Fattening food (mixes) for guinea pigs?

Hi all,

Our Tijger had been slowly losing weight due to teeth problems...   We are trying to find a solution but so far she had 2 dental corrections of her molars in the time frame of a month. Vet and slave are trying to find the cause and it seems to be a problem in a her jaw muscles... guinea pig jaws can make quite a lot of movements. Tijger can do back to front grinding and from right to left. But left to right is something she cannot do (well). Tijger and slave visited a vet an hours drive away who also does chiropractic treatments. He is one of three vets in The Netherlands who does this. He loosened her muscles, so she should be able to do left to right grinding again, but unfortunately we haven't seen (much) improvement.

She really wants to eat, and tries it all the time, getting extra pieces of veggies all the time (not fair!). Slave made a mix of bran and oatmeal mixed with hot water, which we seem to enjoy more than Tijger does... she also gets pellet mush. But our question, because we really like to keep Tijger in our herd and we are a bit worried, is do you know of any other fattening foods or mixes to feed her? Also tips on how to get her to eat that, she can eat by herself just really slowly, are welcome!

Slave is planning another trip to the vets: one to probably get her teeth filled down again and one for another treatment to loosen the muscles (we think it was called a locked jaw). In the meantime we really want her to fatten up!

Here'so a picture of Tijger looking happy, this was after dad shoving pieces of chicory down her throat!

Typical Tijger look... #guineapig

A photo posted by Mieke (@pandameisje) on Aug 27, 2016 at 2:35am PDT

The worried Guinygirlz: Peaches, Raani and boar Bérke

Daisy had a bladder stone part 2

I wrote this part last Sunday, when I did not know yet how she would be doing on Monday... 

So after we took Daisy home on friday we force fed her some science recovery and she seemed to be doing pretty well. Our vet was saying we had a really strong piggie, as she thought earlier that day that she would not make it.
I forgot to mention they also removed a polyp from her bladder.

On saturday, we kept a hawk's eye on her most of the day and she ate some chicory (see the video), drank a little and nibbled some hay. Of course we kept up with the force feeding and medicine, and she started to object quite violently. Which of course did not make it easier for us, but I was glad she was this feisty as it meant she was feeling better.

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Look Daisy is eating chicory! #guineapig #eating

View on Instagram

Today, sunday, she is still hanging in there, but she seems a bit less than the day before... It does get faster to hand feed her though but she does not want to eat by herself. Though I do think she ate a little parsley on her own. As we put in quite some food the day before, but did not see her dump any of it on the back side, I tried to separate her from the rest. I put up some C&C grids, gave her hay, a drinking bottle and pellets, put her in to see if she did poop. Within 5 minutes however she escaped, and to my surprise she left at least one poop. I felt like she was saying. "Hey mom, I did a poop, i'll let myself out now, okay?'
A bit later that day she seemed a bit more perky and that was when I think she ate the parsley. Also hand feeding her went a lot smoother. I did notice her tummy seems really swollen, also when she walks she sound like something inside is really sloshing... Anyone have a clue what is happening there?

We are keeping up the force feeding, she had less at this time of day, then she had yesterday. She has antibiotics (novadox: which is doxycycline), Carprofen as painkiller (this is rymadil I think) and cysaral for getting her gut to keep moving (it is cisapride). Today I also syringed her some water inbetween the force feeding, and some oil in case she was so swollen because of gas.

Right now she seems okay-ish, and I really hope she gets through another night, so we can talk and maybe take her to the vet again tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted and hope you will keep your fingers and paws crossed for her. She fought so hard to stay around, so she really deserves to get better soon!

On a happier note: Berke turned 3 yesterday, and he plus the others were happy to see Daisy back. They are sweet to her, and keep her company some times.

Hugs to all your Piggies,
Mieke of the Guinygirlz: Woopy, Daisy, Roos and Berke

Daisy had a bladderstone :(

Hi all,

Unfortunately we found out our Daisy was ill, this is her story.

We noticed her weight dropped 200 grammes in only a month, and she was wet underneath. So I
suspected cystitis. We tried her on one of Peter gurney's remedies of barley water. But after a few days it was clear to me that wasn't helping enough...
So of to the vet it was. She confirmed my theory of Daisy having cystitis, but she was also doubting a bit if maybe she had a bladder stone, as she thought she could feel something in the bladder area..
We tried antibiotics and a painkiller for almost a week, but Daisy was not really improving.

