I even submitted it for guinea pig approval
Poe had a nibble to make sure it's got substance.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Sailing on calm waters
Where to begin? I have been so lax in recording the comings and goings of my piggy trio. For a long time, things have been bad. Both Poe and Tiramisu have had to overcome some serious bouts of illness. From my last post in Feb until mid of June I was repeatedly in and out of the vet first for Poe's URI and then for Tiramisu's UTI.
Poe had Baytril injections for 3 weeks to root out a very stubborn respiratory infection. She even had an asthmatic inhaler for awhile to help open up her lung tubies. Even after that she was still not 100%, I kept on fearing for a relapse, but slowly all the symptoms faded and we could stop all medication. I think her lungs just needed some time to heal.
Tiramisu had a UTI that just wouldn't go away (bactrim and baytril stopped working), it was related to her ovarian cysts and begrudgingly I opted to spay her. She's almost 5 so I was so so worried. She's such a spunky lil ray of sunshine that losing her due to surgery complications would be devastating. Luckily everything went fine and she recovered faultlessly. I hand fed her the first evening, and when I woke up later at about 4am, ready for another hand feeding session, I peered into her cage and saw her munching on pellets and hay! They managed to get some pee from her bladder during the operation so that it could be sent to a lab for analyses. Tiramisu had some badass new species of bacteria living in her bladder, vet said it was full of abscess'. Again, luckily, they could treat it with injections of Duplocillin (a type of penicillin). Don't panic! The vet was fully aware that penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs, but apparently they are able to tolerate injections of Duplocillin. So Tiramisu had jabs for about 3 weeks. And now she's bounced back :)
So we've been in the clear for about a month now, and I'm just super grateful that everyone is happy and healthy. I feel very blessed that I still get to see 3 beautiful fluffy faces every morning and I treasure their company everyday.
Poe had Baytril injections for 3 weeks to root out a very stubborn respiratory infection. She even had an asthmatic inhaler for awhile to help open up her lung tubies. Even after that she was still not 100%, I kept on fearing for a relapse, but slowly all the symptoms faded and we could stop all medication. I think her lungs just needed some time to heal.
Tiramisu had a UTI that just wouldn't go away (bactrim and baytril stopped working), it was related to her ovarian cysts and begrudgingly I opted to spay her. She's almost 5 so I was so so worried. She's such a spunky lil ray of sunshine that losing her due to surgery complications would be devastating. Luckily everything went fine and she recovered faultlessly. I hand fed her the first evening, and when I woke up later at about 4am, ready for another hand feeding session, I peered into her cage and saw her munching on pellets and hay! They managed to get some pee from her bladder during the operation so that it could be sent to a lab for analyses. Tiramisu had some badass new species of bacteria living in her bladder, vet said it was full of abscess'. Again, luckily, they could treat it with injections of Duplocillin (a type of penicillin). Don't panic! The vet was fully aware that penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs, but apparently they are able to tolerate injections of Duplocillin. So Tiramisu had jabs for about 3 weeks. And now she's bounced back :)
So we've been in the clear for about a month now, and I'm just super grateful that everyone is happy and healthy. I feel very blessed that I still get to see 3 beautiful fluffy faces every morning and I treasure their company everyday.
This was taken in the summer, as can be seen by the abundance of green grass.
Right now it's more like this. There are 3 guinea piggy lumps under those blankets...
I got some fancy tunnels and cubes made for them, will do a proper post soon!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Back when we were young...
Baby pics of Tiramisu and Poe!
And a pic of young Sylbie, basically a baby herself before the other two popped out...
I wasn't too camera happy when every one was little, regret it now as there are not many baby pics of them...
It's been a tough start of the year for the sisters, Poe came down with a respiratory thingy again over Christmas, a then again beginning of Feb - I think it's recurring and we never got rid of it properly the first time. So she's been on a 2 week course of Bactrium and I've also started giving her vitamin C. Tiramisu went in to the vet recently because we noticed she's getting a bald patch on the side of her tummy. Aaah! All sorts of bad things like cushings disease and ovarian cysts spring to mind! The vet treated her for mites just in case and if her fur doesn't grow back in 2 weeks we will need to book an ultra sound. If it's cushings disease they can do nothing, but if it's ovarian cysts they will spay her - gulp*
Oh by the way, I finally found a vet experienced with guinea pigs! It's Jean Davidson and Carol (didn't catch her surname) at Craighall vet! They are really nice ladies (Poe saw Jean and Tiramisu saw Carol) but just be sure to phone ahead and make an appointment especially during the week, as sometimes they are not in. They are also experienced with spaying guinea pigs as apparently everyone sends guinea pigs and rabbits for them to spay. They are quite expensive, Poe had an x-ray done and that together with the consultation was basically R800! But I guess you pay more for a specialist. They even stock critical care, which I have only seen on the internets...
Poe's being perkier and Tiramisu's still eating and running around voraciously showing no signs of hormonal imbalance so I live in hope that our year will get better.
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