Sterile IC- owner stress

[Piggies2023]

Has anyone found owner stress makes IC worse? I'm worried I'm making my guinea pigs ill because I'm very stressed and anxious. I sometimes wonder if they would be better off without me. I absolutely love them to bits, they are my furchildren. Ive had so many things go wrong health-wise and the common denominator is me.

 

[VickiA]

I think if the piggies are stressed that can exacerbate an IC flare. But I’m not sure to what extent they pick up on our stresses. I’ve lived with extremely high stress levels for years and I’m not aware that my piggies have ever been affected by my stress. Please don’t blame yourself. It’s most unlikely that your stress is making your piggies poorly.

 

[Wiebke]

Has anyone found owner stress makes IC worse? I'm worried I'm making my guinea pigs ill because I'm very stressed and anxious. I sometimes wonder if they would be better off without me. I absolutely love them to bits, they are my furchildren. Ive had so many things go wrong health-wise and the common denominator is me.

As long as you can avoid hovering nonstop over your piggies they should be fine. I would however recommend to get help for yourself and do regular Mindfulness. You are clearly a good and caring owner; your negative thoughts are all rooted in your mental health and not in reality.

IC piggies are generally born with a high stress level set as their default; they experience those high stress levels from their mother while still in the womb as 'normal'. Nothing to do with you. Thankfully by far not all of those babies born that way will ever have sterile IC but they tend to be that more skittish all their lives. Piggies with a more robust immune system can usually fend of IC in any companions without ever developing acute symptoms.

I think you may find this article here very helpful with lots more very practical advice. Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

I’m currently studying a Graduate Diploma in Applied Animal Behaviour and there are a number of research studies showing how dogs and cats detect human anxiety, but currently most of the research is focussed on dogs.

I know my cat certainly picks up on my anxiety. She doesn’t cope well with vet appointments and needs Gabapentin prior to going, to reduce her stress and enable the vet to examine her. When she’s got an appointment for her yearly booster vaccination, she goes and sits under the bed, right in the middle, where I can't reach her! It's like she's read my mind! In reality she must be picking up on my stress, as there are no visual signs that she has an appointment, as I keep the cat carrier hidden away, until I am ready to put her into it!

I do feel that with guinea pigs being prey animals, keeping them in busy parts of the house, where other pets may be roaming around and children playing, can really contribute to their stress, but by keeping them somewhere quiet and not hovering over them is adviseable.

 

[Piggies2023]

As long as you can avoid hovering nonstop over your piggies they should be fine. I would however recommend to get help for yourself and do regular Mindfulness. You are clearly a good and caring owner; your negative thoughts are all rooted in your mental health and not in reality.

IC piggies are generally born with a high stress level set as their default; they experience those high stress levels from their mother while still in the womb as 'normal'. Nothing to do with you. Thankfully by far not all of those babies born that way will ever have sterile IC but they tend to be that more skittish all their lives. Piggies with a more robust immune system can usually fend of IC in any companions without ever developing acute symptoms.

I think you may find this article here very helpful with lots more very practical advice. Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

In the last year:
- Nancy has had hay poke twice.
-Nancy has had two bladder infections
-Pumpkin got something stuck in her nose or throat, mucus thinner helped clear it
-Nancy has a back cyst- vet temp drained it but it's regrowing
-Nancy has squeaking when weeing and had some blood in wee which we've tried numerous things- scans, antibiotics, cartophen, daily metacam, glucosamine & gabapentin etc
-Nancy has had one ovary out but needs the other one out- vet thinks the hormonal cysts may be having an impact
-Nancy is scratching a lot, been treated for mites at the vet but hasn't worked, either resistant mites or something completely different
-Pumpkin has now got haypoke which is healing
-But now Pumpkin is also squeaking in pain sometimes and has some blood.

I'm really struggling to cope with it. My assumption is Pumpkin might be stressed from having the eye treatment & having been to the vets with Nancy a far bit but I don't know. We are going to the vets this afternoon. But tbh I'm embarrassed about going, that so much has gone wrong.

Yes their mum will have been stressed when having them. She was in a hoarding situation, wasn't long after she gave birth she was rescued. But I haven't heard anything wrong with their siblings but doesn't mean it hasn't.

 

[Piggies2023]

I’m currently studying a Graduate Diploma in Applied Animal Behaviour and there are a number of research studies showing how dogs and cats detect human anxiety, but currently most of the research is focussed on dogs.

I know my cat certainly picks up on my anxiety. She doesn’t cope well with vet appointments and needs Gabapentin prior to going, to reduce her stress and enable the vet to examine her. When she’s got an appointment for her yearly booster vaccination, she goes and sits under the bed, right in the middle, where I can't reach her! It's like she's read my mind! In reality she must be picking up on my stress, as there are no visual signs that she has an appointment, as I keep the cat carrier hidden away, until I am ready to put her into it!

I do feel that with guinea pigs being prey animals, keeping them in busy parts of the house, where other pets may be roaming around and children playing, can really contribute to their stress, but by keeping them somewhere quiet and not hovering over them is adviseable.

