Valentine Vet Visit

***Warning: Some gory photos are included in this post.***

As described in my previous post, Perry has an abscess. When part of it burst, I contemplated a vet visit, though suspected we would have a continuation of the ‘wait & see’ approach. Unfortunately, during February, Perry’s seizures increased, which is what made me decide to book the vet visit on the 14th of February.

Perry has been on anti-seizure medication (Epiphen) since October. His seizures stopped. Initially, he continued to have ‘pre-seizure’ symptoms like head-twisting/tilting, head tremors & unfocused eyes, but even those stopped after awhile. He has continued to have some mobility problems but is much improved.

After a couple of days of being unable to get Perry to take his medication, he had a seizure two nights running (11th/12th December). This indicated to me that the medication was definitely working & it was not coincidence. He then had another seizure on the 24th December, then nothing until February. Between the 1st and today (date of posting 17th February) he has had 9 seizures. On two of those occasions he had 3 seizures during one evening – cluster events. Worrying. This is despite him still taking the medication.

The vet thinks an increase in medication would help, but appreciates the difficulty in administering small doses, i.e., how can a small amount be reliably increased by an even smaller amount?!

The vet examined Perry’s abscess. She tried to wiggle a section off, but it was not quite ready to fall, so that is expected to fall in days. The rest of it should also come away at a later date. No action to be taken – just let it heal naturally, hopefully without any major incident. The lump on Perry’s belly that the abscess is on, is bigger, which also made the vet wonder if it may be pressing on nerves that are triggering the extra seizures. Given we expect the lump/abscess to reduce, we decided to wait a few weeks for it to fall away & see if that has any impact on the frequency of Perry’s seizures. If so, then we carry on with the anti-seizure medication as normal. If not, then we will consider increasing the medication.

Whilst the vet was here, she also gave Perry a light beak trim & also trimmed some of his toenails. His weight is stable at 47g.

Despite all these health problems, the vet thought Perry was otherwise fine!

Certainly, Perry has been in generally good spirits. He eats, drinks & preens. He mostly spends the daytime in Moriarty’s cage where Moriarty comes & goes & some flirting goes on. When Perry is snoozing, Moriarty pops in & spends time with Lennie. In the evening Perry still retires back to his cage for bedtime with his buddy Lennie. So, we are settled into some sort of routine that is largely based around Perry’s needs.