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Dilemma with Benson

A busy day here for benson but he is managing really well. He had his usual bath

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Then he got all that hay cleaned off him and his bum cleaned out. It wasnt at all bad today. He had his feet treated and then out to the garden for a while.

I just brought him in now and he is straight on the corn20190513_132908.webp
 
He looks very happy with that corn on the cob bless him! Glad to hear he’s still battling on.
Hamish’s “gotcha” day is on 26th May so I’m hoping he makes that. He’s certainly loving all this time out in the garden!
This will make you chuckle...I had a rather funny experience last night when cleaning his impacted bum. Whilst I was wiping him, he decided this was the time to pee in the air like a baby! Certainly a first! The best bit was I thought it was a great idea to catch the jet in the wet wipe. Instead it sprayed all over my new jeans 😂 Oh Hamish!
 
Ha ha that is funny lol! Benson was out today too. He still enjoys eating grass but he cant really walk far on it, bless him.
I'm sure Hamish will make 26th may. At this rate, benson might make it too! The fibreplex ran out this morning so it will be interesting to see if bensons poop goes into tiny pellets of poop again, rather than these large bolders he has been doing all week!

I'm not going to get more fibreplex - the vet had hoped it might get him interested in hay again but it hasnt. The loxicom is running low, maybe another week.
 
Here he is, still styling it out like the trooper he is! That rex coat hides a lot and has remained nice and thick. I noticed today his hind leg at the back he wasnt wanting to use it. He actually looked more relaxed in bed this morning as he was lying down and he has been standing up for about a month 24/7. Poor soul, i dont know whether he is so crippled with arthritis that he cant lie down or if it's an instinct to stay standing when very ill in case they cant get up again. Anyway he was in his fleece bed with this leg sticking out.
It might have been his sore foot. I have washed it and put more cream on it. I dont think its worse but it never seems to heal.

His weight is holding steady. 635g today. And he is having nice days. He has his foot and tummy bath, medication, bum bath then into a little carrier where he can eat in peace away from mike.

Then garden and in for a long snooze in his cage. He comes out again during the evening for more medicine and food.

He seems to love being in his little sandwich box bath! He sits there quite the thing. I bet it is soothing for his bladder.

There is no sign he wants to give up just yet. I think he is enjoying the attention:D

 
tabelmabel said:
Here he is, still styling it out like the trooper he is! That rex coat hides a lot and has remained nice and thick. I noticed today his hind leg at the back he wasnt wanting to use it. He actually looked more relaxed in bed this morning as he was lying down and he has been standing up for about a month 24/7. Poor soul, i dont know whether he is so crippled with arthritis that he cant lie down or if it's an instinct to stay standing when very ill in case they cant get up again. Anyway he was in his fleece bed with this leg sticking out.
It might have been his sore foot. I have washed it and put more cream on it. I dont think its worse but it never seems to heal.

His weight is holding steady. 635g today. And he is having nice days. He has his foot and tummy bath, medication, bum bath then into a little carrier where he can eat in peace away from mike.

Then garden and in for a long snooze in his cage. He comes out again during the evening for more medicine and food.

He seems to love being in his little sandwich box bath! He sits there quite the thing. I bet it is soothing for his bladder.

There is no sign he wants to give up just yet. I think he is enjoying the attention:D
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He is so lovely ❤️ what does he feel like to touch? Is he wirey or soft? Gorgeous piggy x
 
Wirey! He is a rex purebred, he was an absolute beauty in his prime, and massive. I think the life expectancy of rex is 6 years so is doing really well. I posted the wrong vid initially. It is difficult to film in the run. The lid is a bit dodgy and caves in sometimes and i have 2 dogs that i had put into a sit stay. One dog has no interest whatsoever in the pigs, but the other definitely has. Fortunately, they both held position and didnt move at all.
 
tabelmabel said:
Wirey! He is a rex purebred, he was an absolute beauty in his prime, and massive. I think the life expectancy of rex is 6 years so is doing really well. I posted the wrong vid initially. It is difficult to film in the run. The lid is a bit dodgy and caves in sometimes and i have 2 dogs that i had put into a sit stay. One dog has no interest whatsoever in the pigs, but the other definitely has. Fortunately, they both held position and didnt move at all.
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Do you have to brush him? I'm literally fascinated by his coat!
 
Yes but they arent high maintenance. Once a week is enough. The nature of them makes them so appealing, very large and placid. Great lap pigs, not skittish. I did have 2 - both from a breeder. They were my daughter's 5th bithday present so we had 2 brothers, stan and benson. It was just fortunate that no pet shop had any pigs at the time of her birthday as i wasnt as educated on the problems of pet shop pigs back then.

So i called my vet and they put me in touch with a local rex breeder. Rex are great for kids as they are so laid back and buying from a breeder turned out to be a good move as she had handled the pigs and got them off to a cracking start. She is a mine of info and we have stayed in touch.

She no longer breeds rex at all though so no more rex for me.stan died just short of his 4th birthday. Very suddenly in the end. He had a uri but died in my arms at the vet. I was never in this dilemma with stan.
 
tabelmabel said:
Yes but they arent high maintenance. Once a week is enough. The nature of them makes them so appealing, very large and placid. Great lap pigs, not skittish. I did have 2 - both from a breeder. They were my daughter's 5th bithday present so we had 2 brothers, stan and benson. It was just fortunate that no pet shop had any pigs at the time of her birthday as i wasnt as educated on the problems of pet shop pigs back then.

So i called my vet and they put me in touch with a local rex breeder. Rex are great for kids as they are so laid back and buying from a breeder turned out to be a good move as she had handled the pigs and got them off to a cracking start. She is a mine of info and we have stayed in touch.