My guinea pigs are in my bedroom, other side of the room to me. They aren't in a busy part of the house. I don't have any other pets

 

[Wiebke]

In the last year:
- Nancy has had hay poke twice.
-Nancy has had two bladder infections
-Pumpkin got something stuck in her nose or throat, mucus thinner helped clear it
-Nancy has a back cyst- vet temp drained it but it's regrowing
-Nancy has squeaking when weeing and had some blood in wee which we've tried numerous things- scans, antibiotics, cartophen, daily metacam, glucosamine & gabapentin etc
-Nancy has had one ovary out but needs the other one out- vet thinks the hormonal cysts may be having an impact
-Nancy is scratching a lot, been treated for mites at the vet but hasn't worked, either resistant mites or something completely different
-Pumpkin has now got haypoke which is healing
-But now Pumpkin is also squeaking in pain sometimes and has some blood.

I'm really struggling to cope with it. My assumption is Pumpkin might be stressed from having the eye treatment & having been to the vets with Nancy a far bit but I don't know. We are going to the vets this afternoon. But tbh I'm embarrassed about going, that so much has gone wrong.

Yes their mum will have been stressed when having them. She was in a hoarding situation, wasn't long after she gave birth she was rescued. But I haven't heard anything wrong with their siblings but doesn't mean it hasn't.

Hi

Stuff happens to all of us. It depends on how well we deal with it.

Re. hay pokes - perhaps looking for soft meadow hay will reduce the risk of hay pokes and things sticking in noses? It can never be fully eliminated; a romp in the hay is important enrichment.

Cysts in the skin happen; they are generally down to a genetic disposition (as a re fatty lumps) and they are pretty common, especially as piggies get older.

It is estimated that around 70-80% of all sows develop ovarian cysts throughout their lives; thankfully it is actually a minority that causes serious trouble. The vast majority goes unnoticed.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

Not all forms of sterile IC seem to be easy or straight forward to treat or may be caused by something else. There is unfortunately only so much we can do. At least we can do more now than at first but medical research and progress is a slow and tortuous progress, and guinea pigs as a pet species are sadly a long way down the queue...
As long as the symptoms are minor, you may have to live with it.

Once you have excluded skin parasites and fungal, itchy skin is not easy to treat. Perhaps a dip with malaseb could help? It is antimicrobial. You may also consider whether the humidity in the room could play into it. Some teddies do have a genetic link to itchy, dry skin with thinning of the hair as a breed specific problem with the vernacular name 'teddy skin'. There is nothing you can do about that, as I can testify myself.

All of that doesn't make you a bad owner.

You can hopefully do something about the hay but most of what you are reporting are the kind of issues any owner comes up against sooner or later with their pets.

 

[Piggies2023]

Hi

Stuff happens to all of us. It depends on how well we deal with it.

Re. hay pokes - perhaps looking for soft meadow hay will reduce the risk of hay pokes and things sticking in noses? It can never be fully eliminated; a romp in the hay is important enrichment.

Cysts in the skin happen; they are generally down to a genetic disposition (as a re fatty lumps) and they are pretty common, especially as piggies get older.

It is estimated that around 70-80% of all sows develop ovarian cysts throughout their lives; thankfully it is actually a minority that causes serious trouble. The vast majority goes unnoticed.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

Not all forms of sterile IC seem to be easy or straight forward to treat or may be caused by something else. There is unfortunately only so much we can do. At least we can do more now than at first but medical research and progress is a slow and tortuous progress, and guinea pigs as a pet species are sadly a long way down the queue...
As long as the symptoms are minor, you may have to live with it.

Once you have excluded skin parasites and fungal, itchy skin is not easy to treat. Perhaps a dip with malaseb could help? It is antimicrobial. You may also consider whether the humidity in the room could play into it. Some teddies do have a genetic link to itchy, dry skin with thinning of the hair as a breed specific problem with the vernacular name 'teddy skin'. There is nothing you can do about that, as I can testify myself.

All of that doesn't make you a bad owner.

You can hopefully do something about the hay but most of what you are reporting are the kind of issues any owner comes up against sooner or later with their pets.

Thank you. Nancy has quite severe bladder problems. We are doing better than we were in the fact we now sometimes get the 5/6 days without symptoms compared to months of everyday and I nearly got her put to sleep due to her pain levels. The volume isn't as loud squeaking wise either. But she's had a really awful time. As a result of that, I'm very wary about diet changes. 1st hay poke was meadow hay. The last two has been Timothy but soft cut. I am having a problem with the soft cut currently that haybox is too dusty and Timothy hay.co.uk has gone a bit more stalky, so I'm sat trying to pick out all the stalky bits. Nancy has reacted every time I've tried to introduce meadow hay but would love them to have it as it's much easier. Is meadow hay an issue for IC? Or is it a case I need to take it slowler than I am? I'm only giving small handfuls at a time.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me I appreciate it.

