Epona
Sonic: 1 Nov 2006 - 8 Jan 2022
Longish tale.
Randy was pretty avoidant for a couple of days and not eating. When he did come in he was either coughing, sneezing or sort or retching. I suspected he had something caught in his throat and tried to look, but was wasn't really having that. So I trapped him in and got him down the vets.
In the waiting room I was trying to calm him in his carrier and thought "his whisker looks a bit weird". So I opened the carrier an inch - any more and he would have bolted, and noticed a blade of grass sticking out his nose. So into the vets we went for a pretty straightforward diagnosis. The vet gently pulled a long blade of grass from his nose (probably around 8 inches), took £55 and sent us on our way.
So he's still sneezing (understandably), but also retching/coughing and still doesn't have a full appetite. So after a couple of days, it's not getting any better, so back to the vets. Please note that he never once sneezed, coughed or retched in the vets, so I feel like I'm making it up. They think it may be infected or just irritated, so loxicom and antibiotics and see how we go. £88, as I already had a fresh bottle of Loxicom knocking about.
After the AB course he's no better so we all suspect there's something still stuck somewhere, so the next intervention will be sedation, x-rays, endoscope and some bloods. However as he's eating a bit, and has some reserves of fat, it's not urgent so book him in for his op in 5 days - these vets are pretty busy as the other big vets in town are on strike for better pay! I was given a quote of between £490 and £1,100 dependent on how far they have to go track the problem down.
On the way home his starts having huge sneezing /retching fits. I get him out the basket and he bolts out the back, not to be seen for 24 hrs. He strolls in the next day demanding food and no sign of any discomfort. So thankfully I had to cancel his op and saved a grand.
TLDR
Here's pic of the stupid grass eating fucker (who I love dearly)
View attachment 443414
I am glad to hear he is feeling better!
Blades of grass and grass seeds up the nose is more common than you might think, great news that he seems to have shifted it and avoided risky and expensive surgery - I hope he continues to do well