Sunday, October 16, 2016

Guinea Pig has Puffy Eye

Hello there, fine readers. It's Lola (2) here, and I wanted to give you all some news on Broccoli's health. Unfortunately, he has been feeling sick lately, so the humans took him to the vet a few days ago. His weight was down, which is a strong indicator that something is amiss. The humans noticed that the tooth he broke off a few weeks ago hadn't been regrowing as it should, and figured this all probably had something to do with tooth pain.

The vet told them that there's something wrong with his eye, but they're not sure exactly what yet.
They had him sedated and x-rayed, and the good news is it isn't related to his bones, but they are concerned that there may be an abscess or tumor in the area behind his eye.

They are giving him pain medicine this week, and supplementing his feeding with Critical Care to get his weight back up. He's going in for surgery next week. They are hopeful that they can clear the abscess, but there are a couple of concerns. First is that he's an older pig and surgery is always risky.
The second concern is that when they go in, it could turn out to be a tumor and not an abscess, which would be very bad because it's harder to treat. Also, they are hoping it does not come to this, but if the damage is to his eye, he may have to have it removed! Poor Broccoli! However, they think it probably won't come to that. (Still, feel free to send positive thoughts in his direction!)

Broccoli is getting plenty of rest before his surgery next week.
There is a chance he can fully recover from this. We will know more after the surgery, but we are very hopeful. And he's hanging in there and is very good about taking his medicine. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to be a good cage mate to him as he builds up his strength. Stay brave, lion-pig!

5 comments:

  1. Oh, I am so sorry to hear this! I'm a longtime reader but have not commented before, but I just wanted to tell you I am sending all of my positive thoughts your way and praying for Broccoli's speedy recovery!

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  2. Oh, I am so sorry to hear this! I'm a longtime reader but have not commented before, but I just wanted to tell you I am sending all of my positive thoughts your way and praying for Broccoli's speedy recovery!

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  3. Oh, poor Broccoli! We hope you get better very soon!

    -- Oliver and Sebastian

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  4. Hang in there, Broccoli! Eowyn had an eye issue recently and she got through it like a champ, so we hope you'll do the same!

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  5. Our Lotte had something wrong with her eye that sounds a lot like that from which Broccoli is suffering. It turned out that she had a nasty abscess behind her eye which took a long time to mend with draining and treating with antibiotics. Our vet thought that she might lose the eye but this did not happen.

    We are all sending our best wishes to Broccoli. xxx

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