. It even looks like a small part of both sides of her bottom jaw are deformed or eaten away!? I'm not sure how long she could have had this or where the hell it came from, but I just noticed it late last night. I made a vet appointment this morning, but the earliest they can see her is Friday @ 8am. I wasn't thrilled about this, but it's the only herp vet in town, so I guess it is what it is.

Can anyone give me some tips or pointers as to what I can do in the meantime to comfort her and prevent further damage. I have to admit this has me freaked out a bit. Never had to deal with this before.

Thanks in adavance.

When my blood had mouth rot i swabbed his mouth with clorhexadine and worked the plaque out with a qtip. From what ive read, this can cure mouth rot as long as it has not become a systemic infection, in which case antibiotics must be used. This comes from limited experience, but i would say swabing the infected area with either a clorhexadine or betadine soloution would hinder further infection. Hopefully this helps, and some other experience chimes in as well. Also can you manage to get pictures? Good luck and keep us updated.

Thanks! She's at the vet now. I'll update with what the vet has to say.

Man I'm sorry I would just do exactly what you are doing

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by darthkevin

Man I'm sorry I would just do exactly what you are doing

---

Thanks. Yeah, I just want to error on the safe side to make sure we get this under control. I would hate to try a home remedy and have it not work.

The clorhex solution was suggested and supplied by a vet so I wouldnt call it a "home remedy". If you do a search on this forum that treatment will pop up quite frequently. Nothing wrong with going to the vet but you asked for something to do in the mean time to help your animal out. Curious though, what your vet had to say and what sort of treatment he has decided to go forward with.

Update?
Surely she must be home now

Sorry...I wasnt near a computer this weekend.

I wasnt knocking the "home remedy". I just wanted a vet to verify there were no additional ailments, such as RI's etc.

The vet prescribed Amakacin injections every (3) days over the course of (18) days. She is still eating fine and I'll be keeping a very close eye on her.

Thanks all!