Two Sick Piggies

[NatalieGee]

Corduroy has ringworm, and Sylvester has an upper respiratory infection. They are both on itraconazole for fungal and Sylvester is also on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory.. meanwhile my poor senior cat has caught ringworm as well. The pigs' vet appointments yesterday totalled $500, and they have a culture check scheduled for 3 weeks from now, and another 3 weeks from then.. that pretty much exhausted my entire vet fund. My cat is going to the vet today, and I just know they're going to say that my other cat and my dog need to come in to be checked and put on meds just in case. $$$$. This is very stressful for us, as we both work full time jobs and I'm in college with expensive tuition to pay. Our deep clean yesterday was an event to say the least, and I had to throw away almost everything the pigs had as it was all untreated wood and I didn't want to risk trying to disinfect it.

My guinea pigs hate taking their meds, and no longer greet me or "talk" to me, they just run and hide when they see me and won't even take snacks from my hand anymore. It breaks my heart to see them uncomfortable. Corduroy sits like a champ and accepts the syringe, but Sylv needs to be swaddled in a towel and puts up a big fight.They'll be on meds for 9 weeks minimum.

On the bright side, while she's very expensive, I LOVE the new vet I found for my boys and she's a piggy slave herself which makes it even better. Sylvester, my jumper, was swaddled up in a blanket by her so easily and I just love the way she spoke to them and handled them. Plus, she brings her beautiful birds to work every day and has the most amazing enclosure set up for them, which makes me happy because I can tell how much she cares for animals. There was also a nurse who kissed both of my boys because she said they were so lovely that kissing them was worth risking ringworm!

Just wanted to vent my frustrations, as I'm going to be very broke and very stressed for the next 9 weeks, vacuuming like a crazy lady and running a full-house veterinary operation. My coworkers said they absolutely can't believe I would spend $1500 on appointments for guinea pigs, and that they'd have abandoned them. Can you believe that? It's not their fault they got sick and I would sell my car before I'd let them suffer a day longer than they have to.. You kind folks on this forum seem to be the only ones who understand having little piggie handprints on your heart

 

[Gem789]

Corduroy has ringworm, and Sylvester has an upper respiratory infection. They are both on itraconazole for fungal and Sylvester is also on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory.. meanwhile my poor senior cat has caught ringworm as well. The pigs' vet appointments yesterday totalled $500, and they have a culture check scheduled for 3 weeks from now, and another 3 weeks from then.. that pretty much exhausted my entire vet fund. My cat is going to the vet today, and I just know they're going to say that my other cat and my dog need to come in to be checked and put on meds just in case. $$$$. This is very stressful for us, as we both work full time jobs and I'm in college with expensive tuition to pay. Our deep clean yesterday was an event to say the least, and I had to throw away almost everything the pigs had as it was all untreated wood and I didn't want to risk trying to disinfect it.

My guinea pigs hate taking their meds, and no longer greet me or "talk" to me, they just run and hide when they see me and won't even take snacks from my hand anymore. It breaks my heart to see them uncomfortable. Corduroy sits like a champ and accepts the syringe, but Sylv needs to be swaddled in a towel and puts up a big fight.They'll be on meds for 9 weeks minimum.

On the bright side, while she's very expensive, I LOVE the new vet I found for my boys and she's a piggy slave herself which makes it even better. Sylvester, my jumper, was swaddled up in a blanket by her so easily and I just love the way she spoke to them and handled them. Plus, she brings her beautiful birds to work every day and has the most amazing enclosure set up for them, which makes me happy because I can tell how much she cares for animals. There was also a nurse who kissed both of my boys because she said they were so lovely that kissing them was worth risking ringworm!

Just wanted to vent my frustrations, as I'm going to be very broke and very stressed for the next 9 weeks, vacuuming like a crazy lady and running a full-house veterinary operation. My coworkers said they absolutely can't believe I would spend $1500 on appointments for guinea pigs, and that they'd have abandoned them. Can you believe that? It's not their fault they got sick and I would sell my car before I'd let them suffer a day longer than they have to.. You kind folks on this forum seem to be the only ones who understand having little piggie handprints on your heart

I'm so sorry you're going through this.Youre a very caring owner.Vet bills always seem to come at the worst time and can be very expensive.Glad you've found a good vet and I get so angry when people say things like that, just shows what sort of people they are.Sending healing vibes to your pets and hugs to you xx

 

[Lady Kelly]

We certainly do feel you with the vets bills. When you open your heart and home to an animal you make a commitment. I have one or two work colleagues who are perplexed by it but then look at me like I'm insane when I criticise another colleagues choice of pushchair because it cost more than my first car

 

[Wiebke]

Corduroy has ringworm, and Sylvester has an upper respiratory infection. They are both on itraconazole for fungal and Sylvester is also on an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory.. meanwhile my poor senior cat has caught ringworm as well. The pigs' vet appointments yesterday totalled $500, and they have a culture check scheduled for 3 weeks from now, and another 3 weeks from then.. that pretty much exhausted my entire vet fund. My cat is going to the vet today, and I just know they're going to say that my other cat and my dog need to come in to be checked and put on meds just in case. $$$$. This is very stressful for us, as we both work full time jobs and I'm in college with expensive tuition to pay. Our deep clean yesterday was an event to say the least, and I had to throw away almost everything the pigs had as it was all untreated wood and I didn't want to risk trying to disinfect it.

My guinea pigs hate taking their meds, and no longer greet me or "talk" to me, they just run and hide when they see me and won't even take snacks from my hand anymore. It breaks my heart to see them uncomfortable. Corduroy sits like a champ and accepts the syringe, but Sylv needs to be swaddled in a towel and puts up a big fight.They'll be on meds for 9 weeks minimum.