She no longer breeds rex at all though so no more rex for me.stan died just short of his 4th birthday. Very suddenly in the end. He had a uri but died in my arms at the vet. I was never in this dilemma with stan.
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I know all too well the issue of pet shop pigs even though ours have all been older rescue pigs... Still from a pet shop 🤦‍♀️ poor Harry died three weeks to the day of adoption 😭 that is brilliant with the rex temperament because rex cats tend to be crazy 🤪 I think all our pigs are abysinian except buzz who's a cross, and all four have different temperaments. All holdable though ❤️
 
tabelmabel said:
Here he is, still styling it out like the trooper he is! That rex coat hides a lot and has remained nice and thick. I noticed today his hind leg at the back he wasnt wanting to use it. He actually looked more relaxed in bed this morning as he was lying down and he has been standing up for about a month 24/7. Poor soul, i dont know whether he is so crippled with arthritis that he cant lie down or if it's an instinct to stay standing when very ill in case they cant get up again. Anyway he was in his fleece bed with this leg sticking out.
It might have been his sore foot. I have washed it and put more cream on it. I dont think its worse but it never seems to heal.

His weight is holding steady. 635g today. And he is having nice days. He has his foot and tummy bath, medication, bum bath then into a little carrier where he can eat in peace away from mike.

Then garden and in for a long snooze in his cage. He comes out again during the evening for more medicine and food.

He seems to love being in his little sandwich box bath! He sits there quite the thing. I bet it is soothing for his bladder.

There is no sign he wants to give up just yet. I think he is enjoying the attention:D

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If he is standing, this means he can no longer lie down and get up again. Please be careful to daily check and gently wipe the underside of all foot pads as that means that he is a lot more vulnerable to develop bumblefoot.
 
He’s so gorgeous, glad he’s still enjoying life and a bit of grass and sunshine :love: xx
 
tabelmabel said:
I love the look of the abbies but i have been told they can be feisty, especially during nail cutting!
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None of mine are feisty. I've got one very loud one but he loves a cuddle, one very placid one, one who does zoomies 23 hours a day and one that wheeks at the zoomer 23 hours a day 😂 all are holdable and love chin rubs 😁 I've got three kids... They've had to be holdable or they've had to learn haha x
 
That's interesting - maybe i will have abbies one day then :tu: My mike is a Dutch and he hasnt been nearly as chilled as the rex. He is very entertaining in the cage, very busy and very vocal. Hes an active pig with and his metabolism must be incredibly fast. The amount of poop he fires out has to be seen to be belived and he is such a fast and greedy eater. Out of the cage, he is totally different. Very quiet and shy. Thats him 3 yrs old now and he has never eaten on our knee. Hes fine about his nails, he is just quiet out of the cage but very noisy in it!

It is fascinating how different they all are!
 
Benson is still going strong today! I must say this past week has been very good for the old man. No drop at all in weight and no noticable deterioration. He really has been quite perky, enjoing his garden time (great weather here again in scotland today) and has been munching pellets and veg. Its a miracle really is. I have had to order more loxicom but just asked for 10 days' worth. Surely he cant go on too much longer. . .:hmm:
 
tabelmabel said:
Benson is still going strong today! I must say this past week has been very good for the old man. No drop at all in weight and no noticable deterioration. He really has been quite perky, enjoing his garden time (great weather here again in scotland today) and has been munching pellets and veg. Its a miracle really is. I have had to order more loxicom but just asked for 10 days' worth. Surely he cant go on too much longer. . .:hmm:
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Piggies can sometimes surprise you! Just cherish every extra good day you have with him as a special gift... :tu:
 
We did have a funny moment with him the other evening: i had popped him on a puppy pad on our living room floor with some veg. We were watching tv and just keeping an eye. Next thing i looked and his head was in the veg and he was totally still. "Oh no!" I said."i think benson's just died!" At which point his wee head lifted off the veg and he was looking all around the room as if to say "I'm still very much alive, thankyou!"

And then he went straight back to munching! :))
 
tabelmabel said:
I love the look of the abbies but i have been told they can be feisty, especially during nail cutting!
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Rupert is an aby/Peruvian x and is very firey! Hamish obviously has some aby in him due to his whirls. He doesn’t take any nonsense but is a lot more gentle than Roo. Rupert doesn’t like to be brushed, trimmed or anything like that so it has to be a quick job. We now have an outbreak of mild fungal to make matters worse. Hamish, Herbert and Claudio have scurfy ears, Rupert has crusty whirls and Algy has a crusty nipple. Trying to treat Rupert with a bath and cream has been challenging!
Poor Hamish had a rough day a couple of days ago and mostly wanted to rest in his pigloo. His weight dropped to 880g so have given him some extra TLC and he seems to have perked up. 🤞
 
tabelmabel said:
Benson is still going strong today! I must say this past week has been very good for the old man. No drop at all in weight and no noticable deterioration. He really has been quite perky, enjoing his garden time (great weather here again in scotland today) and has been munching pellets and veg. Its a miracle really is. I have had to order more loxicom but just asked for 10 days' worth. Surely he cant go on too much longer. . .:hmm:
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I’m glad Benson is doing well today. I’m just ordering Hamish’s medication from VioVet in 10ml bottles at a time. He keeps surprising me and finishing the bottles though!
 
alexr said:
Rupert has crusty whirls and Algy has a crusty nipple.
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Sounds like something you might buy at the bakery:woot:

Sorry to hear hamish has had some down days recently but good that he has perked up now. Benson was very much like that but he has been more stable this past week.
 
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