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Buttons' spay

You're doing amazingly. I know how exhausting it is to care for a poorly piggy around the clock too, I'm sure all your hard work will start to pay off soon.
 
You are doing a wonderful job. I know it’s exhausting but just carry on as you’re doing and it will soon be behind you.
 
Quick morning update as I‘m out for some appointments this morning. Buttons weight was up to 1060g today (compared to 1015g yesterday & 975g on Sundsy) which means she‘s either eating more for herself than I‘m giving her credit for or there‘ll be the biggest pile of poops I‘ve ever seen soon. Is it possible for her to have so much poop in her that her weight increases so drastically or is it a sure fire sign that she‘s eating more? Her tummy is very slowly recovering and her poops are getting more frequent and are looking more well formed and coloured again. She had a day of barely any poops and the ones I saw were tiny & dried out so I‘m very happy to see them go back to normal slowly. Her belly appears to be a bit tender when touched but I‘m keeping an eye on it and if it‘s not any better by tomorrow I‘ll be ringing the vet to see if there‘s something we can do to help her. Other than that, she was a bit more feisty this morning and fighting the syringe a bit more which I‘m counting as a good sign (hopefully). Will update more later! xx
 
As my usual vet who did the surgery is on holiday this week I just spoke to the vet who restitched her incision on Sunday and she would like to see Buttons this afternoon to check if her gut needs some support to get moving properly again. So fingers crossed this is our last hurdle!
 
stef.trg said:
She says you wouldn’t believe the day she‘s had! I was also speaking too soon, managed to get 15ml of recovery food and a whole lot of coriander into her! 🤩 She‘s now back in the cage resting on her heat pad. Fingers crossed she continues to improve like that. It was definitely the right decision to bring her home.
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Oh Buttons you are a sweet girl, sending positive vibes for a speedy recovery 🥰
 
Just got back from the vets, Buttons had a gut motility injection to get her gut moving properly again and to get that gas and poop out that‘s in her intestines. The vet said it’s a great sign that she has started to pass more poops as that indicates that her gut has already started up again so she hopes that the injection today was enough, if not we do another one tomorrow which should definitely solve the issue. Every vet trip is so stressful for her and I‘d love to spare her another one tomorrow so fingers crossed she will spend her night pooping out as much as possible. Does anyone know how long it usually takes for an Emeprid injection to start working? So far, Pewter was the only one who‘s ever had it and she was just minorly bloated so it‘s hard to say how long it took to work. Thank you! x
 
Buttons has looked a bit uncomfortable since we were at the vets but now an hour after her evening Metacam dose she seems more relaxed. She‘s still super tired and just moving from one side of the cage to the other to rest. She does nibble a bit of hay, cucumber and lettuce here and there but is not interested in anything else. I‘m starting to worry about her developing some dental issues as well - mostly because Benito had done so by the second week of being unwell. I‘m sure he hadn’t been eating properly for a couple of weeks before that as well but my anxiety is alive and kicking. Even though Buttons is „only“ on day 6 of not eating fully for herself - she never stopped eating and munched on a bit of hay all the way throughout which Benito didn’t for 3 or 4 full days but still, I‘m scared and worried. If every passing day of her not showing a great deal of improvement I can feel my hope of her getting well again dwindle.

But we don’t want to be all negative here. We had some good pooping going on today, half of which was happening before the injection today. I never thought I’d take pictures of poop with my hand for reference but here we are. They‘re still fairly tiny and dried out but the ones coming out now look more healthy and normal, although still small. Fingers crossed by tomorrow her gut is working again properly and she finally starts eating again. I just want my girlie to be healthy again ❤️

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After Nui's spay, she spent five days at the hospital of the university clinic and they wouldn't let her go because they felt she wasn't well enough to be in home care. During these days she hardly ate anything. When she got home, we fought about every bite for about another week.
But her teeth didn't cause any problems.
So all fingers and paws crossed that this won't happen for Buttons either.

Congratulations on all these poops! :yahoo:
I celebrated Nui's first real poops as well.
 
I syringe fed a piggy for over 6 six’s and his teeth were fine.

You’re doing a great job. But it does get tiring and stressful the longer it goes on. I’m sure in just a couple of days she will be ok🤞🏻
 
Thank you all for your reassuring words ❤️ Buttons is still bloated this morning but since her feed last night I can finally hear some gas moving and shifting in her belly. She gets a tummy massage before every feed and then 10-15 minutes on the vibrating pillow afterwards. The vet said to come back for another injection today if it hasn’t resolved but all these vet trips are getting so hard on her and she didn’t want to come out her house and was just passed out for hours after yesterday’s trip. So I‘m going to speak to the vet and see if I can possibly just pick up some Emeprid to give to her at home or if she‘d prefer her to come in. She‘s still munching some hay for a few minutes after every syringe feed and also in between. She also doesn’t have a drum tight tummy and is still pooping - dry, small-ish and infrequent but she’s pooping. So that’s a success! I‘m fairly confident that once we managed to shift this bloat episode, she’ll finally recover fully. Let‘s hope it‘ll shift sooner rather than later!
 
