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Eyes/Non-crusty Little Bear's ouchie eye

4boipigs

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They said he is eating now so I'll go pick him up soon.
 

4boipigs

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We are home and he is eating. He seems grumpy. Gimbly chewed at the bars and was a bit upset when I put L Bear on his side of the cage but is calm now. Their houses are right next to each other.

I did roll my ankle bringing him inside, so I'm also hurt :(
 

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He's gonna be groggy for a day or two. Gimbly won't be happy about it either, but at least Little Bear is close.

That's not great about your ankle. It'll make everything more difficult. Make sure you elevate and ice it every chance you get.
 

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240815004_358759715934600_2947800277592127619_n.jpg

Here he is. The sutures need to come out in 10 to 14 days.

He's a bit slow and rumbles when I touch him. The doctor removed the Critical Care from our estimate today as she thinks he'll be fine without it. They also removed the e-collar from the estimate. I have Critical Care here at home if I need it. They found nothing behind his eye and everything else checks out. They thought about doing another culture but didn't bother since his last one was uneventful. The doctor who did the surgery was thinking about glaucoma, but apparently testing eye pressure in pigs isn't easy so they don't know. Even if it was glaucoma they'd recommend the eye to be removed. So we'll send off the eye and see what happens.

He got a baytril injection and lidocaine, and we have pain meds and a post-op antibiotic.

Hopefully this will the end of our expensive guinea pig vet visits.
 

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Poor sweet little man. I hope this is the end of his ordeals for sure, and yours.

Please keep us posted on his progress. He is in our thoughts.
 

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This morning Little Bear is hiding mostly, but he is eating. He is taking his meds like normal (aka grabbing the syringe and trying to steal it), ate a vitamin c cookie and celery. He seems slower to eat and doesn't want to leave his house. Gimbly will chew at the bars when he sees Little Bear. I doubt reintroducing them will be difficult.
 

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The day after surgery is worse than the day of. Hope he feels better tomorrow.
 

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It's been hard today to tell if he's eating enough. There's plenty of poop. He seems to prefer hay over everything right now. I did feed some Critical Care which he ate slowly. I gave it to the other boys and they were nuts for it. He did have some veggies which he was happy to snatch away. Meds are no problem. He's still mostly hanging in his house, and I can't tell if he's asleep or not. I think overall he's probably fine. He's eating hay now.

We have an appt on Sept 8 to remove the sutures. I'm hoping he can go back with Gimbly around then.

Here is a better pic - his nose is a bit dirty (been having to pick hay off his nose) but like I said he seems all right.

240828292_283794960217837_8146173744437335543_n.jpg
 

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So nice to see him. Sick pigs always seem to have crusty faces lol, it doesn't help that they look how they feel.

I would imagine you're weighing him? Best way to tell if he's eating enough. That said it's almost guaranteed he's going to lose some after surgery. The fact that there's lots of poop and he's preferring hay over everything is is damn good news in my opinion.
 

4boipigs

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Actually I forgot I should be doing that. He was 678 grams at the vet. He has been steadily gaining weight since March which I think is when he dropped to 570ish. 1.5lbs is his normal weight.
 

4boipigs

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Things seem to be back to normal for Little Bear. He is moving around more, eating, and coming to the side of the cage looking for snacks. I'm glad the surgery was so easy for him, after all the bad stories I've read.
 

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So glad to hear this! I was worried about him! Looking forward to his ordeal being over and being reunited with Gimbly.
 

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lbear.jpg

Just another happy update. He looks really good today.
 

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4boipigs

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Everything's going well. Little Bear's weight went down to 630 (678 at the vet) but he's eating and acting normal, so I'm not worried. i already put him back with Gimbly a few days ago. Tbh I don't know how long the vet said to keep them separate and in a small space. However, they do so well together that I'm not worried about it. Gimbly hasn't ever been aggressive, and he isn't bothering the sutures.

Seems like Little Bear's chronic nasal discharge has cleared up some. I wonder if now that the eye is gone, if the discharge/sneezing will stop. I'm interested to know what the testing on his eye will reveal. I'm really hoping for an answer...the eye culture didn't tell us anything at all.
 

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I have a sneaking suspicion that as his wound heals, the nasal discharge will also clear up. He may require another course of antibiotics, but I believe he's well on the road to recovery. If he only lost 48 grams after a surgery like that, I'd call it a win. Sly usually lost that much at least after each of his procedures.
 

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Still doing well. I noticed his head tilt has gotten "worse" but it isn't as extreme as some pictures I see on google. He has always had a head tilt to the right, which is where he is now eye-less.

Sutures come out on the 9th I think. It still looks really good, no discharge or swelling. He has some clear nasal discharge but it hasn't been green like when he had the eye.

If I had known that eye removal would be so easy, I would have done it much sooner.
 

4boipigs

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Tomorrow morning we get the stitches removed. This whole surgery and recovery has been uneventful. Hopefully tomorrow will be the last vet visit for a long time. We haven't heard the eye test results, so I hope that can be discussed tomorrow. I really love that this vet clinic knows what they're doing and Little Bear was able to recover easily.
 

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Such good news. Little Bear, Gimbly, Chico.and Amigo and you deserve health and happiness from here on out!
 
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