Flynt's thread

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by cypher

He's got a bit of a mix in there, some plain hemp, some Hugro delicacy & relax plus a few extra birch leaves & some flowers! His own little mini woodland

It looks really good, it's a got a real natural look to it.

[cypher]

It smells pretty good too
He really doesn't like being out his cage much at all so I try to make it as interesting & pleasant as possible for him, with a few seeds scattered in too he totally forgets where he is for a while & seems to enjoy exploring while I tidy up his cage!
It's convenient to buy it like that but just as easy to buy your own choice of dried flowers, plants or herbs & toss a little in.

[cypher]

My poor boy went into a steep decline again
Only Wednesday I was talking to someone about him & saying how well he was doing, by Thursday I was thinking he wasn't looking do good again & looked thinner, yesterday I was actually quite shocked by how tiny he looked so I weighed him & he's lost a fair bit of weight yet again. He looked messy too, just as if he wasn't grooming himself properly, probably didn't have the energy poor guy.
He's been eating pretty well before that so it's been a really fast turn around & it was back to the vets & he had to have his teeth clipped again, I'm pretty sure (feeling a bit confused by it all now!) it was just his bottom teeth last time but this time his top teeth so it looks like being an ongoing problem with some kind of malocclusion that's causing them to grow incorrectly.

Rant time!
Did we ever have a bad day at the vet though, unfortunately my usual vet's been on holiday this week so I ended up seeing the idiot who messed up with Zephyr (couldn't even find a test strip when she conveniently peed everywhere!) & he began by having a real rant, practically shouting at me for turning up without an appointment! It's always been the way with our surgery, unlike their others, that you can either make an appointment of just turn up within a set time period, he was going on & on about how busy it's been getting, it was completely empty at the time!
When I finally got him to shut up & look at Flynt I really wasn't impressed with how he handled him, he did ok with Zephyr as far as that went but took two rough attempts to scruff Flynt properly so he could clip the teeth & poor Flynt was getting really distressed.
I'm a bit concerned that although he's not drinking more he does seem to be peeing more so I'm worried he may have a kidney problem or something but I didn't get much of an answer to that either *sigh*.
He may be good in his own field but really not good with small or exotic animals, someone else I know had to see him this week with her tortoise & I think she was as unhappy with the experience as I was.
Not a good experience all round, I think I'll give Flynt a chance to settle down & keep a close eye on him then go back & see my proper vet for a more thorough (& gentle) health check soon I think.

[Coco61]

Oh cypher no, no, not little Flynt. I am so sorry. What an appalling experience at the vet again. Fingers and everything else crossed. I hope he settles and if need be you can get back to see the proper caring vet. X

[cypher]

Thanks Coco, it was horrible, I'm still a bit stunned tbh but Flynt seems a lot happier today & ate some breakfast so fingers crossed he will make a good improvement again.

[Shannonmcn]

Ugh, that vet sounds awful! Obviously having little experience with hams is bad enough but a bad attitude on top of it? Unacceptable.

Poor baby Flynt hopefully even a traumatic teeth clipping helps the little guy, I'm rooting for him!

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by cypher

He's been eating pretty well before that so it's been a really fast turn around & it was back to the vets & he had to have his teeth clipped again, I'm pretty sure (feeling a bit confused by it all now!) it was just his bottom teeth last time but this time his top teeth so it looks like being an ongoing problem with some kind of malocclusion that's causing them to grow incorrectly.

Oh no! Poor little guy.

Stitch and Meat both had malocclusion, with Meat's being worse than Stitchy's. He was fed an exclusively soft diet from just after his third birthday but he was very happy on it and used to look forward to dinnertime.

I'm so sorry to hear that you had an awful time with the vet. That's not exactly a way to treat a concerned owner, who is paying to have their pet looked after properly and a poor vulnerable little animal.

I hope that poor little Flynt starts to improve and that you're able to talk to your normal vet who can find out what's going on.

[cypher]

Thanks for the support, we both appreciate it

I think that vet must have been having a bad week, going on about how busy it was on Monday when it was Friday & totally empty, I've never actually had to wait for more than one or two people in all the time I've been going there, no excuse though.
The friend who gave me a lift & was in the waiting room said she heard raised voices as soon as I went in & thought he must have been shouting on the phone! Then she said "If I'd known I would have come in & given him what for!" which made me laugh at least.

I do count myself lucky (normally that is) as I live in a fairly remote spot & the practise has four surgeries & one of them just happens to be quite close by & is usually attended by the exotic pet specialist.
I think the guy I saw yesterday is more of an orthopaedics expert, he looks more suited to tackling a horse than a ham tbh!

Zephyr saved the day & really cheered me up in the evening anyway, just when I was feeling really tired & miserable she got all lively, found an extremely ticklish spot on my neck to run around on & made me laugh so hard I nearly fell over

[Pebbles82]

That vet sounds a bit bonkers. People don't pay money to be shouted at! I don't suppose complaining would do much good. Glad little Flint bounced back from the ordeal and hope he is doing ok agan now. How old is he Cypher?

[cypher]

I probably should complain really but I haven't got the energy right now tbh! I did mention the pee testing failure when I took Mickle in about her eye & didn't get charged a consultation fee for her so it might be worth saying something when I go back!
Flynt's 19 months (to the day today!) already, so he's not exactly young any more but hopefully he's got a good bit of life left in him yet.
He's been very quiet since breakfast but hopefully he's just sleeping off the stress.