Unlucky Pigs Or Am I Doing Something Wrong?

[Beans&Toast]

I feel like I have 2 very unlucky pigs and they just can't seem to catch a break.
Over the past few weeks they've been through a lot.
Toast has been on AB for a bladder infection and a URI.
She's been on 2 different meds for bloat and after weeks of aggressive behaviour it was discovered she had arthritis and is now on long term pain relief.

Beans was being harrassed by Toast for quite a while due to her pain and I had to seperate them temporarily.
Yesterday Beans was diagnosed with cataracts in her right eye and an inflamed left eye which she's now on medication for.
She understandably doesn't like getting the eye drops and it seems to be making her grumpy, along with also coming into a particularly strong season last night.


I feel like they can't just relax, there's always something happening or going wrong. I feel so sad for them both.

Surely this can't just be bad luck?
Is there something I could be doing that could be making things worse for them?
Diet/bedding etc?

They're in a 7x3 c and c cage lined with fleece which is fully changed every 3 days usually.
They get out on the grass weather permitting ( not very often right now where I live) and 2 or 3 times a day they get free reign of my hallway which is about 15ft by 3ft.
They have hay boxes filled with meadow hay and hay bowls with unlimited timothy hay.
They get pets at home nuggets about 10-15gs a day each.
They get mixed veg 1 cup each a day,
Daily veg is chard, small slices of carrot, coriander.
Occasionally red lettuce, sweetcorn, green beans, cucumber, parsley.
Rare treat blueberries, pak choi, blackberries, watermelon.

I weigh them weekly and Beans is down 40g since last week
I feel like I must be going wrong somewhere.. Does anyone else feel like they just can't get on top of things for their ill piggies?

 

[Deleted member 114675]

You are giving gold standard care so please don't feel you are to blame . I hope this is just a blip .


Can I just check - is bloat still a problem for Beans ?

 

[Beans&Toast]

Bloat was Toast, and no thankfully it seems to have resolved itself with the meds, she's pooing normally now and her weight is steady. But now it seems like it's Beans' turn to be unwell
As they were both rescues I have absolutely no idea how old they are or their previous health history. The vet thinks around 3-4 years maybe older.
I feel like I have to take it day by day because I don't know how old they are and how long they've got left. I know that sounds horrible to think about but it really does worry me

 

[Deleted member 114675]

Bloat was Toast,

Sorry . Anyway, there goes my theory ! I was going to say sometimes grainless pellets help avoid bloat.

 

[Beans&Toast]

I thought P@H nuggets were good ones?
Would it be worth changing them or is this not likely to be an issue?

 

[helen105281]

Grains can be a factor in bloat so you could always trial the grainless pellets and see. They can be a bit fussy with them though so I would probably suggest starting on mixing a few Vitakraft Emotion prebiotic pellets in with their usual ones and go from there.

Vitakraft Emotion Professional Prebiotic Guinea Pig

 

[Adelle]

Sorry to hear of the problems they are having! I too feel like i must be doing something incredibly wrong! I have a heart failure piggy and a cystitis piggy who live together- fudge has the vet tmro for poss ovarian issues, and i woke up to bloody pee on their beds this morning.

Mallow and poppet live together, mallow has suspicious ovarian tissue and poss facing a spay next week. Poppet had ringworm when she came to me 3 weeks ago. Went to do last poppscoop last night an found bloody pee in their cage too!

I honestly think someone has it in for me. Currently have 2 potential ovarian cyst piggies and 2 bloody urine piggies (potentially not the same piggies!)

I dont even know where to start. The vets going to hate me tomorrow once i start explaining all this!

Nightmare :-( hope they are both feeling better soon xx

 

[Beans&Toast]

Sorry to hear of the problems they are having! I too feel like i must be doing something incredibly wrong! I have a heart failure piggy and a cystitis piggy who live together- fudge has the vet tmro for poss ovarian issues, and i woke up to bloody pee on their beds this morning.

Mallow and poppet live together, mallow has suspicious ovarian tissue and poss facing a spay next week. Poppet had ringworm when she came to me 3 weeks ago. Went to do last poppscoop last night an found bloody pee in their cage too!

I honestly think someone has it in for me. Currently have 2 potential ovarian cyst piggies and 2 bloody urine piggies (potentially not the same piggies!)

I dont even know where to start. The vets going to hate me tomorrow once i start explaining all this!

Nightmare :-( hope they are both feeling better soon xx

It's horrible isn't it?
I'm constantly worrying about them - not to mention the money spent! Although I'd spend any amount to help my pigs, still hard finding the money though.

I'm finding it very stressful looking after them, I absolutely adore them but I'm so worried about them, and how long I've got them for..

