Laura-CCC4
Senior Guinea Pig
I have snuck this little lady in quietly, a few of you know of her, but she needs her own space and to tell her own story now.
She is called Peggy. She is staying with me indefinitely, as such I'm able to introduce her to you properly. Let me explain. (I've done a lot of explaining myself this year, don't shout at me!) I have chosen to introduce her fully here, instead of in chat, as I felt I could continue this thread with any dental updates.
I've had her here for two and a half weeks, syringe-feeding her due to her continuing dental troubles (going on for 3 months in total so far) which her owner had hoped would improve. But the latest trip to Vedra to sort out her teeth revealed quite an abnormality with her jaw which is causing these teeth troubles, and it's not going to go away. Vedra's "artists impression" of her jaw and molar dentition (both should be in a straight line, as in the right of the picture):
Which leaves her mouth looking a bit offside:
Peggy's top incisors grow in like this:
I need to get a photo of her lowers to add here, they're growing from what appears to be a very twisted jaw.
As such, she's going to need frequent dental work and syringe-feeding very likely for the rest of her life, which her owner could not do. I shall be taking her to Vedra weekly and - gulp - learning to trim the incisors at least. Molars didn't need trimming for two weeks but incisors are growing in within a week and will need keeping on top of.
I know, I know, I can't take on every poorly pig in this situation. I am aware of how this looks and how it might make me seem (where did my limit go!?!?). I am fully conscious this has to be a one off, even though one of the main goals for the future is to take in those poorly pigs others can't help.
At the moment I have quite a few senior piggies, of which Peggy has now joined the likes of. She is an older girl, 5.5 years.
Now, little miss Saffron as you know is notorious for being a devil to other girls, but after having no luck with pairing Peggy up with other pigs, I tried Saffron - with some hesitation - and for only the second time ever, Saff is showing her softer side. Saffron was incredibly gentle and considerate of Lottie when she was ill and just before she died back in 2008, and she's showing the same tenderness with Peggy now.
So Kingslie is going to get two wifeys after all. Not something I ever foresaw, but there you go.
Now, back to the medical side - look how tiny Peggy is next to Saff!
She was a mere 575g on arrival, so much smaller than she is even in the photo. She is up to 700g now but heading on upwards, long way to go yet. Unable to eat anything for herself aside from soggy nuggets. She is taking, on average, 100ml a day. She would not (could not) take feeds more frequently than every 6 hours, her owner used to just sit down twice a day and feed her for around 45 minutes, so it took some time to adjust her tummy to more frequent feeds, but she'll take around 30ml from a syringe every 3-4 hours now.
She is called Peggy. She is staying with me indefinitely, as such I'm able to introduce her to you properly. Let me explain. (I've done a lot of explaining myself this year, don't shout at me!) I have chosen to introduce her fully here, instead of in chat, as I felt I could continue this thread with any dental updates.
I've had her here for two and a half weeks, syringe-feeding her due to her continuing dental troubles (going on for 3 months in total so far) which her owner had hoped would improve. But the latest trip to Vedra to sort out her teeth revealed quite an abnormality with her jaw which is causing these teeth troubles, and it's not going to go away. Vedra's "artists impression" of her jaw and molar dentition (both should be in a straight line, as in the right of the picture):
Which leaves her mouth looking a bit offside:
Peggy's top incisors grow in like this:
I need to get a photo of her lowers to add here, they're growing from what appears to be a very twisted jaw.
As such, she's going to need frequent dental work and syringe-feeding very likely for the rest of her life, which her owner could not do. I shall be taking her to Vedra weekly and - gulp - learning to trim the incisors at least. Molars didn't need trimming for two weeks but incisors are growing in within a week and will need keeping on top of.
I know, I know, I can't take on every poorly pig in this situation. I am aware of how this looks and how it might make me seem (where did my limit go!?!?). I am fully conscious this has to be a one off, even though one of the main goals for the future is to take in those poorly pigs others can't help.
At the moment I have quite a few senior piggies, of which Peggy has now joined the likes of. She is an older girl, 5.5 years.
Now, little miss Saffron as you know is notorious for being a devil to other girls, but after having no luck with pairing Peggy up with other pigs, I tried Saffron - with some hesitation - and for only the second time ever, Saff is showing her softer side. Saffron was incredibly gentle and considerate of Lottie when she was ill and just before she died back in 2008, and she's showing the same tenderness with Peggy now.
So Kingslie is going to get two wifeys after all. Not something I ever foresaw, but there you go.
Now, back to the medical side - look how tiny Peggy is next to Saff!
She was a mere 575g on arrival, so much smaller than she is even in the photo. She is up to 700g now but heading on upwards, long way to go yet. Unable to eat anything for herself aside from soggy nuggets. She is taking, on average, 100ml a day. She would not (could not) take feeds more frequently than every 6 hours, her owner used to just sit down twice a day and feed her for around 45 minutes, so it took some time to adjust her tummy to more frequent feeds, but she'll take around 30ml from a syringe every 3-4 hours now.
|) 
