Boar Chronicles

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teadragon

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Since I seem to be keeping the antics of my boys up to date in their thread in the Behaviour forum, this thread has been created for the aspects of them which isn't BEHAVIOURAL but is often related. I will not cross-post between the two threads, but they will be connected particularly because behaviour is often influenced by many other factors.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33224

Cast:
Cashew: 3 year old 1.4kg of pure manly muscle :D,
Koda: 1 year old 1.1kg of cute cheeky chapness (Adoption from Thistle Cavies Guinea Pig Rescue)
Mimic: 2 years old, 1.2kg, adopted from Sokel about a month ago.

BoyToy noticed that something was up before I did. He asked me if it was normal for Mimic to be hunched in a corner during floortime. No, it isn't, especially when there are veggies on the floor and there was, at the time, no where to hide.

Koda and Cashew had thrown themselves nose first into the veggies and were drowning in a bath of broken plant cells. Mimic ate when I made him inhale them, but when I let go and did something else he'd also ignore them again.

I decided to take him to the vet and called up for an appointment.

I explained Mimic's history and how he's new and what I'd learned before he came and what I'd confirmed when I texted the rescue worker to ask if she knew anything else about the vet appointment he'd had before he came to me.

The vet focused on his back and, feeling along his spine she said that it felt weird. It dips dramatically about mid way before you get to the circle that you'd draw to draw a pigs butt (will a picture help?) I'd brought Koda along as a Control Pig since Mimic and Koda are about the same size and the difference was more notable.

Mimic is currently on metacam (I'm going to pick up a bottle of oral metacam tomorrow) to see if it's muscular or not. He has an appointment on Monday to see how he responds to metacam. The vet wants to avoid steriods with the piggie and if metacam doesn't work out next option is an x-ray and from there we'll see where we should go (and whether it's a slipped disc or something else that I don't remember but which sounded really, really scary)

I have the feeling that my pairing a pair to a third only worked because Mimic was in too much damned pain to care.
 
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I wish poor Mimic all the best - hopefully, you can get to the bottom of this quickly! Poor boy, he really must be in a lot of pain!

As your two other boys are not hostile towards Mimic, only time will tell. In your introduction videos, however, Mimic didn't look in so much pain that couldn't have made it clear if he did NOT want to be with his new friends!

Best vibes to Mimic!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
How is Mimic today? Is he feeling a bit more himself with the painkiller kicking in?

Sending my vibes!
 
Mimic's poops changed during the day, going from being smaller to normal again (I become so fixated on poops when piggies aren't feeling well!) after the injection had time to kick in he was eating again, although it seemed to wear off just before I gave him a second dose today and he returned to sulking in the corner and ignoring the other two.

Thankfully he likes aniseed Critical Care so I won't have to shove it down his throat every day and instead I can have him lick it off a spoon. That'll be a nice change :)

So, yes, the anti-inflammatory meds seem to be making him more comfortable. We won't know until Monday what will happen in the long-term though; if all else fails, Thistle Cavies Rescue has offered to kindly support Mimic and I since they have a great relationship with a very good exotics vet nearby - so if I have something which is beyond the scope of me or my vet then there is another option.
 
That is so good to know - as Mimic could be in need of a specialist!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the poor little boy!
 
3619498665_b90bff757f_o.jpg


Mimic would like everybody to know that he is willing to do anything in his power to avoid having to go to the vet again!

(I'm not fooled, boy!)
 
Can't blame him - at least he looks pretty determined! :)):)):))
 
After 5 days on a high dose of metacam, Mimic went to the vet again on Monday. The vet checked his back and oddly he didn't respond or try to bite her. We're going to reduce his dose of metacam and see how he copes, however, if it doesn't improve and if on the lower dose of metacam he begins to show discomfort again then I'm planning on sending him to Thistle Cavies Rescue through which he'll be able to be treated by the specialist vet up there.

I'm not comfortable keeping him on long-term pain management if something else can be done.

Fingers crossed that the low metacam dose will give him time to improve!
 
