[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Drooling - softer food?

[Cheryl Cline]

Thanks to everyone who sent me recommendations regarding Kleenmama vs.
Oxbow for hay and pellets.  I bought additional Kleenmama pellets, but
since they would take a while to arrive I bought Oxbow pellets in the
interim.  They are very small and supposedly easier to eat.  I also
bought some softer hay (3rd cut bluegrass and timothy) from Kleenmama
as a treat for Alex, as well as Oxbow Vitamin C tablets.  He's been on
this diet for a couple of weeks now, although it took a while for him
to eat the Vitamin C and is still a bit fussy about it.

However, I noticed last night that Alex was drooling, which he's never
done before.  Guinealynx and other sources say that this is usually a
tooth problem.  (It can also be scurvy but he's got that extra Vitamin
C so I don't think that's it.)  He's still eating hay and veggies but
is kind of scattering his pellets rather than eating them.  He's got
an appointment this afternoon with a vet named Lynn Dustin of Bay Area
Bird Hospital, as recommended by the Guinea Lynx vet listing
(http://www.guinealynx.info/cabinet/index.php/Veterinarians_California).

I'm wondering, is it possible I brought this on by feeding him
slightly softer food?  Or is it perhaps age-related (Alex is now over
5 1/2, I should have had him added to SCAMPS long ago)?  Has anyone
else noticed improvement/decline when switching foods?  Also, does
anyone know of good cavy vets in the East Bay area (near Berkeley,
Oakland?)  I'm going twenty miles to the Bird Hospital since Alex is
not in dire straits, but if it were a real emergency I would want
someone closer.  I have taken him to the Broadway Animal Hospital
before, and my experience was okay overall, but I am not sure that my
vet was a cavy expert.

I'll post later tonight when Alex gets back from the vet.

Thanks in advance to you all, it's so reassuring to have a community
of piggie slaves to talk to...

-Cheryl and Alex