So back to the vet to see if she did indeed have a bladderstone. This vet gave the same diagnosis: cystitis and she could feel something in her bladder. So I came back in the next day (this was last friday) to have her x-rayed (I had the last appointment the day before) and see if she really
had a dreaded stone.
So I got a call later that day saying she could see 2 things on the x-ray.
2 things? I did not like that...
The first thing was she indeed had a bladder stone, and it was to big to flush it out. The second thing was that she had a huge amount of something in her tummy... it looked like have her belly cavity, and the vet suspected a huge ovarian cyst... She had to puncture these first before she would do an operation to get the stone out. As it took up so much space, it would very likely be in the way for the removal of the stone. We agreed to get the liquid out of the ovarian cyst and then have the vet remove the stone.

Daisy's x-ray, the stone is clearly visible on the top photo.
In the bottom photo you see almost have of her tummy looks dark..

After some time I got a call again, the operation went well, the stone was removed (and about 1 cm in diameter). And she did not find an ovarian cyst.
When puncturing all that came out was air... apparently the huge bubble that showed up on the x-ray was air. The theory was that it was in her appendix that contained all the air, and as she was in pain, she inhaled a lot of air... (Anyone ever heard of this?)
However, she was having a lot of problems recovering and waking up, she started bleeding from her bladder, and it was not getting less so far....
She could put Daisy under again and see if she could fix it, but she was very hesitant to do that, as giving her that extra anesthetic the vet was afraid would give Daisy that last push to cross the bridge...
So she suggested we wait for her body to fix this...
I asked if I could come and see her... and a little bit later I was there.

Daisy was not looking good, cramping a lot because of the pain (she did have painkiller of course, but she was obviously still in a lot of pain) and her lower half was all bloody...
After about an hour the cramping became less, and the bloodflow seemed to almost halt. After a while her temperature was getting back to normal, so the heating in her intensive care unit was turned off.
About an hour later, she seemed to have improved even more, and she seemed more alert, and at some point I think she even tried to nibble the fleece she was on. This is a typical thing Daisy would so in a healthy state. She also moved around a bit more.
At that point I had already spend some hours watching her and they said I could go home, eat something and then get back in 2 hours to pick her up, if she seemed good enough.
And luckily we were allowed to take her home! At that time it was 7 in the evening. So it was a pretty tiring day for me.

Daisy back home, and picture of her stone,
the bottle is one of those small 10 ml medicine bottles

Friday Video: the Boy Bits

After our informative series of video's about hair styling, we've selected a few video's about keeping your bottoms clean.

short video


Long video


We cannot get Swarfega in the Netherlands. There probably is something similar on the market, but for us the dishwashing soap works well enough. We also really like the idea of distracting us with veggies (short video). Other than that, our procedure is more similar to the long video. So there you have it ;-)

If you like the Gorgeous Guinea Products, you can visit their site here: www.gorgeousguineas.com

We also found a video on anal sack cleaning for boars

So there you have it.

Have a nice Wheekend!

*evil grin* Sorry, boys. We do apologize ;-)

Bathing time!

Hi fellow slaves,
I am writing this post as my girlz and boar refuse to write it, as most of them (and I guess most piggies out there) are not fond of baths...

Some time ago my boar Chico was having diarrhea :( With some extra hay and fibre in the form of fibreplex (protexin in a paste form, carrot flavoured), little veggies and I believe the bath helped as well, he got better. After that the poor guy somehow managed to break his front teeth, so eating was a bit harder and we had to feed him strips of veggies... Then now his teeth have grown back, he's got diarrhea again... So it's back to the fibreplex and additional hay, and not so much veggies for him.

I had recieved my Panacur (for worming) and Vet Sect repel shampoo only a few days before Chico got his first bout of diarrhea. As he did not seem to get rid of his diarrhea soon and that his skin was very flaky I thought is was a good idea to give him and the girlz a bath. I also started them all on their first round of panacur to eliminate any bugs or worms that might affect Chico's gut function.

