Poorly guinea pigs

[shiny]

We are having such a bad run of luck with our lovely guinea pigs. We had 2 brothers Cloud & Willow (nearly 4) and poor Cloud had to be PTS in July due to kidney stones & kidney failure - inoperable & very sad

His brother Willow was then a lone pig & seemed to be getting a bit sad so after much deliberation 3 weeks ago we got a new baby male to be his companion - Bertie. We did the whole introduction thing really carefully & they get on really well. Bertie is like Willow's shadow, they get on much better than Cloud & Willow ever did!

Then, on Sunday night Willow seemed to be in real pain, trying to hide under hay or in tunnels in their cage (they are very spoilt pigs with a huge indoor enclosure) & not eating, he could barely pick his head up off the floor & we thought he was dying. I rushed him for an emergency vet appointment with our exotics vet first thing on Monday & he was fine - no sign of anything! We have just been keeping an eye on him since then.

Last night I was stroking baby Bertie (now 9 weeks old) & found a massive lump under one of his rosettes at the base of his skull that couldn't be seen. We also weighed Willow & found he had lost 100g since Monday

Back to the exotics vet this morning (another 2 hour round trip!) & Bertie likely has an abcess that needs to be surgically removed on Monday & Willow will be going in for X-rays to find out what is up with him too. Luckily Willow is insured but Bertie isn't, I hadn't got round to adding him on to the policy yet...typical. Will cost a fortune! Bertie's abcess is likely from an old injury from a litter mate before we got him, there had been no scrapping or even crossness at all from Willow.

Please send your best HC wishes for us, my daughter will be so sad if we lose another of her much-loved guineas

[racinghamster]

What a sad time your having with your boys, I`m sorry to hear that. Piggies are such funny, vocal little things. shiny, have you ever heard of Peter Gurney? I`m sure you have but here is a good website for everything piggy and if you scroll to the botton and click on the A to Z of piggy health, the Peter Gurney pages will come up. They are very interesting and you might find more information on there.

Guinea Pig Care and Health Information

Peter Gurney was a piggy guru but the man died a few years ago sadly, but he left a great knowledge behind him for others to learn from. Hope you enjoy reading his webpages.

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~petergurney/atozmainpage.htm

This is the actual link to the A to Z for you.

[HammieandMerlin]

Aww I really hope that he pulls through, Guinea pigs have always been near and dear to me, and I really hope things look up for him x

[shiny]

Thanks guys

Yes RH, I have visited both those sites before & found them very useful. Peter Gurney sounded like a great guy. I also like guinealynx an American site - they are very medical & it's always useful to know this stuff.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow - we do love our pigs They have a huge cage on a big stand & the hamsters live underneath them - a proper pets' corner!

[billybobbs]

I hope your little piggy is ok soon. I love guineas, I have 5 here with me and I've been really lucky with them. Thinking of you xx

[shiny]

Thanks everybody for your support

Bertie & Willow are back from their day at the vets. Bertie's abcess was so big & deep that the vet had to go through more layers of muscle & tissue than he expected. He was worried that Bertie wouldn't be able to hold his head up after surgery but he is ok. He has a very neat but long line of stitches. He has eaten a bit since he got back but now sitting look very sorry for himself. He has Baytril for 10 days & Metacam too but not until the morning so let's hope he's not in too much pain overnight I am really worried about giving hime the Baytril as I don't want to hurt his wound by him struggling or throwing up his head. WIll be brave & do it a bit later, am going to get probiotic tomorrow too.

Willow was knocked out & x-rayed which showed a bit of calcium deposits in the kidneys but nothing much. They got a urine sample & it had a tiny bit of blood in it so it is going off for analysis. He seems fine, eating & happy. Time will tell...

This was an EXTREMELY expensive vet bill day, only Willow is insured I hadn't got round to adding Bertie to the policy yet as we only had him 3 weeks. For anybody who is unsure about insurance, I say think hard about whether you can manage without it. We could have had a family weekend away with the money we spent today, I don't begrudge the animals their treatment but it's a tough amount of money to spend out. Hopefully we will get Willow's treatment costs back though.

Fingers crossed for us getting Bertie though the next few days, he looks so sad

[Willowthehamster]

Sending happy vibes to Bertie, bless him xx