|
So I need a weekend opinion on neutered rat babies, since our vet appears to have gone home already.  We picked up three male littermates, ostensibly just-weaned, about a month ago. They're socializing just fine, but we decided to get them neutered now to forestall health issues later in life (and also to help with them occasionally wanting to groom the poo poo out of each other). The surgery was done Tuesday, and the doc put in two layers of stitches-- internal dissolving ones, and exterior metal ones. They all seem to be recovering okay, but one of them took it into his head to gnaw his metal stitches out. There's no visible blood, but obviously with no vet on call we're not too sure what to do with him right now. Some things I've found on the internet are mentioning adhesive medical bandages as a sort of cast; is this something that would be a viable solution for this? Or should this be a "let it alone and let it heal" sort of thing?
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 02:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 19:59 |
|
|
You need to at least phone a vet for some sort of consult, even if you can't see one.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2014 13:55
|
|
|
Thankfully apparently the vet had unlisted weekend hours and called us back in the morning. He was actually pretty impressed that he managed to get the steel sutures out, but he just took him back, put in a couple of staples instead, and gave us some oral painkillers so that hopefully he won't be so inclined to try and work these out as well, but if he does manage it after two or three days it will have been enough time since the initial surgery that it won't be a big deal.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 03:26
|
|
|
Ursine Asylum posted:Thankfully apparently the vet had unlisted weekend hours and called us back in the morning. He was actually pretty impressed that he managed to get the steel sutures out, but he just took him back, put in a couple of staples instead, and gave us some oral painkillers so that hopefully he won't be so inclined to try and work these out as well, but if he does manage it after two or three days it will have been enough time since the initial surgery that it won't be a big deal. That's v good to hear 
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 04:04
|
|
|
Now post pics of dem rats.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 05:04
|
|
|
I managed to catch them sleeping and got a pic before they all clambered up to see what I was doing. And the fattest, laziest one was willing to pose in return for food. 
Alliterate Addict fucked around with this message at 12:07 on Aug 10, 2014 |
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 12:05
|
|
|
They've finally collapsed their grass hut. They had the front half chewed away about halfway up for a week or so, but the door support was holding it up. Until last night. Alyssa has to squirm her fat butt in and out now. Olivia looks quite proud of their achievement.  Fuzz is showing off how brave she can be sniffing at the camera.  Of course the sound of the picture being taken scared her off into hiding. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2014 16:55
|
|
|
Ursine Asylum posted:And the fattest, laziest one was willing to pose in return for food. Time for some good old fatshaming. Point, laugh and call him a guinea pig.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2014 06:06
|
|
|
So I'm not really ready to get another pig for a companion for mine and I'm worried she might get bored. I put a lot of cardboard things in and she will weave around them for a while but mostly just hangs out in her hut unless people are around. When they are around she comes out and wheeks and sniffs around. She's in the main room of our place which is where people sometimes are but when I'm home alone, I'm in the office. I'll sometimes put her on my lap but she eventually gets restless and I can't do floor time in there because its full of sewing fabric and has a strict no animal policy. She doesn't seem sad or anything because she was always the one nipping at the other one if she got close so I think she's more of a loner anyway but I worry. So tldr I want to get her some toys. Any recommendations?
