Welcome, Bella

After handing the abandoned baby guinea pigs over the Little Critters Rescue Club, I became aware that they had an old guinea pig up for adoption. Bella is about 5 years old, and her owner recently gave her to the rescue because she didn't want her anymore. She's also been alone all this time. It breaks your heart, that someone would choose to give up on their pet in their old age. I felt bad for her, thinking adoption chances are slim when she has to compete with all the young animals at the rescue. So after much thought (I wanted to make sure I'm not replacing the Poe shaped hole with another guinea pig), I felt that I would at the very least be helping the rescue out by adopting and also it's not much different caring for 3 guinea pigs instead of 2. So in early March, after a successful home check, I brought the girls to meet Bella at the rescue and then took the 3 of them home.

Bella was so scared. For the first few days she just hid. She was terrified of us and even of Sylbie and Tiramisu. She would only eat if we put food right by were she was hiding. You could see that she's not had much interaction because she is impossible to pick up/hold. She would squirm and wriggle and if you loosened your grip she'd bolt. The first week was tough, the others also bullied her because they were establishing their dominance.

But it slowly got better. She taught the other 2 to eat pepper and cherry tomatoes! I now have pigs who happily munch on bell peppers! She also came out of hiding more and more and now runs out like the others when it's food time. Still working on getting her to be less afraid of humans. She takes food from our hands, and I've managed to wrangle her twice for nail clipping and weighing (gaah! it's terrifying, I have a pillow case for her to bolt into for some feeling of security, else she'll literally jump from my lap.)  You can't stroke her like we do with Tiramisu and Sylbie (she runs away). Having Bella has made me realize that my guinea pigs are actually really tame! I used to complain that they don't like being picked up, but geez, if their natural instinct was to get as far away from my giantness as possible, to hide and never come out, then they've come a long way.

I really hope she settles down and becomes less afraid of us. It frustrates me to think that the previous owner never put in any effort at all to get her to be accustomed to humans, to a point where routine things that are important for a guinea pig's well being like nail clipping and weighing is very difficult to do with Bella (imagine if I had to force feed her!) It's basic care that a guinea pig needs, never mind the poor girl was kept alone her whole life! I wonder why she got a guinea pig in the first place.

When I try to take photos of the three of them munching away together, this is what usually happens:
Sylbie and Tiramisu: "Ooh do you have treats?!" (Runs up to investigate)

Bella: "You fools! It's danger approaching!" (runs away to hide...)

But I did manage to get some photos, it makes my heart glad to see them relaxing and eating together. I hope Bella will have a good retirement with us.

I saved some lil dudes!

In the same week that I said goodbye to Poe I came across 2 baby guinea pigs that were dumped in a parking lot. The car guards were looking after them. They thought they were hamsters and were giving them hamster food. Their cage was very small and was filthy with an algae filled water bottle. After talking to the car guards and making sure they are not out to make a quick buck, I took the babies home with me. 2 boys.

My plan was never to keep them, I contacted the Little Critters Rescue Club in Johannesburg and arranged to drop them off in a couple of days. I only had them for 2 days but they were so charming. I'd forgotten how energetic baby guinea pigs were! They were very skittish, but they still tried to take food from my hand and it didn't take them long to wheek loudly for food! I could see that with just some love and care, they'd be delightful pets. It was clear they hadn't been well cared for, so I tried to spoil them as much as I could. They behaved like they've never had vegetables before! I also took them out to the grass, but they didn't seem to realize they could eat it.

I kept them separated from my ladies of course, here's one meeting Sylbie through a fence. They were very interested in the girls, but Sylbie and Tiramisu mostly ignored them. I sometime felt that they were rolling their eyes at how energetic and noisy they were - these young whipper snappers! He looks really big in these photos, but the babies were half the size of my girls, the rescue estimated them to be about 4 months.

Photo from Little Critters Rescue Club

They eventually went to a wonderful home together, with a large outside run. The lady who did home check for the rescue said it was one of the nicest homes she's seen :) keep well little dudes! It was a lucky chance meeting and I was glad I could help. May you both grow up to be majestic plump potatoes... 

Remembering Poe

It is hard watching your pets grow old, when you can remember so vividly the days when they were filled with the exuberance on youth. None more so than Poe and Tiramisu. I remember the chilly spring morning when I cradled a very new born Poe in my hand. And how, when they got bigger, would always break out of their enclosure whilst I was at university and I'd come home to them having fully explored my apartment, hiding behind book shelves, eaten my orchid and chewed my wires.

