[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Fireball's Liver

[Anderson, Jocelyn M]

Hello Piggies and People,

Another month another piggy problem with Fireball, the poor fuzzy. Two days ago he was looking really bad. Eyes half closed, not eating, and refusing to come out of his pigloo. I brought him into the vet that night and the vet I was able to book (not my normal person that I see at the vet) didn't find anything wrong. She gave me some Metacam (anti-inflammatory) and something that gets his appetite going (Regal?) and sent us home. 

The next morning Fireball was making these low hooting noises and looked bad, so I took him in to be watched by the vet while I was at work. There was a very scary time yesterday when the vet didn't think he would make it. X-Rays came up negative, but bloodwork showed an increase in liver enzymes and blood sugar. She scheduled an ultrasound for Friday (today) to check out his liver at another clinic, but I was picked to be an juror in a case that day, so I made arrangements for Fireball to be picked up at the vet hospital and carried over to the liver place. Luckily, all the other jurors showed up, and since they always schedule one juror extra, I was able to go take Fireball around. (I'm afraid I made a fool of myself in the court office crying over my guinea pig, but I'm very concerned!) The ultrasound didn't show anything, so they took a sample of his liver with a giant needle. That didn't show anything, but at least it's not liver cancer (whew!) The doctor thinks it might be diabetes since his blood sugar was a little high. He suggested three tests of bloodwork in the next week to see if that's the case.

Does anyone know what else this could be? He's lethargic, has problems eating while he's here at home (he can't pick up food here and doesn't like taking his Critical Care, but I'm told he eats fine at the vet), makes low hooting noises while he's breathing sometimes (no respiratory problems have been found), has lost about 20 grams in a couple of weeks, and has problems with his stool (the vet has to "express it"). Also, Little John was licking Fireball's right flank yesterday, which I've never seen him do before. I wonder if Little John knows where the problem is and was trying to fix it?

Jocelyn, Fireball, Little John, and Flashbang Fatbottom