I thought I'd give you some basic steps on what to take care of and what to do when you feel your pigs need a bath. Firstly, guinea pigs do not need baths as regularly as humans do! I guess (but have no proof) that very occasional baths are not good for piggies.
So the steps for bathing your piggies:
1. Fill 2 tubs/buckets/sinks (whatever is convenient for you and your pig with some luke warm to warmish water. Do not make the water too deep, your pigs should be able to stand in the tub without feeling they are drowning. This will help them to not panic, though some of mine panic eitherway...
I fill up my sink and a tub that fits in the sink (which we used for doing the dishes, before we had a dishwasher), and put them next to each other. I also have a rubber mat (kind of like a bath mat) which I put at the bottom of the sink, this prevents the piggies from slipping away, and gives the a more secure feeling to the ground.

2. Get your supplies ready (maybe you should even do this before step 1, as you don't want to water to become cold). I usually have 1 towel per pig, one (or two) towels to put them on when taking them out of the bath, and maybe an additional towel per pig to dry them off. I also have my shampoo ready and a plastic cup to pour water over the piggies.

3. Get your pigs ready, as the water will cool down pretty quickly I will put up a run in the kitchen with the pigs in it, so they are close by once I got the water and everything ready...

4. Put one towel next to the tub/sink filled with water, I usually fold a towel once. I put my pig on it, check if I got everything, and then slowly put the pig in one of the tubs. I make sure the pig gets wet, using the cup to pour some water over them. Be sure not to trow the water over their heads as most piggies won't like that and will start to panic. I take my panicking pigs out of the water if they get really stressed out, and put them back in once they seem to have calmed down.

Lily likes the water but not the shampoo,
she lifted up her tummy once shampoo
was put in her fur...

5.  Once the pig is all wet, take him or her out, and put on the now still dry towel.
Put some of the shampoo on your hands, divide over your two hands (usually your hands are wet by now from handling your piggie) maybe let it foam a bit and soap your piggy thoroughly.
<-- Our Lily looked like this after being soaped in with the Vet Sect Repel. Ann (from piggyville.com) says to leave in the shampoo for a couple of minutes, and to make sure you work the lather into the ears.

6. Depending on the shampoo your using either leave it on for some minutes or start rinsing it out (step 7). When it needs to stay on the piggy for a few minutes it's a good idea to wrap your piggy into a towel to keep him or her warm. As you probably all know piggies are not very good with drafts, and being all wet will not help...

7. Gently put the piggie back into one of the tubs and rinse out as much of the shampoo. As I said before if the pig starts to panic take him or her out, and put them on the towel, try to calm them down before putting them back.
My pigs usually feel more secure when I hold them, usually I let their front paws rest on my hand, using the other hand to pour water over them with the cup. For really panicky pigs, you'd better hold them firmly in place, or ask another person to help you, so one can hold and calm them down, and the other can do the washing and rinsing.

8. Once most of the shampoo has been washed out, your water will be full of shampoo so not very effective in getting the last bits of shampoo out. So I transfer them to the other tub/sink with shampoo-free warm water and use my cup or hands to get the last bits out of their furs.

9. Then you take them out again, put them on the towel and get a dry towel. I rub them sort of dry with the towel. You could also do this then use a blow dryer of maybe only use the blowdryer. I tend not to use the blowdryer as the noise would freak my pigs out.

10. Now comes the good part for the pigs and my boyfriend: I will wrap the pig up in the 'dry' towel, and give them to my boyfriend. He will take them upstairs (where their cage is) and lie on the couch with pig (or pigs) wrapped in towels and a nice warm fleece blanket. I guess this is not really necessary, but both boyfriend and pigs enjoy this! Also they need to be kept warm after having a bath as we don't want them to catch a cold or anything, and this a good way to keep them warmer while they dry.
In the pictures on the right you can see Lily and Chico wrapped in towels and a fleece blanket sharing a piece of chicory. On the picture on the left you might be able to spot 2 piggies, you can see my Boyfriends' head, and the cage in the background...

Woopy hiding in the hay

11. After that I put them back in the cage, and usually give them some extra hay to eat and snuggle in (hay provides more warmth).

