A quick update on Zebedee as I had him at the vets today... Mostly good news, thankfully!
He has been putting on weight since he stopped the Sulfatrim and started the Metronidazole, a week ago yesterday. He has gained approx 200g and is now 1050g. He also seems to have a good apetite, he munched his way through a piece of pepper and a piece of Cauliflower leaf whilst on the vet's table! (And produced evidence at the other end too!) The only thing is that all the weight seems to be in the tummy area ( which is a bit bigger than it was), he doesn't seem yet to have put any flesh back on his bones. He was x-rayed, and it appears that the Metronidazole has done the trick, as it did with your very poorly piggy
@furryfriends (TEAS) , as his tummy is now mostly full of food, not gas - I would estimate less than 20% was gas.
The reason I took him to the vet for an emergency appointment though (today being Sunday) was that he has been moving around less this week, and yesterday seemed to have stopped using one of his rear legs, and was dragging it today. The vet thinks probably the extra weight in his abdomen is pressing on the nerve. There doesn't seem to be a lot we can do about it at present except to stop him dragging it, because otherwise the top of his foot will get sore. What it really needs is to get the weight out of his tummy I guess, but I don't know how to do that. His stomach wall muscles have presumably been stretched and weakened by being distended for so long with the gas, so his stomach can hold much more food than a guinea pig normally would. Is there any way of getting the muscles working again, eg massage? Should I reduce or stop the syringe feeding?
Any advice that would help me get Zeb comfortable and strong again would be much appreciated
