Another Update

Agent F is back up to 1081g, he is acting normally again.

That means he is chasing me and pulling my ears, I had more peace when he was ill.

Mummy has banned him from the puter until he gets back to normal weight so he has 40g left to go.

Ghost

Agent F Health Update

Ghost here again just to let you know F is doing better today.

Here is what has been happening......

Regular readers may remember that not long after I arrived F begun losing weight at first Mummy thought it was because he was much more active chasing and humping me but when he continued to lose weight she got worried.

Mummy wormed F with Panacur but that didnt help, she took him to the vet who said his tummy was tender and gave him a shot of metacam that didnt help, then the Piggyfriends recommended giving him Acidophilus.

Acidophilus comes in capsules your human opens the capsule and mixes a third of the powder with 1ml of water and syringes it into you, well F he hates the syringe and after lots of fighting Mummy came up with a new plan she sprinkles the powder between 2 slices of cucumber leaves it a while for the cucumber to absorb it and feeds it to F he is quiet happy to eat this.

F put some weight on not all that he had lost but he stopped losing and got to a steady weight.

Next he had 2 fungal infections one on his ear and one round his testicle these were treated with canaural (ear) baytril (testicle) from the vet, and Gorgeous Guineas Lavendar and Myrhh lotion on both, they both cleared up.

Last Sunday F stopped eating he was sitting hunched over and fluffed up his poops got really small and then stopped altogether.

Mummy gave him 0.4ml childs liquid nurofen and 0.5ml metatone she then syringe fed him food and water and he perked right up.

Monday and Tuesday he was fine.

Wednesday he was hunched up again so Mummy took him straight to vet they could find nothing wrong, but his family all knew something was wrong.

The Piggyfriends suggested the following treatments and Mummy says she owes her sanity to the support of all her friends in the piggy world but especially to the Piggyfriends Mummy.

Mummy tried giving him 3ml Gripe Water as well as the medicines above he still lost weight.

Thursday Mummy gave him 1ml Infacol as well as medicines but he still lost weight.

Friday Mummy gave him 1 Buscopan tablet crushed and mixed with 1.5ml water and syringed into him he stayed the same weight.

Mummy gave us lots of treat foods corn on the cob, strawberries, beetroot, yellow pepper and romaine as well as giving F his medicines.(nurofen and metatone)

Sunday F has gained weight he is back to 1039g from 970g.

We still dont know what made him stop eating but we are glad we have found something that helps.

Mummy wants to get him back to 1120g which is what he was before he got ill last weekend.

She would also like him to stop getting ill at the weekend when no vets are open and to stop fighting the syringe as she is only doing it for his own good.

I think her chances of success are slim but at least she has stopped crying and being stressed and is smiling again, stressed Mummy's are not good trust me...............

If anyone is interested in me Ghost I weighed a hefty 1251g yesterday and Daddy says I look like an aubergine.

AgentF is Under the Weather

Ghost here Agent F asked me to let his friends know that he is feeling under weather at the moment and so his blog may not be updated as often as he would like.

I will fill you in with more details soon, but at the moment I want to go and keep an eye on him.

Please send him all the healing wheeks you can spare.

Me is a Bad Patient

According to Mummy hmmppfff

Here is what has been happening, Mummy tries to get the syringe in my mouth to give me my medicine she gets really close and then I turn my head away.

Me struggles and acts like me is panicking to make her feel guilty and stop.

Me managed to bite her once, she said it really hurt wimp.

After watching Mummy struggle for ages Daddy tried to syringe me, he got really close to my mouth hit the plunger and covered Mummy in medicine, he gave up after that.

When Mummy does manage to get the medicine in me, me pulls a face and keeps chewing to make it obvious me is not impressed.

When she has finished instead of settling down for a cuddle to calm us both down me then starts biting the towel and moving about so she knows me wants to go straight back to bed.

Is that being a bad patient????

Quick update, my scabs have nearly all gone and me is much less swollen now.

Me Has Been to the Vet

Me has a skin infection in a very delicate place, girls stop reading now.... ok me confesses it is my testicle.

Yesterday Mummy was checking my boy bits as she bought me in from my mowing the lawn duties, when she noticed that one of my testicles appeared bigger than the other and was very scabby, she says she could almost swear they didnt look like that on Saturday.

Anyway this was not bothering me until the humans started to panic, they gave me a butt bath to get the area clean and then Mummy applied some GG Lavendar and Myrhh lotion.