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2014 20:41
|
|
|
I've never had pigs that really cared much about toys. Hidey huts, cardboard tubes and paper bags are about the only things they've seemed interested in besides food. What they really need for stimulation is another pig. Guinea pigs are herd animals, they aren't meant to be loners. You have on pig now, what downsides do you see in having two again? I would really suggest rethinking your decision to not get a companion for your remaining pig, she'll be a lot happier with a friend.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2014 21:21
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:So I'm not really ready to get another pig for a companion for mine and I'm worried she might get bored. I put a lot of cardboard things in and she will weave around them for a while but mostly just hangs out in her hut unless people are around. When they are around she comes out and wheeks and sniffs around. She's in the main room of our place which is where people sometimes are but when I'm home alone, I'm in the office. I'll sometimes put her on my lap but she eventually gets restless and I can't do floor time in there because its full of sewing fabric and has a strict no animal policy. She doesn't seem sad or anything because she was always the one nipping at the other one if she got close so I think she's more of a loner anyway but I worry. For something simple that worked for me when I lost my first pig try replacing the hut with hay, lots of hay. She started spending less of her lone time hiding and more of it tunneling around trough the hay and playing with it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2014 21:32
|
|
|
The downsides being that she didn't really seem to like her sister and before when I had one and got a second they HATED each other and it was a problem. Its also a question of finding one, I'd still want to adopt so I'd need to find an event with the adoption society and that would probably involve hauling her to the event for some speed dating to see if she pals out with any other pigs and I literally don't have the time at this point. I'm honestly thinking about seeing if a friend who recently lost a pig and spends enormous amounts of time at home might want her. I want to keep her but I don't want to stress her out if she's alone for a day and that's probably happening but being a prey animal she's just trucking along.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2014 21:32
|
|
|
Adult Sword Owner posted:The downsides being that she didn't really seem to like her sister and before when I had one and got a second they HATED each other and it was a problem. Its also a question of finding one, I'd still want to adopt so I'd need to find an event with the adoption society and that would probably involve hauling her to the event for some speed dating to see if she pals out with any other pigs and I literally don't have the time at this point. You haven't considered picking up a piglet? Young pigs rarely end up in life or death conflict with their elders as they're to small to even think of contesting who should lead. Either they turn out subservient or if your older is itself particularly passive they'll take the role of leader when they reach the age. Pairing adult pigs is a lot harder, especially if they're both dominant. I might just have been lucky but both times I've introduced piglets they've grown to have the opposite mindset of the older one.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2014 21:46
|
|
|
Ursine Asylum posted:I managed to catch them sleeping and got a pic before they all clambered up to see what I was doing. Super cute. I have a hammock on the way for Butts but I don't think Hammies are as into them as rats. She got her new house though 
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2014 18:41
|
|
|
Time for mournful sighing, as my hamster nears the end. She's still healthy and mentally sharp, she's just old and is becoming frail. I'm going to miss the foulmouthed furry fiend, that's for sure. :/
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2014 23:46
|
|
|
Are there any people who read this who are very experienced with chinchillas, preferably a breeder, since they would probably have the most experienced with a variety of chin problems? It isn't about our animals, who are all happy, healthy, and a bit spoiled, but someone contacted my wife and I about them losing 3 different pet chins over the past few years without any obvious cause, so I just wanted to see if anyone might have any additional ideas on top of what we offered.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2014 00:08
|
|
|
I'd start asking about their diet, treats, availability of chew toys, type of cage, temperature of the room, potential stress factors. I don't claim to be an expert since I've only had a chinchilla for six months now and she's spoiled rotten but overheating, dietary problems and malocclusion seem to be the most common problems from what I've read. But then again, I have a friend who claims she lost a chin to a brown recluse bite which seems unlikely given their dense fur but it did live in a basement with spider webs around. That's just bad luck and irresponsibility about cleaning. Also a lot of pet store chinchillas are somewhat inbred and come with heart problems that can't be fully diagnosed without an ultrasound. I inherited my chin from a cousin's divorce and didn't know about her heart murmur until we took her to the vet for the first time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2014 01:48
|
|
|
TunaSpleen posted:I'd start asking about their diet, treats, availability of chew toys, type of cage, temperature of the room, potential stress factors. I don't claim to be an expert since I've only had a chinchilla for six months now and she's spoiled rotten but overheating, dietary problems and malocclusion seem to be the most common problems from what I've read. The description we were given was that one day they would become lethargic and then die several hours later. Technically what they were feeding the chins was advertised as chinchilla food and treats, although whether you can call kaytee fiesta food good for chinchillas is questionable. They kept their house within good temperature ranges(65-75 degrees). Our suspicion was them ingesting something bad. It has been 3 chinchillas from different sources of different ages, ranging from one who was newly weaned to one that was a few years old.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2014 03:30
|
|
|
Well, the Kaytee diet's the equivalent of fast food if that's all they're eating. Their wild diet has tons of roughage, and pellets aren't a real substitute for raw hay. Granted, Kaytee brand hay also sucks rear end and it's only good for bird nesting material. The calories from any seeds or fruits they'd find in the wild would also be burned off quickly, but in a sedentary captive setting could alter gut bacteria composition and cause diarrhea or bloating (which can be quickly fatal in pocket pets!), which are easily corrected with antibiotics and probiotics. I had to fix bloat in mine after switching her from her previous diet of pizza crusts/salted cashews/craisins/birdseed to timothy, alfalfa, and bluegrass hay. The only other thing I can think of that's not immediately obvious is infection from dirty water or poop. Prey animals will try to hide weakness until they no longer have the energy to do so, which makes the lethargy obvious only shortly before death.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2014 01:39
|
|
|
Twitch passed away today. I last saw her on Saturday afternoon when she came out for a drink and a nibble and she was obviously very weary then. Today it looks like she did the same thing and her body simply gave up. She doesn't seem to have suffered at all, which is a relief. I guess now I have to find a place to bury her and decide whether or not to get a new hamster. She'll be a hard act to top, that's for sure.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 17:52
|
|
|
Jedit posted:Twitch passed away today. Aww, condolences. I had to put my poor Roborovski ham down today as well, it's a sad day for hamsters.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2014 18:11
|
|
|
Condolences, hamgoons We're away and our pigsitter sent us a message asking if she'd put enough hay in the cage.  Maybe a tiny bit more?
