Health & Illness Contributors

[Sally Newbie]

Hi. I know a few members on her have the following signature:

Does this mean that these members have qualifications relating to these areas?Or is it based on experience?

 

[Lady Kelly]

Hi. I know a few members on her have the following signature:
View attachment 148448
Does this mean that these members have qualifications relating to these areas?Or is it based on experience?

These are members that have a lot of experience and are trusted on the forum for advising. They are members who have agreed to help out on the forum by keeping an eye on the health and illness section to make sure posts receive a response. We don't have anyone with veterinary qualifications and don't aim to diagnose any conditions over the forum.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi. I know a few members on her have the following signature:
View attachment 148448
Does this mean that these members have qualifications relating to these areas?Or is it based on experience?

Hi!

It is a mixture of both as some of the health/illness contributors have medical grounding of some sort but not necessarily a veterinary one. These members are the ones that specifically monitor the section and make sure that hopefully no thread goes unanswered. We trust their experience and knowledge fully; this serves also as a guidance for newcomers. Please note that we do not have any professional medical staff on here and cannot replace a vet nor are we aiming to in any way.

Any other members are kindly asked to only post if they can contribute personal experiences on a specific subject or otherwise leave messages of sympathy and moral support. Our aim is to help the poster and their guinea pig as best as we can and keep their wellbeing as our priority. We do not want to turn this section into a free for all competition of who can come up with more exotic symptoms or a battle of opinions on the back of a hapless person looking for help.

We have found over time that this model works best for us as a forum and to support our stated forum ethos.
We are a member run forum and recruit ourselves from our members. If there is somebody else who can contribute in the H/I section and can work well within our forum ethos, strong team spirit and who has the staying power then we are always happy to recruit.

You can find out more in this guide at the top of the Health/Illness section:
Health & Illness Notable Posters
Health and Illness - Important Information

 

[Sally Newbie]

That's great, thanks for answering my question. I have had so much help already from the forum, it has been invaluable.

 

[Merab]

Pleased to hear the forum has been so helpful for you

 

[VickiA]

So good to hear you are finding the forum a helpful resource -even those of us with years of experience learn something new most days from the forum.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Some of us have qualifications in various aspects of animal health and behaviour, others have many many years of piggy experience which is often much more valuable! And we all have our own guinea pigs
But none of us are any kind of substitute for hands on vet care of course.
I'm glad you are finding the forum helpful!