Milo
I stayed home from work today so that I could syringe-feed our guinea pig Milo, who stopped eating on his own at some point on Tuesday. (For some of the details on his health, you should read Leon's post in the guinea pigs community.)
Milo saw the vet today for the second time in as many days. This time, he was anesthetized so that the vet could pry open his mouth enough to look at his molars and assess whether they were overgrown and/or infected. This was the likely cause of his refusal to eat and recent drooling.
We were fortunate to discover that this was the problem (the other possible scenario that the vet offered was that it was a tumor about which he couldn't really do anything). Apparently Milo's molars are crooked enough that they haven't worn down evenly, but the vet did his best to ground them down so they will fit together better.
Still, Milo isn't eating. We're hoping that his mouth is still a little swollen and/or sore, so that he'll take to food again in another day or two.
But when I went to feed him earlier, he didn't scurry away as I reached into the cage to pick him up. He just laid there and let me pick him up, ignoring the instincts that warn him that someone my size probably intends to eat him. He was like a rag doll, limp and motionless. He barely even moved his head to resist the syringe as I tried to feed him and certainly not because he'd miraculously become comfortable with it. He just didn't have any fight in him.
This evening, he has seemed somewhat better. Leon and I (mostly Leon) managed to get quite a bit of food and water into him and he actually looked alert.
He hasn't had anything to eat or drink on his own yet, but we're hopeful.
Milo saw the vet today for the second time in as many days. This time, he was anesthetized so that the vet could pry open his mouth enough to look at his molars and assess whether they were overgrown and/or infected. This was the likely cause of his refusal to eat and recent drooling.
We were fortunate to discover that this was the problem (the other possible scenario that the vet offered was that it was a tumor about which he couldn't really do anything). Apparently Milo's molars are crooked enough that they haven't worn down evenly, but the vet did his best to ground them down so they will fit together better.
Still, Milo isn't eating. We're hoping that his mouth is still a little swollen and/or sore, so that he'll take to food again in another day or two.
But when I went to feed him earlier, he didn't scurry away as I reached into the cage to pick him up. He just laid there and let me pick him up, ignoring the instincts that warn him that someone my size probably intends to eat him. He was like a rag doll, limp and motionless. He barely even moved his head to resist the syringe as I tried to feed him and certainly not because he'd miraculously become comfortable with it. He just didn't have any fight in him.
This evening, he has seemed somewhat better. Leon and I (mostly Leon) managed to get quite a bit of food and water into him and he actually looked alert.
He hasn't had anything to eat or drink on his own yet, but we're hopeful.