paulag
Teenage Guinea Pig
Hi,
I took in two 5 year old sows (Guiness and Stella) from the free ads last week (pictures to follow I can't find my camera cable) - they are in reasonable condition with healthy appetites but I have had a few problems and would welcome opinions from experienced rescuers.
Both of them had very overgrown toenails - corkscrewed right around several times. Thankfully having cut them they are both walking fine and don't seem to have any pain in their feet.
Sadly one of the girls (Stella) has a lump under her front leg. I took them to the vets this evening. She also has cateracts which explains why she sometimes misses the entrance to her pigloo. I was so hoping it would be a fatty lump, but apparently it has a fibrous area and some satelite areas around it. The vet feels that it is either the result of an earlier infection or it may be malignant. It's not in an area that he feels it can be operated and he didn't think it needed aspirating as it is not causing her any pain - which is in some ways a relief as she is such an elderly lady. Basically we have weighed her (a healthy 1300g) and I have to monitor it. He has told me that we may need to make a decision about her quality of life at some point. This seems like a reasonable decision to me - but it's so sad as she's such a sweetie.
The other piggie (Guiness who looks tiny but manages to weigh in at 1100g) has no real health issues and is a stroppy, vocal little miss who had no worries about telling the whole vet surgery how she felt about being examined
They both have semi-long fur and I hadn't examined them very closely - I had noticed they were a little scurfy and would have bathed them immediately had they been youngsters but sooo didn't want to do this. However at the vets they turned out to be really quite scurfy and filthy and guiness has a couple of minute scabs on her back. The vet was pretty sure it wasn't mites, but we agreed that we would use some 'spot on' type treatment as a precaution and keep them away from mine until we are sure (they are in quarantine in the lounge). I didn't want to get them injected unless we were sure they had mites.
So I have had to bath them - I had to use some small animal shampoo with teatree that I already had. Turns out that poor Stella on top of everything else has a horrible black scurfy area on her bum - I haven't managed to get all of it out with one wash and I may have to do it again . I think that they have been neglected and allowed to get really filthy in the cage and I know that wood shavings can cause skin conditions so hopefully this is all it was. Guiness was actually less scurfy although she really was a problem to bath - not happy at all. Stella was a complete angel.
They have both been dried out as much as practical with my hairdryer on low heat and put back in a completely clean cage. I haven't put any cozies in there as I don't want them getting fleece damp and sitting on it. I'm going to put a heater in the room overnight. Again I sooo didn't want to bath OAPs but they were really filthy. They don't seem too traumatised and are both out eating hay with me in the room.
So much for my non-interventionist approach - they've had a difficult nail clip, a vet visit and a bath in two days.
The rescues have my greatest respect - I've had lots of animals and dealt with lots of ill health over the last 15 years but these two are going to break my heart I can tell.
Oh and don't even get me started on the flies that hatched out of the hay they came with in my kitchen bin.
Paula
I took in two 5 year old sows (Guiness and Stella) from the free ads last week (pictures to follow I can't find my camera cable) - they are in reasonable condition with healthy appetites but I have had a few problems and would welcome opinions from experienced rescuers.
Both of them had very overgrown toenails - corkscrewed right around several times. Thankfully having cut them they are both walking fine and don't seem to have any pain in their feet.
Sadly one of the girls (Stella) has a lump under her front leg. I took them to the vets this evening. She also has cateracts which explains why she sometimes misses the entrance to her pigloo. I was so hoping it would be a fatty lump, but apparently it has a fibrous area and some satelite areas around it. The vet feels that it is either the result of an earlier infection or it may be malignant. It's not in an area that he feels it can be operated and he didn't think it needed aspirating as it is not causing her any pain - which is in some ways a relief as she is such an elderly lady. Basically we have weighed her (a healthy 1300g) and I have to monitor it. He has told me that we may need to make a decision about her quality of life at some point. This seems like a reasonable decision to me - but it's so sad as she's such a sweetie.
The other piggie (Guiness who looks tiny but manages to weigh in at 1100g) has no real health issues and is a stroppy, vocal little miss who had no worries about telling the whole vet surgery how she felt about being examined
They both have semi-long fur and I hadn't examined them very closely - I had noticed they were a little scurfy and would have bathed them immediately had they been youngsters but sooo didn't want to do this. However at the vets they turned out to be really quite scurfy and filthy and guiness has a couple of minute scabs on her back. The vet was pretty sure it wasn't mites, but we agreed that we would use some 'spot on' type treatment as a precaution and keep them away from mine until we are sure (they are in quarantine in the lounge). I didn't want to get them injected unless we were sure they had mites.
So I have had to bath them - I had to use some small animal shampoo with teatree that I already had. Turns out that poor Stella on top of everything else has a horrible black scurfy area on her bum - I haven't managed to get all of it out with one wash and I may have to do it again . I think that they have been neglected and allowed to get really filthy in the cage and I know that wood shavings can cause skin conditions so hopefully this is all it was. Guiness was actually less scurfy although she really was a problem to bath - not happy at all. Stella was a complete angel.
They have both been dried out as much as practical with my hairdryer on low heat and put back in a completely clean cage. I haven't put any cozies in there as I don't want them getting fleece damp and sitting on it. I'm going to put a heater in the room overnight. Again I sooo didn't want to bath OAPs but they were really filthy. They don't seem too traumatised and are both out eating hay with me in the room.
So much for my non-interventionist approach - they've had a difficult nail clip, a vet visit and a bath in two days.
The rescues have my greatest respect - I've had lots of animals and dealt with lots of ill health over the last 15 years but these two are going to break my heart I can tell.
Oh and don't even get me started on the flies that hatched out of the hay they came with in my kitchen bin.
Paula