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newly adopted Piggies

62 replies

pinkoneblueone · 29/03/2015 18:52

Please can you give me some advice on guinea pigs as we have just adopted 3 male (brothers) today and i've never had any before. They are 6 months old. I will have to get them neutered asap as they squabble and one has now gone blind in one eye due to this. They share a Hutch in the garden and have a blanket and plastic sheet that goes over the hutch to keep them warm and dry. They were bathed and had their nails clipped before the previous owner has brought them to us. She has brought them a few hrs ago we have handled them and made sure they are happy and well in the hutch and are letting them settle in. So i'm looking for advice on care for them as a book will only tell me so much, please help!?

newly adopted Piggies
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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 19:45

I've read through.

It sounds like the previous owner bought three fluffy little piglets when they were all sweet and docile then when they reached the niggly age, she decided to call time on them.

It sounds like T has been picked on by the others since they reached maturity and things have come to a head.
D'you ever look at Gumtree and see the number of boar pairs that are "I;m selling my lovely boys, they are six months old and never bitten the kids" but probably knock seven shades of sh*t out of each other. Usually in a hamster cage Sad Angry

I think you need to consider the piggie who's in the thick of it. He really doesn't sound happy.

The eye - if it;s a catarct , why on earth remove it? Unless it's a tumour, an abscess or an infection, the catarct is clouding of the cornea and lens.There are other underlying causes like back teeth and diabetes that can be ruled out.

If these pigs were mine (and I've had pigs as a child and now reliving Piggie Love when my daughter wanted some) , I'd seperate the bullied one and get him a piglet.
Matching him with another adult is tricky. A very little boar would soon catch up agewise (your boys are little) and have a 2+2 ( two pairs of boars)

(As a bit of history , if you want to plough through it. I'll keep it brief Grin )
My DD (she's now 13) - when she was 9yo wanted a pet. I said 'piggies'

We got 2 boars Rescue (1yo brothers) she wanted boys. I learned very quickly they need space and room to do their own thing (We altered the playhouse for them but they didn't like their winter night cage)

When one died, we had a very dominant adult boar left. We Rescued a 6 week old piglet boar.

When the older one died we got two sows and had boar neutered (kept apart till he was sterile)
He died and we have the sows.

Neutering is not without risk, my boar was a one year old good solid boy. It does mean without the bollocks they don;t get impaction (go on, Google it) but I wouldn't do it just for that.

If you get a tiny piglet boar (get a Rescue to bond them) then he'll accept him, though, there will be the time when the piglet reaches adulthood and your boar might find himself ousted. But (as happened with our piglet and old boar) once they're established , the bossy one will take charge.
It's not guarenteed that they'll be harmonious.

Or- you could neuter and pair him with a sow. Keep them well away from the boars to stop them fighting. Tricky though.

I'm actually quite Angry at the previous owner TBH. If I was recommending a piggie set up for someone who'd never kept pigs, it wouldn't be 3 fighting teenage boars, one with a gammy eye. Oh and BTW , have'em done Hmm.

She's pretty well passed on the problem to you Sad

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 19:49

Or , if you approached a Rescue and explained they might take the piggie and bond/rehome him .
You'd need to give them a donation but they could boarmatch him.
Rescues don't neuter unless the boar cannot be matched with a male.

You'll have your hands full otherwise.

pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 20:14

I've managed to get another hutch, Thank you for all of your advice its much appreciated as u can tell i don't know an awful lot about them but am learning fast, I will keep T separate from the others and possibly get another once he's healed and better. The vet said he should be on pain meds as his wee eye was weeping, Hubby is not impressed to say the least as its going to cost an awful lot of money if we did everything the vet said. I am waiting on getting the kids to bed before a clean out the hutch and then get him settled in his new home for the evening.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 20:26

Make sure he can still hear,see and chat to the other pigs. They still to be part of a 'group' even if they cannot physically be together.

Maybe put some of the bedding from the cage in the corner so it's still familiar smell without the risk of him being picked on.

Did the vet give you anything to put on his eye?
We use boiled,cooled salted water with non-fluffy gauze to cleanse. (Add enough table salt to boiling water to turn it cloudy).
Gently wipe then apply what you need to,

It's soothing on weepy eyes, takes off crusting and I've removed hay seeds using this.

I recommend you read Peter Gurney- long term GP keeper and book writer. Very down to earth. Loved his hogs.
Lots online, he's got tons.

fortifiedwithtea · 30/03/2015 20:38

Hi pink is there another vet you can go to for a second opinion?

