[Gpdd] Resubscribe and briefing about Rocky

[Monica Morris]

Hi everyone -

As requested, have just re-subscribed so am using this opportunity to
relate the latest adventures of our guinea pig, Rocket J. or Rocky.

About a month ago Rocky, very suddenly, started to recoil from his
favorite foods.  He'd run to get a taste, then back away as if it were
poison.  He could only eat a few things and lost a few grams.  We
started giving him only his favorites, watching carefully.  There was no
sign of blood or stones.  No URI or UTI signs.  After a few more days,
he started to gain some weight back but still wasn't acting himself.  A
few days ago, his eye started to bulge so no longer something I could
try to fix at home.

At the vet we were told it is some abcess or tumor from his teeth
pushing up behind his eye and he's developed osseous metaplasia.  
Because the eye is bulging, he cannot close it properly and it is 
getting dried.  It is cloudy and I don't think he can see very well on
that side.

He is on Baytril, Metcam and an eye gel that I put on 3x a day to keep
it moist.  He is 5 years old.  Prognosis is not good but we are hoping
to keep him around as long as he wants to stay with us and are doing our
best toward this end.  He's such a sweet boy and so brave.

This is a new problem for us and we've had 15 guinea pigs over the years
and thought we'd seen it all.

Best wishes and good health to everyone.  Thanks to admins for all of
the work with the subscribe/resubscribe effort.

Monica