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Guinea Pig First Aid Kit

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sandra turpin

Adult Guinea Pig
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Not sure if it's the right place to post this but was wondering whether to put together a first aid kit and if so what are the must haves to put in it?
 
In my box I have:
Nail clippers – for piggy nails.
Sudo Cream- Prevent chapping in piggies with dry and cracked lips
Olive oil - Rub on sore ears.
Canestan - Or any other anti-fungal cream, can be used to treat fungal infections such as ringworm, etc
Corn Flour – stops bleeding if the nail is cut too low.
Sterile swabs - can be purchased from a pharmacy, very useful for cleaning of wounds caused by fighting, mites, etc
Probiotic - VetArk Pro C Probiotic from Pets at Home is a good one to use.
Baby Food - Buy either a fruit or vegetable based baby food- to syringe feed poorly piggles.
Pellets - To syringe feed poorly piggles, mash up in warm water.
Tea Tree Cream - Tea tree is a natural antibacterial and antifungal, so if you have pigs with wounds caused by fighting or mites, it's great to dab on.
Syringes – I have a 1ml, 2.5ml, 5ml and 10ml syringe.
Shampoo – For bath time.
Cotton Buds – for wounds and cleaning infections.
Baby Wipes and Scissors
:)
 
Btw my box is only just the basics, I'm sure your meant to have much more too it but I can't quite remember what else...hmm..
 
Oxbow Critical Care for when they need to be fed from syringe?
 
Critical care, priobiotics, syringes (1ml) and the E-vet number. When Bette was ill that's all I needed.
 
Sandra when you call Glenn or the practice if they are closed the answerphone tells you the E-vet number and you call either Glenn or Douglas number and they will see them, yes its a fortune but if its the difference between life or death its well worth it. That's were the vet fund comes in.
 
My piggy first aid kit is very similar to Audioheart's...but I also have the following [*]prescription/vet authorisation[/*] medications saved from previous piggie probs (benefit of having so many piggies?).....so if necessary I ring the vet for a telephone consult and they say yay or nay to administering the meds I have:

Metacam - anti inflammatory and pain relief
Furosemide tablets - for fluid on the lungs/pneumonia and heart probs
Forektor tablets - for heart probs
Zantac tablets for gut motility probs - (constipation or squishy poos)
Septrin - general purpose antibiotic
Fucithalmic ointment - for eye infections



I also keep:
Fibreplex as a probiotic and gut mobiliser
Diarolyte for rehydration
Infacol for gas
Daktarin oral gel (never used) for mouth/fungal infections
Canestan cream (NB without steroids/hydrocortisone) for fungal infections (never used)
Nizoral anti fungal shampoo
Savlon povidine iodine dry antiseptic spray for ringworm/fungal/wounds
Ivermectin Xeno450 - for mites and lice
Johnsons insecticidal shampoo - for mites and lice
Supreme Recovery (at least one box of 10 packets) for supportive feeding
Pestle and mortar for compounding tablets
Fine forceps, scissors
Sterile Syringes 1.0ml, 2.0ml, 5.0ml and 10.0ml
Tescos chewable 500mg Vit C (without zinc) - grind up
Olbas oil - for breathing difficulties
Bachs rescue remedy - for shock/pick-me up (never used)
Vicks vapour bath (drip on tissue in tupperware box with perforated lid and then add hot water - helps piggies with breathing difficulties in a dry centrally-heated room)
Microwaveable heat pad
Spate clean fleece
Oxbow cavy cuisine or P@H nuggets - for mixing with water to make "pellet mush"
Cotton buds/KY jelly/tissues/cotton wool swabs - for boars bits and wound flushing
Salt - for wound flushing
Hibiscrub - can be used to disinfect surfaces but also in dilute (2%) form you can flush out abcesses/wounds
Trigene and Virkon - two borad spectrum disinfectants
Old disinfected Toothbrushes - for grooming and gently releasing dirt on paws etc
And I always ensure I have fresh cucumber, cavy cuisine pellets (to be mushed up) and timothy hay to encourage anypiggie to eat


x
 
I have hardly anything :(

I think it's sometimes best to build it up as you go along / need it - Artie was syringe fed as a baby he was so ill and poorly and I also required more syringes when he was on Baytril for his chest infection, and then he had an eye infection so i ended up adding more to my first aid box cotton buds/ wipes/ olive oil - his skin ended up really dry during his treatments and illnesses! But I don't think i'd have so much in my box if Artie hadn't been ill.
 
I don"t think you need all that, I wouldn't feel comfortable using all that stuff. I would much rather see the vet than self medicate.

You have raised an important point. I would like to stress that I do not give any meds to my piggies (even the over the counter ones such as zantac, infacol, Vicks vapour bath) unless they have been discussed/approved with my vet first for that particular pig. Self-medicating except for minor ailments can contravene the Animal Welfare and Vet Surgeons Acts.

My medicine kit has grown owing to the number of piggies and the various problems they have had over the years.....many of which have been identified as recurring (eg interstitial cys****, gut mobility problems, fungal infection) or long term (eg heart/respiratory)

The three things I wouldn't be without are sterile 1,0ml syringes; Critical care/Supreme Recovery....and a set of scales to monitor for any drop in weight which is normally the first sign something is wrong.

x
 
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