My Millie Pig has twice poked herself in the eye with hay and our vet put some liquid in her eye to show up the damage under a special light (made the injury look green colour). As treatment, Millie was given ointment I put in 'x' times a day can't remember that bit and it was weepy and a bit closed up whilst it was injured.

Did the vet suggest ointment to heal the injury?

How long are you to give pain relief for (is it Metacam?)

Did the vet explain long term use of Metacam can effect kidney function?

Neutering has no effect on boar behaviour. And just to tip you the wink, humping for dominance between boars is normal, natural and nothing to worry about.

sanfairyanne · 30/03/2015 20:40

where do you live, op? maybe one of us can recommend a cavy savvy vet?
i still think this is probably a hay injury. normally eye drops are prescribed as well as pain killers. when one of mine had an eye infection, they were prescribed very overpriced human eye drops Shock

sanfairyanne · 30/03/2015 20:44

www.guinealynx.info/eyes.html

i really like guinea lynx and their forums. maybe not useful now but on your guinea pig adventure no doubt you will need to look something else up sometime Smile

btw why not ask your friend for a contribution to vets fees

pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 20:52

the vet was a specialist in eye care and is in Gosport, Hampshire. She put a drop on the eye and then turned out the lights and shone a light on his wee eye. She told me it was Cataracts and that it was sore as it was watery so that i should give him some Metacam 3kg drops on his food once a day to help as i've only had them 29 hrs so they are nervous of me as they don't really know me that well i'm trying to give them some time to settle in. I won't neuter unless its really required. Its just cost me £52 in vet care and £30 on an extra hutch and carry case today on top of everything else its getting very expensive for pets that are not supposed to be. :/ I want to give them a good home but also have to be able to provide for our family too the vets are not cheap so i would like a second opinion i can't really afford to be throwing lots of money around :( feel a bit pants about it all tbh. I will still do my best by them though but its just the thought of the added cost right now and its actually putting me off getting a wee buddy for T.

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pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 20:55

Thank you for sharing that brilliant site to me as its going to help a lot!

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LottieMumofWilfJenkins · 30/03/2015 21:14

Wilf has just adopted two boy piggies from the RSPCA. They were called Sugar and Spice but we thought the names were a bit sickly so we changed them to Cookie and Elmo. He loves them and is handling them daily and making them braver. Elmo is very mischievous and hides in the dirty straw when Wilf picks it up to carry it out! Shock

fortifiedwithtea · 30/03/2015 21:35

Pink I have a sow (Coco) living on borrowed time, she has a lump that can't be operated on. She has 0.2ml metacam daily. Coco tells me Metacam tastes delicious and grabs the syringe. I syringe it straight into her mouth, slowly. Take care with syringes not to squirt stuff into their lungs. Its easiler than putting on food where you are not sure whether they have eaten it all.

sanfairyanne · 30/03/2015 21:44

yes they always love metacam Grin gpig crack Grin
first few times you have to manhandle them to syringe it in but mine start queuing up for it and i have to wrestle the syringe off them after a few days Smile

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 21:48

pink did you pay the previous owner for the guineas and/or hutch?

I'd be sorely tempted TBH to get your money back to cover the vets bills ( I know caveat emptor but you've had them a day and you're already £80+ out of pocket)

And as for her noticing the white spot when she bathed them. Maybe an injury can be accounted for (which yes would account for the watering) but cataracts don't just ping up overnight.

I know it's hard because you've taken these little boys on.(and they get under your skin)
Some guineas cost nil all their lives , others have health issues.
You can't pretict things like cataracts (or injuries for that matter) but if she knew they were squabbly and T had scabs on him, then it was a fair bet that one of them would get injured.
Where did you find them? Was it an advert or someone you knew?

They will be nervous , they are timid little prey animals and it takes them a while to come out of their shells.

I'm Confused at Metacam on FOOD.

Any time I've had to administer antibiotics (GP2 and GP3) or painkillers (GP3 when he was neutered) to my hogs it's been orally with an insulin syringe. We were giving tiny amounts of antibiotics like 0.3ml ( off the top of my head) the insulin syringes measure were in 0.01 increments.
You cannot rely on a pig to eat what you give them. An ill pig often won't eat.

