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Pigglywink's been sick

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pigglywink's Rachel
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I'm sorry I can't make any comment about Pigglywink's eye but what you're doing sounds fine. It's great that she is eating so much from you but I think maybe you should reduce how often you syringe feed her because she may become reliant on you to feed her rather than eating and exploring her cage herself. I'm not saying stop it completely and I think she probably still needs the vitamin c for another week or so. How are her poops now? If they look normal, and if she has finished all her meds, I would try stopping the probiotic now. Don't give a large choice of veg/fruit as this will probably upset her tummy again if she tries them all so start with something that she likes to try and get her to eat for herself. It's great to hear that she is coming on leaps and bounds :)
 
Pigglywink's Rachel said:
She's already going to have to go back to the vets for her teeth once we get some weight back on her. The one thing they did notice was that her back molars are leaning inwards slightly, probably making it hard for her to chew. She's been eating a little bit on her own, just the softened pellets, but she has a hard time getting them into her mouth, it seems like. I've not been giving her any fruits or veggies until her poo is consistently firm, as I don't want to give her diarrhea again, and her poos are still kind of hit or miss as to firmness. Yesterday when I got home they were totally normal, but by the time her midnight feeding rolled around they were very loose and runny again, then firm again this morning and this afternoon. I think it might have something to do with the radicchio I let her have after supper yesterday.

She's been very cuddly yesterday and today, except that she likes to crawl up to the back of my neck and hide under my hair, and if I've got it up in a bun (as I normally do, since it's so long), then she starts chewing and pulling on it to try to get it down. And I swear she gave me a kiss this afternoon. I put a sheet, folded into fours to make it firm, on top of her cage and I was feeding her there (hoping to move her out of the whole only eating in the bathroom thing), and when I was done I bent down to check her eye, and she leaned forward and touched her mouth to my nose.

We never used to get snow here, either... I grew up on the coast, and we would go three or four years without any snow, and when we did get it, it would only be a tiny little bit, but the last three years we've been getting lots of snow in the winter, and they say the glacier up the mountain is growing. It's why I start ranting when people talk about global warming... global climate change I don't have a problem with, global warming, on the other hand...
Click to expand...

well, the glaciers in Europe are retreating fast and so are those in the Himalayas... So that's that with the planet...

My late Rene used to give me eskimo kisses. I would always poop my head in the cage when back from work to say hi, and he'd trot to me, put his nose on my nose and then went about his own business. ^)

It looks like piggly is on the mend. She does need to get food on her own, though and the less she does, the worse her teeth are going to get, thenmajor problem can happen and it is so fast with Guineas... you have to be V vigilant.:(

Been dead busy today, so sorry I haven't posted but my tree is decorated, the garden is FINALLY clear of leaves, the house is hoovered/vacuumed and the bathrooms are clean... and I managed to watch a soccer match (well I slept through most of the second half) and my best friend visited for an hour... actually, tomorrow will seem quite calm in comparison - I only teach one lesson (out or 5)! :(|)
 
Well, Piggly seems much better. I weighed her yesterday morning, and just now again, because it seemed to me that she was a little bit heavier, and she's gained 15 grams. Not that much, I know, but considering she'd lost 280 grams in the last month, with the foot and everything else, I was pleased enough when her weight stabilized, and now that it's going up, I'm over the moon. I've decided to cut her syringe feedings back to twice a day, since I've seen her with her head in the food dishes. There's four in there right now... one of the softened pellets, one for the dry pellets, one for the fresh veggies, and one for the mixed food I just bought (which I know isn't the best thing in the world for them, but if tempts her appetite, I'm not going to quibble). Plus of course her water dish, since she still has an almost phobic aversion to the water bottle. I keep changing the water every day in the bottle, but she still won't use it.

I also bought some towels and fleece for her cage today. I'll order some vetbed once I have the new cage, but for now I just went to Wal-Mart and bought enough fleece that I can change it out four times a week and only have to do a Piggy laundry once a week.

Still keeping a close watch on the eye issue, but it seems to be on the mend. Only thing is that now that it's not sunken into her head, it's hard for me to get the ointment into the eye... anyone got any suggestions?

