Pigging Out

Welcome home.
Hope you had a wonderful time.

Saw the news about the storm hitting the Philippines - looks horrendous.
Hope your family are ok
 
Merab said:
Welcome home.
Hope you had a wonderful time.

Saw the news about the storm hitting the Philippines - looks horrendous.
Hope your family are ok
Click to expand...
Thank you. ❤️

My family is okay and hasn't sent messages about any issues for the time being. My mum sent a video yesterday of how heavy the rain was while she was at work and also when she was on her way home.

I also haven't seen much posts in Facebook about the storm. Most of the post in my feed are about the horrible politicians and contractors corrupting the millions of money for the flood defenses that was supposed to have started five years ago and nothing happened. It's a common thing that money of tax payers are being corrupted in the Philippines, but this issue, majority of the people have reached their limit and now going after all that's involved and all their families. I'm just hoping it won't reach to a point like what happened recently in Nepal, where loads of young students were killed during the protests.
 
Took Carson to the vet this afternoon (we brought Bodie with him) so his lump on his hind leg can be looked at. It grew a bit this past couple of weeks but it's not really affecting his behavior and he's still normal. We took him to University of Liverpool Vet Practice today.

We were first seen by 2 vet students to get all the details needed before they called the vet. And as soon as the vet entered the room and saw Carson, she said his eyes look like he has cataracts. 😱 She said she knows we didn't go to the vets for his eyes but she would check it as well. So she did all the checks for the eyes and she said his eyes are both responsive but there really is cloudiness in both of them that are early signs of cataracts. But Carson is only around 1.5 yrs old and she is thinking it might be genetics or it can be caused by diabetes. She would need to get blood tests for him to confirm that.

Regarding the lump, she said she thinks it's cebaceous cyst and not abscess. But she would need to remove it by surgery as she wanted to remove the whole sack so it won't grow back again. And since Carson will be sedated during the procedure, she would check his teeth and do the blood test as well at the same time.

This is the first time we've been to this vet practice and we found the vet very great. She is apparently a professor in the university for the exotics. While she was conducting tests during consultation, she was explaining everything to the two vet students. She also showed them Carson's eyes on how she noticed it has cataracts and showed them what she can see from using those tools, whatever they were called.

So Carson is scheduled for op to remove the cyst on Tuesday next week. We were quoted for around £600+ for op and blood test. He is insured so hopefully we can claim it back from insurance.
 
Thank you all. ❤️

Carson is fine and shows no issues with eyesight. We never really had concern about it until yesterday. I only realised about his eyes when I picked him up from the carrier and saw his eyes looking like there is clear circle on it, and thought it might just be reflection from the lights. But then the vet entered and she immediately said his eyes aren't looking right. So that's it and told her that I saw what she was saying a few minutes before. But as of now, Carson is acting as normal and no signs he can't see. We did have to stop giving him sugary treats now like pepper, tomato, carrots and just give him tiny tiny bits, if he does have diabetes. We'll have to look for other treats we can give him instead. Hopefully everything will be fine with his op on Tuesday. We will have to leave Bodie in the house that day coz we don't want him stuck in the carrier for half of the day while waiting for Carson. He'll be fine on his own in the house.
 
I’ve heard excellent reports about the University of Liverpool vets so Carson will be in good hands.
Hope all goes well on Tuesday. Will be thinking of you.

Merab had cataracts and was completely blind for her last couple of years.
They didn’t stop her living life to the full.
 
So Carson's op to remove the cyst yesterday was successful. The whole cyst was removed so the wound was stitched up clean and nicely. Regarding his blood test, his glucose level is high, so it's confirmed that his cataracts was a result of diabetes. It really appeared suddenly so we really think that it only showed a few days before we saw the vet last week and it was consistent with the effect of diabetes. So no more pea flakes, carrots and cherry tomatoes for Carson (he loves those and he surely does miss having it) and we are replacing veg treats with that have no or are very low in sugar since we found out his cataracts last week. You can see in one of the photos below his cataracts. He has it in both eyes.

Today he started wheeking so loud again for treats so back to normal and the effects of the op from yesterday seems to be gone. He's on Meloxicam and Buprenorphine 2x a day for 7 days.