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2014 18:50
|
|
|
Whenever I petsit for someone I always let them know to have lots of extra food on hand. Figure it best to over feed for a few days rather than let them starve or be miserable. That is unless they give me specific detailed instructions, which they usually don't. (edit: Unless it's aquatic, then I underfeed a little.) nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Sep 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2014 04:38
|
|
|
I was fostering a guinea pig for a kid in the foster system who was mistreating little Sally. The kid has trauma and developmental disability/mental health concerns, so the kid was not to blame but we weren't going to let her love/torture a guinea pig to death. Its been weeks and the kid seems to have forgotten about Sally, which is for the best. So I guess I have a guinea pig now.  She nips me so frequently her name is now Destructo Sally. I had to get her a friend. Meet Rangefinder.  Rangefinder, meet Destructo Sally. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2014 05:42
|
|
|
The all black piggies just make my heart melt with their adorableness. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2014 11:48
|
|
|
Hey rodentgoons, I have a few questions! But first here is my son Butters, whom I adopted last October from a horrible household in a tiny cage, and who has become the sweetest, most tolerant ham ever: Anyway! Last Saturday I adopted a guinea pig. Meet Boris Pigloff, aka Bo, Bobo, etc:   I've never had a pig before but he is a lovely boy. So: 1) Is he a tortoiseshell colour or brindled, or what? 2) He was given away because he didn't get along with his previous owner's other pigs, so he's alone right now. Given his history, do I have to get him a friend? Is it really cruel not to? He seems fine right now in a huge cage, but of course I've only had him for less than a week. 3) If he needs a friend, should I get him neutered? Even if not, is there much of a difference in neutered boars? Thanks very much for any help! Edit: my vet just sent me a sympathy card for my Robo dwarf ham I had to put to sleep last week, signed by the whole office.  vvv Awww she's precious! Hamsters are the cutest things. 
A Scary Little Dog fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Sep 4, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2014 19:30
|
|
|
No piggies advice but Butters is adorable. I also have a Butt-ham! Shameless excuse to post her picture.  Buttercup, aka Butts
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2014 19:36
|
|
|
Pigs are herd animals and get stressed if they're on their own. Another pig (or pigs) provides a continual gentle reassurance of "maybe the condor won't eat me first". If you're going to mix sexes neutering / spaying is obviously a must, but I've been told that neutering doesn't really change pig behaviour at all.
|
|
#
?
