The words you don't want to hear when a boarder checks in.......

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That's so heartless! She's not a thing!

Poor little girly...

Pignapping sounds like a good idea {:|
 
Even if it's unintentional neglect then really it needs sorted... Not sure pig or bunny napping is the right way but the rspca could give her an advisory notice... Try chatting to Vic at Walsall....
 
if there is something up with her, illness wise (hoping there isnt of corse) then you could take her to the vet, get her checked over and tell the owner something along the lines of, shes ill and it might cost alot of money for treatment etc, i could take her off your hands? this might also work if she is severely underweight aswell. sorry its so devious, it just sounds like she needs more love and attention xx
 
Sadly, I would go for pignapping over reporting to RSPCA. :(
If you report neglect, the owner will most likely know it's you, (as you are probably the only other person that meets Maisie), so she won't bring her to you next time she needs boarding.
 
willow said:
Sadly, I would go for pignapping over reporting to RSPCA. :(
If you report neglect, the owner will most likely know it's you, (as you are probably the only other person that meets Maisie), so she won't bring her to you next time she needs boarding.
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True but the poor wee things can't go on being skinny unless Tracey feeds them when they are on holiday....

Never mind pignapping being illegal and impacting on VIPiggies business....

Maybe the owner needs told that if they turn up undernourished etc again then they could be reported?
 
Guinea pig slave said:
Do you think they may need worming or something or are they just underfed :...
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I don't think they need worming, I think it's just underfeeding.

I can honestly say that I've never had a problem with any of my animals not eating (unless they are unwell), but, since doing the boarding, I've observed that lots of owners just don't notice when their pets are off their food or not eating enough.

I think, with the bunny, she's just lonely (lives in a hutch alone outside) and, like most bunnies, when they're unhappy, they don't eat. With Maisie, i also think she's lonely, and her personality is naturally quite nervy and sensitive, although she lives indoors so gets some human interaction.

I gave Maisie loads of cuddles last night, she really seemed to enjoy it, and when i put her back in the cage, she sat in her hay tray chomping for half an hour, which is a massive improvement on last time she came!
 
gogoguineas said:
Holy crap I remember Maisie! :o
I totally agree with Rachel, then when the bunny comes again you'll just have to hide Maisie, pop her in a carrier in your bedroom, it's not like she's stopping for tea so take the bun and see her off and she will never know! Pleeeeese Tracey!
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You know, in all seriousness, I have actually been considering all the options and this scenario did pop into my head, but I'm sure the owner would expect to have to pay some kind of bill from the vets (after all, they don't 'dispose' for free). Sigh......
 
MerryPip said:
Even if it's unintentional neglect then really it needs sorted... Not sure pig or bunny napping is the right way but the rspca could give her an advisory notice... Try chatting to Vic at Walsall....
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Hi Rach, from what I can make out, the owner just doesn't notice when there's a problem, although the bunny does come equipped with Zantac for any gut stasis, so the owner must have noticed a problem with the bunny and her digestion before.

I'll weigh Maisie later (I think she was 650g last time, as weighed by the vet), but, in my opinion, she's definitely underweight...when I was cuddling her last night, I could feel most of her bones, poor girl. She's semi long coated, which masks some of the thinness, but she's definitely thin :(
 
Crackle & Pop said:
if there is something up with her, illness wise (hoping there isnt of corse) then you could take her to the vet, get her checked over and tell the owner something along the lines of, shes ill and it might cost alot of money for treatment etc, i could take her off your hands? this might also work if she is severely underweight aswell. sorry its so devious, it just sounds like she needs more love and attention xx
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Well, last time she boarded with me, she was very poorly.....neither the vet nor I could quite get to the bottom of it, but she wasn't a well piggie (she had either a URI or a UTI or a bit of both), so she was put onto Metacam and Septrin and I syringe fed her for a few days. Anyway, while the vet was examining her, she said she could feel an 'abdominal mass' but, as Maisie was only boarding with me, it wasn't appropriate to do any further tests on that mass.

Oh, as a bit more info, there was a chance that she was pregnant when she boarded with me last time, so the 'mass' could've been babies, but the vet didn't think it felt like babies so that was about 80% ruled out.

I did tell the owner all of this, and I did try the whole "she's going to need more (expensive) vet treatment" angle in the hope she'd hand her over to me, but I know that Maisie hasn't been to the vets since then for further investigations (and, of course, no baby Maisies!).

So it follows that she may be underweight due to the 'abdominal mass' (whatever that may be), but she doesn't eat much so I suspect (hope) it's more the poor appetite that's causing her to be thin.
 
