Hooray! I'm wrong!
Yay! I was wrong! Neil brought Homer to the vet today and found out that he is not diabetic. He is, however, sick. We don't know if it's a viral or bacterial thing, but that's probably why he's lost weight. There's a chance that it is something more serious, like a liver or kidney problem. But it's not diabetes, so it may not be anything that shortens his life.
In the meantime, we have some antibiotics from the vet and we know it's okay to give him the cranberry treat sticks he loves. In fact, the fat and sugar in the treats could be a good thing to put some weight back on him.
In case any of you have guinea pigs, you should know that I have no regrets about spending money to bring Homer to the vet when he seemed sick. It didn't cost nearly as much as I feared it might, and now hopefully Homer will get better, and I don't feel nearly so worried. But I don't think Homer enjoyed it much. Someone stuck him in a box then took him someplace bumpy and noisy and cold (the bus) and then he got sniffed by a bunch of dogs and then some complete stranger squeezed him until he peed and did horrible unspeakable things to his butt. It is trips to the vet that are responsible for nearly all alien abduction stories among guinea pigs.
Alana
