Eriathwens piggies

Thankyou all. Dropped Fern off at the crematorium today which was an experience. A lorry had hit and crushed something a couple of hours previous and the road was closed to traffic..but not pedestrians so off I went, run/walking the 2ish miles the rest of the journey carrying poor Fern probably looking like a bit of a nutter. Luckily apart from recovery crew watching me having to squeeze past the lorry and dodge broken glass and metal, there was nobody to really see me 🫣
 
So, while deleting old screenshots to clear my phone out a bit, I found a post from the rescue I adopted Bella from, in 2021, which said she was about 3 years old! So, turned out she's actually closer to 8, not 7 like I have her down as. No wonder she's turned into such a little old lady lately, bless her.

I figured seeing as she was out for nail trims I'd have a cuddle and get some pictures. She looks thrilled about the nail trim.. 😅

20260508_134559.webp20260508_134534.webp20260508_134619.webp
 
Bella was a little slow to get out of bed this morning when I put the lights on, so I've been giving her some extra feeds. Her nipnops and bits are a little swollen, it's hard to say if she's acting hormonal because she's always been a bit of an antagonistic little sausage 😅
I probably wouldn't have opted to spay her at 7 years old if she has cysts, but since learning shes actually older, I certainly don't think at 8 years old it's in her best interest, if theyre large we might be able to drain them maybe? Not sure I would even feel confortable with that to be honest, it would depend if she would need completely putting out I think. She's already on metacam for arthritis but I will monitor her and get her an appointment to see if we should maybe add in another painkiller or two if she's not keeping comfortable. She seems to be developing some cloudiness to her eyes so it may be her grumpiness could be due to reduced vision more than cysts..I suppose we will have to see.

20260515_153844.webp20260515_153819.webp20260515_153815.webp
 
So, I figured out why Bella had been so quiet, it seems the heat gave her enough of a knock for it to show up full force but yet again we have one with cervical lymphadenitis... oddly enough she even has lumps in her upper jaw just back from her nostrils. Ive never had one do that before! She's been put immediately onto cotrimoxazole however that wasn't enough to knock the infection from the last 2 who passed from this, which was Poppet and Cherry I believe. She has an appointment booked first thing on Monday and I'm hoping to be able to get her some chloramphenicol ordered as it's more likely to fight the infection.

Poor old thing. I'm gutted because she has been doing so well, on top of having never been able to actually save one when these lumps come up I'm wrestling with the thought of even treating, given she's 8. But I know I'll kick myself if I don't try. She's been out for some extra food and seems brought enough, but syringe feeding is hard because I can't touch her face to guide the syringe into her mouth, as obviously the lumps hurt. She's already on a nice amount of pain relief due to her arthritis so hopefully we can keep her comfortable.

20260530_120332(0).webp20260530_120323.webp20260530_120112.webp20260530_120053.webp20260530_120045.webp
 
That was supposed to say *bright enough. I dont know why my phone keeps changing words but I'm too tired to notice and fix them 🤦‍♀️

I've just finished cleaning them out, she's been in a carrier all day (still inside her cage) so I can monitor what's going in and coming out, and there's a massive abundance of poops so she's clearly eating well, she demolished her pepper, a good inch of a cucumber, a handful of lettuce and a tomato, plus 24ml of critical care and a decent sized handful of hay. So I've released her back into her herd to help make a nice mess of the clean cage 🫠 whatever makes her happy.

She hasn't been knocked off the top spot yet either because she was happily snoozing in the prime spot as usual this morning, under the end of the table that Twinkle the hamster lives on top of. So she can't be feeling too unwell or Kiwi and Popcorn wouldve taken advantage. I'm hoping that we were able to get antibiotics into her faster than the last 2 and maybe we stand a chance of saving her. In spite of being older than the last ones with this issue, she is stronger and seems less unwell so...fingers firmly crossed. Bella is such a character she's always been a bit of a favourite.

Just wish Monday could hurry up to see if we can get those extra antibiotics.
 
Eriathwen said:
So, I figured out why Bella had been so quiet, it seems the heat gave her enough of a knock for it to show up full force but yet again we have one with cervical lymphadenitis... oddly enough she even has lumps in her upper jaw just back from her nostrils. Ive never had one do that before! She's been put immediately onto cotrimoxazole however that wasn't enough to knock the infection from the last 2 who passed from this, which was Poppet and Cherry I believe. She has an appointment booked first thing on Monday and I'm hoping to be able to get her some chloramphenicol ordered as it's more likely to fight the infection.

Poor old thing. I'm gutted because she has been doing so well, on top of having never been able to actually save one when these lumps come up I'm wrestling with the thought of even treating, given she's 8. But I know I'll kick myself if I don't try. She's been out for some extra food and seems brought enough, but syringe feeding is hard because I can't touch her face to guide the syringe into her mouth, as obviously the lumps hurt. She's already on a nice amount of pain relief due to her arthritis so hopefully we can keep her comfortable.