He is such an anxious piggy whenever he is in the carrier and in the car. He didn't eat anything at all. I had to put him on my lap to give him some CC and a few veggies before we drop him off at the vets. And the vets said after the op that he wasn't eating at all and they would be trying to feed him CC. We told them I can do it in the car coz we brought some and will try to feed him myself since he really is that anxious. And he did eat on my lap while we were on the way home.

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I know..poor boy. At the moment, we are giving them grass every time he asks for treats, and good thing they both love the soft cut timothy hay from The Hay Experts coz I can also give them that.
 
Aww so glad that he ate on your lap on the way home.

My two love grass. They also love carrots and (very occasional) apples.

Great that the operation went well. Hope all continues to go smoothly with his health from now on.

That hay experts hay looks lovely.
 
Carson is due for a post op checkup but since we don't have a car (check the rant thread on why) and no courtesy car yet, we can't book it yet. But Carson is doing great and will be finished with his meds by tomorrow.

Anyway, Bodie is the one we have a concern at the moment. Yesterday afternoon, probably around 3 pm, when I went out in the garden to cut them some grass, Hubby was carrying him when I got back in. I asked why he was carrying him and he said he was limping! He was completely fine a couple of hours before when I gave them some coriander and run to the other side of the living room. They usually run to the side near the backdoor whenever they hear me or hubby get out the back door coz they expect we are getting grass for them.

So I checked Bodie and told hubby the dried poop in one of his toe nails on the left front paw must be digging in his poop. He usually have dried poop getting stuck there and I always remove it, especially when cutting his nails. Carson had been having softer poops for the past few weeks because he was eating loads of salad and cucumber, which we now found out because he was diabetic (one of the symptoms is always thirsty). We've given him less of that now since the week before his op and his poops are now normal. So anyway, Bodie's toe still has that poop dried up in his nail and I managed to remove it yesterday. He was always complaining whenever I clean his toes and I just think he would be able to remove it by himself eventually. Well I was wrong. It was so hard and the nail was growing in it (not much though since I last cut their nails). We checked if there's any wound in his foot pads and no, all foot pads were normal and clear.

We gave him 0.2ml of Loxicom in case he is in pain. But last night we can see that he is mostly lying down when he eats and would usually lift his front left leg/foot if he would stand. He would hop around also if he was going to other parts of the cage and the floor. So at around 8pm, I just closed the cage so they are only there and not trying to run around the living room. He would still eat his food though and no issues with that. And I gave him 0.5ml of Loxicom at 11pm last night so he'll be at least comfy if he's in pain during the night.

This morning when hubby woke up, he said he is limping less. He seems to be putting his front left foot down more than yesterday and hopping less. We'll take him tomorrow to our local vets and since we don't have a car, we have to get a taxi. Base fare for a taxi here is £7 so it's flipping annoying not having our car. We can also probably ask our neighbour to take us if he's available. We don't know if Bodie just did something to his foot or if this is a start of arthritis like what happened to Bryce.

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Hopefully he's just strained his leg. Fizz did this a few months ago, 4 or 5 days of Metacam and he was back to normal.
Get better soon Bryce.
I hope you get your car sorted soon.
 
Just took Bodie to our local vets this morning (we spent £30 for taxi just to go to the vets and going back home 😱😑). Vet can't feel any swelling in all his legs. And like what we expected, she also commented on that one toe of his front let foot with the nail curling almost near to the foot pad. I tried to cut it this morning but he won't let me touch it. So the vet cut it while I was holding him. She said it must've been hurting him while he walk or stand with that nail probably touching the foot pad. She can't see any wounds as well. She said she can see that Bodie is putting weight on that foot while on the table. She prescribed him Loxicom for a few days.

It's so annoying though that our local vets don't seem to know what the right dosage for guinea pigs. After doing the maths of dosage for his weight, she ended up saying 0.08ml once daily for a dog metacam. Previous vets prescribed past piggies 0.4ml 2x a day, another 1.4ml once a day. It's always a hit and miss which knowledgable guinea pig vet we can get. It's a good thing we know (or have an idea at least) what dosage we can give for Loxicom for the piggies. I feel sorry for those guinea pig pet owners that don't have a clue.
 
I am so sorry I got Bodie's name wrong. I am glad the vet could find nothing too serious wrong. Those curly nails are a nuisance, we have some here and the piggies don't like getting them cut, it's such an awkward angle to get the clippers or scissors in.
Get well soon Bodie!
 
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