Being a Sunday the vets were not open so Mummy had to wait until this morning before she could rush me there.

The vet told Mummy to stop panicking as the testicle itself wasnt swollen (me is a big boy anyway heehee) it was just the scabs making it look larger.

The vet removed what scabs she could and my skin is pink underneath not filled with pus, so Mummy could relax as it wasnt an abcess.

Me has to have Baytril 0.5ml twice a day for a week and Acidophilus as a probiotic as antibiotics can be bad for delicate piggy tummys.

Mummy also has to remove any loose scabs heeheehee she not looking forward to that.

Me hopes this will clear up in a few days coz as much fun as having a human fondle your testicles can be me is already bored of that game.

Me will keep you updated on my progress

Guest Number 11

Agent Dinosaur (me hopes you get it when you see the pigture)

Agent Dinosaur's real name means Noble Ruler and is English in origin.

She lives in Illinois with her brothers and sisters

She arrived at her new home on the back of a moped what a brave girl eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

Good luck guessing

Treatment of E Cuniculi

E Cuniculi is at present incurable, me hopes sometime in the future some clever person will find a cure but for the moment it can only be treated and managed as an on going problem. There is still lots of development ongoing.

Regular treatment with Ivermectin and Ivomec or Panacur appear to prevent an infestation taking hold. Ivermectin is for treating external parasites like mites while Ivomec and Panacur are worming treatments for internal parasites.

Make sure you get enough Vitamin C and water in your diet as these are essential for overall good health and its believed they can prevent infection taking hold.

When an infestation has taken hold this should be treated with antiparasitic drugs from the Benzimidazole range.Most commonly used are Albendazole, Oxibendazole and Fenbendazole (Panacur)

They antibiotic Baytril should be given in addition to the antiparsitic drug this helps fights any other infection that may be present and improves the general immune system.

To treat pain and inflammation Metacam can be given.

This is only a basic outline and me wishes to thank all the humans out there who have provided links to relevant websites, and most importantly of all, thanks to those who have taken the time to include the information on their websites.

As with any illness make sure your human seeks advise from a qualified vet as soon as possible and make sure your human goes armed with their own suggestions of what to look at.

Me doesnt know if it was E Cuniculi that made Hershey ill but me does know that her Mummy and Daddy did everything they could for her and that they will miss her terribly.

Me also knows there will always be a little piece of my heart which says Hershey in memory of my sweet shy sword wielding friend.

Goodbye Hershey may your story help others.

[caption id="attachment_402" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008-September 2009"][/caption]

Symptons of E Cuniculi

My tribute to Hershey continues with what symptons should give you a warning that E Cuniculi may be a problem, especially if you as a guinea pig live near a rabbit.

Kidney problems such as frequent urination and increased thirst

Paralysis, a weakness in the limbs and inability to move

Head tilt or wry neck

Eye inflammation, cataracts, weeping eyes and eye rolling

Loss of appetite followed by weight loss, which in turn can cause problems in the gut such as stasis

Neurological damage leading to convulsions and loss of balance.

Behavioural changes such as wanting to be completely alone, probably hiding in a corner.

While these are all symptoms of E Cuniculi infection they can also be caused by other problems, so do not immediately assume that the problem is E Cuniculi although keep it is mind for a vet to check as its rare in guinea pigs and could be over looked.

A blood test known as a titer will be needed for an accurate diagnosis.

[caption id="attachment_403" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008- September 2009"][/caption]

What is E Cuniculi

A Tribute to Hershey

Me had never heard of E Cuniculi until it was suggested as a possible cause of what was making my friend Hershey ill and eventually lead to her crossing the rainbow bridge.

With her human family at first Hershey was shy earning her the nickname Hershey the Meek, with her guinea pig friends on our virtual pirate adventure she was a CHEEKY MISS instigating the great bum pinching scandal.

When she got ill Hershey showed her Mummy and Daddy she loved in the best way she could by over coming her shyness and accepting and demanding attention even play fighting with Daddy over the syringe, the best gift of memorys she could have left with them.

[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hershey Mothers Day 2008-September 2009"][/caption]

So what is E Cuniculi?

E Cuniculi is a protozoan parasite largely found in rabbits.

It is a Zoonose which means it can pass between different species eg from rabbbit to guinea pig.

The spores are eaten from infected hay where they can survive for months.

Once inside they travel round the body before leaving in the urine which in turn leaves spores on whatever is peed on to be eaten again.

Like mites in guinea pigs in rabbits it is believed to lie dormant until other factors such as stress, dehydration or a different infection allow it to take hold.

