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Bathtime for Flora and Amber! Plus various Qs!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Morrigan
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Morrigan

Well, over the last fortnight Amber and Flora have settled right in and today I felt that they were relaxed enough around me to have their first bath.

Unfortunately Photobucket is down at the moment but as soon as it's back I'll load up the pictures I took of the clean girlies!

Whilst bathing them I was able to give them a proper health check. Flora is quite overweight: seriously, if I didn't know for a fact that Amber was a girl I'd be wondering if Flora were pregnant :'( Any tips for how to reduce her weight a little? At the moment they have Wagg Guinea Crunch and unlimited Dust Free Hay. Her bottom was also a bit dirty and stained, probably because she can't reach it very well :( She looks much better for the bath. Her fur was also quite 'sticky' and it looks as though she has dandruff: mites? I used GG lavender and tea tree oil shampoo, is there another GG shampoo that would be more suitable? How often should I bathe her whilst she has this condition?

Amber thankfully seems to have escaped the mites: she's much slimmer and her fur felt fine, although she seemed to actually enjoy her bath! :love: I expected more of a battle! ;D
 
What is her actual weight and do you feed them anything else beside wagg and hay? Also do you watch them when they eat to see if they are both eating?

In regards to the mites/lice if they live together I would treat them both as you dont want them passing it from one to the other. I think I would take them to the vets as it could be a skin condition, not sure maybe someone will be able to help on that one ;)
 
Thanks, I think you're right about the vets visit: I think they would benefit from a check up anyway O0

They mostly have Wagg and Hay at the moment as they hadn't ever had regular veg at their old home, except for some carrot or greens once every few weeks. So, the first week I kept them on exactly what they were used too whilst they settled in and then last week I very slowly started to introduce some veg (again just spring greens and carrot as they had had that before). I assumed that piggies were the same as rabbits and I'd have to make diet changes very slowly... I'm heading towards giving them fresh veg every day though :smitten:

PS. Not sure about actual weight: I'll go and find out now..
 
Actual weights:

Amber is 1lb 12oz

Flora is 2lb 8oz

They are sisters apparently! Both do eat, in fact I see Amber sat in the food bowl more than Flora. Flora eats more hay though.
 
Do you know how old the girls are or if they are adult or still young ones?

I don't know how much sows usually weigh but my adult boars weigh over 3lb each! :o Your vet should be able to advise on if they are a good weight for the size piggie they are. :)
 
My sows weigh between 950g and 1200g, I think your piggy's weight is fine. I wouldn't try and reduce it - I know some sows that weigh around the 3lb mark.

With regards to veggies I would start to increase the variety of veggies as soon as possible, too many carrots can cause problems and spring greens, while good for them, can cause them to be gassy if fed in excess. You need to try and get them onto daily veg asap.

I would contact Chrissie at GG to advise what shampoo would be best for your piggies.
 
Thanks Sian. As far as I know, they are both about a year old. Actually I was just searching through the site and found a thread on 'ideal weights' and it would seem that if anything, Amber is a rather small piggy. I'll definitely get the vet to check them over and make sure there isn't anything more sinister that's making them vary in size so much.

daftscotslass: the pigs have had veg every other day for this week, so I'll start them on every day now and eventually I want them to have veg morning and night. Do I need to introduce new veg one at a time? I'm used to catering for my rabbits' uber-sensitive tums, so I'm being very cautious!

I'll go and email Chrissie now and will let you know what she says: thanks for the contact name :)
 
Morrigan said:
daftscotslass: the pigs have had veg every other day for this week, so I'll start them on every day now and eventually I want them to have veg morning and night. Do I need to introduce new veg one at a time? I'm used to catering for my rabbits' uber-sensitive tums, so I'm being very cautious!
Click to expand...

One at a time is probably best as you'll be able to tell right away if their tums are sensitive to one in particular. If they've never had veg before you'll probably end up with some mushy poops with the more watery veg (cucumber etc) so it's just a case of cutting back on the quantity and letting them stuff themselves full of hay and pellets.

There is a superb chart over at GPC that shows you, colour coded, which veggies piggies can have and how often.
 
Thanks again! :)

PS.. Photobucket is back up, so here are the girls:

Flora:
Flora3.jpg


Amber:
Amber1.jpg


Amber checking that I haven't missed a bit under Flora's chin:
AmberandFlora.jpg


They are absolutely lovely piggies and I really do want to make sure that I do my absolute best for them. It's been a long time since I've had pigs though so it's pretty daunting learning how things have changed! :)
 
Hi again everyone!

I have an update on Flora and Amber :) Both girls went to the vets for a check up and were given a clean bill of health: apparently Amber is just a little pig (possibly the runt of the litter) and as she's eating fine, the vet said not to be concerned about the size difference between them.

The vet was quite happy with the condition of both their coats and he thought that regular baths would be as effective as any other treatment (although obviously I will take them back if it worsens at all) I contacted Chrissie using her email contact form and she suggested a coconeem melt and manuka and neem shampoo for the girls whilst they appear to have this 'dandruff', although they are already looking much healthier for the bath they had with GG lemon, lavender and tea tree oil shampoo.

The girls are also on veg everyday now, with no ill effects at all (i.e. no upset tummies). I googled for the colour coded veggie chart and found it as a PDF on another forum, so that's stuck up on the fridge! They seem to really enjoy the veggies, I've not found anything they wouldn't eat yet!

Thank you to everyone who posted for all of your help :smitten:
 
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