I'm also taking mine to the vet tomorrow, I couldn't get my normal vet yesterday so I had to go with a non piggy vet.
I hope your beautiful pigs do well at the vets and it's something that can be sorted without too much stress for them

 

[Adelle]

It's horrible isn't it?
I'm constantly worrying about them - not to mention the money spent! Although I'd spend any amount to help my pigs, still hard finding the money though.

I'm finding it very stressful looking after them, I absolutely adore them but I'm so worried about them, and how long I've got them for..

I'm also taking mine to the vet tomorrow, I couldn't get my normal vet yesterday so I had to go with a non piggy vet.
I hope your beautiful pigs do well at the vets and it's something that can be sorted without too much stress for them

Thank you and same to you xx

Ps I'm in glasgow too, which vet do use? I'm with taylors at cathkin, who have 3 piggy savvy vets.2 are very good medically and one is also good medically and listens to your thoughts if uts something she hasnt touchdd upon- but shes more known for piggy surgery- so have a bit of everything! Havnt needed to use the specialist since moving there x

 

[Beans&Toast]

I use Apex Vets in Denny. They were on the recommended vets list on here and quite a few people on here who use them said they were brilliant. I'm pretty happy with my vet, just wish they were open at weekends They are also 24/7 emergency out of hours as all 3 vets live in Denny which is very convenient for the the times I've had to rush Toast there, it's just 2 minutes drive.

Do you ever worry your vet might have missed something? I think my vet is great so it's probably just me being paranoid and worrying too much but sometimes I'm just scared something may have been missed?
I think it's just scary the thought that so many things can go wrong with piggies and they hide it so well

 

[Wiebke]

I am very sorry - there can be times when you feel like renting a tent in the vet's waiting room and starting to camp there!

Anyway, I would back @helen105281 on trying a grain free diet for a guinea pig with recurring bloating issues and see whether that helps towards stabilising it. Otherwise it is very much down to figuring out what foods work and which don't...

 

[Adelle]

I use Apex Vets in Denny. They were on the recommended vets list on here and quite a few people on here who use them said they were brilliant. I'm pretty happy with my vet, just wish they were open at weekends They are also 24/7 emergency out of hours as all 3 vets live in Denny which is very convenient for the the times I've had to rush Toast there, it's just 2 minutes drive.

Do you ever worry your vet might have missed something? I think my vet is great so it's probably just me being paranoid and worrying too much but sometimes I'm just scared something may have been missed?
I think it's just scary the thought that so many things can go wrong with piggies and they hide it so well

Iv heard they are good they are just too far for me as i dont drive. Sometimes i feel like that and then dont want to push it incase you them off- I'm a worrier too!

 

[Beans&Toast]

Iv heard they are good they are just too far for me as i dont drive. Sometimes i feel like that and then dont want to push it incase you them off- I'm a worrier too!

One time one of the (piggy savy) vets wanted to give Toast a low dose, one off steroid injection.. and after hearing how dangerous they can be I decided against it.. he did understand my worry but I still felt like I may have offended him
It's not that I think I know better than them it's just that with guinea pigs there's such a big debate as to what is/isn't safe for them, even vets disagree with other vets, so it's hard to know what the do for the best sometimes

 

[VickiA]

I'm so sorry you feel this way It is soooo not your fault that the girls have had these problems. You are a fabulous owner and doing the very best for the girls. Unfortunately these things just happen. We all get good runs of health, followed by runs of bad luck and bad health.
We went through a terrible run of eye problems here about a year ago - Violet had a hay dart stuck into her eyeball and had to have emergency surgery to remove the dart, then Connie had one the very next week, followed by an abscess in her eyelid and at the same time Mr Teds chronic eye problem flared up to the extent that he had a biopsy taken of his conjunctiva. I had 3 of them constantly at the vets with eye trouble. And the different eye drops took an age to administer each day.
This year seems to be the year Connie and Violet (both older ladies somewhere between 4 and 5) have gynae troubles. Violet had an emergency spay 5 weeks ago and now Connie is going in tomorrow for investigations and a possible spay. Connie has also had recurring bouts of bloat that may be gynae triggered. I seem to spend half my life and most of my salary at the vets. But in all honesty I never think that it is down to me or my husbandry of the piggies. It's just bad luck. And that's the same for you. You are very observant and kind to your piggies. Please don't blame yourself. Big hugs to you xx

 

[Beans&Toast]

