My poor wittle Teddy-kins… oh wait, did I say that out loud? Anywho, the last few days have been stressful – for the guinea pigs and for me. Everything seemed to be good after the visit to the vet. The next day we had a little difficulty giving the antibiotic to Teddy, but we got the dosage down in two attempts. The first half was with watermelon, and the second with parsley. There was still blood in his urine, but he was no longer squeaking when he peed. A real relief (no pun intended).
But the next morning Lisa couldn’t get him to take any of the meds. He avoided any food with it in, and we had to try again in the evening. No matter how much I tried to hide the Baytril in some lettuce, he sniffed it out and avoided those parts. I was getting very frustrated with him and finally had to give up, deciding to call the vet again the next day. They told me it was also available in liquid form and they could mix it in a concentrate for him that included a banana flavor. Unfortunately, by the time I left work to pick it up, Lisa said that Teddy wasn’t eating at all. That’s a big problem for such a little feller.
So I headed directly home, and we packed him in his traveling shoe box and headed over to the Verona office of the animal hospital. Once again, they were very friendly and one of the technicians even came out and demonstrated how to give him the antibiotics. You basically have to put the syringe into his mouth and force the liquid in so that he has to swallow. I felt bad for him, but it’s for his own good. Last night we separated him and Jessie to give them both some quiet relaxation time – fortunately I had just bought a new cage for them, so we now have two for such occasions. Since the bedroom is the only one with A/C, I decided to stack the cages near the foot of out bed. This gave them both the chance to cool off and rest.
Teddy barely munched on any lettuce last night, and kept squeaking every time he had to pee. In other words, it was super stressful for all of us. This morning before leaving for work, I helped Lisa give him his dose. As usual, I’m way too squeamish to do it myself (yeah, and I’m going to have to do this stuff for kids someday?). I was still very nervous, since he wasn’t eating, but at least he got his meds. On the drive into work, however, Lisa called me to let me know that he was finally eating a carrot. Wow, talk about relief.
Assuming the pain subsides by tonight, and he continues to eat, we probably won’t have to take him back to the vet right away. I’m sure that’ll make him even happier.