[Gpdd] Health: Picky Bob Bob

[Jennifer Langer]

Hello Sandra! 
It's good to hear from you again. We think Bob Bob's teeth are okay, for now. Our vet checks every time we bring him in. However she did warn us that when teeth overgrow, it can be an ongoing issue so we may have to get them filed down again sometime. You may be right about his sense of taste, though. Maybe his favorite foods just don't taste as good. He occasionally eats bananas and oranges, but if we try to make them a regular part of his weekly meals he starts ignoring them. Bob Bob just has his heart set on tomatos. I think I will have to grow a patch just for him! 

Hi Leah!
I don't think Bob Bob has passed the stone yet. Our vet didn't give us a very positive prognosis for him, though. The initial xrays showed a large stone, too large for him to pass. she told us our only options were to have surgery done or to simply make him comfortable for as long as we have him. Just thinking about that gives me the sniffles. She also got a couple of other vets to check him over, look at his xrays, and consult us on his options. Because Bob Bob has been struggling with a poor appetite and weight loss since February, combined with his age of 5 years, they all agreed that surgery might be too much for the little guy. 

We have only found blood in his cage once in June, which is when we rushed him to the vet and got these xrays done. He drinks tons of water on his own, more than my other boys and more than he did when we got him in December. We completely switched him over to towels for bedding, to more easily watch for blood or sludge. We do occasionally see white spots in his urine, but never very much. The vet did assure us that a little of this is normal for all Piggies.
Bob Bob has never whined when he pees and urine tests showed no infection, so we haven't used any antibiotics. We did give him Metacam for a while, but it just seemed to make him lethargic. We detected no positive change in his eating or behavior with it. 

The things that have seemed to help Bob Bob are daily doses of critical care and shilintong. The critical care seemsto jump start his appetite. We weened him off of it several times when Bob Bob seemed to be better. Every time he immediately started eating less of everything else in his cage and became less active. Our vet was astounded by how nutritious critical care is and encouraged us to keep feeding it to him if it stimulates his appetite. With the shilintong, we have also seen an improvement in his behavior and activity level. The white spots in his urine (calcium deposits) were much worse in June when we first found the bloody spot. Since his daily regiman of shilintong, these spots have greatly decreased in size and quantity. 

Jennifer and Adam, and PB, Bob Bob, and Boar-is 
"To find a beautiful thing, look with an open mind and heart."


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