Boris and Steve
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2020
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 40
Hi All,
It's my first time posting here but I've often scrolled the forum for guidance over the years.
I have 2 girl pigs, (Steve and Boris - yes we thought they were boys!) both will be 5years old in October.
Over the past few months Boris has lost weight to the point where you can feel all her bones, its been gradual and I thought it was initially because she was protesting for more tasty foods that she got to eat during the supermarket/covid19 problems. She would shout and beg even though we'd just put out fresh greens. She will eat tasty things like yellow peppers, grapes, tomatoes but not her healthy greens. Ive seen her eat thin bits of hay but she'll bite and then drop the chunky ones. I've also not seen her eat her dry pellets for atleast a week.
Because of this I've been seperating her from Steve during meal times to make sure she eats all her veg (she'll only eat yellow pepper or lettuce, green peppers for example are a no) however as you can imagine this lack of dry food has now affected her poos! Since doing this she is less bony but I know this diet is not healthy.
So... today we went to the vet and the vet has given me multiple possibilities. Dental, thyroid, ovarian cysts. He suggests we get her in for anaesthetic and at the same time they will xray, CT scan, take bloods and carry out the dental work if its required.
This sounds a lot for a little girl to go through, shes now only 750g. My task is to syringe feed Critical Care and give pain and anti inflammatory meds to build her strength ready for the op next week.
I wasnt allowed into the examination today because of social distancing and I was so stumped at the news that I'm not sure I took it all in properly.
I dont think he did a visual check on the back teeth and to me the front teeth look the same as they always have. The vet said the front look a little long so he'll assume the back teeth are as well. (This is an exotics vet).
The points supporting the thyroid theory is fur loss on the front of her arms, a small lump on her neck and the amount of weight shes lost. I can't feel the lump myself but then I'm no vet.
The theory of ovarian cysts is based on her age. No pain visible when she was examined with hands.
She's been yelping in pain on the regular these past 2 days, normally this happens when Steve's grooming her too furiously but twice I've seen her yelp when Steves nowhere near. Today I've heard her make quiet squeaks of pain whilst shes in my arms.
I know there's a lot of info here and not all may be relevent.
Am I doing the right thing putting her through sedation for all these investigations? Or should we just focus on the x rays for the teeth and during the same sedation carry out the work on the teeth (if needed)? I'm scared she won't make it through the op but if we dont do something she won't last much longer. It's a fine balance and I'm desperate to get it right for her.
Thank you in advance for any advice
x
It's my first time posting here but I've often scrolled the forum for guidance over the years.
I have 2 girl pigs, (Steve and Boris - yes we thought they were boys!) both will be 5years old in October.
Over the past few months Boris has lost weight to the point where you can feel all her bones, its been gradual and I thought it was initially because she was protesting for more tasty foods that she got to eat during the supermarket/covid19 problems. She would shout and beg even though we'd just put out fresh greens. She will eat tasty things like yellow peppers, grapes, tomatoes but not her healthy greens. Ive seen her eat thin bits of hay but she'll bite and then drop the chunky ones. I've also not seen her eat her dry pellets for atleast a week.
Because of this I've been seperating her from Steve during meal times to make sure she eats all her veg (she'll only eat yellow pepper or lettuce, green peppers for example are a no) however as you can imagine this lack of dry food has now affected her poos! Since doing this she is less bony but I know this diet is not healthy.
So... today we went to the vet and the vet has given me multiple possibilities. Dental, thyroid, ovarian cysts. He suggests we get her in for anaesthetic and at the same time they will xray, CT scan, take bloods and carry out the dental work if its required.
This sounds a lot for a little girl to go through, shes now only 750g. My task is to syringe feed Critical Care and give pain and anti inflammatory meds to build her strength ready for the op next week.
I wasnt allowed into the examination today because of social distancing and I was so stumped at the news that I'm not sure I took it all in properly.
I dont think he did a visual check on the back teeth and to me the front teeth look the same as they always have. The vet said the front look a little long so he'll assume the back teeth are as well. (This is an exotics vet).
The points supporting the thyroid theory is fur loss on the front of her arms, a small lump on her neck and the amount of weight shes lost. I can't feel the lump myself but then I'm no vet.
The theory of ovarian cysts is based on her age. No pain visible when she was examined with hands.
She's been yelping in pain on the regular these past 2 days, normally this happens when Steve's grooming her too furiously but twice I've seen her yelp when Steves nowhere near. Today I've heard her make quiet squeaks of pain whilst shes in my arms.
I know there's a lot of info here and not all may be relevent.
Am I doing the right thing putting her through sedation for all these investigations? Or should we just focus on the x rays for the teeth and during the same sedation carry out the work on the teeth (if needed)? I'm scared she won't make it through the op but if we dont do something she won't last much longer. It's a fine balance and I'm desperate to get it right for her.
Thank you in advance for any advice
x
as my boy had one recently at the weekend and was not sedated for it.