I'm so sorry you feel this way It is soooo not your fault that the girls have had these problems. You are a fabulous owner and doing the very best for the girls. Unfortunately these things just happen. We all get good runs of health, followed by runs of bad luck and bad health.
We went through a terrible run of eye problems here about a year ago - Violet had a hay dart stuck into her eyeball and had to have emergency surgery to remove the dart, then Connie had one the very next week, followed by an abscess in her eyelid and at the same time Mr Teds chronic eye problem flared up to the extent that he had a biopsy taken of his conjunctiva. I had 3 of them constantly at the vets with eye trouble. And the different eye drops took an age to administer each day.
This year seems to be the year Connie and Violet (both older ladies somewhere between 4 and 5) have gynae troubles. Violet had an emergency spay 5 weeks ago and now Connie is going in tomorrow for investigations and a possible spay. Connie has also had recurring bouts of bloat that may be gynae triggered. I seem to spend half my life and most of my salary at the vets. But in all honesty I never think that it is down to me or my husbandry of the piggies. It's just bad luck. And that's the same for you. You are very observant and kind to your piggies. Please don't blame yourself. Big hugs to you xx

Thank you
It just got to the point I felt like I must be going wrong somewhere...
And I worry if they're not happy, although I do everything possible to make sure they are.
But it's quite encouraging to hear of piggies in older age recovering well from surgeries

 

[Beans&Toast]

Also I hope it goes well with Connie tomorrow

 

[Freela]

Ugh- sometimes it all happens together. It doesn't sound as though you are doing anything wrong. Years ago I had a summer where everything went wrong, pig-wise... Frenzy developed a bad dental abscess, had a couple surgeries, eventually passed away. Around the same time, Linney developed a large mass on her back that had to be surgically removed and a UTI. After Frenzy passed, we adopted Sundae, who didn't take long to start throwing her own health issues at us. Unfortunately, sometimes these things come up all at once and no one is to blame. I hope both feel better soon!

 

[Keiko The Pig]

I'm a new piggy owner so no issues yet, but it seems like all these problems happen to female pigs more so than males? I was debating getting a spayed sow for my boy (if i can ever find one! the rescues waiting list is way too long) but hearing about all the problems with their hormones and ovarian cysts and how often they go into season I'm starting to think boars are the way to go! My boy keeps so clean he hasn't needed a bum bath and i've had him for nearly 2 months. I check everyday and he's always crystal clean. No hay, no poop, no boar glue or sperm rods in sight

 

[Wheek! Wheek!]

I feel like I have 2 very unlucky pigs and they just can't seem to catch a break.
Over the past few weeks they've been through a lot.
Toast has been on AB for a bladder infection and a URI.
She's been on 2 different meds for bloat and after weeks of aggressive behaviour it was discovered she had arthritis and is now on long term pain relief.

Beans was being harrassed by Toast for quite a while due to her pain and I had to seperate them temporarily.
Yesterday Beans was diagnosed with cataracts in her right eye and an inflamed left eye which she's now on medication for.
She understandably doesn't like getting the eye drops and it seems to be making her grumpy, along with also coming into a particularly strong season last night.


I feel like they can't just relax, there's always something happening or going wrong. I feel so sad for them both.

Surely this can't just be bad luck?
Is there something I could be doing that could be making things worse for them?
Diet/bedding etc?

They're in a 7x3 c and c cage lined with fleece which is fully changed every 3 days usually.
They get out on the grass weather permitting ( not very often right now where I live) and 2 or 3 times a day they get free reign of my hallway which is about 15ft by 3ft.
They have hay boxes filled with meadow hay and hay bowls with unlimited timothy hay.
They get pets at home nuggets about 10-15gs a day each.
They get mixed veg 1 cup each a day,
[you]Daily veg[/you] is chard, small slices of carrot, coriander.
[you]Occasionally[/you] red lettuce, sweetcorn, green beans, cucumber, parsley.
[you]Rare treat [/you]blueberries, pak choi, blackberries, watermelon.

I weigh them weekly and Beans is down 40g since last week
I feel like I must be going wrong somewhere.. Does anyone else feel like they just can't get on top of things for their ill piggies?

 

[Wheek! Wheek!]

Please don't blame yourself, you sound like you are a very caring owner who loves your girls very much. You clearly do your very best for them and that's all you can ask of yourself. I guess piggies can be just like us humans in some ways where we can get one illness after another! Recently I had a cold, followed by yet another cold, then I got a chest infection, and I suppose piggies can get the same run of poor health. I think we worry about our piggies because they seem so small and they can't tell us what's wrong, but hopefully your girls will be back to full health in no time My little boy Elmo (in the pic) has been to the vet 3 times since I got him last September, once cos he kept scratching, but the vet said he was fine, no skin problem. Then he stopped eating and was lethargic and just sat in the corner of his cage. This time the vet gave him an injection and I had to give him meds for 7 days, and he bounced back very quickly. Then last week he had a sore foot - another visit to the vet - and after me keeping him in his cage to rest, with no floor time for a few days, he's back to his usual popcorning self! So I think we're all in the same boat from time to time, where we get a run of problems for our little furry friends, and we all worry ourselves. We care, which is why we're on the Guinea Pig Forum I guess!