Sundae is turning five in a couple of weeks and had a vet checkup today in order to get her standing order of antibiotics renewed. She has had a host of issues over the years, starting at age about 18 months, including a small bladder stone with recurrent UTIs, recurrent problems eating with three or so dentals under anesthesia, and then a large dental abscess that went way down into her jaw muscle that had to be lanced and drained under anesthesia and then diligently cleaned out for ages. Due to the bladder stone/recurrent cystitis, she is on lifelong suppressive antibiotics, which tends to keep any bacteria at a minimum and minimizes the active UTIs. I buy the antibiotics in bulk from the vet and mix them myself, but he wants to be sure to see her at least once yearly, so today we went to renew her prescription. So Sundae got a clean bill of health today... her bladder feels about the same as last time it was checked just over a year ago, her teeth look good, her weight is back up to her average 'fighting weight' of about 2 lbs and 8 oz, her heart and lungs sound good, and her uterus and ovaries feel normal (I asked the vet to feel them, since she looks a bit pear-shaped to me and I wondered about ovarian cysts, but apparently there is nothing to feel except Sundae.) My vet also said that he's honestly surprised and happy at how well she's done. He said that any one of her conditions could have potentially been fatal, and that she must have the heart of a lion in the body of a guinea pig to sail through those serious health issues the way she has. He said that in his experience, guinea pigs can be difficult patients because so many of them don't do well with illness because they withdraw, refuse food, and have secondary problems as a result of that, but that she must be feisty and have personality to spare because she is such a fighter. It did my heart good... both the vet and I have worked hard to give Sundae the chance she's had, and I'm so glad that she's doing well at five. When she was first diagnosed with issues at about 18 months, I remember feeling like if we could just play it month by month and try to keep her quality of life good, any time she had that was happy and pain-free was a bonus. I never in a million years would have though I would be booking her a well-pig checkup at 5 years! I'm so proud of my little trooper! She, on the other hand, is quite angry with me for taking her to vet... as soon as she got home, she ran to the pigloo, hid inside, and kept staring at me very reproachfully out of the corner of her eye! LOL!