Guinea pig slave said:
How are your little boarders today ?/
Couldn't get them out of my mind last night :(
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Maisie is great! Eating a bit; not as much as I would like her to eat, but she's chomping on some hay and she has a cage full of tempting treats, so it's all pretty positive at the moment. We had loads of cuddles last night, and she really seemed to enjoy it..... she even started to be a bit cheeky and climb all over me, bless her!

The bunny is ok as well.....although she also isn't eating too much. I kind of expect bunnies to be a bit stressy when they first board with us, they all have a day or two when their appetite decreases, but we have a range of cunning plans and tricks up our sleeves to tempt them to eat!
 
650g is pretty thin! Even for a little girl. My Hamish is not a heavy pig and only 4 months old but he's around the 850g mark although not gaining any more.

Not getting vet treatment/assessment when a problem like an abdominal mass has been found is technically abuse and causing unneccesary suffering. I know she probably doesn't mean it but ignorance is no excuse especially if you have spoken to her about it before.

Any idea how heavy the rabbit is compared to what it should be?

Definately worth taking advice about even if it's from your vet. I wouldn't feel happy releasing them back to her care either.
 
willow said:
Sadly, I would go for pignapping over reporting to RSPCA. :(
If you report neglect, the owner will most likely know it's you, (as you are probably the only other person that meets Maisie), so she won't bring her to you next time she needs boarding.
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I agree; to be honest, and I know this might be a bit controversial on this forum, but I'm not a huge fan of the RSPCA. Whilst they do great work with the high profile cases, I think their 'rules' as to what constitues neglect are far to rigid and many neglected animals don't fit into their criteria and are overlooked.

I'm realistic though, and I understand that's in part due to the overwhelming demand for their services and lack of funding, but still......
 
I know what you mean but letting an animal suffer is a bad idea. Not sure what the answer is though!
 
MerryPip said:
Maybe the owner needs told that if they turn up undernourished etc again then they could be reported?
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Unfortunately, if I did that, I can pretty much guarantee that they'd never be brought to board with me again. I'm not bothered about losing the business (I turn down lots of business if it doesn't feel 'right' to me) but I would be sad if I never saw Maisie and the bunny again.

x
 
Poor little things, I wonder how much she is feeding them :( My buns get the tiniest amount of dry feed and are binkying round the garden most days and are still a good weight.

And dispose? Like and empty wrapper :( Give them both cuddles from me xx

PS I would pignap too
 
MerryPip said:
650g is pretty thin! Even for a little girl. My Hamish is not a heavy pig and only 4 months old but he's around the 850g mark although not gaining any more.

Not getting vet treatment/assessment when a problem like an abdominal mass has been found is technically abuse and causing unneccesary suffering. I know she probably doesn't mean it but ignorance is no excuse especially if you have spoken to her about it before.

Any idea how heavy the rabbit is compared to what it should be?

Definately worth taking advice about even if it's from your vet. I wouldn't feel happy releasing them back to her care either.
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She's not a small piggie, really, and she's about 4 years old, so definitely fully grown! She could do with some meat on her bones, bless her, she's very slender.

Like you say, not treating illness is classed (by the RSPCA) as neglect, but I doubt very much that they'd be in the slightest bit interested in Maisie....after all, she has an appropriate diet and water and she's housed in a suitable cage.

I had a lot of dealings with the RSPCA when I was involved in the horse world, and those three seem to be their key criteria.....if an animal has food and water then they go to the bottom of the priority list.

I haven't weighed the rabbit, I'll get her weighed later. There's such a wide range of 'normal' sizes for rabbits though, so it's hard to know if she's 'underweight' for her size or not. But I do know you can feel every one of her vertebrae, poor thing.

x
 
Bailey said:
Poor little things, I wonder how much she is feeding them :( My buns get the tiniest amount of dry feed and are binkying round the garden most days and are still a good weight.

And dispose? Like and empty wrapper :( Give them both cuddles from me xx

PS I would pignap too
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Not sure what quantities they're normally fed, but I make every effort to shovel food into them while they're with me! :)) I even made up some chamomile tea yesterday and used it to soak some of the bunny's pellets into a mash.....I find that often tempts them to eat.....I know rabbits shouldn't eat too much hard feed, but when they turn their nose up at hay and 'good' stuff, needs must and all that! rolleyes

Cuddles will be given from their Aunty Bailey! (I assume you're an 'auntie' and not an 'uncle'!)

x
 
Teejay said:
You know, in all seriousness, I have actually been considering all the options and this scenario did pop into my head, but I'm sure the owner would expect to have to pay some kind of bill from the vets (after all, they don't 'dispose' for free). Sigh......
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Ok how about you keep Maisie and when her owner comes either tell her she went peacefulky and you buried her for her or she went at the vets out of illness and the bills on you cos you felt so terrible she died whilst her owner was away. Then as I said, hide next time the rabbit comes!
I know what you mean about the RSPCA and completely agree, unless an animal is being abused they do very little, especially if they have food, water & shelter, it's their way of being able to deal with bigger cases I think.
 
