Ophelia

I’m back from university and went to say hello to the piggies. Hamlet didn’t come out. Ophelia was eating hay, and simply continued.
“I’m currently enjoying the hay right now and am perfectly satisfied.”
Later, I saw Ophelia very comfortable in her cuddle cup.
Hamlet is indeed a big boy!
 
We are a bit concerned because Hamlet put on weight really quickly since arriving at ours. Added to which, he obligingly helped Ophelia with her recovery food (which we have since stopped). For some time their diet reverted to how Ophelia and Bianca’s used to be, with only occasional readi grass. He is still able to get airborne with his popcorns but he is rather rotund. He weighs less than Bianca did but he looks and feels overweight.

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He’s gorgeous! (I’m as smitten as Ophelia). It has been interesting watching him take cues from Ophelia’s behaviour and copy what she does. When we are putting their vegetables into their bowls, Ophelia just cannot contain her excitement: she runs round and round in circles, dashes up and down the ramp, clambers onto the squishy corner hidey, then back in wild circles and up and down... Hamlet has picked up this behaviour. While she is going frantic, he does one little trot in a circle and walks half-way up the ramp and down again 😂 Therein, I think lies some explanation as to why Ophelia doesn’t put on weight and Hamlet keeps getting bigger and bigger. I’m relieved that he can still get ‘airborne’ with all his twitchy popcorns and jump turns.

(Hers isn’t very ‘senior’ behaviour, is it? She’s so lively and he is rather staid but quietly happy and devoted.)
 
I tried to stroke Hamlet and he was absolutely not having it. He ran into the carrot cottage but looked out at me so I began pretending to wash and he stared at me intently and came out again. He eventually wandered off but only after watching me for quite a while.
 
As for Ophelia’s weight, it just doesn’t budge and she carries on running around and eating and being her friendly, trusting self. (And she had long ceased to be the latter by the time Bianca died.) She’s underweight, yet (for now?) it doesn’t seem to impact on her. I make sure she has plenty of warm places to snuggle into and I’ve increased the amount of insulation radiator foil.
 
Approximately 9pm. The hoomans arrive to clean out.

Hamlet: “For my first trick I will squeeze out of the carrot cottage because the hole is not big enough if I don’t get right onto the ground.”

Ophelia comes to say hello and help clean up the hay. Then she goes to relax in the cavy cosy.

@KHBz walks in. Hamlet peeks out from the entrance to the sleeping area. Then he stands near Ophelia. Moments later, Hamlet is popcorning and zooming around the whole place. By this time, Ophelia has gotten out of the cavy cosy and Hamlet goes in.

Once the hay has been replaced in the run, both go over and eat together.

Happy piggies, happy evening.
 
These are the positions they invariably take up whilst they wait for all the evening hay-clearing and fleece-changing activity to subside. Tonight Hamlet kept going closer to Ophelia and popcorning, periodically came out to investigate, and then settled back into position in front of her.

I include the first photo as otherwise you wouldn’t know where Ophelia is!

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I am sorry it has been so long since any updates. It is now 11 months since Betsy left and Ophelia steadily maintained the low weight Betsy had left her at. We have been monitoring her closely for any signs that the low weight is the result of something sinister, but she remained her lively, friendly self. There was no point repeatedly taking her to our vet to pay around £50 to be told that they couldn't find anything wrong and that we needed to pay up to £300 for scans. However, a new vet has opened nearby, recommended to us... So, two weeks ago, when Ophelia's weight dropped (coinciding with a heatwave), we took her to a lovely vet who happened to have an interest in guinea-pigs.

Besides the fact that this vet would have charged £100 for those scans (without the need for sedation), her careful prodding resulted in her finding a lump in Ophelia's neck. The hypothesis, without doing a biopsy, is that Ophelia has hyperthyroidism and this would explain the fact that she has always seemed so well and lively and yet won't put on weight despite the quantities she clearly eats. They had recently had two other piggies in with the same condition and the off-licence prescription worked.