I might be wrong (it has been known Wink ) but that doesn't sound right.

millimat · 30/03/2015 21:56

I'm not experienced with guinea pigs like others on here, but have to say well done. It sounds like you've taken on a lot, got hugely more than you expected and are out of pocket in doing so. My DH would be going mad too fwiw.
You deserve a medal for rescuing these boys x

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 21:56

GP3 had Loxicam post neuteriing - he was practically glugging the stuff . Not in a "pain....sore" way but a "nomnomnom" way.

pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 22:25

i'm about to do the transfer to the new cage and will be handing him for a wee while before hand so will try to administer the meds in the syringe 1stly. I was cleaning the hutch out and the wind blew the top off...could kick my self as it is broken now so is now an only very temporary option for it till i get another one. (tbh i'd prefer to get another one with a run on the bottom for him but didn't see any for sale in the local area that didn't cost the earth.

She didn't charge me anything tbh i asked on FB as we were supposed to be rehoming some from there and the lady didn't answer her door and i had to work away for 2 days (hubby can't drive so wouldn't be able to collect them) and when i came back they had been re-homed so someone else and the kids were so excited so i put a post up asking.

I just hope we can offer them a lovely home that hopefully is better and where they will be happy. I knew it would be hard to adjust to but didn't think i'd have the troubles i've had. never mind i'm learning.

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 30/03/2015 22:39

Guineas are not good little patients but YY to syringe it in.
You pay enough for the meds you want it to get where it needs to go Grin

I've had to syringe feed my GPs when they were literally at deaths door (so not agreeable at all) Our boar had 4 injections (saline + antibiotics) so he was not a happy thing .

Towel wrap him. Put him on your lap with him rump against your tummy so he can't scoot backward.
Hold his muzzle put the syringe just behind his front teeth, squirt slowly and let him chew. When they chew they automatically swallow.
And they do like the meds so he'll take them.

By doing it slowly it won't go in his lungs or down the front of his bib.

Try Preloved or Gumtree or Freecycle for cages/hutches . ?

The piggies are worth the aggro trust me.
I couldn't even sit my piggie on my lap when I got her, now she's lovely and cuddly (we got our Rescue girls in July. ) She's lucky she came to live with me Grin the razor clawed little demon Wink

pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 23:29

I've just had him out to give him his meds and he took them nicely they are very cuddly except for Bear who is a fast one and is apparently always looking for an escape route.

He is going to stay in the house tonight as its really windy out side and his hair was all wet at the back as he's wee'd and got it all on himself. as he's long haired i don't want him getting sick so he's staying in the house tonight but i've given him the house and a tunnel filled with hay in his hutch for when we move him in tomorrow. he's lovely bless him :)

Already growing attached to Ted need to get the other boys out seperately tomorrow night now and get them used to me too.

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pinkoneblueone · 30/03/2015 23:38

Meet teddy...thats hay on the floor from refilling his wee carry case that he'll be spending the night in..

newly adopted Piggies
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fortifiedwithtea · 31/03/2015 21:47

Aww Teddy looks a little sweetheart Smile I can see why he's melted your heart. How is he today?

He looks like a Peruvian or at least a long hair cross. It's ok to give them a hair cut a round the bum for comfort. Guineas can be manky little beggars and sit in their own pee. Plenty of threads on bathing if you ever have the need. Some pigs love a bath, some don't.

pinkoneblueone · 31/03/2015 22:16

thank u i will need to visit those threads. i have put them all in a box to mix in our front room tonight and spike has been attacking bear a lot i think i've found the culprit though i'm not sure if i should put spike separate from teddy and bear as they seem to be ok together i think. i'm so unsure its awful not knowing what to do

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pinkoneblueone · 31/03/2015 22:17

oh and teddy is much more alert today and comfortable with me holding him

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pinkoneblueone · 31/03/2015 22:40

i;m not sure what to do spike is being really awful to bear and there is lots of shrieking can anyone help me out what should i do as bear and teddy are getting along fine but spike really keeps going for bear. i now don't know what to do for the best.

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millimat · 31/03/2015 22:40

Maybe you should put the other two together and see? It's a shame if the one being isolated is happy worth one of the other ones, but until you leave then together I suppose its hard to tell.

pinkoneblueone · 31/03/2015 22:54

these boys were happier together on me and when i put them in the box with spike he started bothering bear again poor wee bear shrieked and went and hid in some straw its so hard to know what is the right decision to make on this.

newly adopted Piggies
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