Pat Shields
Adult Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2011
- Messages
- 1,151
- Reaction score
- 50
- Points
- 425
- Location
- USA MO, Ft. Leonard Wood area
I have to leave for St. Louis soon, so this is the last update for today, but I just wanted to let you know that as with Red, by my following your advice here, Salvatore just might have been saved!
He was definitely cold and dying when I first got him home, listless, unresponsive. Today, just now, my friend got here, and I showed him the ropes and took little Sal out of the dog carrier to introduce him. Salvatore's body was quite warm and he was resisting my holding him. He was bright-eyed and protesting being handled. As my friend was there to help and Sal seemed absolutely normal, I decided to give the poor nasty guinea pig a bath to try to help him feel that much better. I have porcelain on metal sinks, so I had pre-filled them with hot water to warm them so he could not get chilled, then I drained them and put an appropriate guinea-pig bath in one and rinse water in the other. I washed him with a no-tears baby shampoo; it's what I had.
Oh, he tolerated the bath but voiced his opposition. He tried to nip me several times to let me know he was not happy, and he bit me once when I was wiping his neck. His ears were perky and he squirmed into the drying towel. I was afraid to wash his face so my friend moistened a paper towel with warm water and I wiped Sal's face and gently under and outside his ears. He was absolutely a normal little piggie in every respect. I got him dry and put him back into a clean cage from where I had just picked up a handful of poops (he is eating SOMETHING in there).
This is so exciting! He might make it after all.
You would not BELIEVE the crud that came off that piggie's little body. I have softened water so it was not soap scum floating; the nastiness is what was floating on top of the water. After the bath I combed him with a nit comb. More skin particles and loose hair came off, but I examined it and my friend examined it and nothing was moving nor did it have an odor. He does not appear to have mites or lice or even eczema, and there are no sores on his skin. It really does appear to be a poor coat from malnutrition.
He went into his basket-house when I put him in the cage; he took the washcloth that was in there and moved it to the opening to block himself in that much more. He was also giving me the "stink-eye" that I saw in another thread today, daring me to take him out again.
I weighed him; he weighs 650 g. I realize that he is not out of the woods just yet, and that a veterinary exam will tell more. I am going to call the first thing tomorrow to get him in as soon as possible, depending upon when their current guinea-pig doctor is available.
Even if he does not make it, he has had one absolutely reassuring normal healthy afternoon, and I am glad for it, aren't you?
He was definitely cold and dying when I first got him home, listless, unresponsive. Today, just now, my friend got here, and I showed him the ropes and took little Sal out of the dog carrier to introduce him. Salvatore's body was quite warm and he was resisting my holding him. He was bright-eyed and protesting being handled. As my friend was there to help and Sal seemed absolutely normal, I decided to give the poor nasty guinea pig a bath to try to help him feel that much better. I have porcelain on metal sinks, so I had pre-filled them with hot water to warm them so he could not get chilled, then I drained them and put an appropriate guinea-pig bath in one and rinse water in the other. I washed him with a no-tears baby shampoo; it's what I had.
Oh, he tolerated the bath but voiced his opposition. He tried to nip me several times to let me know he was not happy, and he bit me once when I was wiping his neck. His ears were perky and he squirmed into the drying towel. I was afraid to wash his face so my friend moistened a paper towel with warm water and I wiped Sal's face and gently under and outside his ears. He was absolutely a normal little piggie in every respect. I got him dry and put him back into a clean cage from where I had just picked up a handful of poops (he is eating SOMETHING in there).
This is so exciting! He might make it after all.
You would not BELIEVE the crud that came off that piggie's little body. I have softened water so it was not soap scum floating; the nastiness is what was floating on top of the water. After the bath I combed him with a nit comb. More skin particles and loose hair came off, but I examined it and my friend examined it and nothing was moving nor did it have an odor. He does not appear to have mites or lice or even eczema, and there are no sores on his skin. It really does appear to be a poor coat from malnutrition.
He went into his basket-house when I put him in the cage; he took the washcloth that was in there and moved it to the opening to block himself in that much more. He was also giving me the "stink-eye" that I saw in another thread today, daring me to take him out again.
I weighed him; he weighs 650 g. I realize that he is not out of the woods just yet, and that a veterinary exam will tell more. I am going to call the first thing tomorrow to get him in as soon as possible, depending upon when their current guinea-pig doctor is available.
Even if he does not make it, he has had one absolutely reassuring normal healthy afternoon, and I am glad for it, aren't you?
:0