We are concerned, however, that sometimes Ophelia's movements are no longer as fluid as they once were but the vet said that she would expect to see some arthritis in a piggy this age (she will turn 7 in less than a week) but that she had done well to show so little sign of it. Because Ophelia hasn't yet put on much weight in the first two weeks of the new medication, however, I have asked for her also to have painkiller as a just-in-case, which I will pick up tomorrow.

We can see that she is a 'senior piggy' now. My aim is to make sure that she is comfortable and happy.
 
KHBz said:
I am sorry it has been so long since any updates. It is now 11 months since Betsy left and Ophelia steadily maintained the low weight Betsy had left her at. We have been monitoring her closely for any signs that the low weight is the result of something sinister, but she remained her lively, friendly self. There was no point repeatedly taking her to our vet to pay around £50 to be told that they couldn't find anything wrong and that we needed to pay up to £300 for scans. However, a new vet has opened nearby, recommended to us... So, two weeks ago, when Ophelia's weight dropped (coinciding with a heatwave), we took her to a lovely vet who happened to have an interest in guinea-pigs.

Besides the fact that this vet would have charged £100 for those scans (without the need for sedation), her careful prodding resulted in her finding a lump in Ophelia's neck. The hypothesis, without doing a biopsy, is that Ophelia has hyperthyroidism and this would explain the fact that she has always seemed so well and lively and yet won't put on weight despite the quantities she clearly eats. They had recently had two other piggies in with the same condition and the off-licence prescription worked.

We are concerned, however, that sometimes Ophelia's movements are no longer as fluid as they once were but the vet said that she would expect to see some arthritis in a piggy this age (she will turn 7 in less than a week) but that she had done well to show so little sign of it. Because Ophelia hasn't yet put on much weight in the first two weeks of the new medication, however, I have asked for her also to have painkiller as a just-in-case, which I will pick up tomorrow.

We can see that she is a 'senior piggy' now. My aim is to make sure that she is comfortable and happy.
Click to expand...

Glad that you finally have got an answer. My Pili Pala had suspected hyper-thyroid in her last year of life but since by then she already had a rat-tail of other health issues including IBS symptoms, my vet recommended to not to treat for it; especially as at that time (8 years ago) hyper-thyroid management was still somewhat tricky.

Please ask for repeat prescription metacam for the arthritis and also start her on daily glucosamine in order to coat her joints, which is classed as a food supplement and not a prescription medication, so vets don't dispense it.
The metacam and the glucosamine will take several weeks to build up gradually but they can make quite a difference in Olivia's wellbeing.
We recommend Johnson's 4joints strong dog liquid as it is easiest to give (by syringe) and most piggies like the taste. We recommend 0.4 ml for a 1000g piggies, so you can work the daily dosage according to the weight out from there or ask us to to it for you. It is widely available in pet shops or online.
 
Wiebke said:
Glad that you finally have got an answer. My Pili Pala had suspected hyper-thyroid in her last year of life but since by then she already had a rat-tail of other health issues including IBS symptoms, my vet recommended to not to treat for it; especially as at that time (8 years ago) hyper-thyroid management was still somewhat tricky.

Please ask for repeat prescription metacam for the arthritis and also start her on daily glucosamine in order to coat her joints, which is classed as a food supplement and not a prescription medication, so vets don't dispense it.
The metacam and the glucosamine will take several weeks to build up gradually but they can make quite a difference in Olivia's wellbeing.
We recommend Johnson's 4joints strong dog liquid as it is easiest to give (by syringe) and most piggies like the taste. We recommend 0.4 ml for a 1000g piggies, so you can work the daily dosage according to the weight out from there or ask us to to it for you. It is widely available in pet shops or online.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for this, Wiebke. It is really helpful. The vet has actually prescribed Loxicom so we have to go with that, but I guess they are much the same. I will get some glucosamine now.

Although I know it is not good to give ProC continuously, we have been giving her that, in the water, for stretches at a time. I do get the sense that she does slightly better when she has the ProC. Of course, it means that Hamlet has it too, which is why we don't do it continuously.
 
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