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Eriathwens piggies

Its been a bit of a week with the new pigs, they dropped some weight, struggled to regain any at all for a while, there is surprisingly little information online for rehabilitating emaciated guinea pigs so I've been loosely following what is done for horses, by getting lots of prebiotics, probiotics and rehydrating them, which seems to slowly be helping as weight is now sticking on them quite well, 2nd day in a row now we have had gains from them. In total Oliver has gained 100g and Fern 130g. Theyre strange piggies, they prefer to lick things off the end of the syringe, if you try to put it in their mouths they get really stroppy 😅 which ends up with them getting covered in whatever it is I'm giving them. They both will come up for their dual care pellets and take them from me, their constant desire for food is making them very easy to tame 😅

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Bill & Ted said:
How lovely they are settling in with you and your other piggies X
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Theyre doing so well, bless them. Fern is in for an exciting weekend, her quarantine is up today so when I clean them out I will be bonding her to Tilly and Hazel, hopefully they will help bring her around a little quicker too :) Oliver has a little way to go until he has settled enough and gained enough condition to be neutered, but I imagine it won't be too many more weeks!
 
Unfortunately Ferns bonding has been pushed back, she came into season Friday, at least thats what I thought she did, she had a mucous discharge from are bits and bobs. Saturday and today she has lost weight, 75g in total. I'm concerned that rather than a season, she has potentially had a miscarriage, so she's getting more time to rebuild the weight and settle. I'm not sure the stress of bonding will be worth the benefit of having cagemates when she can already see and hear other piggies.
It could also just simply be guinea pigs have a bit of a wall they hit at 800g when they've been starved. Poppets weight went up and down as has Olivers at a similar weight. If she loses more weight by tomorrow I'll have her seen again by the vet. Bit of a downer but its always up and down rehabilitating neglected pigs :(
 
Eriathwen said:
Unfortunately Ferns bonding has been pushed back, she came into season Friday, at least thats what I thought she did, she had a mucous discharge from are bits and bobs. Saturday and today she has lost weight, 75g in total. I'm concerned that rather than a season, she has potentially had a miscarriage, so she's getting more time to rebuild the weight and settle. I'm not sure the stress of bonding will be worth the benefit of having cagemates when she can already see and hear other piggies.
It could also just simply be guinea pigs have a bit of a wall they hit at 800g when they've been starved. Poppets weight went up and down as has Olivers at a similar weight. If she loses more weight by tomorrow I'll have her seen again by the vet. Bit of a downer but its always up and down rehabilitating neglected pigs :(
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Aw sorry for poor Fern hope she starts to regain her weight soon, it always seems to drop off so quickly and takes so much longer for them to regain it
 
It’s always difficult with piggies who come to you in such poor condition. She’s in the best hands. Sending her healing vibes.
 
Thanks, I'm going to be devastated if we can't help her, shes such a character. But I'm still hopeful, she does eat really well, she just needs time. Just frustrating, it shouldn't have got to this point, why can't people just feed them properly!
Cant imagine what kind of pain you need to be in to chew off your own toes, as shes calming down I'm able to get better looks at whats going on, ive been trying to slowly trim them down little by little, I have no idea what to even do with some of them. The outer one isn't even a toe anymore.
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I've had Tilly out for a bit, bless her shes been doing the odd tear shaped poops here and there so shes got some critical care to try to sort that out which seems to be working! She sat and watched some of The Hobbit with us 😅 3 times I got peed on! Lol

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Hope those poor little tootsies, where on earth do you start, fingers crossed you can sort them out, how terrible for her x
 
Thanks, I'm hoping I can make them a little better at least. When I first got the poop off them I thought it was exposed bone to be honest, I was pretty horrified! I've taken the very tips off, I'm not sure where the quick is or how quick theyre growing so no rush. The good news is she has gained 26g since yesterday, so I'm hopeful shes going in the right direction again. We will see what tomorrow brings.
She certainly isn't letting it bother her, shes a lovely little thing 😅

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Well today was unexpected! She had gained another 10g this morning, so we carried on with what we have been doing. She clearly had more energy earlier and when I took her out just now to syringe feed her, I could feel she had gained weight purely by holding her, turns out she's gained 60g! I was really concerned about her after the weekend, I'm so relieved..and I'm so proud of her, she has really taken the chance of recovery thats been offered with both paws. The resilience these little animals show, time and again, always amazes me.

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Just seeing those pictures makes my heart melt, gorgeous piggies😍🥰🤗, brilliant news, they are so special!
 
Shes continuing to do well bless her, ive started to give her a pinch on small pet select alfalfa hay about twice a week so she has some extra protein which will hopefully help but as shes an adult, I didnt want to give her too much.
Tilly has a vet appointment Monday, she is slowly improving but as she is one of our more delicate piggies its better safe than sorry.
Oliver is doing so, so well. At an increase of 204g he is now almost a kilo! (Yes, I had a bit of a cry🤣) although he does still drink quite excessively. I'm going to be making him an appointment soon as I'm concerned about his kidneys, starvation can often cause kidney injury and often there isn't much that can be done for piggies with dodgy kidneys, but I'd rather know than not, I think. Id also like to know if the damage would have extended to his heart, as I plan on neutering him when he's been stable for a while, I won't bother if he's going to be lost on the table from a weakened heart. But he seems a strong and healthy boy so fingers crossed.
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Fern seems to have learned in just 3 short weeks that she is going to be ok here. It doesn't matter how many times it happens, that moment a piggy decides I can be trusted is always so precious to me, especially when they've been so failed by people before.
Look at that tentative little chooken at the back!
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