Laura-CCC4
18-08-09, 10:32 AM
Wrapping Guinea Pigs
Wrapping a guinea pig who struggles is not an easy task, so if you feel you might ever need to wrap a guinea pig it is worth practicing on the most placid piggie you can find! Wrapping is handy in many situations: for veterinarians and rodentologists, wrapping allows them to perform dental work and x-rays without anesthetic. For the owner at home, wrapping is most commonly used to hold a struggling pig still while administering medications, or while the nails are clipped.
To wrap a guinea pig, you need a light towel - hand-towel or tea-towel size is ideal - or a cotton pillowcase. For reference's sake, I will say towel, but whatever you use the method is still the same. Likewise I will say "he" and "him" but this technique goes for all pigs!
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Lay the towel out flat, on a soft (but relatively firm) surface.
A solid surface, such as a table, is not comfortable enough to lay a guinea pig on his back, so do use a cushion or something that is padded between the table and the piggie.
Lay the guinea pig on his back on the towel. Aim to position the top edge of the towel with the guinea pigs neck/shoulders.
You will soon find out if you positioned the pig too high or too low - too low and you won't be able to securely wrap the front paws (and piggie will be able to slip under the towel), too high and the towel won't reach far enough to cover the front paws.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/Wrapover.jpg
With one hand on the piggie, get hold of a top corner of the towel and pull it across the body. It should come right across the piggies shoulder, mid-way down the neck. Gently tuck the leg underneath the towel and pull the towel firmly across the body to securely hold the leg down. Tuck the corner of the towel underneath the pigs body.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/WrapoverTuck.jpg
Do the same with the other corner of the towel if you need to hold both front feet down. Or, if you need to clip the nails on one of the front feet, bring the towel, a little more loosely, underneath the shoulder. Do not pull this too tight; just enough that the other front foot and the pig itself is held still, but it is not cutting into the pigs "armpit".
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/WrapoverUnderLeg.jpg
------------
You should now have one wrapped guinea pig! Some pigs will still try to struggle, but provided you have wrapped him correctly, he will not be able to pull his front feet up. The more confident you are about the job you have to do - whether it be nail clipping, or administering medication - the better behaved the pig will generally be. They do pick up on your nerves and uncertainty and they do take advantage of this, but the towel-wrapping will be one technique that - once mastered - will allow you to gain confidence quickly and easily.
-------------------------------------
Administering Medications
Guinea pigs may need medication for almost any kind of ailment. Medications come in three administration methods: injection, topical, and oral. Injections are usually performed by vets or rodentologists, and topical medicines tend to be relatively simple to apply, so I will not describe the administration techniques for these. Oral medication is the most common prescribed for guinea pigs, usually antibiotics and pain relief.
The first word of warning here is to never put medication into a guinea pigs water. There are some serious issues with this, and quite why the veterinary profession feels this is a responsible method is beyond me!
1. The dosage will be inaccurate. This just doesn't work - even if the pig drinks an entire bottle full of water fairly quickly and supposedly gets all the meds, there is no guarantee that the water does not drip or get spilt/spat out.
2. Most guinea pigs live with at least one other cagemate. Splitting the pigs up when one is ill is not often necessary. If medication was put into the water, there would be a no way of monitoring how much the ill pig drank, and there would be a distinct likelihood that the healthy piggie would end up drinking some of the medication.
3. Guinea pigs need fresh, clean water. Medication could distort the taste of the water, discouraging the pigs from drinking from it.
A poorly piggie must be prescribed medication at a particular dose for a reason. Anything below that dose (as is the case when adding the meds to water) will most likely be ineffective and not act on the piggies illness as quickly and effectively as it needs to. If your piggie is prescribed any oral medication, insist on an accurate dose and a 1ml syringe with which to administer it.
When syringing anything into a piggie, always insert the syringe via the diastema. This is the gap either side of the mouth behind the incisors - if you try to get into the mouth via the incisors, you will have a lot of difficulty! Push the syringe very slightly towards the fleshy cheek pads (at this stage the pig usually starts complaining, trying to open and close his mouth and push the syringe out). Push the plunger of the syringe steadily - don't squirt anything quickly, but do aim for a smooth action. I tend to put 0.3ml of liquid into the mouth at a time, giving the pig 2-3 seconds before putting in the remainder.
Of course, all this is useful information to know, but when it comes to actually syringing medication into a reluctant piggie, it can all seem very difficult and stressful! One technique is to wrap the guinea pig, as explained earlier. Once he is wrapped, hold the pig upright and support his body by holding his back against your stomach. You can then adjust your hand position slightly to hold his head still while you syringe in the meds.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeAdministrationWrapped.jpg
For those who are more confident, and who have much more placid pigs, you do not need to wrap the pig. With your arm along the body of a standing pig, position your hand over the pigs head with your thumb and forefinger at either corner of his mouth. Ease your fingers just inside the mouth slightly to open it up a little, and pop the syringe into the side of the mouth as before. This doesn't hold the lower jaw still, so he will try to open and close his mouth, but with a gentle but firm grip he will not actually be able to fully close his mouth, giving you enough time to administer the medication.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeGrip.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeAdministration.jpg
Do encourage your vet or rodentologist to show you if you are at all unsure. A hands-on tutorial is always better than words and pictures, but I do hope this explains some useful techniques when it comes to dealing with potentially difficult tasks.
