Xabi: Answers

We have finally gotten some concrete answers for Xabi. I noticed that his eye was really bad and that he started having discharge in his ear. He was losing weight and was making pained noises quite a bit. We took him to the specialty vet. This time we were able to see the real specialist, not just the vet tech. We dropped him off at 8 am and didn't get to take him home until around 5pm. This is what we found out.

We already knew he had a nerve deficiency on the right side of his face. We were told this could have been a birth defect or from a traumatic injury. The vet told us that she did dental work because his teeth were very overgrown and uneven. The reason they are overgrown is because he is unable to grind them properly due to his TM Joint being partially deteriorated. His TM Joint is partially deteriorated (as she could view by dental X-Rays) because he had an ear infection (hence the discharge) for a very long time. The ear infection has actually been around so long that it has progressed into a bone infection. His middle ear bones are deteriorated. In fact, so long, that she believes that is what has caused his nerve deficiency.

The vet gave us an option. The only way to treat the bone infection and his hollowed out middle ear is with surgery. Without surgery, the vet indicated, we will just be temporarily throwing antibiotics at a bigger problem. However, there are only 4 known cases EVER of this particular surgery on a guinea pig. 3 of those cases resulted in the death of the guinea pig within days of surgery. 1 of those 3 cases were performed by this vet. If the surgery was successful, it would be an open gaping wound on Xabi's head. The fact that this vet visit was 1 week before we were moving, the fact that there was only a 25% survival rate, that it would have cost easily $3,000 when all was said and done without the guarantee of him even surviving, plus the fact that it wouldn't solve his nerve or dental issue, made us decide to just do the best we can.

So, the vet did the dental work to grind down Xabi's teeth, and gave us antibiotics, pain medication, and critical care, which is like a little piggy hay malt-o-meal that I feed him with a syringe. We also do physical therapy with him to keep his teeth from overgrowing again. Luckily we do have a resource of a good exotic vet who actually trained under the vet specialist we saw right here in Utah.

After taking care of Xabi under this new medical regiment every day at noon, he actually is doing really, really well. In fact, he has gained 60 grams already and is much more active and curious than before. He is eating on his own a lot more, and he is also making a lot less croaking/grunt noises, and back to his happy wheeks. It's fantastic. We know that it won't last forever and at one point in time, we'll decide that maybe it's time to say goodbye, but I'm really happy that he seems to be thriving.

In fact, the vet said most baby guinea pigs don't survive ear infections that aren't treated right away. I'm hoping that he really did have a birth defect that explains his nerve deficiency/jaw issues, and that his ear infection was more recent/can be completely treated with the antibiotics we have. Crossing my fingers!