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Haypoke again!

Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato

Adult Guinea Pig
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We've gone quite a while hay poke free and I was pretty sure getting rid of our hay racks was the solution we'd needed. But sadly Gundams desire to stab himself in the eye was just too strong and we have yet another hay poke incident. I think this is his 4th hay poke. He's either seriously clumsy or doing it for attention although I'm not sure a vet visit and eye drops if the sort of attention he's after.

Spud always seems to be mean to his brother when he has hay poke. He humps him and rumbles at him all the time. This doesn't lead to fights because Gundam is very submissive but it's hardly being gentle and kind looking after his poorly friend. I have a few theories why this may be but I was wondering if anyone knows for certain or has experienced this when their piggies have been ill. My theories as to why are as follows...
A. Gundams vision is impaired and as such he's not picking up on more subtle social cues so spud is resorting to more aggressive strategies.
B. Spud is jellous of the fact I'm handling Gundam more and is asserting his dominance (spud usually gets lots of cuddles but Gundam isn't a very cuddly pig and usually gets handled by my OH not me)
C. Spud is seeing that Gundam is week and is seeing an opportunity to become more dominant (he is already the king of the cage but he's not very dominant and they're usually quite equal)

We're booked in to see the vet tomorrow I'm guessing we'll get the usual eye drops and maybe some pain killers. I'd like to think he's learned his lesson but at this point I think it's his mission to get as many hay pokes as he can.
 
My Eris seems to get them for fun too but its normally meadow hay thats the culprit, Timothy is no issue despite being sharper. Hopefully it will heal quickly.
 
Hopefully, it will heal quickly.

My record stands at 8 hay pokes in a year. I've already had a thankfully minor one I caught straight away this year... :(

Unfortunately, since we cannot ask our piggies directly, we can always only speculate on why some piggies tend to over-react with dominance when a mate is ill/injured while others are very supportive.
 
Wiebke said:
Hopefully, it will heal quickly.

My record stands at 8 hay pokes in a year. I've already had a thankfully minor one I caught straight away this year... :(

Unfortunately, since we cannot ask our piggies directly, we can always only speculate on why some piggies tend to over-react with dominance when a mate is ill/injured while others are very supportive.
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Wow 8 is a lot! Hopefully not all by the same piggie
 
Engel said:
My Eris seems to get them for fun too but its normally meadow hay thats the culprit, Timothy is no issue despite being sharper. Hopefully it will heal quickly.
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They have a meadow hay/Timothy hay mix. The piece of hay I pulled out of his eye was very soft and not spiky at all. I'm really not sure how he managed it but hopefully the hay being so soft will mean it won't have damaged the eye too much.
 
Sweet Potato said:
They have a meadow hay/Timothy hay mix. The piece of hay I pulled out of his eye was very soft and not spiky at all. I'm really not sure how he managed it but hopefully the hay being so soft will mean it won't have damaged the eye too much.
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It is hopefully more likely just an ulcerating scratch to the surface instead of a proper poke. Some piggies have looser lids and can be more prone to getting grass or hay stuck under a lid; or - with cataracts - are less likely to see things coming.

I had a piggy who played that game with me repeatedly with getting grass blades stuck under a lid...
 
We've seen the vet this morning. The vet said he was a very well behaved and friendly boy which is nice to hear. She also said the damage was minimal and only slightly damaged the surface of the eye in one area. He's got metacam and 2 lots of eye drops and hopefully it'll be like nothing happened by the end of the week.
 
So Gundams antics wasn't enough pet drama for the day. My sister came over and wanted to handle spirit the worm 🐍 we quickly noticed his tummy was squishy and swollen (probably bloat) so we've had a 40 minute drive to the emergency vet and I've had to leave him there overnight. I miss him so much its so strange not having him here even though I know the vet is the best place for him at the moment. They're going to give him laxatives and they'll let me know in the morning if he's still bloated because then he'll need an xray to work out what's going on. He's such a lovely snake but he is getting old and I'm really worried about him.
 
Sweet Potato said:
So Gundams antics wasn't enough pet drama for the day. My sister came over and wanted to handle spirit the worm 🐍 we quickly noticed his tummy was squishy and swollen (probably bloat) so we've had a 40 minute drive to the emergency vet and I've had to leave him there overnight. I miss him so much its so strange not having him here even though I know the vet is the best place for him at the moment. They're going to give him laxatives and they'll let me know in the morning if he's still bloated because then he'll need an xray to work out what's going on. He's such a lovely snake but he is getting old and I'm really worried about him.
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Have you had an update as to how Spirit is?
 
He's still not pooped. He's had an xray but it didn't show up anything bad other than a blockage (so no tumour or swollen organs which is good). We're going to get him soon because we've decided it's best he's treated at home (digestive issues with an animal that eats once every 2 weeks can take a while to recover from) the vet is going to give us some laxatives to keep giving him and once he poops we'll send in a poop sample to check for parasites.
 
He's going to have to live in the box of shame for a few days it's tiny and not a very stimulating environment but it's everything a snake needs and it makes it easier for us to keep a close eye on him and monitor his poos and hopefully get a clean poop sample for the vet. 20220515_145034.webp
 
The vet seemed quite positive that it wasn't anything too serious just impaction we have medicine and hopefully we'll get a feacal sample at some point. It may take a few weeks to clear but he should be getting better. Most importantly he's been a very good boy and he's back with us now.
 
Sorry to hear about Spirit’s problems on top of Gundams’s.
Hopefully the eye will heal quickly and Spirit will recover from his tummy issue.
 
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