A few things can be said of Poe, she was stoic, stubborn, tough but very cooperative when it came to being man handled by humans. She had a good memory - there was a time when I'd clean their living area and move the big cage so that there was a gap between it and the corner it's usually in. Poe loved this magical tunnel that opened up, she loved to hide there and use it as a sneaky thorough way to the room beyond. So every time I cleaned, she'd wait patiently by the cage where it touches the wall. I imagine it's like her own gate way to Narnia :) Poe was not fussy about food, it always heartened me to see her persevering with vegetables that others have turned their noses up at. I could see that it's not her favourite thing in the world, but she'd keep munching. She was however, very adverse to green pepper. I once introduced it to them after learning it was a good source of vitamin C, but Poe actively ran away from it, it offended her so much :D

Through the years, whenever I've picked them up, they would fuss and make worried noises and I would say, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you". I would never let anyone hurt you. You are the best Poe, thank you for sharing your life with me.

 Poe, my little lion.

(Sept 2009 - Feb 2015)

Poe

Tiramisu was easy to like, she was impressionable, doe eyed and being the smallest, appealed to people's sympathies. Poe seemed to be overlooked as Tiramisu became everyone's favourite, plus on her bad days, she was a bit like Ash from Fantastic Mr Fox. I felt sorry for Poe and always made an effort to connect with her.
Poe is more reserved perhaps than Tiramisu. She's not as vocal nor as much of an extrovert, but boy when she decides to speak up she did so loudly and confidently. She would stand out in the open with her head raised up (to peer over the grids) petitioning for food even when no one was in the room and wait, confident that her demands will be met.
She is incredibly brave, like everyone else, being picked up scared her, but she often held her ground as if saying: "do your worst giant hand, I shall retreat no more!" Poe was the only one to bite the vet in one of their earliest encounters. Yeah you showed him whose boss my little majestic lion :) Yes, she may not have been the cutest or the one with the prettiest markings, but she has a mane of glorious hair that she uses to her full advantage. Poe the majestic guinea pig.

I euthanized Poe on Monday, after a long battle with a temporomandibular disorder (TMD). She stopped eating and after putting her under anesthetic twice for minor teeth trims and head xrays where the vet consistently found nothing wrong we eventually discovered (via second opinion) that her right jaw joint is causing her immense pain. Diagnosis was 1 of 3 options: bone cancer (osteosarcoma), a hairline fracture or severe arthritis.
I took her to an animal physio for 4 sessions where she had acupuncture and her jaw mobilized. she made great improvement but still couldn't eat. The physiotherapist and I suspected an appetite problem because the tramadol (painkiller) that she's been on for so long causes a decrease in appetite. over the course of a week I slowly reduced her medicines (Tramadol and Metacam) until for her last physio visit, she had no pain killers that day. The physiotherapist verified that she was pain free. This was on a Thursday. On Friday she tried to eat bits of lettuce while I was syringe feeding her. Her bite was like what she was doing when the problem first started, she could open her mouth but seemed to have trouble taking the food into it to chew it with her molars. Hence the best she could manage is to bite down and tear off bits which mostly didn't end up in her mouth anyways.
I took them out on the grass on Sunday, and it was heart breaking to see the other 2 stuffing their faces when Poe couldn't even open her mouth. That is no way for a guinea pig to live.
On Monday she fought me a lot on the syringe feeding, it seemed like she was in pain again so I gave her painkillers. I took her to the vet, knowing that we must find a solution or let her go. The vet found that she was again very painful on her jaw joint, and we are back where we started. 6 weeks is a long time in the life of a small guinea pig, she was clearly suffering. She had lost all her fur on her chin from it being constantly wet from drooling (which the physio fixed), her sides are balding from constantly lying down and her arthritic foot had flared up from inactivity and is giving her bumble foot. She had lost so much weight. I felt that keeping her alive any longer would strip her of her dignity if it hasn't already.

You have been so so brave Poe, I give you all the love in my heart.

Priority # 1 :Cucumber

I made this awhile back :)

I even submitted it for guinea pig approval

Poe had a nibble to make sure it's got substance.

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.

 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!

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.