Even though a rabbit may have no symptoms they can be a carrier.

Treating Fungal Ear Infection

You will all be glad to know my ear is a lot better now in fact me just has some peeling skin (not the same as scurf this is old damaged skin being pushed off by new healthy skin!!)  and bald patches otherwise me is as good as new.

When Mummy took me to the vet they gave me a prescription only medicine (POM) called Canaural this is really a treatment for dogs and cats with ringworm.

Mummy had to put this on the bad part of my ear once a day for 2 weeks and use cotton bud to spread it around, she has to do inside and out of my ear flap.

Now a week and a half later me is well on the way to recovery.

The problem with Canaural is it contains steroids and is not suitable for long term use, Daddy is worried that now me has had one infection me may be prone to more the same way he is with athletes foot. (yuck)

Mummy doesnt want me on steroids long term so she has ordered a Lavendar and Myrrh lotion from Gorgeous Guineas in case infection comes back.

Piggyfriends Mummy has also told her to give my ears a good scrubbing with my Vet Sect Repel shampoo, Mummy says Daddy will have to do this as she is a wimp, Daddy will do it when I have finished my course of Canaural. (Piggyfriends can you ban your Mummy from giving my Mummy ideas please)

Guinea Lynx suggest using Nizoral shampoo  http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html (human dandruff treatment)

Others suggest any human dandruff shampoo containing Ketoconazole could be used (Mummy is wary of this)

Other suggestions include Iodine/ Betadine, Miconazole Cream and Aloe Vera Gel not sure what countries these are available in.

Mummys favourite suggestion is on Peter Gurneys health pages and this is an essential oil mix. Peter suggests using Tea Tree, Lemon Grass, Lavendar, Calendular and Patchouli oils in a carrier oil (he suggests almond oil) in a ration of 1:9. 1 drop of essential oil to 9 drops of carrier oil. http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm

Peter also suggests Grapefruit seed oil 20 drops in an egg cup full of warm water and then painted onto infected area. (me guess you paint it with cotton bud not paintbrush!!)

If me does keep getting infected Mummy intends to make me some herself.

If anyone know of any other treatments please feel free to post them here.

Spotting Fungal Ear Infection

Here is how Mummy found out I had a fungal ear infection

1) When she was stroking me my bad ear felt thicker than normal.
2) When she looked inside she could see big flakes of scurf, these looked like thick slightly yellow dandruff (in my earlier pigture you can see one on the left hand edge of ear flap)
3) Me had small patches of dried blood, these are caused by me scratching coz it irritates (Mummy not convinced by that as she hasnt seen me scratching but doesnt know what else it could be)
4) My ear was a darker pink than normal (normally they are grey with a hint of pink)
5) The ear felt hot to the touch my other ear was cool
6) When Daddy tug gently at the hair it came out in clumps held together by the scurf.

7) Some of the scurf fell out with just gentle running of fingers over the ear, like human dandruff falls out.

8) Some of the scurf was like dandruff and some was waxy and sticky (yucky my poor ear)

9) Trip to vet to confirm (although Mummy thinks they just agreed with her diagnoses)

How do Guinea Pigs get a Fungal Infection?

Well some sources say that Guinea Pigs can be carriers for fungal infection in the way that we are carriers for mites.

While most of the time the mites and fungus are not a problem in certain circumstances they can take over and cause us problems.

Suggested triggers of fungal infection are stress, diet, environment, humitdity, heat, age, outside infection and genetics.

In my case it could be heat and humidity we have had a brief spell of hot humid weather here in the UK, when the humans are at home the air conditioning is on but when they are at work it can get rather warm.

Of course me could blame it all on Spooky causing me stress and interfering with my environment heeheehee.

Certain Fungal infections can be contagious (Spooky showing no signs but Mummy is ready to treat him if necessary) Infections can also be passed from Guinea Pig to human and presumably vice versa mainly RingWorm (Daddy was worried that his athletes foot may have caused my ear problem, stupid human if he had stuck his toe in my ear me would have bit him hard)

Humans should was hands thoroughly before and after handling an infected piggy (my humans are addicted to hand washing even before me got an infection its amazing they have time to do anything else)

Sassy Satins

Hi AgentF,

It's me, Piggy Galore. Sigh.. slave let me finally have the computer to write you a blogpost. Feel free to cut it up in bits if it's too long. I'm also adding a pigture of me that you can place in your blog. It is not easy to see that i'm a satin on a photo because of my dark hair; but i cannot help that.. so.. here it goes;

Hi All! Agent F asked me to provide you all with some intelligence concerning my condition. My spyname is Piggy Galore and I'm a little diva and am very gorgeous, thank you very much (not that photogenic though; you should see me in real life).