Sep 4, 2014 20:47
|
|
|
Khisanth Magus posted:The description we were given was that one day they would become lethargic and then die several hours later. Technically what they were feeding the chins was advertised as chinchilla food and treats, although whether you can call kaytee fiesta food good for chinchillas is questionable. They kept their house within good temperature ranges(65-75 degrees). Our suspicion was them ingesting something bad. It has been 3 chinchillas from different sources of different ages, ranging from one who was newly weaned to one that was a few years old. How old were they? Kaytee brand anything is poo poo. I feed mine Oxbow chinchilla food and make sure they get decent hay (usually also Oxbow). A lot of the treats with chinchillas shown on the packaging aren't actually good or even safe for them to eat. Mine get a handful of pellets every day, as much hay as they can stuff their faces with, chew toys, and the occasional piece of dried fruit as a treat. We recently moved and the layout of the new house means the chinchillas get their own room and I can tell they're much happier and relaxed without being around a lot of activity all the time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 01:54
|
|
|
I generally like Oxbow anything, although the last bag of hay I got from them was probably 40% waxy stems, 40% weeds and twigs, 20% decent hay and one marble-sized chunk of concrete. Then I got a 5-pound box from KMS Hayloft and the quality jump was even noticeable to a total hay newbie like myself. No dust, way greener and no stems. The price was also substantially cheaper even with shipping costs included. Does anyone have recommendations for a no-drip water bottle? Some days I'm constantly replacing soggy paper towels to catch drips currently. And if the bottle doesn't drip that day, Amie's guaranteed to pee on the towel.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 08:02
|
|
|
A lot of the time I've discovered that it's the position of the bottle over the bottle construction itself that stops leaking. I recently switched to top-fill bottles but I had those glass Superpet bottles before and I'd have to jiggle them around a bit to position them so they wouldn't leak. Then they would violently run on their wheels and the vibration would make them leak anyway  I'm pretty sure a leak proof bottle is a myth along the lines of silent exercise wheels.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 14:29
|
|
|
You can always put a small food dish under the mouth of the water bottle to catch any of the water that leaks out. I've had to do that in the past for certain pigs who loved to play around with the water bottles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
Party Boat posted:Pigs are herd animals and get stressed if they're on their own. Another pig (or pigs) provides a continual gentle reassurance of "maybe the condor won't eat me first". Even in terms of sticking two males together, there's supposedly no difference if they're neutered or not?
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 17:03
|
|
|
A Scary Little Dog posted:Even in terms of sticking two males together, there's supposedly no difference if they're neutered or not? You are correct - it doesn't make a difference to them mounting each other. We have two boars and they get on just fine and both still have their balls, neither are particularly aggressive either. Different pigs are obviously different and if you're going to get another boar, make it one which is either quite a bit older or younger as old boars are more likely to bond better with young boars.
|
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2014 18:41
|
|
|
Yeah pigs, we spent all this money on hay for you so go ahead and lie on it while eating the newspaper sticking out from under your bedding.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2014 19:14
|
|
|
I ordered an 11 inch wheel for the hamster after someone on Hamster Central scolded me for an 8 inch being too small. This poo poo is HUGE  going to need to do an entire cage reshuffle to fit it in there.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2014 22:13
|
|
|
Shannonmcn posted:I ordered an 11 inch wheel for the hamster after someone on Hamster Central scolded me for an 8 inch being too small. This poo poo is HUGE I know your pain, once I realized I needed a big-rear end wheel for my first hamster, I pretty much had to make my own bin cage to get it to fit. Ultimately the favourite wheel for all of my Syrians has been the 12 inch Flying Saucer but of course ymmv (and it takes up even more room). Nothing hamster-sized is ever truly hamster-sized.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2014 22:53
|
|
|
A Scary Little Dog posted:I know your pain, once I realized I needed a big-rear end wheel for my first hamster, I pretty much had to make my own bin cage to get it to fit. Ultimately the favourite wheel for all of my Syrians has been the 12 inch Flying Saucer but of course ymmv (and it takes up even more room). Nothing hamster-sized is ever truly hamster-sized. Flying saucers are such a good idea but yeah, they take up a ridiculous amount of space. Hamster heaven (80x50x50) is honestly the biggest cage that I can possibly fit in my room, it still overhangs the table (and severely restricts the access to my plugs) so I'm just going to have to be really creative. It's the largest Trixie wheel and I'm p sure it's meant for rats even though it says hamsters and mice on the label. A wee mouse would be lost in it. Edit: I think I did okay? That drat wheel makes her cage look so tiny she likes it though, she's so cute when she's exploring  The ladder and the hammock are new as well, I don't know why I bought both. teenytinymouse fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Sep 7, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2014 23:03
|
|
|
Shannonmcn posted:I ordered an 11 inch wheel for the hamster after someone on Hamster Central scolded me for an 8 inch being too small. This poo poo is HUGE At least you didn't have to get a 16" wheel made out of a farm animal's feed pan. Or buy a cage twice the size of your body. Look at this smug rodent on top, queen of all she surveys. She has a higher standard of living than the grad students who clean her poop. Our electricity bill doubled to keep the AC reasonable for Her Royal Fuzziness's comfort. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2014 01:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 19:59 |
|
|
Haha that's definitely crossed into Palace territory. Queen of all she surveys!
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2014 01:42
|
|