(Guinea-Pig Thread) Can I ask for some 'Get Well' wheeks for Bert?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Our boar GP6 (Bert) has been unwell ( unwell to the point I thought he was unhitching the gate to The Rainbow Bridge)

He was very quiet on Christmas Day , sitting in the corner of his haybed. DD and I did syringe feeding of fine grind critical care with loads of water to make it sloppy . It is one of the most difficult stressful things to "force" feed a guinea-pig. They are not obliging little patients and it's literally 'drop' /chew /spit some out /repeat.

Bert is still with us , he is not out of the woods by any means but he's eating little bits of cucumber and accepting syringe feeding.

He's drinking from the water bottle , doing some very pathetic 'No Sound Wheeks' and moving about now.

He is not out of the woods . I know this . DD knows this.
I have taken other pigs to the vets when they've been ill (the floppy rubbery way that they go) and lets just say the outcome didn't change .

So, he will go to the vet if there's not a massive turn-around , or indeed if he declines.
But I hope he's turned a corner and (for now) decided that The Bridge is not on his "To-Do List"

I am making light of this but I'm gutted (as many of you Small Pets guinea-pigs slaves know , he is over 4&half , he married GP7 -same age- after I had to have my little GP8 PTS )

I know they're getting to 'that' age and DD and I will do our absolute best for him,
(He also needs a bath 'cos he's a bit manky , but I'm debating on the stress v making him a bit comfier on his skin. I think the bath will win)

Ahhh poor Bert. Hope he's feeling a bit better this evening.

They are complicated little things aren't they! Hopefully it's just a mild tummy thing or 'Mrs Bert' has just been bossing him about too much. The furry things in this house (and their human slaves) are keeping paws and fingers crossed for him. Madampig sends a get well wheek and Currentbun is doing his best 'ignoring pig stance' specially!

Thank You Madam and Current

GP7 is not ready to be a widow just yet , she's on TeamBert with DD and I.

He had his bath (minor protest but he has amazing quick dry fur) , he was really stinking , sitting in his pee , we tried fleeces but he likes the hay , so he's having hay bed changes daily , sometimes 2x daily (I reckon the fact he's peeing and poohing is still a good sign)

I blended up some herbs and cucumber with water and we've been giving that in an insulin syringe (from the vet , really fine one and good for slipping into tiny guinea mouths)

He's showing interest in food which is a huge bonus.

I don't know what ailed him We gave them some grass on Christmas Day , warmed through under the tap to take off the chill but there wasn;t enough to bloat him. He was protesting on Tuesday when DD touched his side though.

He doesn't look so dull eyed as he was (I thought yesterday I'd get a frantic call from DD ) but we are still on 24/7 watch.

How's Bert today?

Madampig had a bath in solidarity with him this morning and then Currentbun was also moved to take the plunge.

Seems to be picking up, I gave him some herbs&water last night about midnight then heard one of them drinking water about 3am (might;ve been GP7 though)

We gave him more herb water and he's just eaten a wedge of cucumber .
He is emailing the RSPCA Express Line details to MadamPig just in case there was Bath Co-ercion afoot.
He reckons that given the choice Madam would join him in a wedge of Waitrose finest cucumber .
Tilly is quite happy to snuggle him and taste the food first but last time she had a bath she got a new husband so she's putting her paw down firmly

Glad to hear he's eating. Hope he carries on improving.

Madampig would also like it on record that she had her claws clipped. She definitely deserves the waitrose cucumber.

I’ve updated my password just so that I could log in to wish Bert well. Millie also endured a bath and claw clip on Christmas Eve. She was not impressed even though I had at last found the Gorgeous Guinea shampoo.

Come on Bert, we are counting on you to pull through

Hope Bert is feeling brighter this evening.

Wheeks and a sharing of parsley from Hazza, Megz and Fluffy.

Get well soon, Bert!

We gave him another little bath and when he was dry rubbed some coconut oil round his bits to protect him from wee . He;s tending to cuddle up in a hay corner so he's just peeing in this spot rather than patrolling around and trying to smooch GP7.

He needs to pooh more too (IMO)

His beard is green from herb smoothie .

I even put a splash of Ribena in the water bottle (I read somewhere they like it to make them drink more)

He's getting feistier which is good , accepts the syringe feeding , but now picking at his food more . He manages to stroll about the cage a bit whereas a couple of days ago was literally in the corner , facing the corner .

We're keeping a close check , his pee is pee coloured (no blood) but its hard to see if its cloudy or chalky .

If it's just 'old' then we'll monitor the 'old' and treat him like the lovely fragile gent that he is.
He'll be 5 in April !

Aww, sending Bert some piggy power to get him on his feet. Small squeaks and grumbles from us x

70 thanks to guinea pigs of Instagram I have discovered Oxbrow Urinary support ‘tablets’ one biscuit per day. Millie loves them, gets excited every morning when the packet is opened. We have a little routine cuddle time and biscuit. She would sell her own grandma for an Oxbrow biscuit and snatches it off us, no manners at all.

