[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Drooling / vet review

[Cheryl Cline]

Thanks to Maren and everyone else who advised me on the guinea pig
drooling issue.  Alex saw Leila Marcucci, D.V.M. at Bay Area Bird
Hospital (http://www.bayareabirdhospital.com/).  Guinea Lynx
recommends the owner, Lynn R. Dustin, V.M.D., for dental problems, but
I didn't get to see her.  Dr. Marcucci looked in his mouth with a
scope but didn't see any issues; she recommended bringing him back the
next day, putting him under to fully examine his mouth, and to file
his teeth if any problems were present.  She also suspected infection.
 I took Alex home and she left me a message the next day saying she
had researched the issue and found that nausea can also cause
drooling.  She suggested x-raying his abdomen.  She also told me that
he could have eaten something that made him drool.

Well, I noticed that when he was away from his water bottle, he didn't
really drool.  I completely disinfected the bottle and the problem
seemed to clear up on its own in a few days.  There is still a little
bit of dampness on his chest that I think is typical for him, but no
full-on drooling where his chin and anything he was resting on was
soaked.

I'm glad Alex didn't have to deal with the trauma of a full-on exam,
anesthesia or no, but I'm particularly disappointed that Dr. Marcucci
couldn't do a full dental exam without anesthetic.  Alex is over five
now and I want to avoid anesthesia whenever possible.  Also I'm
annoyed with myself for not bleaching the bottle weekly as I usually
do.

I was sorry that Bay Area Bird Hospital didn't bring up the water
bottle issue.  I need to call them back and let them know that that
was the cause.  I was impressed that Dr. Marcucci at least researched
the issue and called me the next day, and also that they gave me a
handout with information on guinea pig care.  It had a few errors
though, like recommending broccoli for Vitamin C when cruciferous
vegetables can give piggies gas.

Just thought the description of my experiences might be useful.

-Cheryl and Alex