12. Repeat for other piggies, and hand piggies to boyfriend for warming up and drying....

I really liked the vet sect repel, it smells okay, applies and foams pretty well (though it foamed a lot more on Daisy). In short it works well, and it made my two partly white girls more white, then the sort of yellowy white they were before the bath.

Also when the grease gland of your piggies is dirty and seems a bit hard, put on some dish wash liquid, leave it on a bit, then wash it out. That will usually clear it up, and many of my pigs will start pooing a lot after this gland is cleaned (coincidence?)

Our Lily was born on a sort of farm, where they had a big enclosure with run outside that could be moved around the grass. The run would allow them to be safe outside, and eat as much grass as they wanted. It seems Lily is pretty used to water, and it doesn't freak her out at all. First time we gave her a bath she was standing with her paws in the water and was like, 'hey, water...' and she started to drink it! We think living in the run, and being used to morning dew, helped her not to be afraid of the water.

My others, especially Woopy, are not that fond of the water. Woopy will scream as if we are mishandling her... Toby (Chico's old boar friend) was even worse and would panic so much, he would start turning himself over and almost drowning himself in the process...

So how do you bathe your pigs (do you bathe them)?

Do you have any tips to share?

Slave Mikey of the Guinygirlz and Agent Valentino

Winkyteam First Aid Kit

After visiting the piggyfriends, I was kinda worried about our first aid kit. So I asked J to let me take a peek at it (this is not for the faint of heart, I sat next to nail clippers and shampoo..)

Yikes!

I was not disappointed, and actually feel much safer now (did put in an order for products that weren't past their shelf date). This is what I found:

Medicine
- Painkiller
- Antibiotics leftover. Usually used for Yaya's bladder infections. But always good for emergencies
- Primperan for bloat/gas emergencies

Tools
- an assortment of syringes for force feeding recovery food
- nail clippers
- an animal shaving machine. Once used for grandma's poodle, later for Igor
- the snuggle safe heat pad. A plastic disc that can be heated in the micro wave and stays warm for about 8 hours. Used a lot by Yaya (for the OD) 

Care
- recovery food, both critical care and science recovery to suit our taste (yes we are spoilt)
- probiotics (protexin powder) to help the healthy bacteria in our bowels . Usually administered a few ours after antibiotics
- shampoo for both mites and fungal infections. We use the Knoevel products (manuka neem shampoo with cocos neem) but they actually come from Gorgeous Guineas
- Paxcutol, for cleaning the accidental overactive butt gland (you can also use dish washing stuff, but we are spoilt pigs)
- betadine shampoo. Good for disinfecting pigs. Used for rinsing Jan the Boar's abscess after it burst
- granny Glynis' blanky. For wrapping unruly pigs when they need to be force fed (also good for snuggling)

Okay readers, this was dr. Sjeuff, reporting from the trenches. It there are any other pigs out there are willing to share their first aid kit, drop me a line below ;-)

Piggyfriends' First Aid Kit

After my last blogpost, I jumped into the cavycopter to interview the Piggyfriends about their first aid kit. After a generous meal (I now have a secret crush on miss Penny, their slave) the Piggyfriends nominated Pandora aka Agent Avatar, to answer my questions as she is spokespig for the herd when they send messages to the GPDD.

Pandora aka Agent Avatar

(Sjeuf) Before we jump into the Piggyfriends' first aid kit, Pandora, can you tell me a bit more about the Piggyfriends?

(Pandora) Well, I need Slave's help with this one. She says that she had the very first Piggyfriends when she was a little girl ( a VERY long time ago ). The first one came from a litter born to the pet shop lady's Peruvian sow, Lima and the second was passed on to her from her spoilt brat cousin's dad, when the girl would not look after him. There were no piggy rescues in those far off days so I guess that he was the first rescued one. When Slave and her family moved here in 1987, she had six of her own plus the Little Visitors that came to live here during the times when her friend was overseas and also her sons' school piggies that boarded every weekend and holidays. There was plenty of room here to rescue more so she did.

Slave never counts us as she says that it reminds her of lost Piggyfriends. I can't count very high but there are between 20 and 30 of us. Slave says that once she had 35. There is always room for one more.

(Sjeuf) what are the most common piggy ailments?