Trust

Poe has become more tame after being sick, she now lets me pick her up without trying to run away! Finally after 4 years I have gained her trust!

I know there are many guinea pig owners out there who spend much more time with their piggies and hence have a closer relationship with them. I don't cuddle mine that much because when I do hold them I always feel like it's more for me than it is for their enjoyment, they tend to freeze up and I'm sure it's much more stimulating running about with your fellow guinea pigs than it is being confined to the lap area of a giant. People don't understand why I have pets that run away from me instead of to me, but I have learnt to respect what they are comfortable with.

I think with guinea pigs (and this is true for all small furry creatures) everyone's first instinct is to scoop them up and interact with them on your (bigger, scarier, taller) level, when it mostly stresses them out (if they don't know you very well), because in the wild when a guinea pig is being grabbed and lifted, it's most likely fallen prey to something big and hungry.

So I mostly leave my girls alone, Sylbie especially gets stressed out when she's being cornered, she tries frantically to wriggle away and screams loudly. She's better once cradled in my arm, but she still mutters angrily and sometimes pulls my clothes. Tiramisu is so nimble that she just dodges my hands if I start bringing them around her. But all my piggies are friendly and curious when their feet are planted firmly on the ground, they come out of their hiding places when we approach the enclosure and actively run towards my hand (1 hand = food, 2 hands = suspicion) most likely in the hopes of edibles, but seem to also enjoy back scratches when they flop down and make their happy gurgling noise.

When Poe was on the vet's examination table recently, she kept on coming close to me and placing her front feet gently on my hand as if asking to be picked up and put back into her box (where she undoubtedly feels much safer). I feel super special to have earned their trust, and realize that guinea pigs just express it differently. I was so surprised when I was picking Poe up that she lifted her front feet and stepped onto my hand whilst I scooped up her bum with my other hand! What a mellow fuzz ball ^_^

I recently stumbled onto this blog and have been happily going through the archives since, this one post resonated with me and runs closely to my philosophy about keeping animals, have a read if you still care for more reading after my ramblings!
http://arabbitblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/bunnish-philosophy/

Tiramisu heart hammock

I made a series of winter piggy drawings. I drew each one with stuff that suited their personality. Tiramisu loves any hammock type thing and last weekend I caught her chilling on a makeshift pillow case hammock.  

I was trying to get photos of her sleeping - she lays her head down and looks super cute, but she was wary of me and I kept on waking her up...

Urrgh leave me alone human!

Awww...sulky sleeping?

She also lies strangely (like some dogs!) that I've never seen Sylbie or Poe do.

Poe vs pneumonia

Things have been quite eventful and mostly stressful in the guinea pigs' lives. It all started the weekend before last...

Short version:
Poe had pneumonia, she almost died! Then, the baytril antibiotic caused bloating/constipation/diarrhea and she almost died again! But she's better now and you can scroll to the end to see some more pictures!

Long version:
The piggies and I have moved back to my parents' house (this is as a result of me mildly failing at a functioning adult life - plus it's quite difficult for me to find a nice pet friendly rental so I opted out for the easy option due to sheer laziness...).
Anywho, I notice Poe not being her spritely self on Sunday and by Monday something was obviously wrong and we went to the vet. They kept her for x rays - Vet phones later and says that it was one of the worst cases of pneumonia they've seen and they gave her oxygen to help her breathe. They gave her a Baytril injection and by the afternoon she was reportedly doing much better and also eating some food. I went in after work to look at her x-ray and it was so bad. Her little lungs were all white because they were filled with phlegm/mucus (healthy lungs show up black on an x-ray because it should be mainly filled with air). My poor little Poe. She's probably been sick for awhile, but just hid it really well because she's a tough, obstinate little creature. I felt so bad for not spotting it sooner...

Timeline:
Mon: Pneumonia diagnosis, baytril injection (0.1 ml). Overnight at vet's
Tues: Same baytril injection, I brought her home
Wed - Fri: Go into vet's every morning for the baytril injection.
Fri: Vet says good news! Poe's doing great, they've also got the oral baytril so I can give her myself at home and not have to come in every morning. Poe is to have 0.05ml of baytril daily for the next 10 days.
Sat: I give Poe baytril through a needle less syringe. But by the afternoon she seems less energetic than the previous day.
Sun: Poe is very lethargic and not eating. I decide to stop giving her baytril. She is breathing fine (so it's not the pneumonia acting up). When I pick her up her stomach felt quite stretched and I could feel gas bubbling around. As it was Sunday my vet was not open and after phoning around and being referred 3 times I still failed to find a vet that is experienced with treating guinea pigs that can see her on the day.