The chores are never ending, it seems like. I've cleaned every room except the kitchen and my room, so I'm making some progress, anyway, but it's so tiring. Have to get it done today or tomorrow, though, since I have company coming over on Tuesday... sigh...
 
oh dear... what's with the sigh?...:Ayociexp113:
It's all good news about Piggly! I dunno for the eye tho, but someone will...
I have just got some vetbed and I must say, it's brill! My hubby who can be a grumpy old sod said I should have got some more to avoid doing too many piggy laundries. I have enough for 2 cages worth. I'm going back ASAP, though. I'm hoping to find it straight from the roll, not ready cut, I think it'll be cheaper but there was none at the warehouse when I went last week. I found some at some liveries but it's a bit further afield and I won't make it on time after work...
 
I love it when my son's Grammy comes for a visit, but I always have to clean before she comes over, otherwise I feel bad, because her place is always so nice. I'm a clean person, but not necessarily tidy... what does it matter if my floor is covered in books, Lego and various other toys, as long as it's been vacuumed underneath, right? But I clean when she comes over... I found my desk and my dining room table... bonus! I knew that either all of my possessions had developed the power of levitation or the surfaces were still there, but good to have it confirmed, right?

I'll change out the bedding in Pigglywink's cage tonight and hope that she likes it... my sweet little Piggles that saw me watching her eat out of her bowl and immediately tried to pretend that she'd been doing no such thing. I swear, part of this is just her manipulating me. Good thing she doesn't realize that I counted to fifty when I put the pellets into her bowl, and so will be able to tell exactly how much she ate.
 
you have an evil masterplan when it comes to feeding your girl!:(|)

I am 100% convinced that they pretend to us either to stop us from worrying or to make us fuss over them! When rene (RIP) was sick, he would pretend he was eating when all he did was bite food... so I'd leave him alone!m Then when he got better, he wouldn't eat unless I was in the room - to start with unless he was on the kitchen worktop being cajoled, coaxed and cuddled into eating!

Is Grammy your relative? I find that if my parents come round I am much more relaxed than if my in-laws come round... Plus, if I catch my mum doing the ironing (I hate the *** thing) I'll be grateful but if my father in-law does the dishes I get i a strop and feel inadequate and fear my mother in-law will think I can't take care of her son. She's not like that tho! but it's just me being me...
 
I always have an evil masterplan... all slides into my plans for total world domination, don't y'know? But I find that counting the bits of food helps a lot, as she's always pushed her food about a fair bit while eating. So far she's had about 10 mL of softened pellets (each pellet is a little less than 1 mL and she's had 12) and three small pieces of radicchio (1 cm by 1 cm). She's also had a few good licks at her mineral wheel, and drank about 15 mL of water.

Grammy is actually my ex mother-in-law, but we get along great. I've actually known her for longer than I've known my own mother, and I've always been close to her and my ex's sister. Don't have a current OH, just been me and my bear (human child) and my aminals for the last five years, but I spend most holidays with my ex's family... sometimes he comes as well, sometimes he doesn't.

I moan about it, but I don't mind cleaning when she comes over... it's the only time I do a full, get rid of all the stuff I don't need, sort out everythig else cleaning, and she only comes over two or three times a year, so if she didn't come over at all, I'd be knee deep in Lego by now.

Had a nap just now... so very tired the last couple days... it's been hard sleeping lately, I've been so worried about Pigglywink, getting up five or six times a night to check on her. I'm obsessive, what can I say?
 
zzzzzzI'm just up, it's morning here...malletheadzzz
Pfff, work here we come... 2 of my direct line managers are off sick, so it's fallen onto me to ensure all goes smoothly for their classes (I'm a teacher, BTW), so it's a bit stressful, but we manage...
I like my MI-L, but like all MI-Ls, she's got very precise ideas about how I should take care of her son and run my house... i'm a bit anxious for when we have kids, she'll always know better... the last time she was knee-deep in nappies was 37 years ago, how can she possibly remember? :(|)

I'm off to work, but only teaching till 10.05 (GMT)...

Get some rest and enjoy your human family too. :))
 
Ayee, today is going to suck... tomorrow, wait, now I'm confused. It's 1 am my time, and I'm just getting ready for bed. The whole preparing a whole days worth of food thing took longer than I anticipated, as did the dishes (I really want to know how those spoons got under the couch, since it sits right even with the floor... someone had to try to get those in... time for interrogation in the morning, and if he tries to blame the cat again...)

Anyway, Pigglywink seems ok, in and of herself, but her eye was a bit worse again tonight. I'm debating whether I'm worried enough to take her to a vet that I figure doesn't really know what she's doing, on the basis that I have some idea of what I'm doing, and so can tell her what to do. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. But have you noticed that everytime I'm sure Pigglywink is better, something goes wrong? Want to help me track down Murphy and explain why his laws are so stupid?

