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Poor Irwin piggy

elve

Banned
:( Doesn't look good for little Irwin. I cut his hair a week or so ago and he was fine, then I noticed on Friday that his eyes were very weepy with clear liquid, and he was half closing them. No pus, so I figured he maybe had a bit of finely chopped hair in his eyes, although both eyes at the same time was a bit odd :? So I treated that with eye-drops and antibacterial eye cream, and yesterday his eyes looked fine again! But....he didn't :? Very lethargic, and I noticed he'd lost weight. I have concluded his teeth are genetically maloccluded, and that he's been eating less and less all week, and not drunk for a couple of days :(

He'd been eating dandelions and grass up until yesterday - presumably as they're soft - and he's such a shy pig I rarely see him eating anyway - he bolts for the bedroom whenever I look at him, or freezes till I've gone, whereas his brother living with him, Rudolf, is fine with me. In fact Rudolf has never been happier - Irwin is now too weak to chase and mount him, and he's getting double portion of carrots too :roll:

So I force fed Irwin some mushed up guinea ss with critical care last night, which he hated - mega stressful for such a timid piggie :( Most of it got dribbled onto his chin I think, but his tummy did gurgle a bit, so something's moving in there now - and his bum bag was totally empty :( I'm going to syringe him every 2 hours today and take him to the vets after my ex gets off work tonight as he'll babysit for me and drive me there.

Rudolf was looking for his brother when I finished syringe feeding last night - gazing anxiously out of the wire window of the hutch - I put some dandelions in with Irwin as I'm not sure how long they can be seperated for without losing their bond, but they are snuggled together this morning - Irwin, in spite of being weak, ran to Rudolf and buried his head under him last night, poor lamb - I hope he can cope with the vets tonight :(
 
Thanks Jane :) He's the first animal I've had with tooth problems and I'm so annoyed I missed the warning signs - it's easily done when they are bonded and pathologically timid :(
 
Oh poor piggie, hope the vet can get to the bottom of it!

I had a poorly pig with diahoerra a few weeks ago, we caught things early enough and he's now made a full recovery.

Vibes for Irwin,

Nicola
 
Oh I don't know what to do now! - rang the vets and my ex, and I can take him any time after 5pm BUT - the vet on today is the horrible, rough, shouting man who, after seeing the way he manhandled Maa, I promised I would never let any of my animals see again :rolleyes:
And basically all he has to do is say 'yes we'll do a dental tomorrow - bring him in at 9am, we'll keep him in a cage on his own and terrified till lunch time then do surgery on him but he's so weak and terrified he'll die anyway' :cry: I can't even get there for 9am. And joy of joys the vet on tomorrow doing the ops is the one who said of Maa, when she had to go in for the 4th time to have an abscess seen to, that she should be PTS as 'she's had 3 chances already!' - never mind that Maa was (and is now) in perfect health otherwise, or that I'd already spent £500! Honestly I was furious with the woman's attitude :?

The small animal specialist whom I usually see, who's great with them, is off till Friday - I doubt Irwin can wait that long anyway :(
 
Oh elve! I would suggest like the others to try a different vets. Either that or when the horrid vet starts shouting tell him to shut up! and does he have no compassion for a very scraed and timid piggie!
 
Thanks guys :( Reading this doesn't fill me with much confidence in vets either http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/dentalproblems.htm - I asked our vets already if they have a bucal pad seperator and they said no, they use an otiscope to look in their mouth, and a sling when they do the surgery :(

This morning little Irwin was warm and snoozy in his hutch, and most annoyed when I decided to syringe feed him again. I'm not sure if any went down his throat but there was a lot on the tissues I mopped him up with each time :roll:

Poor chap grabbed at a tiny piece of apple I tried him with, then froze - I had to open his mouth and pull it out :(

And I realised of course the reason his eyes are ' better' not weeping any more is because he is totally dehydrated :cry: I can't do sub-cut fluids so I'll have to go to the vets for that at least, plus painkillers I hope. Not sure what to do for the best, since vets are so useless, and I think Irwin is too weak to survive surgery - just the vet visit might kill him with stress. I put some more Optrex in his eyes and he was a lot happier - blinking like mad.

They are the best vets around here for small animals I think - maybe I should just keep him alive till Friday and take him to the good vet there? She saved Maa by saying she'd clean the abscess without anaesthetic - she just pulled it open and cleaned it out there and then - no bother, which the other vets refused to do 'incase she moved' :roll:
 
*sigh* :( I hate making decisions like this - Irwin is fast asleep in the hay next to his brother at the moment - do I wrench him into a stressful nightmare, or let him die in his sleep peacefully? :( I know he won't survive a GA, and probably has irreversible organ damage just from starving and not drinking a few days (at least) He was eating a bit of veg Sunday and Monday, but no dry mix or hay I guess if it's his teeth. I don't understand how enduring a car ride, seperation from his brother and home, being manhandled, injected, having his mouth wrenched open by a shouting bloke, being poked and prodded, is kinder than letting him slip away quietly at home :(

Why do they have to get ill? :(
 
Oh elve i can't offer any advice im sorry i would do what i thought was best knowing what the vets i had to take him to were like xxx
 
Oh no, poor Irwin.

Where do you live? Are you near the Cambridge Cavy Trust (http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/CCT.html)? You can also ring them for advice I think.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to let him pass away peacefully in his sleep if possible. However, if he wakes up, you could try feeding him with Metatone, it's a tonic for humans but is brilliant for piggies too, you can get it in Boots.

Hugs

FC
 
thanks everyone - After I'd syringed him again at 4pm he got quite distressed, and it was obvious he wasn't going to make it - he was terribly weak - so I had to choose between letting him starve to death for another day or 2 maybe (if I'd carried on syringing him he might have lasted a week even - and I didn't feel I could NOT syringe him, if you know what I mean) or getting to the vet to be PTS quickly.

In the event he died of fright during the car journey :cry: But at least I didn't bother putting him in a carrier - I held him in my arms :cry: And he didn't have to get prodded and injected by that awful vet :cry: My son is actually shaking from the stress of it all - sadly I'm afraid we're in for a lot more experiences like this with 25 small furries :cry: His body is back with his brother for now.
 
thanks everyone - After I'd syringed him again at 4pm he got quite distressed, and it was obvious he wasn't going to make it - he was terribly weak - so I had to choose between letting him starve to death for another day or 2 maybe (if I'd carried on syringing him he might have lasted a week even - and I didn't feel I could NOT syringe him, if you know what I mean) or getting to the vet to be PTS quickly.

In the event he died of fright during the car journey :cry: But at least I didn't bother putting him in a carrier - I held him in my arms :cry: And he didn't have to get prodded and injected by that awful vet :cry: My son is actually shaking from the stress of it all - sadly I'm afraid we're in for a lot more experiences like this with 25 small furries :cry: His body is back with his brother for now.



So sorry you lost him...........:cry: :cry:

Janex
 
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