Figured I would update for anyone who it may help in the future...
When I got her home from the first vet (the next day), her swelling had gone down by quite a bit by the morning of her appointment with the new vet, Dr. Medlin. He said it was most likely from the Amikacin (antibiotic) that the previous vet gave to her so he prescribed Amikacin and also Fortaz (another antibiotic) since she she responded so well. He said it was not mouth rot and it definitely wasn't an RI but that it was most likely some kind of bacterial infection, possibly caused by a rat claw catching as it went down but he couldn't say for sure what caused it. He did say on that visit that it could also possibly be kidney disease but didn't seem to think that is what it was because she didn't have other symptoms of this. Which brings us to today...
The previous vet had done a culture and also a sensitivity test. The results came back and the culture grew Pseudomonas Aeruginosa. The sensitivity test is still pending but should be back on Mon. I let Dr. Medlin know of this and he said that it would make sense as to why the swelling responded so well to the Amikacin injection and for now, the treatment will remain the same (Amikacin and Fortaz). So, in short, a bacterial infection but Dr. Medlin also did blood work which also came back today. He said kidney values are normal so it's not kidney disease which is great news. Most of the values he said were normal. However, there was a type of white blood cell that was "significantly" elevated called Azurophil. He said "We think they play the role of the enforcers who go around "eating" bacteria. They don't always show up to a quick (acute) infection, but they are more likely to show up when there is a chronic infection." This has me a bit worried but he said if she responds well to the antibiotics then he's happy but if it returns then he may need to try something else.
For now, other than being more head shy than what she used to be (I would be too if I was prodded for 4 days) she seems to be on the mend. She will be off feed for a bit while she is getting injections (since it could make it worse on her kidneys) but I expect (and hope) that she will be back to her normal self in no time. These pics were from Friday (the morning of her appointment with Dr. Medlin), after the first injection of Amikacin given by the first vet so the swelling is not nearly as bad as it was but I wasn't thinking about pics when all of this first happened as I was kind of in a panic and stress mode. I wish I could have shown before vs after but you can still see some of the swelling on one side of her head and inside of her mouth. When I saw the first vet, the back of her throat almost looked as if it popped out in a huge pink (almost like human gums) mass which he assumed was the tumor. It now looks more purplish and not nearly as swollen.
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