helen105281
Senior Guinea Pig
Lets just say a certain pet shop chain have a lot to answer for. Mrs Fuzzy joined us at the beginning of December after a vegan frend in York took her in from her landlord. Her friend had died and she needed a new home. She was part of an experiment at said pet shop in "designer" pigs and they were bred in Spain. Lots of them had health issues and there have been some deaths apparently, and they no longer use this particular breeder. We knew something wasn't right when we picked her up, she is 1 year old but her weight fluctuates between about 640g and 670g, she also has a cataract forming in her left eye and is very young ot have one.
She had a full health check yesterday and was diagnosed as being tachycardic which means her heart beats a lot faster than it should (Nigel was the same), this explains her small size and is likely to shorten her lifespan considerably, we could have her for days, weeks, months or maybe a year. We are working with our local vet and she is on an introductory course of heart meds. Must say that she has been very lively today, though she is quite springy generally.
The intention was to bond her with the herd but we think this would be too much, so when she has been on her meds a couple of weeks we may try her with Terk and Ellie who live as a pair and are very laid back. Ellie is a heart pig herself and Terk is over 6 years old and has an ovarian tumour, but is doing very well after hormone treatment.
One other thing Mrs Fuzzy has is is a very very short jaw, this means that her veg and food needs to be very small as her mouth is tiny, syringe feeding may be a problem too and if she ever has to have dental treatment then it would be difficult as the equipment would break her jaw.
So basically, we need to enjoy her while she is here and make the most of her time with us. She is happy and bouncy and loves her cuddles and so we know she will have a good life with us. In addition, we have a wonderful support network in our local vet and Karen who we help run the piggy clinics with.
I will update her health thread perdiodically with how she is doing.
She had a full health check yesterday and was diagnosed as being tachycardic which means her heart beats a lot faster than it should (Nigel was the same), this explains her small size and is likely to shorten her lifespan considerably, we could have her for days, weeks, months or maybe a year. We are working with our local vet and she is on an introductory course of heart meds. Must say that she has been very lively today, though she is quite springy generally.
The intention was to bond her with the herd but we think this would be too much, so when she has been on her meds a couple of weeks we may try her with Terk and Ellie who live as a pair and are very laid back. Ellie is a heart pig herself and Terk is over 6 years old and has an ovarian tumour, but is doing very well after hormone treatment.
One other thing Mrs Fuzzy has is is a very very short jaw, this means that her veg and food needs to be very small as her mouth is tiny, syringe feeding may be a problem too and if she ever has to have dental treatment then it would be difficult as the equipment would break her jaw.
So basically, we need to enjoy her while she is here and make the most of her time with us. She is happy and bouncy and loves her cuddles and so we know she will have a good life with us. In addition, we have a wonderful support network in our local vet and Karen who we help run the piggy clinics with.
I will update her health thread perdiodically with how she is doing.
fingers crossed for a good recovery!