Wrapping a guinea pig who struggles is not an easy task, so if you feel you might ever need to wrap a guinea pig it is worth practicing on the most placid piggie you can find! Wrapping is handy in many situations: for veterinarians and rodentologists, wrapping allows them to perform dental work and x-rays without anesthetic. For the owner at home, wrapping is most commonly used to hold a struggling pig still while administering medications, or while the nails are clipped.
To wrap a guinea pig, you need a light towel - hand-towel or tea-towel size is ideal - or a cotton pillowcase. For reference's sake, I will say towel, but whatever you use the method is still the same. Likewise I will say "he" and "him" but this technique goes for all pigs!
------------
Lay the towel out flat, on a soft (but relatively firm) surface.
A solid surface, such as a table, is not comfortable enough to lay a guinea pig on his back, so do use a cushion or something that is padded between the table and the piggie.
Lay the guinea pig on his back on the towel. Aim to position the top edge of the towel with the guinea pigs neck/shoulders.
You will soon find out if you positioned the pig too high or too low - too low and you won't be able to securely wrap the front paws (and piggie will be able to slip under the towel), too high and the towel won't reach far enough to cover the front paws.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/Wrapover.jpg
With one hand on the piggie, get hold of a top corner of the towel and pull it across the body. It should come right across the piggies shoulder, mid-way down the neck. Gently tuck the leg underneath the towel and pull the towel firmly across the body to securely hold the leg down. Tuck the corner of the towel underneath the pigs body.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/WrapoverTuck.jpg
Do the same with the other corner of the towel if you need to hold both front feet down. Or, if you need to clip the nails on one of the front feet, bring the towel, a little more loosely, underneath the shoulder. Do not pull this too tight; just enough that the other front foot and the pig itself is held still, but it is not cutting into the pigs "armpit".
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/WrapoverUnderLeg.jpg
------------
You should now have one wrapped guinea pig! Some pigs will still try to struggle, but provided you have wrapped him correctly, he will not be able to pull his front feet up. The more confident you are about the job you have to do - whether it be nail clipping, or administering medication - the better behaved the pig will generally be. They do pick up on your nerves and uncertainty and they do take advantage of this, but the towel-wrapping will be one technique that - once mastered - will allow you to gain confidence quickly and easily.
-------------------------------------
Administering Medications
Guinea pigs may need medication for almost any kind of ailment. Medications come in three administration methods: injection, topical, and oral. Injections are usually performed by vets or rodentologists, and topical medicines tend to be relatively simple to apply, so I will not describe the administration techniques for these. Oral medication is the most common prescribed for guinea pigs, usually antibiotics and pain relief.
The first word of warning here is to never put medication into a guinea pigs water. There are some serious issues with this, and quite why the veterinary profession feels this is a responsible method is beyond me!
1. The dosage will be inaccurate. This just doesn't work - even if the pig drinks an entire bottle full of water fairly quickly and supposedly gets all the meds, there is no guarantee that the water does not drip or get spilt/spat out.
2. Most guinea pigs live with at least one other cagemate. Splitting the pigs up when one is ill is not often necessary. If medication was put into the water, there would be a no way of monitoring how much the ill pig drank, and there would be a distinct likelihood that the healthy piggie would end up drinking some of the medication.
3. Guinea pigs need fresh, clean water. Medication could distort the taste of the water, discouraging the pigs from drinking from it.
A poorly piggie must be prescribed medication at a particular dose for a reason. Anything below that dose (as is the case when adding the meds to water) will most likely be ineffective and not act on the piggies illness as quickly and effectively as it needs to. If your piggie is prescribed any oral medication, insist on an accurate dose and a 1ml syringe with which to administer it.
When syringing anything into a piggie, always insert the syringe via the diastema. This is the gap either side of the mouth behind the incisors - if you try to get into the mouth via the incisors, you will have a lot of difficulty! Push the syringe very slightly towards the fleshy cheek pads (at this stage the pig usually starts complaining, trying to open and close his mouth and push the syringe out). Push the plunger of the syringe steadily - don't squirt anything quickly, but do aim for a smooth action. I tend to put 0.3ml of liquid into the mouth at a time, giving the pig 2-3 seconds before putting in the remainder.
Of course, all this is useful information to know, but when it comes to actually syringing medication into a reluctant piggie, it can all seem very difficult and stressful! One technique is to wrap the guinea pig, as explained earlier. Once he is wrapped, hold the pig upright and support his body by holding his back against your stomach. You can then adjust your hand position slightly to hold his head still while you syringe in the meds.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeAdministrationWrapped.jpg
For those who are more confident, and who have much more placid pigs, you do not need to wrap the pig. With your arm along the body of a standing pig, position your hand over the pigs head with your thumb and forefinger at either corner of his mouth. Ease your fingers just inside the mouth slightly to open it up a little, and pop the syringe into the side of the mouth as before. This doesn't hold the lower jaw still, so he will try to open and close his mouth, but with a gentle but firm grip he will not actually be able to fully close his mouth, giving you enough time to administer the medication.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeGrip.jpg
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/cavycareforum/SyringeAdministration.jpg
Do encourage your vet or rodentologist to show you if you are at all unsure. A hands-on tutorial is always better than words and pictures, but I do hope this explains some useful techniques when it comes to dealing with potentially difficult tasks.