With Nui I forced her to run a few steps in the room. It felt really cruel but it helped. At first she could hardly move, but a few days later she was able to walk normally. And it helped her gut movement a lot.
 
Wow, that’s a fair amount of poop! I agree try and encourage Button’s to move around if you can, that will help everything get working
 
I was just talking to my mum about setting up their cage cleaning run and make her run around in there for a while. She‘s also showed some interest in Cornelius so might pop him in there with her, see how she feels about the love of her life. She has been nibbling on hay today. She‘s not gobbling down huge strands but she’s rummaging through her hay pile picking at little bits which is more than she did previously. I also spoke to the vet, she‘s ordering some Emeprid for us which I can pick up tonight. If anything the stress of yesterday‘s vet appointment made Buttons bloat worse and she barely pooped all night/day so I don’t want to put her through another one.

I am hearing some gurglig sounds (a bit like gas moving in humans‘ tummies) when massaging her belly/having her on the vibrating pillow. Is that a sign that the bloat is starting to shift? Does anyone know? I can’t believe my poor chicken has to now battle bloat after such massive surgery! :(
 
Just had Buttons out for her late afternoon treatment of belly rubs, vibrating pillow ride and so on. There was LOTS of gurgling when she was sat on the vibrating pillow so I‘m hoping that’s a good sign? Her sides and belly are very tender so massaging is tricky but we manage. Also got her to walk around in her run with the felt like the worst piggy owner alive for making her walk around in her run by moving her hidey. But it worked and she had a good 10 minutes of exercise. She‘s also had some syringe food, poop soup & water and is now eating a bit of dad‘s homemade hay. I specifically went to his house today to get it because I thought it might tempt her to munch. She did have a good rummage and nibble for the last 10 minutes, though I can’t really tell how much is actually eating and how much is just picking around in it. The scales will tell us in the morning. I‘m just hoping the Emiprid is going to really help shift that gas. Poor girl is so wide, her belly nearly touches the sides of her hidey entrance.
 
Morning update ☺️ I am very cautiously saying this but I think we might‘ve turned a corner! Since we had all the gas movement yesterday afternoon, Buttons bloat has started to shift. She‘s still a bit wider than I‘d like I think (although she‘s always been wide since her pregnancy) but she‘s feeling SO MUCH better. We just did tummy massage & vibrating pillow ride and she‘s now out in the cage cleaning run with Cornelius and tucking into hay :yahoo:She hasn’t even had her morning meds yet so I‘m super pleased with how she is behaving. We also had a total of over 100 poops yesterday (yes, I counted them 😂). Fingers crossed it continues this way!

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I also had Pewter in there with them but that did not work. At all. The girls were violently chattering at each other and once Pewter decided to lunge herself at Buttons I decided that’s too much for today. Will try again tomorrow in the hope that they decide to tolerate each other again. If not, I‘ll have to rebuild the cage to make Pewter a loved neighbour.
 
Oh this is great news, now that gas has gone everything will start to get back to normal x
 
What great news. Hope that Buttons is now on the road to making a full recover. xx
 
I'm so glad Buttons is feeling a bit better today! Exercise is so good for piggies with bloat... It does feel a bit mean though making them run around 😂
 
Buttons has had a bit of an up and down day. She has phases where she‘s almost her usual self and then she goes hours without moving or eating and looking rather unhappy. I‘m assuming this is fairly normal as the rest of the gas is moving through her body as I‘m sure that’s very uncomfortable. As of this evening, her tummy feels almost normal again. Soft, squishy, no gas bubbles that can be felt. She‘s also much perkier than she was for most of the afternoon. I‘ve never dealt with bloat but I can see now why people say it’s so unpredictable. You think it‘s behind you with the way she was racing around and munching this morning and then it suddenly gets worse again without any trigger. Hopefully, she‘s really got it behind her now.

Buttons is back in the cage with Cornelius, her appetite is still not quite there although she wanted veggies (which she didn’t get for obvious bloat reasons) and she‘s munching on the grass house they got. There‘s still a bit of a lack of interest in hay and she also doesn’t want any goodnight pellets yet. But one step at a time.

Unfortunately, her and Pewter‘s separation over this past week also meant the end of their already troubled bond. So we reshuffled the cage & Pewter now lives next door. And to top it all off, Cornelius decided that today is a grand day for a suicide attempt and jumped out of the hidey as I was attempting to take him home.

He‘s absolutely fine but not gonna lie, I had a little breakdown after that because I felt like I can‘t do right by them at the moment. That‘s when I realised how draining and mentally challenging this past week was. But I had a good cry and now I‘m feeling better again. Thank you all for your continued support, it really means the world ❤️
 
You have done so much for your piggies.you have absolutely not failed your piggies.its emotionally draining looking after poorly piggies..🤗
 
I feel for you and I know exactely how you feel. Billie is my little sweetheart and long term patient. We went through a lot during these last two years with her paw and she has also got arthrosis in her hind legs and a painful spine ... so when she jumped from my lap last year in November, my heart nearly stopped.

It's great that Buttons is starting to feel better and that Cornelius has survived his suicide attempt without any problems. These little fur potatoes really like to test out how much we can take. :blink:
Sorry that Pewter doesn't want to be friends with Buttons any more.
 
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