Good luck and all the best for Mimic - sending him vibes!

x
 
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdh-5C8L-FA[/ame]

I made a tutorial which is a hidden way of me bragging about how Mimic kindly takes his medication :)
 
The video is lovely. I love it when Mimic pulls the syringe off you. He is adoreable and i hope he gets better soon.
 
Mimic is now on a maintenance dose of Metacam and he is improving. This week will be his last week on the maintenance dose and afterwards it's a wait and see time. The vet I saw for his check up with different and seemed more pro-metacam than pro-investigation. While she said that if he reverts back to his old behaviour regarding his back I should just increase his metacam dose again I'll be following the first vets instructions and having his back x-rayed.

3682525576_27c19bab3b.jpg


On another note: The trio seems to still be working out. I had been concerned that Mimic was the third wheel of the group but Koda - who seems fussy about whom he snuggles with - appears to have accepted Mimic as a fellow cashew-nut.

Today was clean-out day. I woke up to find Koda has learned Mimic's... interesting... way of lying down.
3682528020_81c2beccf7.jpg


See? And notice how the fleece is tugged up at the corner? Guess which black-and-white little piggie was doing that. I'm sure he was projectile-pooping last night while re-arranging the fleece... the places I found poo today...
3682528612_0791a5a755.jpg


Don't worry, my pigs don't permanently live in their own filth. I do clean them out each day... although for some reason while Cashew and Koda thought the descent of the lime green shovel was the scariest thing since The Empty Hay Rack, Mimic decided it looked and smelt delicious.
3682570710_5e41570588.jpg


I have no idea what he was doing here... trying to absorb his body into the fleece since there was no room in the hut, I guess.
3681757607_48de13f16f.jpg
 
:)) Your piggies are gorgeous! Lovely pictures too!
Haha, the comment about projectile-pooping made me laugh!
Hope Mimic is feeling better
x
 
We have another vet visit - serves me right for having two older boys.

Cashew seems to be in pain so we're going to the vet (JOY!) to have him checked out. I gave him some of Mimic's metacam today to help ease the pain until tomorrow when his vet appointment is, I'm suspecting that he may have bladder stones which means a complete diet re-haul. If Cashew has stones, it's likely that the other two boys will also be developing them... which is just cushy.

Things in Boar-Land have been very quiet lately. Cashew still likes to flash around his balls in manly displays and Koda still likes to nip at anyone who walks along his wrong side. Mimic has become an expert at stealing the best hiding and sleeping spots and is still a complete pellet hog.
 
3811505411_db2a186600_m.jpg

Cashew does not approve of all the attention he's been getting recently. As a skittish pig he seems to enjoy glowering darkly at me after a particularly nasty vet visit - and he's had many.

One vet injected him.
Another vet poked at his back and hips.
Another vet poked around at his innards and then injected him...
and yet ANOTHER vet poked at his innards and then conspired with me to arrange another vet visit for tomorrow where he'll be going in for x-rays and a urinalysis.

What is a poor boy to do when so many people he use to think would just feed and leave him alone are suddenly fussing all over him!?

My piggies have had the joy of watching me cry and furiously click around on my online banking site since the estimate of his tests and further treatment are sky rocketing through the roof. He's already been treated for UTI twice and now we're investigating bladder stones which means more tests and surgery. I'm going out of my mind.

Today Cashew was squealing and grunting while peeing and he must have freaked poor Mimic out because Mimic jumped at Cashew and started trying to hide beneath Cashew. I'll have to split their cage up anyway so Cashew can have some privacy to recover after his anasthetic tomorrow...
 
Poor Cashew - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him! Bladder stones are no fun!

I love your comments on your threesome; they are all such characters!

PS: Both my Llewelyn and Nerys like to sleep on their bellies with the front legs stuck out!
 
Glynis - Cashew would like to know how soon it'll be before your girls can be here to nurse him back to health.

Mimic would like to remind your girls of his saxy legs and invites them all for a drink at the Leaky Water Bottle.
 