[caption id="attachment_308" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Piggy Galore a Sassy Satin"][/caption]

I have Osteodystrophy (OD) which is a metabolic disease that affects my bones. (You can read more about the disease here: http://www.oginet.com/Cavies/satin.htm) The calcium from my bones is slowly drawn from them and this has painfull side effects, I'll tell you more about them later. The only guinea pigs with OD thus far, are satin pigs. I am a satin pig and I feel that it is important that AgentF's readers should know what they are and look like, so that they know about the risks that are involved with this breed.

So what does it mean when a pig has satin hair? First of all, satin is not the same as a silkie. When you're a silky, you have a certain hairstyle (long hair) When you're a satin, you have a certain type of hair (extra shiny) regardless of style. It can be short, long, messy or with curls. The hair is so shiny and soft, because the hairs are hollow on the inside.

So when you're a satin pig owner; what are the signs you should be looking for? Not all satins get OD, but is good to educate yourself so that you can help your pig if he or she is in pain.
- Weight loss; as a owner, weigh your satin regularly. Our jaws become instable and weak and this makes it harder to eat, which in turn affects our teeth because they keep growing.
- the bunny hop; although we are very similar to rabbits; we don't hop unless we're in pain.

So what to do when you suspect your satin has OD? You can go to a vet. I was diagnosed by an OD expert at 1,5 yrs old. She could feel it in my jaws. Later on we also made an ex-ray photo. My vet also taught my slave to check my lympf nodes in my paw pits; because when my OD is bothering me nowadays it is usually because my joints are inflammated and they get bigger. When this happens, my slave feeds me Carprofen (0.5ml, twice a day) for a few days until I feel better. My slave also removed obstacles out of the cage and hung the water bottle at a height where I can reach it easily. She also has a rubbery disc (snuggle safe) that she can put in the microwave to keep me warm and comfortable all day (like a hot water bottle)

Btw I am 4 years old and a strapping 3 lbs *looks really proud*. There are rumours that only satin pigs in bad conditions develop OD. But I was spoilt rotten (like any guinea pig diva ought to be) and well bred (you can ask for my pedigree if you dont believe me..) and still I got OD... just so you know, thank you very much.

Piggy Galore

Me also found this link to research into OD in Satin piggies (AgentF)

http://www.guineapigwelfare.org.uk/satin-guinea-pigs/

Mites

Now Spooky is feeling again he is helping write this post about mites.

Unlike me, Spooky has actually suffered from mites, they made him lose patches of hair and caused him to have black scabs over his ear and back.

Luckily for Spooky, Daddy spotted the problem at the petshop and then Mummy and Daddy kept pursuing the issue until Spooky got the right treatment.

If you have mites its important for humans to act quickly as mites can be fatal to guinea pigs if not treated properly.

One of the most obvious signs to look out for is excessive scratching, this is because mites bite and make us itch, we can damaged ourselves with the scratching as well. Mummy says Spooky didnt appear to be scratching much at all but he did have hair loss and black scabs.

The treatment for mites is Ivermectin drops, these are placed on the skin around the neck and down the back. (Mummy could only get Ivermectin in the form of Xeno450 which appears to be a brand name and has cured the problem) If one guinea pig has mites we will all need treating just in case.

Ivermectin will need to reapplied 2 weeks after first treatment, this is to allow time for the eggs to hatch, the second dose then kills the second generation, 2 doses is normally enough however it is always wise to be cautious and another dose may be needed.

After leaving the second dose to work, guinea pigs will need a bath to wash any dead bodies (eugh) out of our lovely hair, leaving us clean and pure again.

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/skinp.htm

http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html

Anypig with any more advice or observations, please feel free to comment........the more we know the better wheeeeeeeeeeeeek

Me is a Hair Dresser

Since I have been allowed back in with Spooky I have decided his hair needs a bit of work.

At first I started to eat it coz Mummy had managed to get syringe food in his hair, so Mummy and Daddy gave him a wash (Spooky is a big wimp he dont like bath time)

When he came back clean I decided I wanted to make him into a punk so I have kept on trimming his hair. Spooky dont mind its the humans that have a problem with this.

Mummy has been looking on the internet for advise about barbering and even the late great Peter Gurney cant explain why we do it.

