Kidney Disease

A bag of ringers, butterfly needle and 35cc syringe

The vet called me on Saturday.  Bertie has kidney disease.  Dr. Holmes rattled off a half dozen levels that had been tested and they all came back higher than normal:  glucose, BUN, creatinine, calcium, phosphorus and potassium (plus two other things that I can't read in my chicken-scratched notes). The vet thinks the adenovirus may be to blame.

I have not dealt with kidney disease before.  I'm not sure how familiar the vet is with kidney disease in guinea pigs.  So we're starting Bertie on subcues (fluids injected under the skin) while we both do some research.

I started her on the fluids Monday night.  Neither of us is particularly pleased with this development.  However, I've become a great believer in the power of subcues and am hopeful this will make her feel better.  Now if I can only convince Bertie of the same thing.  Willow had been an old pro with subcues - she stoically endured getting pierced and I was quite familiar with her shoulder blades.  Bertie was rather freaked out by the whole experience, and for all my practice, she has different shoulders than Willow.  Who knew?  We get to do this every evening for seven days.  I sincerely hope the second time will be easier than the first.

Bertie, in the meantime, has been eating her critical care without too much fuss.  She hasn't been sleeping quite as heavy; I've noticed her waking up when I walk in the room over the weekend.  Both of those are good signs.  At this point, I am pleased with any positive developments.