Degu mouth Abcess

Question
Hi
I adopted my degu in Feb this year, he is 18months old.
I've just come back from the vets as my degu is very unwell. The vet saw an abcess in his mouth and said the infection may have spread to his jaw bone but can't be certain. The vet sugguested putting him to sleep but I asked him to give him fluids and an antibiotc injection and I will continue with oral antibiotics at home and syringe recovery food into him. He only weighs 100g. As he is still fairly new and still a bit shy I am letting him settle in and come out of his shell before starting to handle him too much, as a result I didn't detect that he had lost so much weight.
My confidence in vets with small animals -particularly unusual ones they dont often see- is very low, it seems the default setting is to put them to sleep...
Can you give me any advice on what I should do next?
Thank you very much
Rachael

Answer
Keep trying, but don't be too shocked if he does die.  I have never had one with an oral infection, but I do know that once they've lost that much weight getting them back up to fighting weight requires THEM NOT US to have the initiative.  Make the soft food, water and syringe feeding available...but don't force it.  If you squeeze the food/water/whatever into their mouths, rather than them actively taking it, they are at greater risk of aspiration.  When things get into the lungs, not only do you have the risk of infection until the stuff in there gets out but also the lessened capacity for proper breathing.  

What your job should be now is to keep him comfortable, provide him with whatever he wants and let him decide where to go from here.

Good luck.