Beans&Toast
Adult Guinea Pig
I haven't been on here as much as I would like to lately, I'm traveling a lot with work as well as looking after my Mum, and Beans and Toast who are both seriously hard work! (And the reason I have to work so much to afford their vet bills )
Toast has just had her 6th dental op since last year. Her molars keep over growing by about 2-3 mm and although that's not much, she seems to be very sensitive to even the smallest spurs and slight overgrowth. Last month my vet and I did discuss having her PTS as she wasn't recovering from GA, wasn't eating and just wasn't herself at all and it didn't seem fair to keep putting her through this. But like the tough little pig she is, she came around and bounced back.
Unfortunately she is also still on and off bloating for unknown reasons. This causes her discomfort sometimes which makes her go off her food, which in turn causes her teeth to overgrow. It's a vicious circle but despite it all she is still as lively as ever, zooming about and popcorning for veg even when she's not quite herself.
And then we have Beans. Beans is getting on quite a bit now. She's between 5-6 years and over the past 6 months I've seen a slow decline in her activity levels, and over the past 5 weeks or so she's been sleeping a lot. She sleeps most of the day now and although she still has a run around and comes for veg, she spends most of the day napping. The arthritis in her back legs and hips is progressing so her pain meds have been upped. Her sight and hearing are also deteriorating and she seems to be relying mostly on her sense of smell. Again, despite all of this she is still such a happy pig, wandering around the house on her adventures (when she's not napping) and enjoys chasing her sister around the cage
I am amazed by both of them every day, I can't believe how well they are both doing, all things considered. They are determined little things!
I can't express how much of a help this forum has been since I joined, some of the advice I've received has literally been life saving on one or two occasions, so thank you all!
Toast has just had her 6th dental op since last year. Her molars keep over growing by about 2-3 mm and although that's not much, she seems to be very sensitive to even the smallest spurs and slight overgrowth. Last month my vet and I did discuss having her PTS as she wasn't recovering from GA, wasn't eating and just wasn't herself at all and it didn't seem fair to keep putting her through this. But like the tough little pig she is, she came around and bounced back.
Unfortunately she is also still on and off bloating for unknown reasons. This causes her discomfort sometimes which makes her go off her food, which in turn causes her teeth to overgrow. It's a vicious circle but despite it all she is still as lively as ever, zooming about and popcorning for veg even when she's not quite herself.
And then we have Beans. Beans is getting on quite a bit now. She's between 5-6 years and over the past 6 months I've seen a slow decline in her activity levels, and over the past 5 weeks or so she's been sleeping a lot. She sleeps most of the day now and although she still has a run around and comes for veg, she spends most of the day napping. The arthritis in her back legs and hips is progressing so her pain meds have been upped. Her sight and hearing are also deteriorating and she seems to be relying mostly on her sense of smell. Again, despite all of this she is still such a happy pig, wandering around the house on her adventures (when she's not napping) and enjoys chasing her sister around the cage
I am amazed by both of them every day, I can't believe how well they are both doing, all things considered. They are determined little things!
I can't express how much of a help this forum has been since I joined, some of the advice I've received has literally been life saving on one or two occasions, so thank you all!