They do clean their kidneys out. After 3 days she had a squeak and paased some chalky sludge in her wee. And again a few days ago, whilst sitting on me obviously 🙄 I get all the joys 😂.

Maybe a biscuit would perk Bert up?

Thanks fortified I've ordered some of these on Amazon now ( good thing to have in the guinea pig first aid box)

I bought him cranberry tablets (looked on Peter Gurney site and some research from there) crushed one on water and syringed it over ome hours. I'm going to find some pure Cranberry juice

He's taking fluids from the syringe and some CC this morning, his eyes are brighter but he's still a bit manky on his undercarriage (pee) , many spot changes of hay going on here

He's not squealing when he pees (in fact he just sits on his towel and wees when we give him food ) so I;m concentrating on flushing fluid through him , its like having a new baby with the late night / 2am feeds . I was sitting at the top of the stairs with him at midnight t'other night thinking "Am I bonkers"? Answer , probably yes .

Poor Bert. They do worry us. Had an ongoing issue last year with RubblePig and lost him after 3 months of vets, syringes, handfeeding, critical care and a bill of £400. Wish I had just made him comfortable and let him slip away. Not so much the money but dragging it out.

Hope he rallies soon.

That's at the back of my mind Frouby , I honestly though he'd be dead on Thursday but he's picking up. I;m not sure if he's going to make a 100% recovery but while I'm shovelling food and fluid into his unilling little face I'm keeping him going.

I;ve gone down the routes of medicines , infusions (ouch) and the like with other piggies and TBH, it was not a good outcome , guinea-pigs just don't respond well sadly.

I know he might end up leaving us sooner rather than later and if he does a downturn I will not let him suffer.
But for now , he's ok in himself and accepting food plus eating his salads and hay .

It is really good to get the good vibes feed back on here , any one I tell IRL would be "Eh? Its a guinea-pig, let it die"

It's so hard, we did metacam, 2 courses if abs, eye ointment, another course of abs and then I got up 1 saturday morning and he was just hunched in his bedroom with his gammy eye and wheezy breathing and flinched when I picked him up.

Chucked him in his carrier and took him to be pts. I couldnt subject him to anymore and he was so miserable and likely in pain.

I don't regret the PTS but I do regret the backwards and forwards to the vets and the endless meds and treatment.

I hope he picks up though. RubblePig had a series of upper respiratory infections that then went to his eyes and his little body just couldn't fight it anymore.

Apologies only just seen the thread.
Come on Bert get your act together and get well, you've a new wife to keep company and snuggle up to 🐹
Seriously all at EastMidsGPs do so hope Bert is on the mend, he is at that worrying age isn't he?
We have all our paws crossed here.

When Sadie was ill a couple of months back, I really do think the CC stuff saved her and I was totally convinced she was on her way. We're a bit paranoid now and keep weighing her (much to her annoyance and disgust).

I was unreasonab;y delighted to see a pile of pooh (admit it was a squashed lump of pooh rather than losenges but its more output that we were getting)

He was face first into the breakfast plate this morning and I kept texting DD from work to make sure she syringe fed him (I think he likes the attention )

I'm being cautiously optimistic , he's not back to "normal" but he's not the pathetic little floppy scrap he was.

(I need to buy DD a present , she's been epic ....even though I was doing the early hours feeds)

That's good news. So happy Bert has produced pooh!! Come on Bert - keep getting better

Oh 70 I am SO pleased for Bert's pile of poo 😂

How's Bert doing now?

He was scoffing spinach when I gave them breakfast , though we're still supplementing his intake and giving him Vit C crushed and syringed .

I don't want him to get too reliant on being fed but when I think last week we were wondering if we were being cruel disturbing him, it seems we made the right call syringe feeding him.
I wasn;t sure it would buy him more time but thought "you ain't going to starve on MY watch matey"

He troughed down a fair bit of critical care herb smoothie and was guzzling the Vit C solution.last night but had to endure another quick bum dip to keep his nethers clean and a rub of coconut oil to protect his skin,. We were rewarded by a pooh nest this morning .
We're still going day to day , if he's happy , we're happy. If it gets too much , we rethink.

They are lovely little creatures , good job we luffs them

That's good to hear 70 - the Fernie gang have been wondering about his progress. Madampig was only able to manage 3 lettuce leaves with her dinner as she was so worried. Currentbun is happy to hear Bert's doing okay and is now relaxing and watching the football with DH.

They are fluffy little bundles of worry sometimes. Good job they have slaves to dots on them

Luckily GP7 hasn't let her concern for her new husband get in the way of her appetite

We're spoiling them by putting their veg into the haybed so they don't need to wander too far (well it is colder at night and they need to conserve their energy)

I need to go and clean their cage now ( my life is Non Stop Glamour )

Sorry I missed this - glad he is better!

I'm glad he's OK.