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Terry going senile?

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PopcornPigs

PopcornPigs

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My piggy Terry is over 6 now.

He's been and still is fine. He had a UTI last year which some may remember. He got extremely thin and unwell and if it wasn't for his vet care and syringe feeding I don't think he would have made it. I struggled to get his weight up and cant seem to now get him above 980g.

Anyway he has recently developed a habit of sitting at the bars with his mouth/nose touching the water bottle. He'll sort of go into a trance then wake up, drink, go in a trance again.. sometimes he goes into a trance whilst he's drinking.. sort of drift to the side. Then again, stare blankly at the bars.

I think his vision is now very poor. He'll be sitting/standing and George will come right up to him but Terry wont flinch until George touches him. Again with humans, if you put your hand in front/near him he wont flinch until you touch him. But he does love being stroked, he'll close his eyes and lye down.

It is sadly reminding me of when Doris became older and would sit in the corner of her hutch facing towards the window.

Does anybody have any opinion?
 
To help you understand, here's a photo of him in position, at a stand still with his mouth around the bottle tip, he was here for about 30 seconds.. not drinking, just still. He then lyed down with his nose touching the tip.

 
I would have his vision and health checked by the vet; blindness/cataracts are quite common in older piggies. They also sleep a lot more.
 
Awww Terry, I expect he's really slowing down dear old man. I would wonder about the 'trance' behaviour too if an older piggie of mine was doing it, it does seem a little odd.

If he's ok in himself though apart from the vision problems - eating / drinking / getting around / weeing / pooing / interacting with other piggies then I don't know how much you would be able to do to change things for him. I guess just making his life comfortable & seeing how he goes is pretty much all you can do if the vet thinks he's ok. If he has age-related reduction in sight / cataracts then there's not much can be done about that really I guess.

As long as he's happy :)

Best wishes, shiny x
 
Does he move around much? I agree with Shiny, eating, drinking, pooping, weeing ok? The only other thing I could think of is to make sure his heart is nice and strong. When did he have a check up at the vet last?
He's so cute, love your little piggy in the backround keeping an eye on him.
L
 
What a strange little fixation, I would suggest asking the vet to pay extra care to his urinary tracts. Any problems with diabetes or bladder issues might make him super thirsty and he'll be quite obsessed with fluids. (I say 2ndry diabetes because when you want to put more weight on a pig you give them all the juicy sweet stuff to help them get more insulating fat on the bones).
 
Thank you for all of your replies.

Terry has seen the vet twice for urinary tract infections last year. The last time he visited the vet for a check up was in December last year.

He has always drunk a lot but now with the added dazing I think he's due another check up.

And wenton5, that's George in the background.. he has lived with Terry since he was 3 weeks old. I think he's going to be devasted when Terry eventually goes to rainbow bridge.
 
Hi Wenton5 :)
Terry is well, he hasn't been doing this as often lately. My vet has said that I can bring a urine sample in any time for them to test so will be doing that. Going to check over his previous lump, joints and vision etc in a vet visit also. I've been in hospital myself recently so I'm hoping to be able to do this this week, I feel awful that I haven't been able to do it sooner.
 
PopcornPigs, Thanks for the update, I am glad Terry and George are well. Now about you, you were in the hospital? PLEASE take good care of you, you're the mommy! :) L and the gang
 
One of my piggies used to do something similar when he got older .... Like a trance ! I got him checked at the time and they said he was fine although he did have cataracts . He lived to a whisker off age 7 .... Miss him dearly x
 
Aw I'm sorry to hear that Mamaguineapig :(

wenton5 - I'm ok just about! I have been prescribed meds which are helping a bit now :)
 
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