Minnou’s piggies

Minnou said:
Would you believe that Gaia is sweeter than honey? .......but only when I'm carrying a big pile of fresh grass for her. 🙄

Her eyes twinkle, she makes the happy purr/rumble noise, does the 'food dance' and accepts nose smooches for her grass.
Click to expand...

Every pig has their Achilles Heel. 🤣
 
I have no idea what Minerva was doing under that hidey and I never will.

I wanted to check see if she was just messing about or having some kind of fit under there so I took away all the hideys so I could watch her and now they're both staying perfectly still and glaring at me. Two angry bread loaves.
 
*Have the niece & nephew around screaming like banshees and fighting*

Minerva sat at the food bowl, watching: "Well, I never!"

*I pick up a box which oh so gently brushes against a plastic bag making the tiniest rustling noise*

Minerva: Panic! Terror! Flees and goes into hiding.

:/
 
Minerva: "Shall I eat the carrot cottage? Or, this plastic bag I found?"

*Minerva, slurping up plastic bag like spaghetti until she is dicovered with it and it gets confiscated*

Then she followed me around, yelling at me because the bag rustled when I picked it up and she thought she was getting something. :/
 
Worst part is, you tell her no and she'll look you in the eye and deliberately, slowly, keep doing it in front of you.

And if that 'doesn't annoy the Slave enough', she'll find something plastic to maul in front of me, whilst continuing to look me in the eye.
 
Dear Gaia and Minerva

Congratulations! You have learnt how to annoy your Slave very well! I've never had the pleasure of bobble bath mats so I wouldn't know about pulling out the bobbles but it sounds like fun. Keep up the good work Gaia. And as for your Slave not feeding you, Minerva, when she rustled that bag (and then took iaway) that you were happily chewing away on ...... well I find that atrocious behaviour. So pleased that you kept yelling at her. Keep up the Slave training girls.

Your friend in a crisis

Miss Bramble
Shop Steward
 
Dear Miss Bramble,

Thank-you for your encouraging words! Annoying this Slave is actually quite easy, it is extorting extra snacks from her that can be a problem, well, at least for me it is. Minerva seems to find it easier.

Minerva: 'I am cute' 😀

Gaia: 'Whatever....' 🙄

The Slave engages in silly wheeking matches with me when I shout for food. The Slave says I don't wheek properly and that I sound like I'm whinging instead! Then she starts wheeking at me! First of all, that's cultural appropriation, secondly, her wheek is terrible! Minerva thinks it is genuine and will wheek along. I start power-wheeking as well, but only to show them both how it's done. I suppose there is no harm in a bit of vocal exercises now and again, so long as there are snacks after...

Your forever hungry, wheek-master disciples,

Gaia & Minerva
 
Dear Gaia and Minerva

Doesn't your Slave know that wheeking without knowing what you're wheeking is very rude? How dare she pretend wheek! If you had young guinea pigs there they would have to cover their ears! Thank wheakywheakness that you have older ears and are immune to such rude words emanating from your Slave's mouth!

Your friend in a crisis

Miss Bramble
Shop Steward
 
I was removing condensation from the window with my little window vac and noticed Gaia was sat there, eyeballing me.

Usually she flees when I switch it on but instead she just sat there and watched until I'd finished. I could read what was going through her mind:

Gaia: 'This is what you do instead of bringing me grass...... If I had a shoe, I would so be throwing it at you right now....'
 
Does anyone else's pigs launch themselves at you like furry torpedos?

It's always after floortime, when it's time to go to bed. They scuttle off, determined not to let me get them, even though they very much want to go to bed. I usually end up on the floor, with my arm stretched under a table, gently patting their bums to get them to move within reach so I can use both hands to pick them up, that's when they decide to throw themselves at me. They can jump pretty high, so I almost get my teeth knocked out, or, they almost go flying over my shoulder. They're mostly just lucky I catch them.

Then Minerva cuddles in, whilst Gaia mauls me. 🙄
 
Someone is determined to push my buttons today!

Told Gaia off for pulling the wallpaper off the wall and eating it, on the far side of the room.
So she ran over to my side of the room and started pulling the wallpaper off there instead! And encouraged Minerva to join in!
So I tickled their bums to chase them away.
Gaia came straight back and started on it again.
So, I stopped her and put a small box in the way but it wasn't quite wide enough to cover the area, so she returned and started mauling the part she could still reach.
So I chased her again and put a way bigger box there.
Turned away.
Turned back.
There she was, glaring at me from behind the box.