I'm a bit less stressed after seeing the vet. She agrees that Pumpkin's squeaking is likely stress from having had an eye injury and being picked up for so many meds so hopefully that will settle again as she's got the all clear to stop the eye treatment.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you. Nancy has quite severe bladder problems. We are doing better than we were in the fact we now sometimes get the 5/6 days without symptoms compared to months of everyday and I nearly got her put to sleep due to her pain levels. The volume isn't as loud squeaking wise either. But she's had a really awful time. As a result of that, I'm very wary about diet changes. 1st hay poke was meadow hay. The last two has been Timothy but soft cut. I am having a problem with the soft cut currently that haybox is too dusty and Timothy hay.co.uk has gone a bit more stalky, so I'm sat trying to pick out all the stalky bits. Nancy has reacted every time I've tried to introduce meadow hay but would love them to have it as it's much easier. Is meadow hay an issue for IC? Or is it a case I need to take it slowler than I am? I'm only giving small handfuls at a time.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to me I appreciate it.

I'm a bit less stressed after seeing the vet. She agrees that Pumpkin's squeaking is likely stress from having had an eye injury and being picked up for so many meds so hopefully that will settle again as she's got the all clear to stop the eye treatment.

The inland hay is a bit stalkier this year because of the UK weather conditions this summer which meant that the hay could not be harvested at the ideal time. I've had some hay pokes as well (both piggies are in very early stages of cataracts, so their sight is deteriorating just that bit right now).
Please make sure that they have access to hay at all times. If necessary tap it down a little bit to below eye height with your hand so they cannot jump into a stalk or stick their head straight into one in hay rack.

Mine only eat meadow hay and consider timothy as the equivalent of toilet paper but since my rescue adoptees' overall average life span is good that is fine with me. Meadow hay is from meadows with a bit of a grass mix so it has got its own advantages. I have only had one urethral stone in over a decade (in the wake of struggling to get hold of enough fresh veg for 27 piggies and a husband needing to shelter at the start of the pandemic), so once your diet is in the right area which hay you opt for is not an issue since you can always trade off a tiny bit with another food group.

Try Nature's Own sweet meadow hay for a change; it is soft and rich so you cannot necessarily feed it all the time. I mainly use it as enrichment in combination with normal meadow hay. It is however a bit dusty and the normall meadow hay is a bit stalkier as well this year. But I have only one piggy with a bit of a sensitivity - and that only when they are eating hay but not at other times so the dust is not an issue as far as I am concerned. I used to feed not dust extracted locally sourced meadow hay for a decade without ever having even a single snuffly piggy by the way.
Anyway, I did a bit of a trial with various providers to find what my piggies like best a year ago. As far as I know, Nature's Own offer trial packages for smaller quantities.
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)

All you can do - like with sterile IC - is to give it a try and see whether you can tweak it enough. Unfortunately, when you have got one of the stronger versions, they are still outside of our medical possibilities. It is very tough for any loving owner.

 

[Piggies2023]

The inland hay is a bit stalkier this year because of the UK weather conditions this summer which meant that the hay could not be harvested at the ideal time. I've had some hay pokes as well (both piggies are in very early stages of cataracts, so their sight is deteriorating just that bit right now).
Please make sure that they have access to hay at all times. If necessary tap it down a little bit to below eye height with your hand so they cannot jump into a stalk or stick their head straight into one in hay rack.

Mine only eat meadow hay and consider timothy as the equivalent of toilet paper but since my rescue adoptees' overall average life span is good that is fine with me. Meadow hay is from meadows with a bit of a grass mix so it has got its own advantages. I have only had one urethral stone in over a decade (in the wake of struggling to get hold of enough fresh veg for 27 piggies and a husband needing to shelter at the start of the pandemic), so once your diet is in the right area which hay you opt for is not an issue since you can always trade off a tiny bit with another food group.

Try Nature's Own sweet meadow hay for a change; it is soft and rich so you cannot necessarily feed it all the time. I mainly use it as enrichment in combination with normal meadow hay. It is however a bit dusty and the normall meadow hay is a bit stalkier as well this year. But I have only one piggy with a bit of a sensitivity - and that only when they are eating hay but not at other times so the dust is not an issue as far as I am concerned. I used to feed not dust extracted locally sourced meadow hay for a decade without ever having even a single snuffly piggy by the way.
Anyway, I did a bit of a trial with various providers to find what my piggies like best a year ago. As far as I know, Nature's Own offer trial packages for smaller quantities.
A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)

Thank you. I've given them small amounts of meadow hay, in hopes I can introduce it in. They have floor level normal Timothy hay and they always have big piles of Timothy soft cut. Nancy gets distressed if she cannot bury. She starts chewing the cage and throwing the houses, and trying to bury under fleece beds when I haven't had enough for her to make tunnels and lay under it.

I've ordered some silky soft hay from little hay co to try- no idea on the quality but I could get a smaller amount to try. Last time I tried the nature's own sweet green it was extremely bitty, much smaller than it used to be as used to order it so pigs couldn't bury in. It was 1cm long at most so I haven't ordered since. I haven't tried their meadow though.