Cashew is at the vets. I'm now doing the obligatory "stare at the phone and hope vets don't call ahead of schedule" dance. A friend just called me and I literally almost crapped myself >.<
 
BIG HUG

After three ops and one pre-op check (that thankfully didn't end in an op) I know only too well how you're feeling. It NEVER gets any easier, and time always slows down so much that it makes a snail look like an Ascot racehorse!

Sending my vibes for Cashew

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Cashew didn't light up like a Christmas tree under the x-ray so they've sent away some urine for tests to see what on earth is going painfully bad inside of him.

A rescue friend and I are currently chatting about a theory. The theory didn't come out of thin air - ask me about it :P

OK, I'll tell you: the theory is that pigs sleep deeper after an anasthetic. Which makes sense. It also makes Tea have a heart attack when she checks on a sleeping piggie to find him completely unresponsive and barely breathing when he'd normally be trying to hide beneath the hidey again or looking terrified in some way.

I have never grabbed at a pig and squealed "OH F___" so loudly in my life...

Needless to say, he isn't dead... he's just knocking years off my life.
 
AWWW - poor you! Cashew is REALLY putting you through the winger! mallethead

While I am relieved that it is NOT bladder stones or related trouble (which would have been very bad news indeed), I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that you can find the source of his trouble and be able to treat it!
 
Still haven't heard any word back from the vet, so I'm planning on chasing them up about it today.

I'm taking this as not being good news. Assuming that they'd be all over the telephone if they'd found something that they could or knew how to treat by now... I'm really hoping that this doesn't point to interstitial cystitis which is basically untreatable (yet manageable)

http://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html#no_stones
 
Update on Cashew - though belated...

... Cashew didn't light up like a Christmas tree, so he doesn't have bladder stones. His urinalysis also didn't show sign of anything sinister, though there was a trace of bacteria that could cause a UTI it wasn't significant and is covered by baytril which Cashew has already received a treatment of.

Cashew was maintained on a diet of extra critical care and metacam while I waited for my vet to stop being delinquent and give me the news on his test results. As it happened, I had to call them for the results.

Cashew has since put on .05kg since his lowest weight of 1.2kg a month ago.


Mimic is also currently feeling a little sorry for himself. Everyone went to the vet yesterday and poor Mimic, who has black nails, had his cut too short twice. Poor guy bled for Scotland :(

Mimic is requesting a sow to nurse his footsies back to health; Cashew just wants more food sent in sympathy.
 
aah poor guys seem to be having a rough time of it, hope all get better soon, asked my girls if they wanted to share their food with cashew and it was a adamant no! sorry did ask though rolleyes
 
Thank you for asking. Cashew's been carpet-sharking all day looking for his potential sow-nurse. She's out there... somewhere... he just doesn't know he'll have to be neutered before they can have a romantic honeymoon together.

:)
 
I like to talk about my boys a lot, but I've decided to use this thread to contain it all so I don't splatter the forum with "zomg - my boars!" Means you can all get to know their characters a bit more too :P

Today I found out that Koda disapproves of my new flat. I have duly informed my flatmate that we need to move out and find a more Koda-friendly flat as a matter of urgency.

... *sobs* Koda hates the floor! He refuses to walk on it... and barely belly-crawls for parsley.

It is quite funny to watch, especially with Cashew (the skitterish dominant pig) and Mimic plodding happily all over the living room leaving Koda to sulk in Cashew's favourite hidey house. Bless his heart...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EmLRVm9KJk[/ame]
 
Your Mimic is so good at eating his critical care! Ours will not eat it off a spoon, it has to be syringe-fed and most of it ends up over the piggy's face and me!
Hope Cashew feels better soon xx
 
I tend to give them critical care on its own before I give it to them with medicine in it. They seem to see it as a rare, rare treat which is too be treasured and gobbled as soon as possible - which works for me because it means I don't always have to ram an insulin syringe down their throats. Takes a bit more time and can be ruined during a serious illness but beyond that * happy face! *
 
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