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Captain Invictus posted:Cool. Shame I'm on the east coast. There are other breeders, I have heard the name "Strong Brew Hamstry" thrown around for something more eastward.
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Jan 24, 2017 06:14
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I love Strong Brew hams! I've spoken to Juliana who runs it over social media several times and oh my god does she know her poo poo. She also takes no poo poo, gives honest advice and doesn't let people off the hook for sub standard care or lovely small cages, she's real good  We have a lot more hamster shows and pedigree hams in the UK but no registered Northern Ireland breeders for me to go to  I would love to support ethical breeding but taking a baby back on an 8 hour journey from England would be p dangerous for them and I can't justify the risk
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Jan 24, 2017 09:08
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ColHannibal posted:She is actually the president of the CHA, and the pups will be there! I wasn't aware that anyone was the president of me  Joking aside. That's awesome that people like her put a strong effort into ethical hamster breeding.
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Jan 25, 2017 19:48
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I'd really appreciate some feedback on my 5 yo guinea pig. We noticed last week that she had incontinence issues (wet bottom). We made the earliest appointment possible, which was this morning. Over the weekend we noticed she was arching her bad and waddled when walking. It turns out she has a slipped disk. The vet gave us muscle relaxers via drops. But now she's not even waddling. Is there anything else I can do? She's eating but I don't know if she will move over to the water bottle. My spouse just left town for a trip, and I don't know for piggies what are the definite quality of life indicators, so I'm just sitting here crying. The vet is closed now, and there isn't a vet hospital around me open this late I think.
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Jan 31, 2017 02:05
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Was her wet bottom from urine or diarrhea? Usually diarrhea is a sign of failing health in older guinea pigs. 5 years is getting up there in age for pigs. The lack of waddling could just be related to the sedation from the muscle relaxant. Unfortunately in this situation there isn't much that you can do other than keeping her backside from prolonged sitting in waste to avoid risk of a uti. She just needs to relax and heal at this point. If you are worried about her not being able to move to the water bottle, perhaps moving the bottle to an area that is easier for her to reach would help. I hope this helps. It has been a while since I have had Guinea pigs.
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Jan 31, 2017 05:32
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If she's eating normally then she's not in that bad a shape. Do consider putting water in something that's not the bottle (like a teaplate) if you worry about her ability to move around.
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Jan 31, 2017 07:52
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Thanks for both of your replies. She does not have diahhrea, and the vet thinks the wet bottom was because of the arched back. This morning she is back to having an arched back and is no longer completely flat on the ground, so I think we gave her too much muscle relaxers. She's still eating, but I can tell she's not eating as much, and she's just so quiet (normally she's the chattier of our two piggies.) The vet said we could get an x-ray, and I've read about prednisone shots helping, but I have no idea how long we should try muscle relaxers before bringing her back (and I wasn't at the vet appointment, so I couldn't ask.)
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Jan 31, 2017 16:26
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Schistosity posted:Thanks for both of your replies. She does not have diahhrea, and the vet thinks the wet bottom was because of the arched back. This morning she is back to having an arched back and is no longer completely flat on the ground, so I think we gave her too much muscle relaxers. She's still eating, but I can tell she's not eating as much, and she's just so quiet (normally she's the chattier of our two piggies.) The vet said we could get an x-ray, and I've read about prednisone shots helping, but I have no idea how long we should try muscle relaxers before bringing her back (and I wasn't at the vet appointment, so I couldn't ask.) If your pig actually has a slipped disk, muscle relaxants aren't really going to do anything to resolve the issue. She should be on an anti-inflammatory at the very least (Metacam is safe and also work as a pain killer). An x-ray may or may not show anything in her back, but it could also rule out things like bladder stones. You're probably looking at a $100-150 cost but I think it's worth it. If you are not already weighing her, I would strongly recommend doing this on a daily basis while you suspect she is not eating well. Just looking at her isn't going to give you the whole picture, and her weight is going to be one of your best indicators of her overall well being. If she isn't able to maintain her weight you will need to start force feeding her. I've had a guinea pig diagnosed with a slipped disk, and while I was personally skeptical of this diagnosis, anti-inflammatories (Metacam, specially) did help in the short term and after about 4-5 days my piggy was back to almost normal. Unfortunately, about a month and a half later she had another episode of being unable to move her back end. She didn't respond well to medication and had a few other things going on and I ended up having to put her down. She was about the same age as your piggy is now.
