I am looking for help for my male alpaca who (we think) has an abscessed molar. Okay gang - this is going to get a bit gross but here is goes. About 4 weeks ago, I noticed a "scab" on my 4 year old males jaw line, towards the back of his jaw, near his neck. Not having my husband to hold him, I had to wait a couple of days to take a good look at it. Artie (my paca, not my husband) stood perfectly still while Andy (husband) "held" him and talked to him. I took my scissors and started to clip away fleece - if he had hurt himself, I didn't want the fleece around the area keeping it warm and moist - I wanted it to air out. Well, after a few snips the scissors got caught on the scab, so I gently tugged. To my GREAT surprise, away came the scab along with a good tablespoon (size) of infection (this was not liquid - it was like elmers glue -pasty and thick). I told my husband to stay put with Artie, I had to get supplies. So I brought out gauze, hydrogen peroxide, and derma gel. I spent over a half an hour working out as much of the pus that I could. Upon closer inspection (feeling his jaw) at this spot, Artie's jaw had a large hard lump. At this point, Artie was getting restless, so I put some derma gel on the hole to keep it as clean as possible. Luckily, southeastern PA has come into it's late fall/early winter temps and we do not have to worry about flys or bugs right now. I called my mentor and explained what I had found, told her what I did and asked for suggestions. She had not experienced this herself but told me that what I was doing was what she would do and to keep an eye on it. That day, I cleaned out the "hole" (this thing was the size of a nickel and narrowed down to a hole in his inside flesh) 5 times, as it was oozing infection. Artie was a trooper the whole time - I could tell he was feeling better. The next day, I did warm compresses on him and cleaned him up all over again. I had the vet out 2 days later and he said that he had dealt with something similar with a llama a few years ago and that it was probably an abscessed tooth - more than likely, with the location, a molar - and prescribed 10 days worth of antibiotics SQ. So every AM, I would check him out, massage the area (a little harder than TTouch) and wipe off whatever infection leaked out overnight. In the PM, I would do the same thing along with a shot. I found some info on OSU's website stating that the only cure is to pull the tooth, but this can have some horrific issues also, such as breaking the tooth, breaking the jaw, etc. I faxed this to my vet so he could see what I did. Anyway, 1 week after finding the initial hole, I found another oozing pus. So I went back to massaging his jaw and working out as much infection as possible. Two days after that, as I was trying to massage the infection out of the second hole (the first one, at this point, has sealed nicely), and the infection burst through his skin and into my hand (opening yet a 3rd hole). I kid you not, I stood there holding about a 1/4 cup of pus in my cupped hand. Not being a wimp (at least where my animals are concerned), I figured I got this much in my hand I might just as well try for some more and I got it, not a lot, but definitely more. I thought I had gotten the better part of the infection itself out, and the lump had decreased somewhat. We came to the end of the 10 days of antibiotics and he was still draining. The vet suggested we try penicillian instead of the baytril, hoping a med change would help - well, we found out the hard way that Artie is allergic, or at least has a bad reaction, to that, so now we are back on the baytril for another 10 day round. My vet won't pull the tooth, I would have to take Artie to a "specialist" to get it done. He is still weeping - I open the (3rd) hole (yes, by picking off what dried overnight) so that it continues to drain and dab off a little pus each AM and each PM - a BIG difference from when we started 4 weeks ago. Now - my question to all of you -have you had this type of experience? What was the outcome? This paca has been a real trooper, but I think his patience is starting to wear thin - 4 weeks worth of shots and my close scrutiny of his jaw is starting to work on his nerves. Thanks!