On the bright side, while she's very expensive, I LOVE the new vet I found for my boys and she's a piggy slave herself which makes it even better. Sylvester, my jumper, was swaddled up in a blanket by her so easily and I just love the way she spoke to them and handled them. Plus, she brings her beautiful birds to work every day and has the most amazing enclosure set up for them, which makes me happy because I can tell how much she cares for animals. There was also a nurse who kissed both of my boys because she said they were so lovely that kissing them was worth risking ringworm!

Just wanted to vent my frustrations, as I'm going to be very broke and very stressed for the next 9 weeks, vacuuming like a crazy lady and running a full-house veterinary operation. My coworkers said they absolutely can't believe I would spend $1500 on appointments for guinea pigs, and that they'd have abandoned them. Can you believe that? It's not their fault they got sick and I would sell my car before I'd let them suffer a day longer than they have to.. You kind folks on this forum seem to be the only ones who understand having little piggie handprints on your heart

I am very sorry. You may find our ringworm hygiene tips very helpful in getting on top of it. Itraconazole is not nice tasting, but very effective and it is much less stressful than topical treatment. It should do the trick in about a week. Please be aware that once ringworm has started up, a patch needs to run its due course and all infected hairs need to come out.

As long as ringworm has not broken out, you should be able to prevent an outbreak in your pother pets as well as yourself (if you have handled ringworm pets with bare skin) with a fungicidal bath like nizoral. Investing in a good and effective anti-fungal disinfective is the one extra expense that I would not grudge. The more you get on top of any of the thousands of tiny ringworm spores, the better for the long term.

The next 3-4 weeks are going to be fairly stressful, but if you are strict with the hygiene, you can get past that and not have any relapses. I have been through it with 16 piggies and have learned some things the hard way, so I feel for you!
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

 

[NatalieGee]

I'm so sorry you're going through this.Youre a very caring owner.Vet bills always seem to come at the worst time and can be very expensive.Glad you've found a good vet and I get so angry when people say things like that, just shows what sort of people they are.Sending healing vibes to your pets and hugs to you xx

Thank you! My boss said "it's just a hamster!" within a minute of me saying they're guinea pigs.. People are so dense about rodents

 

[NatalieGee]

We certainly do feel you with the vets bills. When you open your heart and home to an animal you make a commitment. I have one or two work colleagues who are perplexed by it but then look at me like I'm insane when I criticise another colleagues choice of pushchair because it cost more than my first car

Exactly! I am spending money to care for a living, feeling being and these people can justify a pair of shoes more expensive than my rent for the month, but not saving a furbaby's life

 

[NatalieGee]

I am very sorry. You may find our ringworm hygiene tips very helpful in getting on top of it. Itraconazole is not nice tasting, but very effective and it is much less stressful than topical treatment. It should do the trick in about a week. Please be aware that once ringworm has started up, a patch needs to run its due course and all infected hairs need to come out.

As long as ringworm has not broken out, you should be able to prevent an outbreak in your pother pets as well as yourself (if you have handled ringworm pets with bare skin) with a fungicidal bath like nizoral. Investing in a good and effective anti-fungal disinfective is the one extra expense that I would not grudge. The more you get on top of any of the thousands of tiny ringworm spores, the better for the long term.

The next 3-4 weeks are going to be fairly stressful, but if you are strict with the hygiene, you can get past that and not have any relapses. I have been through it with 16 piggies and have learned some things the hard way, so I feel for you!
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

Thank you, thank you for all the info you've shared everywhere on this forum! It's been super helpful and made me a lot more confident in tackling this ringworm problem. My vet typed up a few pages for me about the sanitation problem, but she obviously only had time to skim the surface and your tips are so beyond helpful. Also, wow, 16 times! How many piggies have you been parent to?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you, thank you for all the info you've shared everywhere on this forum! It's been super helpful and made me a lot more confident in tackling this ringworm problem. My vet typed up a few pages for me about the sanitation problem, but she obviously only had time to skim the surface and your tips are so beyond helpful. Also, wow, 16 times! How many piggies have you been parent to?

Glad that you find our guide really helpful. We have tried to put all the practical advice from our own experiences with tackling ringworm at home into it. It is a tough time, but worth doing it properly with all potential angles in mind.

It is also much easier to get on top of ever again when you have the necessary stuff at home, so you can kick in straight away and prevent the infection from going any further than the one affected person or pet.
I would recommend to have some of our recommended anti-fungal disinfectants and gloves at home, as well as some nizoral shampoo, so you can prevent things from going any further in case you have a new outbreak at some point.

I still have a bag with ringworm fleeces and towels (of course washed at 90 C/200 F before being packed away) in the attic just in case I need to set up another hospital cage again asap, which I have needed to do so once or twice since. But things have never gone any further than just one or two affected piggies because I have been able to step in promptly.

I only had ringworm three times in over a decade. However, bathing 16 cavies (and washing all the towels on top of all the fleece bedding plus underlay at high temperature) every three days with an antifungal shampoo in the days before itrafungol was coming in was a logistical nightmare nearly 6 years ago! My Ceri was in fact the first ringworm piggy to trial the oral introconazole for my piggy savvy vet nearly 6 years ago after she couldn't beat ringworm on enilconazole dips because of an irregular heartbeat - her ringworm was gone after a just a week on itrafungol!

I have nearly 30 piggies at the moment...

 

[NatalieGee]

@Wiebke My goodness, I didn't realize you meant 16 ringworm piggies at the same time! And doing dips for them all! I can only imagine what an ordeal that was Suddenly two pigs on oral meds don't seem so bad.. And wow, what a wonderful life you must have with so many piggie loves around

 

[Flutterby]

Oh dear Sending lots of healing vibes x