(Pandora) The worst piggy ailments must be skin problems, particularly mites but we are all protected by regular doses of Ivermectin and Panacur to kill mites and other parasites (tip: worming protocol). Sometimes piggies come in with mite infestations and they are very poorly. Fungal issues are also problem in cold, damp climates like ours in England as piggies originally came from the dry climate of South America.

(Sjeuf) What kind of medicine really really ought to be in the case?

(Pandora) Our Slave has a huge amount of piggy medicine in two overflowing boxes. I think that Ivermectin and Panacur are the most important drugs plus an antifungal and antiparasite shampoo. Slave has Vet Sect Repel. She has painkillers and human cold remedies, which suit piggies too. There are decongestants for bunged up noses plus a bottle of Septrin antibiotic - the best one for piggies. There is a bottle of tonic for when we need a pick me up and a human ladies' remedy for cystitis. There are meds for upset tummies and diarrhoea and Daktarin oral gel for sore mouths after dental work. She has eye drops and a cream to help wounds heal faster. She has Osteocare and a cream for mouth sores ( just in case ).

(Sjeuf) Lets talk tools! What do you really need, next to the drugs?

(Pandora) Tools? A good, sharp pair of nail clippers. Slave has a pair for human nails and she also uses these for overgrown incisors. Not for the faint hearted. Also a lot of 1ml. syringes with no needles for giving meds. With the ends cut off, these are for syringe feeding sick piggies too. Plus good sharp scissors for haircuts for our long haired friends. I don't need these. If she did not have the services of our wonderful Rodentologists, she would have a set of dental equipment too. Also there is a box of cotton buds for swabbing the Daktarin around little mouths.

(Sjeuf) Are there other essential items we've not mentioned yet and ought to be in the first aid kit?

(Pandora) Slave considers all of the contents to be essential but she says that you need to know what you are doing before giving meds.

(Sjeuf) So let's say I'm making a deluxe first aid kit, what else would you put into my kit?

(Pandora) Slave wouldn't be without a diuretic for heart conditions. She also recommends that every first aid kit should contain a copy of Peter Gurney's Piggy Potions. She is very keen on herbal remedies.

(Sjeuf) Wow, Pandora, that was really helpfull, thank you so much for having me here!

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did and got some ideas out of this. If you have any questions, post them below, I'm sure the Piggyfriends will be reading this and are willing to answer them.


Lots of wheeks!
Sjeuf

p.s. I added all the hyperlinks to the websites for extra information. Do correct me if I got it wrong or pasted a dead link into this post.
p.p.s. as stated in the sidebar, we are not vets and no rights can be claimed from this blogpost. If your guinea pig seems to be unwell, please seek out medical advise from a cavy-savy vet. Pigs can go downhill very fast.

New Years Resolutions

Tell your slaves not to worry about their weight (big butts are the best anyway) and replace their New Years resolutions with these resolutions for my health:

1. Weigh me frequently and keep track of my weight. We are very good at hiding our illnesses and a drop in weight usually is the first sign something is wrong

2. Check my fur every now and then. Are there bald patches? Creepy crawlies? Wet chin?

3. Trim my nails! I know I don't like it, but if you wait too long I'll get corkscrew nails, which can be very painfull.

So, this is our top 3. Which resolutions would you like to add?

Dr. Sjeuff

Giving piggies medicines by syringe

Actually we do not want to cooperate for this post, but as it's sometimes important to get medicines inside us, we are writing a post about
"How do slaves give unwilling piggies their medicines?"

Many piggie meds are in a fluid form, and can be given by syringe (without a needle!)
How do the slaves get it there?
Our guinea pig guru Peter Gurney tells us to wrap the piggy in a towel.
We do not use his exact way. Here is a more general description by Peter on how to get meds in the guinea pig.
Most important point about syringe feeding, administer slowly! Do not squirt the whole syringe content in our mouths in one go!
Also a tip from dad, direct the syringe towards the cheeks, so you don't get the meds squirted in the back of your throat.
We are put on a towel, the back will be wrapped over our butt, this way we can't back up. Then the sides are wrapped around us.
This should look something like this...

Daisy demonstrates...

Some of us will refuse the syringe, that's why it is important to wrap us up tightly. Try to get our little front paws in as well, cause we can use them to wriggle out of slaves grip...

