Not Having Much Luck, 2 Poorly Piggies Over Christmas

Eriathwen

Eriathwen

Adult Guinea Pig
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Looks like I'm going to be syringe feeding 2 piggies at once for the next week! The 2 floof girls are not well, and with both not even a year old yet I feel so sorry for them. I am now 100% sworn off buying from pet shops, the other 2 are thriving. I'm trying not to be disheartened, I'm very grateful theyre both still here, and both still so full of beans in spite of everything.

Blackberry has had ceacum issues, she recovered fully until a few weeks ago when she became reluctant to eat again, back to the vets for more ranitadine (sp) and back to syringe feeding. Getting there, slowly...

And then walked in last night to Bramble, head so tilted she was almost sideways, walking in circles :'( She has always had problems with her left ear, ringworm and mites when she first arrived, lasting damage that left a little tilt, but now she has either an ear infection or E. caniculi. Back to the vets tomorrow to see how shes getting on after her injections of metacam and baytril, again...needing syringe feeding, water etc her incisors are wearing diwn diagonally too although her molars look good. Hopefully that will even out when shes not so tilted.

As soon as we seem to be getting our ducks in a row, they start waddling off! Poor girls. Looking on the bright side, Bramble behaved and didnt bite anyone. Shes even tolerating the odd cuddle!

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Thanks guys! Definately feeling a better bond with Blackberry..unless I try to cut her hair, but we'll get there haha
Hopefully the same will happen with little Bramble. Although she seems to just be naturally cantankerous lol
 
I hope they get better my boy patches has an abscess so an another vet trip:no:
 
Poor Patches! :( Hope hes better soon.

Bramble seems to have more energy than earlier but then she has eaten quite a lot. Its quite tricky getting it in far enough to not dribble out, but not choke her, doing well so far and shes started co-operating a little more now, between bites lol I managed to right her and straighten her up and she sat quite happily for a while before she tried to move and ended up tilted again :( but she managed to waddle a few paces in a straight line.
Baby steps.. at least Blackberry is shovelling food down, apart from hay. So thats a plus!
 
Shes trying so hard, I managed a video of her walking, she seems to be 60/40 circling to walking now instead of just going round and round. She has even managed to turn left, wash her face and shake her hair like a little dog. Shes having a nice nap before her appointment at the vets at half 6.
She is so determined to get better, even though she just looks awful at the moment, after just 24 hours or so shes doing really well.

(The video might be a little distressing so give it a miss if youre easily upset)
 
Thankyou! Ive had to leave her over night at the vets as they want to investigate further and we couldnt drop her off in the morning. Safe to say, I was a complete mess walking out if there without her, but I'm sure she will be fine. Shes a tough little monkey, always has been. I just hope Blackberry isnt too confused by her absence.
 
Aww love them both!

And hugs to you as well. It's hard leaving a piggy but it's for the best. Hopefully her ear issues will be found and sorted.

Such lovely piggies you have. Fingers crossed for everyone
 
Just had the call to say Bramble is waking up fine, she has infection deep in her ear causing jaw pain but she is looking much better than she was at her appointment on Sunday. We can pick her up at half 6 :)

Blackberry doesnt seem to care or hasnt noticed that shes been missing! I suppose I should be glad I dont have a depressed piggy, bless her..
We're going away for Christmas so ive had to make arrangements for little Bramble to travel with me so she gets her food, water and meds on time. Hopefully shes well enough by then to eat her Chrismas dinner.
 
Shes eating so, so well. Still very tilted, but she seems to be doing great, will see what the vet has to say tomorrow. Shes able to eat a small amount of veg if its cut up small and her walking is so much steadier! For the first time since we've had her (not counting when she used to play dead) she isnt trying to take a single nibble of me..which is nice, shes got a hell of a bite when she wants to lol

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Shes doing great today, woke up early to get her prepped for our trip down to visit family and she waddles out of her little house, head in the air, nice and straight :) shes still had to travel to keep up with her meds and feedings but shes been as good as gold. Spent most of the 2 hour journey curled up on her pillow with her little legs out behind her.
Best thing I could have asked for this Christmas :)
Here she is chilling while we were on the motorway.

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Its been a long day for Bramble, she was refusing to eat, her incisors back to being worn down slanted. I honestly thought I was taking her to be put to sleep today, but due to her improvements we're trying different antibiotics and shes had her teeth done again, no aneasthesia this time. She is clearly not ready to go just yet :D the vet and myself are happy for her to be liquid fed for the forseeable future as long as she has a good quality of life and her weight remains stable. Which so far seems to be happening, in spite of everything shes back to being her normal self.

Ive given her time to rest and started syringe feeding again which she took about 10ml of and shes trying her hardest to eat some shredded bistro salad leaves.

Thankfully blackberry is doing very well and her syringe feeding has been all but swapped for a bowl of pellet mash, with a small amount of oats and a good handful of the alpine hay flakes I bought that are meant to be great for dental piggies. Theyre very fibrous but they soak right down to a soft mush which she can eat. The hay ive been putting in seems to have started going down again so one of then is clearly eating it and ive a feeling its her.

Going to have an early night once shes had her 2nd dose of antibiotics.. think I need it!
 
Good news for Bramble finally :) just been spot cleaning and her little poops are returning to a more recognisable piggy shape and size. The ones on the left are whats been normal for her for a while even with all the syringe feeding. But she has started eating by herself as I think shows in tonights poops on the right! While not the most popular choice (dont shoot me) I reverted back to the museli that I used to feed my old guinea pigs since shes ignoring her pellets and she tucked right in to the biscuit pieces that were in there. Another little baby step. She had her incisors done again yesterday, I'm about 70% sure shes eating little pieces of hay when I'm not looking. Ive walked in on her with hay in her mouth but she spits it out before I can see what shes doing with it!
Blackberrys back to syringe feeding.. not sure why she stopped eating out of the bowl again but oh well. We'll keep trying. Theyre both otherwise still happy, alert and popcorning all over the place!

