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Hazelnut is poorly

S

Sparklepetal

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hello fellow Forum piggies, it's Trudy here. I wanted to let you know about my companion Hazelnut. She has not been helping me with the veggies properly for a couple of days and the slaves noticed she was quiet and sad-looking. At her weekly weigh-in they didn't call her a fatty like they usually do, but said she was losing weight. The big slave has been trying to give Hazelnut critical care, but she wasn't really taking very much. Oh, I have to mention, apparently leaping onto the slave's lap and walking on an ill friend's head to try and steal the syringe is apparently not cool. Must try to remember that...

This morning we were popped in the carrier and made the journey to see our lovely vet Rebecca. Thank goodness I was allowed to stay in the carrier, but Nutty had to be Examined. Rebecca said there were no lumps or bumps which was good, but it sounded like Hazelnut's back teeth were catching on each other. She fetched her nasty metal mouth-looking-in device and saw a sore ulcer on one side of Nutty's tongue and could make out some small spurs.

Now Hazelnut and I are staying in the vet's "guinea pig condos" (Rebecca is an American vet!) enjoying nice snacks. They plan to sort out Nutty's gut stasis today and then tomorrow give her just a whiff of anaesthetic in order to sort out the teeth.

It felt a little odd to be abandoned here by our slave, and we could tell she felt bad to be leaving without us. We hope our young slaves are not too upset to not see us until tomorrow evening - it will be my special slave's birthday too, and I won't be able to give her licks until bedtime.

Spare a thought for Hazelnut during her treatment, and I will do my best by cleaning all the critical care off her chin!

Trudy x
 
Try and think of it like a little holiday Trudy. A sort of dental spa where you will both come out feeling better and raring to go. We'll be thinking about you 💕
 
Hey Trudy give Hazelnut a licky kiss from me. Hope she’s soon on the mend. You are a lovely friend for staying at the guinea pig condos with her. You’ll both be home soon.
 
Aw Trudy look after your little friend Hazelnut and don’t forget to look really hungry so those lovely vets feed you lots 💕
 
Poor Hazelnut I hope she is eating and feeling better very soon. Then you can both get home, thanks for letting us know Trudy x
 
Hi Trudy
I am keeping my fingers crossed that Hazelnut will feel better again in a few days once her mouth is feeling less painful and that you are the best 'paw-holding' companion for her during that time.
 
Dear Trudy,
Hazelnut is lucky to have you staying with her and helping her feel better.
We hope everything will be ok.
Love from Priscilla and Micah
 
Thanks for all your kind wishes lovely piggies and slaves. We just heard the vet nurse call our slave to let her know that Hazelnut is nibbling food and doing poops and is on track for her procedure tomorrow. I don't know why the nurse didn't report how fabulous I am?

Trudy x
 
Hazelnut and I are back from the vet's. I was pleased to find our slave had bought special tempting waitrose veggies and herbs for us! Hazelnut accepted a bit hungrily but she is feeling too groggy for a proper pig-out and has settled down in a cosy bed. Slave says she will come back in a couple of hours to give metacam and critical care. Apparently I have been such a good companion that I will get some syringes of feed too, just in case I have been stressed by the experience!

Trudy x
 
Dear Trudy,
Thank you for letting us know that Hazelnut is doing well.
When one of us isn’t well our slave gives a a special dish of syringe feed in our cage so we all get to share it.
It’s especially yummy if she puts some mashed banana in.
We hope the Hazelnut will be all better very soon with you helping to look after her.

We we’re not impressed that the vet nurse didn’t mention how fabulous you are.
We think if you ever have to go and see the vet nurse you should do an especially big wee on the table.

Love from Micah and Priscilla
 
Well done for looking after Hazelnut so well. I hope she is soon back to munching on her share of the veggies. But in the meantime enjoy your share of the yummy syringes.
 
Slave update: Hazelnut has been looking much brighter since a couple of hours after morning metacam today. She has had a few syringes of feed at each attempt with quite a bit of protest. Small poops but they're appearing!

However she is heading back to the vet this afternoon... I noticed her eye looking a bit crusty when we brought her home from her op, but assumed she couldn't be bothered to wash after being upset. While feeding her lots of tasty grass just now we decided she has picked up a hay poke at the vet's and the eye looks very sore.

I wish our lovely vet wasn't a 30+ minute drive away, and I wish I could explain to the girls that this trip in the carrier won't be like the one they just had and I won't abandon them again 😭 So stressful when pets or children are ill!
 
Oh Hazelnut, what a week. Hope the trip was not too stressful and you can all look forward to a quieter weekend of rest and recuperation. 💕
 
Hurrah. So glad they’ve removed the offending hay - should ask for a reduction in your bill for the unwanted ‘extra’ 😂. Wishing you all a quiet recuperative weekend x
 
Trudy here again, hope everypig is well and getting lots of treats for being fabulous!

Hazelnut's sore eye is all better now, lovely vet Rebecca says she can stop the eye drops, so Nutty will be pleased about that.

However she is very stressed out by the top up feeding, and has gone on losing a little weight over the last week and it has brought on a urine infection. I know it's not ladylike to mention it, but she has a stinky butt! The vet suspects for that reason that it's bacterial rather than sterile. So now Hazelnut has to have sulfatrim once a day, cystease sprinkled into her syringe food once a day, metacam twice a day, and critical care and water syringe top ups whenever slave can get them into her. I foresee a lot more grumping around the hutch!

Trudy x
 
Oh dear - poor Hazelnut. Hope the stinky butt clears up 😬 and hope that you are getting some time to look after yourself too 💕
 
Poor Hazelnut, she is going through the wars, thank you for the update Trudy. We all sending lots of healing vibes to Hazelnut.

Kiki (who is currently getting over haypoke too) Hector, Posh and Ginger x
 
Poor Hazelnut.
Thank you for telling us and we hope she’s not too grumpy around the cage.
We hope she gets better soon.
Love from Priscilla and Micah
 
I think we may have almost reached the end with my poor dear Hazelnut. I have been syringe feeding every 2 hours 7am - 11pm for weeks now, yet still she loses weight. The vet has her on maximum pain relief and thinks there is also some arthritis. Until the last day or so I have kept being hopeful that "tomorrow she will turn the corner" and that she just needs a little more time. She has been eating some matchstick veggies twice a day and eager for her picked grass. She had been seen once or twice trying some hay again for the first time since her tooth op. But yesterday she refused everything extra except some celery, and at today's last feed she wasn't even bothering to chew her recovery food. She's just lying on her snugglesafe and looking totally sad and uninterested in life.

I will go on with evening feeds tonight and call the vet in the morning. I'm so sad for my precious girl 😢.
 
I’m so sorry. Poor Hazelnut. Sometimes no matter how hard we try it’s just not enough. You really have done all you can and I’m sure Hazelnut appreciates that. ❤️
 
I’m so sorry to hear about poor Hazelnut, sometimes no matter how hard we try it’s just not meant to be :hug:Take heart that you have done your very best for her and she has had a happy life filled with love x
 
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