Lily being a really sweet pig most of the time,
detests the syringe!

Some pigs do not seem to mind the syringe at all, or will get used to it after a while. Our Chico is one of those model pigizens, even grabbing the syringe for more..

Chico looks quite relaxed when taking his meds,
(usually) there's no need for wrapping him!

More tips for administering medicines also in powder or pill form are welcome!
For the slaves that is...

So all be good pigs when taking your meds!

Agents Wheeker, Lily'explorer and Valentino

Is he actually smiling? Weird pig that Chico..

Dido Update

Update on Dido, Agent Lettuce.

First Off, thank you everyone for the advice on how to help my little angel, she is an awful lot better. I have been dissolving part of a vitamin C tablet in water and adding it to her Critical Care, she loves it and hops all over her cage, my bed, the sofa, or however she is sitting on when she decides it is time for more food. She is nibbling on her hay and pellets and we have another appointment with the vet tomorrow to check on her progress. I wish she would chew on some of her chew toys to help wear down her teeth but she is such a brat! 

Help Needed!

Hi Secret Agent Guinea Pigs and human slaves of guinea pigs,

Followers of our Twitter feeds probably know that Dido has been having severe dental problems, today the vet put her on Critical Care Fine Grind. I've been doing my research on this and it does not seem to have a vitamin C supplement. Can anyone recommend a good Vit C supplement to add to the Critical Care? I would rather avoid giving her pureed veg as I don't want to over-load her fluids as the Critical Care is diluted in water, so any recommendations would be much appreciated.

thanks

Mopsy

Fatty Eye

Agent Silver Streak reporting on a Guinea Pig Health Issue.

If you look at my pigture, you will see that the lower part of my eyelid looks strange. This is a condition called Fatty Eye and I believe that in the US they call it Pea Eye as well. It is not caused by me being a fat piggy as I am one of the smallest of the boars at Piggyfriends. I run around a lot and am definitely not fat.

It is just a bulge in the lower eye muscle and is nothing for Slaves to worry themselves about. It doesn't bother me one bit but our Rodentologists have said that surgery is possible if it affects the vision.

I have read that this may be hereditary but my mother and siblings do not have it so that may not be true.



For those of you waiting to find out Agent Silver Streak is also known as Dorian Piggyfriend

Thanks for your report Silver Streak

Ghost

Guinea pig bloat

Hi there. Came across your website today and thought I'd contribute this. Don't know if you're still up and running but thought it worth trying.

 

We've had 3 cases of bloat in guineas so far and have treated 2 successfully after losing the first pig due to our personal and our vets' ignorance. My first piece of advice is to always treat withboth antibiotics and a fungle treatment when confronted with bloat, as it is practically impossible to tell which kind of bacteria is causing it without some intrusivce and dangerous testing. We always use Ceptrin, and Nystatin together. Ceptrin twice a day at 0.6 ml per kilo of weight and Nystatin once a day at 1 ml per kilo of weight. The Nystatin apparently has no side effects as many other fungle infection treatments do so it is a good option. Ceptrin is also much better than Baytril for treating for bloat. I personally don't rate Baytril very highly at all for dealing with any piggy complaints.

 

I aggree that giving Infacol is a great idea, I personally would give 1 ml roughly 3 times a day, to ensure it does it's job well. Keeping them moving is good too. I've never heard of giving olive oil before but am intending to try it out in our latest case of bloat. Also, Buscopan is a good pain killer and helps immensely. The recommended dose I've found online is 1 tablet crushed in about 2 ml of water an syringed to piggy. I also give Metacam too, roughly 0.2 ml per kilo, but you don't want to overload an already struggling system with too much new medication.

 

Also, my main discovery has been the giving of Lactobacillus, one capsule opened up and put in to about 15 ml of water, and then about half of this or more if piggy will take it, given once a day helped immensely with our pigs. I get this from health shops, try to get the dairy free varietty. This bacteria is not usually present in the gut but seems immensely useful in times of crisis. It can be found in Avipro, the probiotic also, but never seems to help in the same way in that form, for some reason.