I've given up for now and she has probably just moved the bigger box and is having at the wallpaper again whilst I'm here typing. 🙄
 
Gaia has had her very first trip to the vets today. 😢

She seemed more whiney than normal when being picked up the end of last week and for a while I've been harbouring suspicion about her possibly having ovarian cysts or something, and not just being a fatty, so I got the earliest appointment that I could (which was this morning) with one of the veterinary practices I've seen reccommended on here.

Over the weekend, I heard her (or Minerva) crying so I went to check on them but couldn't find anything wrong; my first thought was UTI, bladder stones etc so I watched them for the rest of the day and they were both peeing (and pooping) normally, no hunching, blood or gritty or foul smelling wees.

I gave her a furcut and a little shave in places this morning before we went so the vet could actually see her bits and whilst I had her in my arms, I decided to have a look myself and see if I could feel and lumps or stones. I pressed all around Gaia's abdomen and then all of this rancid, blood tinged pus came out of her bits! (not sure if urethra or vagina).

The vet felt her all over, palpated her abdomen etc and nothing else came out. She said she doesn't think she has cysts (so, she is just fat) but she though she could feel a little something on one side but said it could just be a normal ovary. She felt that Gaia would be too young for ovarian cysts/tumours/cancer anyway. But it could be a bladder infection or pyometra. She explained that a guinea pig's reproductive tract and urinary tract sort of meet in the same place so most discharges could come from either and that an infection of either can cause a lot of the same symptoms.

Gaia then kindly did a big pee on the table, so the vet scooped that up and had that tested straight away and said the results show a bladder infection. She has given me Baytril and dog metacam for pain relief for now and said she'd like to see how she responds to that but either way have her back Friday morning to do an ultrasound and see if it is pyometra we're dealing with and to check what the little lump is she could feel.

To our experienced Slaves, does all of the above sound OK? What are your experiences with pyometra? Is it really bad? Gaia doesn't seem that unwell beyond some tummy pains and she has been eating a little less (she's still 1,255g though) but she is still a sassy menace. Is the gunk that came out of Gaia almost certainly pyometra or could it have come from her bladder?
 
Sorry that Gaia isn’t well but you sound as if you have found a very thorough and competent vet.
How kind of Gaia to produce wee for the vet to test 😅

Hope the meds help and the vet can confirm exactly what is wrong.
Holding you in my thoughts
 
Thank-you~

She seems mostly fine in herself minus hating being touched more than she already does and her appetite being a tadge smaller. The vet said I'm to watch her appetite; it's not good if she doesn't fully regain it despite being on antibiotics and painkillers but she's getting an ultrasound either way.

Gaia was happy to be home; as soon as we got in, I lifted her out of the carrier and popped her on the floor in the hallway and watched her scuttle off, making that happy purring/rumbling noise.

She wasn't happy about the medicine but maybe she'll acquire a taste for it later. :x
 
Very few guinea pigs like Baytril. I used to wipe off the outside of the syringe and dip it into the Metacam so that by the time Bann realised he'd been fooled it was too late.

It worked every time he was on Baytril. You gotta do what you gotta do, lol.
 
Interesting that when she is unwell, her behaviour doesn't improve.

Left the back door open while I was in and out, and they both stepped outside and looked like they were gonna make a break for it until they heard next door's kid on the trampoline then they darted back in. Gaia stopped to bite the door step first and to leave a poo on the mat. 🙄
 
Let's hope it's just an UTI and that the antibiotics will help. Pyometra in dogs is a very serious condition that needs immediate spaying but I don't think it's that common in guinea pigs.
Ovarian cysts and UTIs are very common on the other hand.
 
I forgot to ask about that! The vet did say if it turned out to be pyometra, Gaia would need to be spayed. Does anyone know how long that takes? Would I likely get her home the same day?
 
When I’ve had piggies spayed they have come home the same day and then need some post op care while everything heals.
All mine did well after a spay
If Gaia does need a spay then have a read through the forum guides in the Health section. The information is excellent
 
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