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!

Xabi Vet & Cage Update

News from the vet:

Xabi is at a low weight, but not UNDER-weight. However, if he drops below 900 grams, she would be concerned. At the time of the vet appointment he was at 914 grams. 

She listened to his heart, lungs, guts, ears, mouth, and eye. She said to just keep putting ointment on his eye. It's really difficult to do without it getting smeared all over his fur by his eye. Then, when it dries, the fur around his eye gets pulled out in clumps when he cleans it. He's developing a little bald spot. :( She also said that what he has is called Horner's Syndrome. Which I think we knew, but had forgotten. Or didn't know the name of, but knew his symptoms.

The next thing she said is that with the bickering going on between Harvey and Biscotti, Xabi is probably not getting as much food as he normally would. We decided to do away with the current cage design, and make a simple, no-loft cage (which is a shame, since the loft minimizes hay debris getting everywhere), with 3 separate sections. It has worked out really well! See below:

Originally Harvey was on the left, Xabi in the middle, and Biscotti on the right. I figured Xabi could be a good buffer between the two trouble-makers. But then Scotti just bit the cage incessantly until we decided to try putting him in the middle. He is much happier now. He just needs to make sure he is in charge. He's the center of the universe! 

It has also been kind of fun making sure the pigs get exclusive rights to their favorite things. Harvey got his straw teepee, Biscotti got his pigloo (although he prefers the tent, but it's dirty right now), and Xabi got his barn. He LOVES to lay on top of it. He has always loved being on top of things. I've wondered if it makes him feel more secure, since he has worse eye sight. 

It's also really easy to clean. Plus, all 3 pigs have separate food bowls, hay racks, and water bottles. It is easier to monitor their droppings, as well. Before it was impossible to tell which droppings belonged to which pig. 

Xabi, before the vet visit. D'awww

I'm happy to report that he is now at 924!

Xabi's Weight Problem...

Poor Xabi keeps losing weight, despite the fact that I always see him muching on pellets and veggies. We're not sure what's going on, but he has a vet appt. on Friday, and I'll keep this blog updated with the diagnosis. Hopefully it's nothing serious. Poor pig!

Vet Visit Follow-up

We took cute Xabi to the vet in our brand new piggy carrier! It worked great. It has mesh sides so he had plenty of air flow (pigs can get overheated very easily) and the top AND side opens completely, which made it easy to check in on him and get him out when it was time.

I took my weight chart of Xabi:

I was happy to see that the vet took my weight chart seriously and even made a copy of it! That little kitchen scale has paid off. I'm really glad we got it and so I can monitor my pigs' health.

The vet tech was really funny and loved Xabi. The vet quickly agreed that it is probably malocclusion, and looked in Xabi's mouth. He was really squirmy and bite-y, which is as expected. She gave us options. We could sedate him and have her file down his teeth. We could sedate him and have her take an X-Ray to see if he has elongated roots, or we could masticate all of his food for him and avoid sedation. 

We went with the teeth filing. It was actually really cool. She said that she could do it out on the table with us, as long as Xabi's heart rate and breathing were stable. It took about 5 minutes before he was out. Cute little piggy boy. It is always sort of startling to see an animal go from jumpy and active to limp and motionless. Poor little pig.

She pried open his mouth with a tool, then looked inside with a scope. She let me look, too! It was pretty cool. His mouth was pretty green, though, so she cleaned it out, haha. She filed down his molars and clipped his front teeth. As in...clipped with fingernail clippers! CRAZY! Below you can see pictures of our little sedated Xabi boy. Poor little guy. I have to admit, it's a little funny seeing him so relaxed!

Ooftah!

So relaaaaaaaaaxed

The vet said the goopy eye might be related to his teeth, but most likely is a separate issue. She gave us ointment to put in his eye so it doesn't dry out. Because the tear duct is paralyzed, his eye just gets really dried out. We also bought "Critical Care" which is a powder to mix with warm water, like oatmeal, and syringe feed the guinea pig. If he doesn't gain weight in the next while, we'll give him that until we can get him in again. I think it's good to keep on hand, too. 

Xabier Vet Visit

Xabster has been losing weight. I first noticed how skinny he was when I gave him a bath and cut his hair. It disguises his skinny little body! Since March 29th he has lost 110 grams. This is quite a lot for a little pig.

We are taking him into the vet for the following symptoms:

• Goopy eye. The eye on his paralyzed side has been really goopy and runny. It is also sort of sunken in and dull. I figured that is probably due to him not having motor control on that side of his face. But the goopy/runny eye has me worried. We also thought it might be due to hay fever, but his weight loss makes me think it is something else.
  Drooling. 
• Doesn't eat very fast.
• He has an interest in food, he just doesn't eat very much.
• Gets lots of crumbles of food. He drops food easily. I also figured this was because of his previous condition, but now I'm wondering if it's all related.
• Uneven teeth. <- This is what makes me think all of the symptoms are related. My theory is that he has malocclusion. Possibly just on one side (because he only chews on the other side)

This page is what made me think it's malocclusion: http://www.guinealynx.info/malocclusion.html

We'll see what the vet says! Wish Xabi luck!