piggeez
New Born Pup
Apologies that the first post has to be a devastating one. We have been using the forum so much for advice over the last few days, we felt like we had to post our own little piggy remembrance.
Yesterday we lost our sweet little boy Hamm (he's the little black/brown dude on the right in the avatar).
Although we only knew him for 4 months, it seems like a lifetime, and then again, not long enough. How does one get to attached... we just don't know. He passed well before his time and we think our brave soldier was fighting every last minute.
We got him at around 8 weeks old. He was lively and gained weight at great pace. About 10 days ago, we noticed he wasn't eating solids and was struggling with even hay and carrot shavings. We got him into the local vet the same day where they treated him. He had an anaesthetic for presumed malocclusion and rear tooth grinding. The vet noticed a wobbly front incisor. He didn't really pick up after a couple of days of syringe feeding, so we took him back where is was given an injection of opiates and prescribed metacam once a day. We were also concerned about possible drooling however this wasn't really a concern to the vet. A follow up appointment was booked 3 days later for review. As he still wasn't interested in food, they were worried and booked him in the following day for another anaesthetic for X-rays and to take another look in the mouth wondering if in fact the wobbly incisor was a sign of infection. No definitive diagnosis could be made. However, antibiotics were commenced to cover possible dental infection (baytril). They also said they would refer the X-rays to a dental specialist. This second anaesthetic wiped him out and through Hamm's sheer fight and our care we managed to bring him round to a point where we thought the light was dawning in the fact that he started to show interest in lettuce and cucumber. Let it be known that all this time he would not eat of his own accord and we were syringe feeding him 5-6mls of Supreme Plus 2-3 hourly as advised by the vet (even getting up to do night feeds). Unfortunately, and despite new found interest in food, he started showing signs of respiratory distress and we rushed him into piggy hospital where we discovered had specialists in exotic pets. His antibiotics were changed and the metacam increased. He apparently settled and was nibbling cabbage in his hospital bed. Yet despite this, we received the call we all dread and he had lost his brave battle four hours later.
We are so sorry Hamm pig and we will miss you so much. Run free now without suffering. Wish we could have done more to help you. We can't help but feel if we had found the specialists sooner, things could have been different. It hurts so much x
Yesterday we lost our sweet little boy Hamm (he's the little black/brown dude on the right in the avatar).
Although we only knew him for 4 months, it seems like a lifetime, and then again, not long enough. How does one get to attached... we just don't know. He passed well before his time and we think our brave soldier was fighting every last minute.
We got him at around 8 weeks old. He was lively and gained weight at great pace. About 10 days ago, we noticed he wasn't eating solids and was struggling with even hay and carrot shavings. We got him into the local vet the same day where they treated him. He had an anaesthetic for presumed malocclusion and rear tooth grinding. The vet noticed a wobbly front incisor. He didn't really pick up after a couple of days of syringe feeding, so we took him back where is was given an injection of opiates and prescribed metacam once a day. We were also concerned about possible drooling however this wasn't really a concern to the vet. A follow up appointment was booked 3 days later for review. As he still wasn't interested in food, they were worried and booked him in the following day for another anaesthetic for X-rays and to take another look in the mouth wondering if in fact the wobbly incisor was a sign of infection. No definitive diagnosis could be made. However, antibiotics were commenced to cover possible dental infection (baytril). They also said they would refer the X-rays to a dental specialist. This second anaesthetic wiped him out and through Hamm's sheer fight and our care we managed to bring him round to a point where we thought the light was dawning in the fact that he started to show interest in lettuce and cucumber. Let it be known that all this time he would not eat of his own accord and we were syringe feeding him 5-6mls of Supreme Plus 2-3 hourly as advised by the vet (even getting up to do night feeds). Unfortunately, and despite new found interest in food, he started showing signs of respiratory distress and we rushed him into piggy hospital where we discovered had specialists in exotic pets. His antibiotics were changed and the metacam increased. He apparently settled and was nibbling cabbage in his hospital bed. Yet despite this, we received the call we all dread and he had lost his brave battle four hours later.
We are so sorry Hamm pig and we will miss you so much. Run free now without suffering. Wish we could have done more to help you. We can't help but feel if we had found the specialists sooner, things could have been different. It hurts so much x