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Regrets - poor Basil piggy

elve

Banned
:cry: he's died :cry: :cry: why is it you always know what to do after it's too late? So - after his illness over Christmas, he made a full recovery day after boxing day, and I thought he'd be fine. Then I got flu :roll: As much as I could do to feed and water them all for a few days :( I noticed Monday he wasn't himself again, got him out and looked at his bum, cleared an impaction, gave him some water. Tuesday (day before yesterday) he was fine again, eating enthusiastically....and I thought, in my snot-filled, shattered head 'great he's better again' ....whereas NOW, I can see I should have thought 'I wonder where all that food's going?' :cry: Yesterday clearly he's not happy again, so I cleared a massive impaction from his bum, but sadly it seems too late to save him :cry::cry::cry:

If ONLY....:cry: but you only get one chance sometimes - if you don't get it right first time, there's no rewind button :cry: Poor little guy.
 
thanks :( this is the first impacted piggy I've dealt with so I'm making mistakes I guess - I wish I wish I didn't :cry:
 
Aw so sorry to hear that Elve :(

One of mine has anal impaction, ive had quite a few, I would say 70% of my males get it, even a few of the neutered ones.

If you have any more that start to show this its best to check it everyday. My boy only started 4 weeks ago and I have to clear him daily.
The bigger the impaction the weaker the muscles become.
You should leave the droppings in the cage for him to munch as they are full of vitamins and freindly bacteria. If he doesn't eat them its worth supplementing his diet for the first couple of weeks.

http://www.comfycavies.com/Health/AI.htm

http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/analimpact.htm
 
Don't feel bad, i have times when i'm working so many hours that i don't get to spend as much time as i would like with my small furries.

I have one boar and i am yet to deal with impaction...however when the time comes i will be asking you lot for advice. It sounds scary!
 
thanks Angie - bad timing for the poor chap what with me and son being ill, the garden being dead etc etc. I spent ages finding 5 blades of edible grass on Tuesday :roll:

Thanks for that info Leanne - I thought Basil would only need checking every other day, rather than daily - I had a problem getting him out of his cage as it needed to be lifted down and put back up, from my shoulder height as it was on top of a double hutch - not good when you have flu :( I did see him eating his caecal poops after his first illness over Christmas, so I was hoping he'd sorted it :( Poor little chap - he hated being handled and got so stressed with it - I shall watch all the other boys like a hawk :?
 
Don't feel bad, i have times when i'm working so many hours that i don't get to spend as much time as i would like with my small furries.

I have one boar and i am yet to deal with impaction...however when the time comes i will be asking you lot for advice. It sounds scary!

awww thanks - it was easy to clean really (if you check out Leanne's links) - I didn't even need cotton buds and baby oil this time, it just popped out like a cork from a bottle, and didn't smell that much - maybe I'm immune after all those nappies I've changed :? What caught me out was he was only about 3yrs old, so I wasn't expecting it - but he wasn't very energetic so maybe that's why. It was the aftercare I hadn't read about - I was dreading it like you, but cleaning the bum bag isn't as bad as the aftercare - you need to nurse them for a day really if they've gone a couple of days unemptied - I think it gives them a sore tummy and also their teeth grow at such a terrific rate it's very easy for them to get overgrown after just a few days of eating less than normal - then you have all those problems too, and they just go downhill :(
 
thanks Angie - bad timing for the poor chap what with me and son being ill, the garden being dead etc etc. I spent ages finding 5 blades of edible grass on Tuesday :roll:

Thanks for that info Leanne - I thought Basil would only need checking every other day, rather than daily - I had a problem getting him out of his cage as it needed to be lifted down and put back up, from my shoulder height as it was on top of a double hutch - not good when you have flu :( I did see him eating his caecal poops after his first illness over Christmas, so I was hoping he'd sorted it :( Poor little chap - he hated being handled and got so stressed with it - I shall watch all the other boys like a hawk :?

Hey you can't do something if you don't know about it so please don't beat yourself up about it. Especially seeing as you were ill too!

Once anal impaction starts its for life sadly for us that have to do the dirty deed :lol: It only causes a problem to the piggie if they aren't emptied (imagine having the inside of your bum filling up with poop) and don't eat their caecal poops over the first couple of weeks. They usually can get enough extra b vits from their dry complete and veggies once their bodies have adjusted to not munching them. I continue to leave the poops in the cage til they stop munching them, the just throw them in the bin. I usually give them metatone tonic for the first 2 weeks (I got that tip from piggie potions) but with this piggie I haven't bothered with as he munches his poop.

Boars bottoms should be checked every week, young ones too, to catch the first signs of it and then daily until you know how often they need emptying, some are daily, every other, every few etc. YUM!
 
so sorry to hear about Basil..:cry: we all have to live with "what ifs"..don't be too hard on yourself it's obvious you love your piggies and you did all you thought was right at the time.
hope you're feeling a bit healthier too. x
 
I'm sorry Elve, rip Basil :cry:

It's always easy with hindsight, I have many what if's with Pippa, what if I'd panacur'd her, what if I'd realised it was her emptying the water bottle not both of them as I thought, what if I'd taken her to the vets a few weeks ago... but we can only do our best and learn from any mistakes that we (and others) make
 
Hindsight is a truly wonderful thing as while it cant change the past the it can make a hell of a difference in the future.

Sorry you lost Basil Elve :(
 
So sorry to hear this. Please don't beat yourself up over it - we can't be super all knowing people all the time, with bags of boundless energy. Apart from anything else, you were ill. You are only human. x
 
so sorry to hear about Basil :cry: It's not your fault though, its difficult to look after lots of pets when you are ill. I'm sure i'd have noticed Hobbes abscess earlier if i hadn't of had tonsilitis and been rushing around over Christmas but we do the best we can. x
 
thank you everyone for being so understanding :) poor Basil I will miss him - as his cage was at head height I always had a chat with him in passing - he was very cute and just lived to eat, like most piggies. I've just remembered too, the Saturday before Christmas he breathed in a bit of brocolli, eating too fast, and 'rattled' for a few hours till he sneezed it up - he went off brocolli after that as if he was scared to eat it - that was the start of it all :(

When I first got the piggies 2yrs ago, Charlie got a one-off impaction post neuter. I took him to the vets as he was ill, but the vet didn't spot it - I had to figure it out when I got home at 1am :roll: So long ago I'd forgotten my piggies aren't getting any younger - will have to check them all regularly now, even 'the babies' (who are now 2yrs old - hardly babies! :rolleyes:)

To check them I take off my glasses so I can get a close look and not hurt them poking about, then sit the pig on a pillowcase on my lap, facing my tummy - saucer of baby oil soaked cotton buds to hand, plus tissues. If you lift up their right back leg, and put your face next to their bum you can see if it's impacted or not by gently rolling back the 'padding' around their bum hole, which opens up the 'poo bag'. It should be empty, with some white gunk inside, but Basil's had a plug of dried caecal poops mixed with normal poops on Monday, and a plug of normal poops yesterday - probably an inch long all packed together :( If you press gently, like squeezing a spot, it will pop out any stuck poops, although if they're too dry you might need to swipe an oil soaked cotton bud carefully round the 'bag' to loosen the contents.

So it has to be emptied daily - I'll know next time :( I thought with him eating his caecal poops again he was all sorted, but obviously not :(
 
:cry: So sorry to hear about Basil Piggie. Dont beat yourself up about it Elve you did everything you could. Thinking of you.
 
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