I'm gonna be no help cause the best solution to this seems to be pig napping in my opinion lol :(|). Couldn't you just say you woke up to find she had passed so no need for vet bills and you 'disposed' of her as asked, that grunting sound must have been something worse than expected. Then Maisie gets to have a couple hours of holiday round someone else's house whilst bunny gets picked up/ dropped off. Damn I wasn't going to write any further piggie napping schemes but looks like that didn't work very well :(|).

If not there must be someway to try and get the owner to realize they need to have more food/ see a vet about the mass, maybe put the amount of food she should be getting in little baggies and tell the lady that's how you like to do it now so you know exactly how many days worth you've got left and she'll catch on?
 
gogoguineas said:
Ok how about you keep Maisie and when her owner comes either tell her she went peacefulky and you buried her for her or she went at the vets out of illness and the bills on you cos you felt so terrible she died whilst her owner was away. Then as I said, hide next time the rabbit comes!
I know what you mean about the RSPCA and completely agree, unless an animal is being abused they do very little, especially if they have food, water & shelter, it's their way of being able to deal with bigger cases I think.
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Hmmm......worth thinking about......all this makes me sound like a complete piggie thief......honestly, this is the first one I've been tempted to pignap, I don;t make a habit of it! rolleyes

Maisie's just such a little waif, she needs some love, some attention and some piggie company.

x
 
I'm wondering if the owner maybe wants you to pignap her, that way she gets the easy way out and doesn't have to admit she's not caring for her properly. She seems to have given you that option by what she said when she left rolleyes or at least that's how it appears to me... :x and if she doesn't want Maisie back to bury in the event of an unhappy event 8... that would suggest she doesn't really feel that much affection towards her in the first place....not that I'm suggesting anything mind...rolleyes
 
Coconut said:
If not there must be someway to try and get the owner to realize they need to have more food/ see a vet about the mass, maybe put the amount of food she should be getting in little baggies and tell the lady that's how you like to do it now so you know exactly how many days worth you've got left and she'll catch on?
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The problem is that Maisie doesn't actually seem to want eat much at all. I think her timidity and nervousness keeps her huddled in her hidey house all the time, that's why I think she needs piggie friends to give her confidence and security....so, anyway, to tempt her to eat, I put a hay cookie and a load of veggies in the hidey house with her! Ways and means, ways and means.....:))......but I think the owner just doesn't notice that she's not eating much, so doesn't use my own sneaky tactics, and Maisie stays thin.

Tracey x
 
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AndreaJane said:
I'm wondering if the owner maybe wants you to pignap her, that way she gets the easy way out and doesn't have to admit she's not caring for her properly. She seems to have given you that option by what she said when she left rolleyes or at least that's how it appears to me... :x and if she doesn't want Maisie back to bury in the event of an unhappy event 8... that would suggest she doesn't really feel that much affection towards her in the first place....not that I'm suggesting anything mind...rolleyes
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LOL....you lot are baaaaaad - in a good way of course! rolleyes

The reason the owner gave for the 'disposal' comment was that she has "so many buried in the back garden and the foxes only end up digging them up"

:{

x
 
I'm a little confused Tracey - It does seem odd that someone who is knowingly neglecting thier animals would then go to the bother of paying you to board them, is the issue ignorance?

Pignapping is a no for many reasons. The RSPCA unfortunatly have worse cases to deal with so are not going to get involved in this case. I think you should go direct to the owner and state that the animals are underweight and that she needs to feed them more, obvoiusly this is a risky strategy as she may then just not board with you in the future but at least you have made sure that she is aware there is a problem.
 
Teejay said:
LOL....you lot are baaaaaad - in a good way of course! rolleyes

The reason the owner gave for the 'disposal' comment was that she has "so many buried in the back garden and the foxes only end up digging them up"

:{

x
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That's not nice. She's so skinny. She needs some TLC and not just on holidays. I think maybe after all's said and done just ask her if you can keep her as part of your herd?! Maybe she might find that it's easier for her to accept that way.

Have you tried her with anyone else for floortime as a sneaky trial?

The only other option is to confront the owner about her weight and see if she takes it on board.... Not much fun mind you. When's she due to go home?
 
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