 

I also recommend not feeding green veggies or fruit when trying to get rid of bloat, it can't help. Just hay and critical care, and leaving some of their regular nuggits around should be enough. Orange seems palitable though and in it's case the vitamin C and natural sugar can give a much needed boost. Personally I wouldn't let my guineas graze on grass when they have bloat, but that's personal choice. I would always recommend a good grass hay like meadow hay, rather than something Alfalfa based or anything like Timathy hay because this may be a bit too rich in ill piggy's systems.

 

Hope this contribution will be of some use to you. Feel free to change lay out or whatever, I realise this is a bit slapdash. Also, piggy owners out there stick up to your vets! Present them with the success of others who have treated bloat and insist they use the correct drugs and the correct doses. I've been walked all over by vets in the past and lost so many dear pigs, but it won't happen again! Their the vet, but your the poor sole who has to sit and watch and feel useless if piggy gets worse and you don't know what to do. Never be left feeling that if only you'd stood up for your piggy they might have given this or that, and because they didn't you're now blaiming yourself! It's not worth the heartache for you or piggy! Be strong piggy owners everywhere! And vets, please get your acts together! We are only interested in our pets' health and well being, not in having a row and hurting feelings!

 

If possible, would you mind sending me a brief message to let me know whether or not this information has been of any use to you and your informative site?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kaycee.

Agent Weigh-in

Hello, I finally managed to get my Aunty Loosy to buy some new scales and check it I was weighed. My weight is 2lb 6, 1/4oz (don't forget that 1/4 oz), I'm sad not to be able to join LAPS yet but have a strict eating regime planned over the winter. We also weighed my little sisters, Agent Beefy (2lb 4,1/8 oz) and Agent Marshmallow (2lb 3, 1/8 oz).

Agent Cannonball Weigh-in Report

This is Agent Cannonball and me has been trying very hard to pack on the ounces. Me finally achieved my goal of 3 lbs (1360 grams) and am now able to join LAPS! Here I am being weighed (me overheard that me barely fit on the scale, me is proud) and discussing secret piggy plans.

Piggyfriend agent's weigh-in.

All of the Agents at Piggyfriends were weighed this afternoon. Slave is tired after all that heavy lifting so Agent Minty is typing this message. Slave apologises for the lateness of my report.

 

Agent Badger        5 years 3 months    2lb. 12oz.    ( 1K 200 )

Agent Thorntons    3 years 5 months    3lb.  1oz .    ( 1K 400 )

Agent Big Red       2 years 1 month      3lb.  10oz.   ( 1K 640 )

Agent 101               2 years 2 months    3lb.  1oz.     ( 1K 400 )

Agent Carrot           Age unknown          2lb. 12 oz.   ( 1K 250 )

Agent Minty             1 year 9 months      2lb. 9oz,      ( 1K 280 )

 

Agent Thorntons has been on an exercise regime and has lost 3 ounces. He looks the same size to me. From these weights it seems to me that Agent Big Red needs to run around a bit more.

 

Slave did the conversions from our familiar pounds and ounces to metric so if they are wrong please blame her. She can't do metric and used the GuineaLynx chart.

 

 

More floor time!

I want to share another video with you. This is agent Thunderbear, together with Lotje and Guiny.
It looks like Lotje is being mean nipping agent Thunderbear. But have a good look at what she is doing exactly and then realize that Lotje adored her food...

See what I mean?

Agent Not-so-Lil'Woop

Weighing report of the Guinygirlz (and boar)

Hi there,

We had a weigh-in tonight.
Auntie Janneke took some pictures when we were staying over and slaves were on holiday, they are too cute to not share. But of course we have grown since then!

Daisy: 540 grammes, 3 months old
lowest weight: 320 grammes, she was a little over a month old


Lily: 640 grammes, 3 months old
lowest weight: 290 grammes, also a little over a month old


Woopy: 960 grammes, 2 years old
lowest weight: 107 grammes (wet) when born on 16 - 04 - 2008,
Highest weight: 1020 grammes, July this year


Chico: 1280 grammes. 3 years old on the 6th of September, 2010
lowest weight: 1160 grammes, in october 2008, he was then a little over 2 years old coming to live with us from the shelter
Highest Weight: 1360 grammes (LAPS!) April to June 2009, almost 2 years old!


Our slaves keep a spreadsheet in Excel with graphs and our weights and ages in days, weeks, years and so on.. Do you also have those geeky scientific slaves?