I'm a legal assistant (commercial and corporate law) and the assistant bookkeeper, but they don't actually expect me to think at work right now. They've all been there with a sick pet (although I'm the first for anything smaller than a cat), so they understand somewhat what I'm going through. As long as I put in my time and get something accomplished by the end of the day, they're all good.

Hope you had a good day at work... I have a hard enough time dealing with my one, so I've nothing but the utmost admiration for people who choose to work all day with the little demons... err... darlings...
 
work was fine. It's dealing with non-teaching staff which can be more stressful. Anyway, enough of that, I'm about to go to bed and you're still at work...

How's Piggly tonight? Hope she's doing well. Do you feel she's made progress since last week? How's she behaving? still eating OK? hope she's eating some place else than the bathroom... ;)

Let us know!
 
Well, I'm thinking that another visit to the vet is in order. When I was cleaning Pigglywink's cage tonight I noticed that her urine was reddish coloured, and there appears to be a sludge type substance left. Definitely some type of urinary tract infection, which I'm thinking will need to be treated with antibiotics. Bearing in mind what happened with the last antibiotics (the chloramphenicol), with the total gut disturbance and her almost dying due to not digesting any food for almost a week, I'm somewhat worried about the situation. I also don't know how long this problem has been going on for. The only reason I discovered it is that I put a towel and fleece in her cage for a bed, and noticed this on the white towel. She hasn't been making any squeaking noises when urinating, and I haven't noticed her arching her back, but I'm sure that this is nowhere near normal.

Checking the Guinea Lynx site, I have read that acidopholus makes a good probiotic to give guinea pigs while they are on antibiotics. Does anyone have any information about whether this would be better than the current probiotic that I've given her? It contains Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. Should the aciodpholus be better, I'll be able to get that easily (I've used chewable acidopholus tablets for my son on the rare occasions that he's been on antibiotics). I've still not gotten a response from the websites I contacted in the UK about the possibility of importing Bio-Lapis, so am looking for alternatives that are available in Canada.

Alternatively, I'm concerned that she may be suffering from septicemia, since the infection seems to be moving rapidly around her system (first her foot, then her eye, now her urinary system). If this is what she is suffering from, and bearing in mind that I have an adequate, but not a good, guinea pig vet available to me, what is her prognosis? I've attempted to find a good guinea pig vet, but the nearest one seems to be in Vancouver, according to the Small Animal Rescue Society of British Columbia (which seems to be the only rescue organization in the guinea pig game). The lady I spoke to at the Society was of the opinion, after speaking to two of the vets that they use on the mainland, that the trip would kill her, even if I was able to find some way to get her to Vancouver.

I've also noticed that she has an overall strange odour to her. I know that guinea pigs don't typically have an odour, so I've added that to the list of things that just seem off. I've taken to completely cleaning out her cage every day, and spot cleaning it more often. She still seems to be improving, in and of herself, although her appetite is a little bit down from yesterday, and her eye was worse again last night (although better tonight again). I'm at my wits end dealing with the situation, and don't know what to do.

My final concern is that the vet may just refuse to treat her at all, since their attitude runs along the lines of putting her to sleep. I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to treat this using home remedies, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about how best to proceed if the vet does refuse to treat her.

Finally, can anyone confirm that Baytril is enrofloxacin, and that Septra is trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole? Just so that I can take that information to the vets with me. From my reading, I've gathered that those are the best drugs for treating a urinary tract infection in guinea pigs.

Anyway, I'm going to go cuddle my Piggles now, but hopefully someone can get back to me.
 
Sorry to hear that she has taken a turn for he worse... My late Rene also had a problem with reddish urine, but that only lasted a day... it cleared by itself... that's when he was on baytril, tho. You know it's a bit 'strong' for guineas and a good probitotic to prtoect their gut is defo needed at the same time.
Hope you get your answers soon. Possibly, try starting a new thread with new questions, that might entice more people to read? and included help or urgent in the title too...
 
Good idea, thanks... you've been great, just wanted to let you know that... you're a wonderful person, for caring so much.
 
I just empathise as a Guinea lover myself... and your anguish for Piggly is obvious, you are so desperate to meke her better, I can only support you inthat quest!
Here's for the little one: x>>x>>x>>
 
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