I never thought id be excited over poo...what happened to my life? Haha
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So both girls were doing well for a while, but as if on cue Blackberry has taken a turn for the worse again, her incisors have become worn unevely like Brambles...shes stopped eating again. Vets tomorrow for her!
I wonder if theres something genetic going on :/ I really hope they can fix her up like they did with Bramble...poor thing was very confused last night as to why I was ugly crying into her hair :soz:
I'm exhausted, my bank balance doesnt know whats hit it, I'm fuming that stores can get away with selling so many sick animals..I cant help but wonder if the others from this batch are even still alive.

All the while, the girls are the happiest little beans ever.. in spite of all this theyre popcorning away and Blackberry runs up to the bars as soon as I walk in, I just wish I could fix her.
 
Eriathwen said:
So both girls were doing well for a while, but as if on cue Blackberry has taken a turn for the worse again, her incisors have become worn unevely like Brambles...shes stopped eating again. Vets tomorrow for her!
I wonder if theres something genetic going on :/ I really hope they can fix her up like they did with Bramble...poor thing was very confused last night as to why I was ugly crying into her hair :soz:
I'm exhausted, my bank balance doesnt know whats hit it, I'm fuming that stores can get away with selling so many sick animals..I cant help but wonder if the others from this batch are even still alive.

All the while, the girls are the happiest little beans ever.. in spite of all this theyre popcorning away and Blackberry runs up to the bars as soon as I walk in, I just wish I could fix her.
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I'm so sorry you're going through this, hope she gets better soon and hugs to you xx
 
Thanks guys, shes had about 6ml of critical care, she seemed like she couldnt even swallow earlier but is eating a little better now.
Crossing everything they can figure out whats going on.
 
So unfortunately we lost Blackberry. She went to the vets Saturday, was given painkillers and an appetite stimulant, she ate about 20ml of syringe food in the 24 hours after that however towards Sunday evening she became very quiet, she came out for a cuddle and passed away 10 minutes later in my arms. She was due in the vets again 9am Monday morning but unfortunately she had just decided enough was enough, it seems.

Bramble is quiet, but still eating well. When we get the OK from the vet that she will not pass anything on to another piggy, I will try bonding her with Shelly so she can continue to have a companion.
In better news she isnt requiring syringe feeding any more, shes eating a bowl of soaked pellets and critical care per day, pellets and museli from the floor, veg and hay, all unaided. She has reached 720g today, the weight she was the first day she went to the vets regarding the head tilt. Thats 30g more than 2 days ago, so she is continuing to improve.

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Oh no. Sorry for your loss. Rip Blackberry.

Glad that Bramble is eating and hope the bonding with Shelly goes well.
 
Reading this was utterly heartbreaking, I'm so sorry you lost Blackberry. I've got everything crossed for Bramble now.
 
Thankyou :(
Brambles demolishing her veggies, she seems to have come to terms with her sister being gone now, Shelly has started squeaking again. Theyre doing good, which helps. I chopped 4 of everything instead of 3... it seems Leonard will be getting a little extra from time to time until I get used to Blackberry not being here. Shes home from the crematorium tomorrow so hopfully that will remind me.

I will be making a written complaint and taking it as far up the chain as I can. This shouldnt have happened and i'll do what I can to make sure it wont happen again.
 
I realise this is an awful time to be thinking about it all, but honestly, I would demand all of your vets fees and some compensation from them. Hit them in the wallet, unfortunately it's the only language they're likely to understand and maybe that way they might reconsider their practises in the future. I think going for the company complaint to make sure no other pigs have to go through this is a very lovely tribute to Blackberry too.
 
That was my thinking, they dont care how many they sell that die, but money I imagine they care about. Id trade every penny all over again to have her back. I dont even know how much ive spent, getting the itemised records from the vet will be interesting.
I bought then to help with my anxiety, I rarely leave the house. The vet visits have made me ill, the exhaustion from the syringe feeding, cleaning up diarhoea, medicating (even though I cant even touch my own medication due to my anxiety) lack of sleep, worry...
I'm underweight, have to see the doctor regularly to keep on top of it. The money I get should be spent on food but it all went to the piggies because they needed it more.

The good thing about all that is that I am at home 24/7. I had the time to do everything I could to keep them alive and comfortable. How many didnt get that chance? It makes me sick thinking about it.
I'm only one person, I doubt they will listen and change how they practice. But hopefully I'm one of many and eventually it will make more financial sense to stock healthy babies instead of the poor little critters theyre selling at the minute. I still see the odd one thats obviously related to our 2. I wonder if their parents are even still alive :( I hate to think what sort of conditions are at the facility theyre from.

Sorry for the rant, its been a long, somewhat overwhelming day.
 
Blackberry is home and Bramble has gone up to 740g.. she will be a little chubster in no time by the looks of it.
We spoke to the vet today and its been decided against the removal of her incisors. In the long run it seems in her best interests to just have them trimmed as and when required than risk her dying on the table, damaging the jaw, infection, putting her off eating or all the other complications that could come with it. I must admit I am relieved, I had already decided not to go ahead but was waiting to see what the vet said in case I was missing something.

The crematorium even did us a little hair clipping from Blackberry to keep. Now she can sit with Maggie, Cookie and Jaffa, our other little box pets, until shes reunited with Bramble in the very distant future.

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