Love,
Valentino
Not-so-lil'Woop
Lily'explorer
Lil'wheeker

The importance of floor time!

Hi there fellow Agent piggers.

We want to tell you something about the importance of floor time...

First of all, what is floor time?
Floor time enables us to see a different part of the house we live in, and is ideal when our slaves need to change the bedding in our cages.
Floor time is also a good way for us to get some exercise, and if we get exercise we will be healthier and probably happier. Our slave Mikey makes sure we always get at least one bowl of pellets (we got three in our cage), some hay and a water bottle when we are out. Ghost has a ramp from his cage to the floor area so he can decide when to come out and when to stay in and eat or drink.
Our slave Mikey likes to give us obstacles and challenges, in the video below our slave made a little maze with fences and in the middle was a house upside down filled with hay!

Plus floor time can be so much fun!!
Here you can see lily'Explorer, Lil'wheeker and not-so-lil'Woop in action, Valentino was hiding somewhere out of view:


Getting used to your slave
Floor time is also a good way for our slave(s) and us to get used to each other. Slave can sit in our play area and not move to much at first, maybe talk softly to us. After a couple of times (or maybe even from the start) he or she can try to get our attention by calling our names, or just the name she used for all of us, like little monsters or guinea piggies. And if we come to her or him, maybe tempted by the sound of a plastic bag or veggies tearing, we get to have a piece. Our slave Mikey always gives us a house or something to hide in. We also have one of our travelling cages lined with newspapers in the kitchen (our floor time area) available in case we need to go... but we don't always use it ;) Ghost likes to sit under the ramp on the floor area and have a poop, his humans would rather he used the ramp to go back into cage and have a poop, silly humans...

Floor time outside?
What is also nice is piggies having floor time outside. We loooove eating the grass or other yummies, but if we have never had grass before (remember agent ghost and his early tummy upset) make sure we get used to it slowly! Your human can cut you a handful of grass with the scissors and add it to your food bowl before you actually get to go out and mow the lawn. Remember humans are lazy and if we don't mow the lawn they have to mow it themselves and they don't like that.

Be sure we cannot reach any poisonous plants, animal droppings or other things we cannot have...
Always make sure we are safe, we don't want any other animals getting in our play area.
Best is to use a pen or run and cover the top. Covering the top also gives us some shade when it is very sunny outside. Some boxes or houses to hide in would be nice too...
Ow yes don't put us indoor piggies outside when it's raining or cold and windy, we might get ill. And don't put us on grass that has recently been mown. But I am sure we don't have to tell you that!!

Here you can see our late leader Agent F and Agent ghost having 'floor time' in the grass


Now its your turn, we want your floor time stories, pigtures and videos, get working!!


Agent Valentino and Agent Ghost

Medical Update

Now me doesnt want you to worry (trust me Mummy is worrying enough for the world) but those of you who have followed my blog for a while will know me has been causing concern with my unexplained weight loss.

Me has been to the normal vet several times in the last few months only to be told they can find nothing wrong.

Mummy was not happy with this and finally managed to find a vet who had trained with Peter Gurney.

Well yesterday they have run all sorts of tests on me including x-rays and blood tests and what they have found is that me has kidney stones.

Me has 2 stones stuck in the uretha (tubes between kidney and bladder) one from each kidney and it looks like me has 2 more forming again one in each kidney.

Well these stones have caused kidney and liver damage and where they are at the moment they are inoperable.

Me is at home with Mummy and Daddy (and Ghost) now but we dont know how long me has left before me goes to join Agents Thunderbear and Master of Disguise at the bridge.

Mummy is going to try some herbal remedies that have been recommended Hydrangea Root Tincture and Chanca Plus Powder to see if this helps break the stones down.

My weight is now down to 925g and me looks very skinny but me is still keen to get my veggies and of course me makes Mummy's life difficult by fighting the syringe and refusing to co-operate.

Me will give you regular updates on what is happening with me, but me doesnt want you to stop your good secret agent work.

Me still wants to introduce new guest and to hear about different celebrations so keep me updated, me needs you lot to keep me entertained.

Mummy says if anyone has any suggestions please let her know.

Now get back to your secret agent work.