The suggestions vary from it being a sign of dominance, boredom ,stress, genetic or not enough hay, me I just want Spooky to be a punk.

If I was eating my own hair this could be a sign of mites and should be checked out.

The advice to humans is leave us guinea pigs alone we will sort it out, if Spooky dont like having his hair cut he will tell me and eating all the hair is no problem for me I poop it out again.

Mummy says if I make Spooky bald she will have to seperate us, I am just making him a punk mummy OK.

Mummy is calling me Sweeney Todd (heeheee the demon barber I like that)

Are any of you hairdressers??

Spooky update;
Weight = +25g = 413g
Eaten= hay, dried pellets and banana

Poops = nearly normal

Keeping Cool (its sooo hot)

Well my little corner of the UK is being hit by a heatwave (the weather people promise it will be cooler for the weekend)
Here are ways to keep cool until then;

My humans are very extravagant and have air conditioners this means at the flick of a switch I have all the cool air I need.

Other ways you can stay cool include filling bottles with water and freezing them, then standing them in front of a normal desk fan, when the fan blows you get extra coolness from the frozen bottles, or wrap the bottle in a towel and have it in your home where you can lean against it and keep cool. (wrapping it in a towel is important otherwise you could end up frozen against it, not nice!!) Outside piggies can have a damp towel placed over the front of hutch, this will need to be kept damp throughout the day.

You could convince your humans to invest in a cooler tile, these work by giving you something cool to sit on  (without getting stuck to it) as they are made of marble they stay cool.

Get your humans to leave the curtains half shut as this helps stop the sun getting in and making your room too hot.

If you are outside in the garden make sure you stick to the shady areas, to keep cool and to prevent getting sunburn on your delicate ears and noses.

Guinea pigs can get very ill with heat exhaustion, the link belows tells your humans what to look out for and how to treat it.

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/heatstroke.htm

Any other hints and information we can share?

Me Has Spurs

Like many other guinea pigs I suffer from spurs on my front feet.

These are hard dried bits of skin that grow out from the foot.

Here is link to good description and photo on the guinealynx website.

http://www.guinealynx.info/feet.html#spurs

The spurs on the piggy in the photo seem to grow out of the bottom of the foot, mine grow up the side up of my feet and are also a lot darker than the photo.

Mummy thinks I may have got mine from sitting with my feet overhanging my old mezzanine floor which was plastic and uneven due to chewing (I now have a melamine mezzanine floor) who knows I may have developed spurs anyway.

When mine get long they irritate me so I either have to wait for mummy to cut them down with the nail clippers or I chew them off myself.

I have sometimes pulled them with my teeth but that hurt and made them bleed when they came away from foot where they were attached, I have learnt and now I only bite the side bit off NO PULLING.

I prefer to remove them myself so whenever mummy tries to cut them I throw myself about and wriggle and try to bite to put her off, she can be determined though and between us we keep them short.

If you have spurs make sure you or your human keeps them trimmed down as they can catch on things and pull off causing you pain and bleeding and risk of infection.

You have been warned!

Cutting Nails

I the wild us guinea pigs would keep our nails short by walking on hard surfaces, while this would still be the ideal way to keep nails short the modern lifestyle doesnt always allow it.

We have to trust the humans (eeeek) to cut them down for us.

Mummy says she is glad my nails are clear as dark nails scare her.

What mummy does is she sits me on her lap and distracts me with romaine so that I am not watching what she is doing, then she carefully cuts a little bit of each nail, we do this little and often.

With clear nails the humans can see where the quick ends (this looks like a dark pink line in middle of nail) if a human cuts the quick it hurts and we bleed (this means we can guilt trip them for ages heehee)

If your quick is cut the humans can use a styptic pencil or dip the toe in cornstarch or flour to stop the bleeding, dont worry its not that serious and you get lots of sympathy food.

With dark nails your human should only cut a little bit of the ends each time as its not obvious where the quick is.

Some humans put a brick under the water bottle so the piggy wears the nails down on the brick, mummy says she cant do that as I am so silly when I popcorn I would probably bash my head on it.

Mummy's top tip is, you dont have to do all the nails at once, if I am too restless or agressive she will stop with the ones she has done and come back to the others another day, sorted.

If your human trims your nails little and often you shouldnt have problems with them curling, although the older you get the more they tend to harden and curl grrrrrrrrrrrr.

If your human is afraid to cut your nails lots of vets will do it for them for a cost.