Why are His Ears so Hairy

OK me knows one of my ears is bald due to fungal infection, but even my good ear is nowhere near as hairy as Spooky's.

He appears to be growing a small dense forest of hair on his inside ear flap.

Is this yet more evidence that he is not really a piggy?

Or should my ears be hairer?

Nah me is perfect

While Mummy isnt Looking

Me is gonna grab a dead leaf and eat it.

Ok Mummy is engrossed in her book, target dead leaf is just outside the bars of my outdoor run.

Right keep belly right on the ground stretch out as far as me can and creep slowly forward........now stick teeth through bars and grab dead leaf.

CRUNCH

Pffftttt why dead leaf so noisy the crunch made Mummy look up and now she has stolen my leaf!!!

Mummy Needed a New Pet.........

so me and Spooky hid under our pop up tent and made it move around.

Hey presto one giant snail pet!!

What is it about Humans..............

and Capybara??

Dont get me wrong Caplin Rous is my hero me is eating to be like him, but Mummy dragged Daddy all the way to somewhere called Beale Park just to see 2!! Capybara.

She is still on about this divorce thing as Daddy run the camera battery out taking photos of Praire Dogs and shouting Alan at them (Walk on the wild side explains all)

There was only enough battery left for 2 photos of Capybara Mummy not happy she took some more on her phone but they are not as good.

Heres a Capybara fix for you all

He is at it Again

We have a cardboard chube to run through and hide in but Spooky keeps pushing it round cage with front paws.

Worse than that he is trying to climb on it!!!

Whats a Divorce??

Daddy said Mummy's tummy would be a perfect bouncy castle for guinea pigs and she said she wants a divorce.

What does it all mean??

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)

This is not a Circus

Me thinks Spooky is planning to run away and join the circus.

Instead of eating the hay in our toilet roll tube, he is putting his front paws on it and rolling it round the cage.

Most un-guinea like hmmmmmmmmmmm

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/

Can You Guess Who It Is

The next post will be bought to you care of another secret agent piggy here are a few clues to her identity.

She has chosen the secret agent name Piggy Galore as she is a Diva pig.

She lives in the Nederlands with her brother and sister pig (they get on most of the time) and a human mad scientist.

Thats your clues

Extra points if you can guess which little piggy put on another 40g in the last week and now weighs 851g and has been out for some grass with no tummy problems

Is he Really a Guinea Pig??

Me and Daddy suspect their is something very un-guinea like about Spooky.

We have a few clues

Clue 1 Spooky loves digging most other piggies will tell you this is weird.

Clue 2 Daddy caught Spooky climbing the cage bars must un-piggy like, Daddy said if me tried that the bars would break hmmmppphhh

We Love This Blog

Its Caplin the Capybara's blog, he calls himself a giant hamster but he is really A giant guinea pig (well he must be) he is definetely a LAPS piggy!!

Thank you to the human who shared the link, we are trying to view all the archives (a long task for 2 guinea pigs)

http://gianthamster.com/

What Was the Point of That Then

Mummy gave us a dried corn on the cob, so me and Spooky pulled all the yellow corns out and scattered them all over the cage floor.

What we supposed to do with it now???

We Have Been Watching......

Walk on the Wild Side on BBC1 its very funny.

They have real wildlife footage which has been voiced over.

We love the sleeping seal and the mouse flower delivery service.

Agent A for Agouti

Here are some clues to guess who Agent A is thats if you cant tell from the beautiful pigture.

Agent A lives in the USA, she has a whole photobucket album dedicated to her and like me she is famous on the guineapigjamboree.

Agent A has dark eyes and ticked hair which makes her an agouti, unlike Spooky whose ruby eyes make him an argente. Eye colour is the only difference between Agouti and Argente.

Agent A has dark brown hair with black undercoat and tan ticking she also has a tan tummy, we think she looks like a cinnamon agouti.

As you can see from the pigture she is a gorgeous girl.

[caption id="attachment_288" align="aligncenter" width="160" caption="Agent A for Agouti "][/caption]

And in case you missed her on the jamboree here is the link again

http://www.gpjamboree.com/rest-and-weelaxation/page/2/

She is second piggy on the page.

Thank you for your contribution Agent A.

Humans are Strange

Mummy told us that there will be a funeral for our friend a week Friday, so Spooky said he would help dig the hole in the garden (he loves digging strange piggy) and me was going to help chose the pot and the plant to mark the hole.

Mummy says humans dont get buried in the garden (this must be because they are not as important as guinea pigs)

Mummy says our friend will be cremated and then the ashes scattered in a garden of remembrance (so they do go in the garden Mummy lied)
where they will help lots of beautiful plants to grow.

That way our friend has never really gone. We are glad about that.

Goodbye My Friend

My friend crossed the rainbow bridge at 11:45 this morning.

Mummy says that now she is free of pain and reunited with her beloved cats Big Boy and Chloe and the hammie who went everywhere with her, even for road trips in her MG.

While we may miss her she is in a happier place now, its just us left behind who are sad.

Agent I you are right humans are very leaky when sad.

Munchees when me is less sad and mummy has stopped leaking me will be blogging again.

In fact me has a special blog which another under cover guinea pig has helped with. Agent I for your information she is a she.

Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts.

Me will be back with you soon

Me is Very Sad

Mummy told me last night that one of our special human friends has the big C, sadly is has spread throughout her body and she is in hospital waiting to cross the rainbow bridge.

My friend is very good to me whenever she goes abroad she goes straight to the pet section of the hyper market to find guinea pig treats for me.

She banned her neighbour from using weedkiller on his overgrown garden so she could pick fresh dandelions for me.

She would share her beans and lettuces freshly grown with me and she would never throw a kitchen towel roll tube away she gave them to me to play with.

Mummy says the doctors are making sure she has no pain but that is all they can do for her.

I hope you understand I will taking a little break from blogging to devote my energy to my friend.

Dont worry I will be back and with a special post from a guinea pig secret agent friend.