Update on Gus.
This morning when I got up he was sleeping. I petted him a little until he woke up, and gave him his antibiotics. I also gave him 2 mL of soymilk and 3mL of gatorade. He was acting disoriented still and was walking strangely, but I suppose that's what happens when you hurt your ear. I left him with a bunch of different (dry) foods, intending to come back to give him his other medications on my lunch break.
I didn't get a lunch break, so I didn't get home until five pm. I felt terrible about how long it had been, and the first thing I did when I got in the door was run upstairs, wash my hands, and go in to give him his pain meds. He took them without complaint, but didn't want any other liquids or foods I offered. Missing from his dish was half a peanut and two pieces of cereal. But, there was signs that he had both pooed and peed since I had left.
I tried to get a good look at the area, and it looked like there was a whitish part in the deepest part of the area. I called the vet to ask what to do about it, and he suggested using a q-tip to try to clear out some of the gunk that's draining. I was afraid he wouldn't let me clean it out, but he didn't try to get away. He complained and was breathing heavy whenever I touched it, but he just sat still and let me clean it. I could tell it hurt him, though, by the way he was breathing whenever I touched the area. I also used a q-tip to clean some of the blood/scab out of his ear.
I got as much of the gunk up as I could, and applied the ointment. Again, he just sat there and let me. Then I carefully cleaned each of his feet and put him in the cage and petted him a little. He tried to lay down, and I just left him alone and went and made dinner.
I came back up and saw that he was eating, so I offered him two teaspoons of mushroom and soymilk soup and some bread. He ate about half of it, enthusiastically. Now I'm watching him clean himself. He has cleaned around the edges of the area, but isn't touching the raw spot at all. He's also pushing things around in his cage a little, and trying to redecorate. Still hasn't drunk anything since I've been watching, so I'm worried about that. I made a mark on the water bottle though, so that should help me monitor if he's drinking anything while I'm not around. While I'm in the room, I've got a small dish of gatorade near him too, in case he wants to drink it.
I'm glad that the pain meds are working, and that he's able to get up and move around even if it's just a little bit. I'm worried though, because I don't know what the area is supposed to look like as it heals. Right now the places where I applied the ointment look pinkish white (the ointment is mostly clear). I'm sure that's the antibiotics softening up the scab that had formed. I hope. Does anyone know, it is supposed to look like it did in the pictures last night, or is it supposed to be deepish red, or is it supposed to be sort of gooey looking (actually, it looks like what a scab looks like when you get it sopping wet).
Anyway, I think he's doing well. I called and talked to the vet a little today and he said it's okay if I want to use an oral syringe to try to flush out the area a little before applying the ointment. I'll have to get some distilled water though as I don't know about the water from the tap.
Here's a picture of him laying down today.