So I research online and figure out that she's suffering from bloat most likely caused by the oral baytril. I try all the home remedies I found on guinea pig forums etc - giving her "poop soup" made from the droppings of my 2 healthy guinea pigs to restore good bacteria in her gut, massaging her belly to help her poop/fart, giving her olive oil (said to help constipation) and even putting her in a foot spa so that the vibrations can loosen any blockages. She didn't like the foot spa much, she kept on climbing out and trying to re-unite with her family in the cage :) Occasionally she would strain and arch her back trying to poop, and only very small mushy poops came out. One time she made such a large soft poop she was squeaking and straining for a while (it was scary). Poe kept on having diarrhea for the rest of the day, and I gave her poop soup another 2 times. So generally it was a shit filled day (couldn't resist hee). In the afternoon, I was starting to contemplate having to hand feed her but first decided to pick various plants and veggies from the garden (Dad's vegetable patch save the day!) to see if she'd eat any on her own - yes! she nibbled some spinach and lettuce! She continued to eat small bits of apple, carrot and cucumber through out the day, but expresses no interest in grass that she loved before. Encouragingly she also started munching some hay. Towards the evening Poe seems to be in the clear, she seemed eager for food (even standing up against the cage like she used to!) even though she'd only eat small amounts each time.

This Monday Poe looked much better (her poops are still very soft, but at least more normal sized and holding together). Appetite is still not back to normal, but her behaviour is more her usual self. She ate grass with the others and also had some pellets. I took her to the vet again and we agreed to stop with the baytril but I will observe her closely to make sure the pneumonia doesn't make a come back.

Phew! So it's been a rough week for Poe. She's a real lil trooper, who managed to trundle on no matter what :) an awesome good natured beastie who tolerated being prodded and man handled and having feeding tubes shoved in her mouth without complaint.

Sorry for the essay style post! I thought I'd be thorough because reading other guinea pig owner's experiences online really helped me pin point what was wrong with Poe and what I can do when a vet is not available. Maybe some one will be able to find some answers here through my experiences! Here are some links I found useful:

http://undercoverguineapigs.blogspot.com/2010/08/dealing-with-bloat.html - Read the comments too, this is where I found out about the olive oil treatment.

http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=58041 - home emergency care that helped a guinea pig make it through the night.

http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html - useful info on hand feeding.

I would also like to add that (this is probably re-iterated many times on the web already):

1. Don't be complacent! You know your guinea pig, and if anything is amiss, never delay taking them to the vet!

2. Always google your vet's prescription to check that it is in keeping with standard guinea pig treatment and the medicine is safe for guinea pigs. My vet is really nice, but they are not specialized in treating small animals (seems like very few are in Johannesburg) - they are close to me so it's easy to take my guinea pigs there first. I find that they know the basics (and hey, they did get Poe better) but are oblivious when it comes to the nuances of guinea pig care (no probiotics even though I asked about it, never heard of poop soup) and don't seem to have any other means of treating guinea pigs except for baytril.

3. If you are in Johannesburg with a sick guinea pig, you can try terrace vet in edenvale (http://trvh.co.za/index.php) - I took Tiramisu there when she was had a URI as a baby. They seemed more familiar with exotic small animals. After phoning around I was also referred Craighall vet (http://www.craighallvet.com) - reportedly familiar with treating guinea pigs, but I had to make an appointment to see a vet, and only by Monday afternoon. Apparently they work to an appointment system, so always phone first. You can also try my vet (Paulshof vet), they've have some practice on my guinea pigs! And they are gentle with them which I like. Don't ever go to Parktown North Veterinary Hospital, they are an exotic vet, but when I took Poe and Tiramisu in for a simple eye infection the vet man picked them up by the scruff of their necks (aaaaah they are not puppies you loon!) and also advised me to keep them on wood shavings because that's what he did when he was a guinea pig breeder (what century are you from? There are better products now!) On top of that they are really expensive (over R400 for consultation).

Hooray! you made it to the end! I took these photos of Poe on this Monday, she was still a bit fragile...

