Hiitshannah
Junior Guinea Pig
I started off with 4 guinea pigs. I lost Pumpkin (4.8 years) in December after he became suddenly paralysed in October. He was found to have a spinal lesion which blood tests revealed may have a parasitic cause. We tried everything to treat him, even acupuncture, but in the end his teeth started breaking and he got pneumonia and it was kinder to let him go. The x ray found small amounts of bladder sludge, so this is when I switched my piggies to filtered water, they already had 1tbsp of nuggets per day so minimal amounts. He lived with Nutmeg, so we adopted a baby pig (he was born from a rescue pig who arrived pregnant) in January to bond with him and they are getting along well so far.
In January, Cashew was diagnosed with 5 small stones in his ureter, we opted not to take the huge risk of a complicated op due to his age (5.5 years) and he’s still here and doing well on a twice daily dose of loxicom and cystease. I switched all of the pigs to the low calcium veg diet recommended on the forum, and further reduced their nuggets to just 10 per day (around a teaspoon).
Then in late February, the blood in urine started with Nutmeg (4.5 years). He had a conscious x ray and nothing was found, but the next day he couldn’t urinate and something was clearly very wrong. We took him in, and he was found to have a nearly 1cm stone in his urethra. He survived a 4 hour operation against the odds and he’s home now and seemed better than ever. That was a week ago. Him and Butternut (his new baby friend) are now unsettled in their bond due to separation, no biting yet but they seem to argue a lot.
Over the weekend, Cinnamon (4.8 years) suddenly stopped eating and had very soft poos. Fibreplex and no veg didn’t help. He’s awaiting the results of a urine test, but he really doesn’t seem good, some of his poos have had blood on them. He will be having an x ray as soon as I hear back about the urine result.
Then today, I did a dip stick on Nutmeg’s wee and it’s testing positive for traces of blood. I just know he has another stone forming.
I don’t know how this has all happened, they lived for over 4 years with almost no vet visits, then all of a sudden I tried to improve their diet and it feels like I’m losing them all. I feel so guilty and sick, it’s affecting my job, and I feel embarrassed taking them to the vets on a weekly basis, I just know they must think I’m treating them badly. I’ve spent over £5,000 on vet bills in the past few months, I spend so much on haybox (they get 3 types now - soft Timothy, Timothy mix and meadow as well as oat hay to forage) nice bedding for them, hay tunnels to chew, they have an enormous c&c cage etc, and it’s just not enough. I spend countless hours researching and I feel like I’ve failed the things I love most in the world somehow, and It’s affecting my job and my relationship. We’re both exhausted, 3 lots of meds twice per day, support feeding, my poor boyfriend sleeps in the living room with them now and gets up at 4am every day to check on them so I can get up for work (I don’t function well on little sleep!).
That’s my rant. I just needed to express this somewhere. I’ve read every guide going so just need some support from people who have been through similar! Thank you
In January, Cashew was diagnosed with 5 small stones in his ureter, we opted not to take the huge risk of a complicated op due to his age (5.5 years) and he’s still here and doing well on a twice daily dose of loxicom and cystease. I switched all of the pigs to the low calcium veg diet recommended on the forum, and further reduced their nuggets to just 10 per day (around a teaspoon).
Then in late February, the blood in urine started with Nutmeg (4.5 years). He had a conscious x ray and nothing was found, but the next day he couldn’t urinate and something was clearly very wrong. We took him in, and he was found to have a nearly 1cm stone in his urethra. He survived a 4 hour operation against the odds and he’s home now and seemed better than ever. That was a week ago. Him and Butternut (his new baby friend) are now unsettled in their bond due to separation, no biting yet but they seem to argue a lot.
Over the weekend, Cinnamon (4.8 years) suddenly stopped eating and had very soft poos. Fibreplex and no veg didn’t help. He’s awaiting the results of a urine test, but he really doesn’t seem good, some of his poos have had blood on them. He will be having an x ray as soon as I hear back about the urine result.
Then today, I did a dip stick on Nutmeg’s wee and it’s testing positive for traces of blood. I just know he has another stone forming.
I don’t know how this has all happened, they lived for over 4 years with almost no vet visits, then all of a sudden I tried to improve their diet and it feels like I’m losing them all. I feel so guilty and sick, it’s affecting my job, and I feel embarrassed taking them to the vets on a weekly basis, I just know they must think I’m treating them badly. I’ve spent over £5,000 on vet bills in the past few months, I spend so much on haybox (they get 3 types now - soft Timothy, Timothy mix and meadow as well as oat hay to forage) nice bedding for them, hay tunnels to chew, they have an enormous c&c cage etc, and it’s just not enough. I spend countless hours researching and I feel like I’ve failed the things I love most in the world somehow, and It’s affecting my job and my relationship. We’re both exhausted, 3 lots of meds twice per day, support feeding, my poor boyfriend sleeps in the living room with them now and gets up at 4am every day to check on them so I can get up for work (I don’t function well on little sleep!).
That’s my rant. I just needed to express this somewhere. I’ve read every guide going so just need some support from people who have been through similar! Thank you
... and , it’s OK to rant .
I know I really struggled when the majority of my 7 came down with a URI recently. What made it hard was that they hated being picked up to take their medicine and I hated seeing them scared. I don't think you've done anything wrong atall the fact that they've made it to 4 years old without many visits is good in itself! Take care of yourself and keep us updated on here. We're always here to listen 
Yes I did thanks for spotting it 
just take them with a pinch of salt and don’t let them get you down.
for Thursday x