Ups and Downs

I occasionally wonder if my vet thinks I suffer from Munchausen by Proxy.  Bad guinea pigs can do that to a person.  And Bertie has been doing her best to both worry me and make me appear like an overwrought pet owner.  Bad Bertie!

I'm just sweet and innocent

After having her teeth filed in early August Bertie gained some weight, but the highest she weighed was 970g.  I brought Bertie back the vet in late August, and was told she was doing fine and not to worry.  So I felt like an idiot, brought her home and tried not to worry.

Since then, Bertie has been eating without any noticeable problems and mostly acting fine (a little more timid than usual).  Two days before I'm to leave for a week, she drops to 897g and has a bit of eye crust.  So not cool.  I hand fed her every day, trying to fatten her up and hoped for the best while I was gone.

I get home from vacation and she's back to 932g.  Amazing!  Then this weekend she sounded congested and dropped weight again.  That's it.  I don't care if I look like an idiot.  It's time to haul her back to the vet.

Dr. Holmes thought Bertie sounded fine (of course she stopped wheezing by today), looked fine, but obviously weighed less than her normal weight of 1060g.  She decided to x-ray Bertie, just to be thorough.  I could hear the scream of protest from down the hall:  Unhand me!  And to make matters worse, Bertie had to have the x-rays twice because the first set didn't develop correctly.  Bertie returned from her x-rays rather sullen looking and sulked in her carry case.

But I am so glad we did x-rays.  The vet was very surprised at what they showed:  Bertie's lungs were filled with fluid, even though she sounded fine.  We couldn't even see the heart, because the lungs blocked it out.  It was so strange because Bertie was not showing any outward signs of respiratory distress.

Huzzah!  I'm not crazy; there really is something wrong with Bertie.  Unfortunately, poor Bertie is dealing with some kind of respiratory issue.  First step:  she's on Baytril for two weeks.  I'm crossing my fingers that it does the trick!