View attachment 285057View attachment 285058View attachment 285059View attachment 285060View attachment 285061
Click to expand...
Poor piggy, she is so sweet 😔
 
Unfortunately miss Bella has taken a turn for the worse, she's had her normal metacam and antibiotics but when I went up to do them she's wobbling all over the place and swaying her head side to side unless she sits still. She is still eating which is a miracle although I gave her some critical care anyway and a handful of oat hay while I had her out. Ive given her panacur and gabapentin in the hopes it'll help with the new neuro symptoms but sadly this was how Pearl went before she suddenly passed away.

It's very odd to me how in the last few months, all the piggies I got from one place have all passed away from similar symptoms. Poppet, Pearl, Cherry and Bella if she doesn't survive this. I have never had pigs develop lumps like this and they were in 2 seperate groups. Maybe it's coincidence..ive had them 5 years give or take, surely their place of origin can't be linked after all that time.

Dreading the morning, I will probably periodically check on her through the night, I've not been sleeping well for a while and tend to only sleep a handful of hours apart from a block of a few hours first thing. She doesn't seem to be isolating herself at least.

20260604_023618.webp
 
Wishing you comfort and strength. If it is her time, I hope it is peaceful. She is in the best hands ❤️🙏
 
I thought she was making her way over the bridge at 9am, I put my head round the door and she was splayed out breathing quite fast, I decided to leave her in peace. Went in a little while later and she had moved herself to the complete opposite end of the cage. She's swaying less today but doesn't want to walk much. Nothing wrong with her appetite though, she's demolished a pile of lettuce and a tomato and currently giving her attention to some cucumber and Chinese leaf.
It's going to be a race to the finish I think, whether the meds kick in before her body decides enough is enough. But she's certainly got a will to live, she's fighting and doing her best to get better.

20260604_133102.webp
 
Shes certainly still got her personality 🤣 bless her. She's had some of her grass as well now, and is in the middle of a nice nap. I'm going to leave her to it for a while, while I go for a run and see some friends, then I'll give her a quick bath as she's covered in tomato juice and the others will mob her if I put her back as she is. Once she's clean I'll let her rest with the others until her next feed. She seems to have gone blind on the right side which would explain why she's swaying her head sometimes, she does it when she's looking for something (food 🤭) so either the infection draining from the lumps has caused a seizure or she's having an E.cuniculi episode.

20260604_152453.webp
 
Eriathwen said:
Unfortunately miss Bella has taken a turn for the worse, she's had her normal metacam and antibiotics but when I went up to do them she's wobbling all over the place and swaying her head side to side unless she sits still. She is still eating which is a miracle although I gave her some critical care anyway and a handful of oat hay while I had her out. Ive given her panacur and gabapentin in the hopes it'll help with the new neuro symptoms but sadly this was how Pearl went before she suddenly passed away.

It's very odd to me how in the last few months, all the piggies I got from one place have all passed away from similar symptoms. Poppet, Pearl, Cherry and Bella if she doesn't survive this. I have never had pigs develop lumps like this and they were in 2 seperate groups. Maybe it's coincidence..ive had them 5 years give or take, surely their place of origin can't be linked after all that time.

Dreading the morning, I will probably periodically check on her through the night, I've not been sleeping well for a while and tend to only sleep a handful of hours apart from a block of a few hours first thing. She doesn't seem to be isolating herself at least.

View attachment 285256
Click to expand...

BIG HUGS
I am so very sorry. My thoughts are with you.

PS: It could be a faulty gene?
 
Wiebke said:
BIG HUGS
I am so very sorry. My thoughts are with you.

PS: It could be a faulty gene?
Click to expand...

Thankyou 🥲 I considered that but Cherry and Pearl were the only 2 related to each other and I had already adopted Poppet by about a year by the time they were surrendered to the rescue I got them (and Bella) from. If it were anything they were carrying I would expect some of the others to have the symptoms also.
Hopefully it's just an odd coincidence, it just worried me as, as much as Poppet and Bella were expected to pass being 7 and 8, Pearl and Cherry were only between 4 and 5 so, for them all to go in a little cluster just seems weird.

My current theory is this is a complication of E.cuniculi as all my herds carry it. But ive never had it cause lymph node masses before.. from what I've read it can happen, it's just odd that all of a sudden there's been 4 one after the other.
 
She didn't want to walk last night, or this morning, however I went out and bought her some favourites, dill, celery, mini sweetcorn and some grated carrot. She's had a nice bath, some physio being mindful of her arthritis and a blow dry where she attempted to run away, ended up on her side but she managed to right herself again and come back. She's walking in a circle, but she's at least more mobile than she has been. She's been enjoying her treats, she voluntarily took critical care earlier instead of fighting me and has drank some water from a shot glass (easier for her than taking it from a syringe, so she tells me!) after attempting to drink her bath water 🫠

Her prognosis is still very guarded. She's due her 3rd dose of panacur in a few hours, I really hope she continues to make small improvements.

20260605_165148.webp20260605_171308.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top