I found Sylbie with her feet out chilling today, cute :)

What my guinea pigs eat : Pellets

My three love their pellets, any clinking sound of their food bowls will immediately trigger much excited scurrying round. Sometimes when I start dishing out for them before I fence them off (after cage cleaning), they run in frenzied circles around my feet like tiny dogs ^_^

 Hmmnomnomnom! Sylbie has such a good natured face…

 This is how Poe eats - she shoves her face into the bowl and doesn’t lift it until she’s eaten all the tasty bits.

Everyone gets their own bowl, else they bicker and Tiramisu will usually miss out. I tend to put down the bowls starting from the right. Sylbie has now wised up and runs to the far left to wait for the blue bowl so she doesn’t have to squish with the youngsters. And yes, their food bowls are ashtrays… they are hardcore like that :p 

But really - its functional, the perfect size for a guinea pig, and heavy - so no tipping.

Currently I feed my girls Cavia Nature (made by Versele Laga). I’ve previously fed them Cavia Crispy and Cavia Complete. This Guinea Lynx Forum link discusses the differences between these products more thoroughly. Cavia Crispy contains a lot of corn and wheat (possibly up to half of the product weight), which I would pick out, marking a very laborious stage of my life... Cavia Nature has less corn bits, but there are these hard round beans and the odd sunflower seed that I would pick out for fear of them choking on it. I basically fill the blue bowl (about 50g) and then distribute it evenly between the three bowls daily. 

Versele Laga is (I think) the most premium guinea pig food available in Johannesburg and Pretoria (possibly whole of South Africa?) In my experience, many pet shops and even vets are not very knowledgeable about pellets made specifically for guinea pigs and will happily tell you to feed them rabbit food. I used to feed my girls a mixture (of rabbit pellets and guinea pig pellets) because Versele is quite expensive. It is also hard to find as not many pet stores stock it. I get my pellets from Cat Box Hyper, they are by far the cheapest for both guinea pig pellets and hay. Especially hay, which some pet stores sell for R40 for a small bag that would last me a week, at Cat Box Hyper its about R18. I used to also get my supplies from Animal Kingdom (there's a branch in Pretoria) or there is a pet shop inside the massive Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket on Atterbury (Pretoria) that has competitive prices.

Nicknames

As you can see, they have Cantonese names too that my Mom likes to call them by. Sylbie is known as "Little Mom". Poe is called "Poe Zi" or "Zi Zi" (pronounced "Zai") - meaning "little Poe" or "little one" but masculine, because my Mom thinks she looks like a boy piggy. Tiramisu is called little girl ("lui lui") because she is most girly in her appearance and mannerisms.

Nail cutting

I cut my girls nails about every month or so. They haven't been weighed for awhile so I did that too. First up is Poe!

Tubby pig

Poe was great this time, look at her, she's like a small wild haired zen buddha! Sometimes when she's in a bad mood she'll wriggle and wave her arms so wildly I'm scared to constrain her for fear of hurting her.This time she was a joy.

She nibbled my hoodie string a bit afterwards. I try cuddle them afterwards and give them back scratches until they giggle to show them that we are still friends and it's not all that bad.

Sylbie's up next! Also pretty hefty piggie...

She has the cutest fat face...

Also the most goofy face...

This photo made me laugh ^_^ whenever I hold her by her tummy she splays her legs out like a chicken!

She bites the nails on her feet, so I just try to tidy up the raggedy ends...

All done!

Sylbie can make herself into a ball and kind of just roll out of my grasp. If she's impatient and wriggles too much, she basically just ends up rolling around on my lap, it's pretty hard to get a hold of her, she's too squidgy!

Finally Tiramisu. She's the lightest and smallest, but boy did she have an attitude!

She squealed for every nail I cut off, as if I was chopping off her leg! She protested so much that I had to stop a few times to make sure that I didn't accidentally cut too deeply...oh my little drama queen.

Unimpressed.

Sulking.

She cheer up later, when I gave them veggies ^_^

So that's how I cut their nails, as you can see, the easiest way I find is to hold them under the armpits, because their arms automatically stick out making it easy to peer over their heads and snip away. For their hind legs I lift them a bit higher and support their back against my chest. I try cut their nails as fast as possible, because especially with Poe and Sylbie, they've become so big that it's hard to wrap my hand around them.