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Feb 1, 2017 19:31
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Ugh, goddamn. One of my guinea pigs is having gas issues and is sleeping more than usual. Now we have to give her anti-gas drops meant for human babies every six hours. Plus a pain killer. Couple that with my pig with a bad bladder that need potassium twice a day, I'm just harassing these little girls every few hours to try and coax them into taking meds by syringe. They do like the flavor of all the meds but I think they are a little overwhelmed.
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Feb 2, 2017 01:59
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Sirotan, thanks for the info. We had to put Paprika to sleep tonight. When my spouse got home tonight, he said she wasn't eating and it looked like she had a stroke. I had called this morning to try and get an appointment and to discuss steroid shots but couldn't get one until Monday. I'm devastated. My other piggie knew something was wrong with Paprika, but I'm not sure how she will cope with being a solo piggie. She is 6 and has an endocrine disorder, so I don't know how much time we have left. I'm not sure if she's too old to really adjust to another pig, or if it will give her more stress or companionship.
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Feb 2, 2017 03:34
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Schistosity posted:Sirotan, thanks for the info. We had to put Paprika to sleep tonight. When my spouse got home tonight, he said she wasn't eating and it looked like she had a stroke. I had called this morning to try and get an appointment and to discuss steroid shots but couldn't get one until Monday. I'm devastated. Aw, so sorry to hear that. Give your remaining piggy a hug for me, I'm sure she'll be missing her buddy. 6 is definitely older but my oldest was 8.5yrs when she passed. You may find she will become a bit more spry with a new young friend.
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Feb 2, 2017 05:04
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It's super sad, but with pigs it tends to be "one thing goes wrong, and it all comes tumbling down from there". poo poo happens in a cascade with guinea pigs, basically.
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Feb 2, 2017 08:41
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That's what happened with Mimi, we think...we'll never really know what happened, just that she was pretty much unresponsive and cyanotic the night she went. At least she died peacefully...I'll always be thankful for that. She was bundled up and warm and being petted by her two favorite people and she didn't suffer. I hope that whatever pain she was in, she clung to us and the feeling of our warm hands on her. And now I'm tearing up again.
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Feb 2, 2017 15:58
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I built a hamster home from plastic bins. it was a tutorial on a blog called hammy happenings. anyways i built it last weekend, but as i feared the mesh i used for ventilation was too easy for the hamster to chew through so Right now hes back in a circular 11 x 15 cage. does anyone have suggestions for a stronger material he cant get through? Lowes has decorative sheet metal, and im thinking about getting that. ill need a knife that can cut through metal but otherwise i think it could work
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Feb 2, 2017 22:10
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Edgar Allan Pwned posted:I built a hamster home from plastic bins. it was a tutorial on a blog called hammy happenings. anyways i built it last weekend, but as i feared the mesh i used for ventilation was too easy for the hamster to chew through so Right now hes back in a circular 11 x 15 cage. does anyone have suggestions for a stronger material he cant get through? You should be able to find some appropriate sized metal mesh at a farm supply store. I used some and its fairly easy to work with.
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Feb 3, 2017 19:45
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Schistosity posted:Sirotan, thanks for the info. We had to put Paprika to sleep tonight. When my spouse got home tonight, he said she wasn't eating and it looked like she had a stroke. I had called this morning to try and get an appointment and to discuss steroid shots but couldn't get one until Monday. I'm devastated. Sorry to hear that. My first pig was a rescue and was just a mess. He hated being touched, sharing space and anything that wasn't eating and sleeping. Eventually he just stopped getting out of bed, coughed up a bunch of green/black sludge for 10 minutes and died.
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Feb 6, 2017 18:20
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https://youtu.be/-sO7MZSbYVY Small update from the Hamster litter I posted about a few weeks ago, the babies are old enough to be given to their adopters and here they are enjoying a Valentine's Day dinner.
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Feb 14, 2017 20:38
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We came home with a group 6 (six) gerbils from a rescue on Sunday. They are a father, his 4 sons and a baby the group adopted when his own clan rejected him. We've named them all after wizards - Stibbons, Big Mad Drongo, the Peverell brothers (Antioch, Ignotus, Cadmus - all identical) and Radagast. I will post pictures if they ever stand still. e; and that video is incredible.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:15
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ColHannibal posted:https://youtu.be/-sO7MZSbYVY That is adorable.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:15
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Blacknose posted:Peverell brothers (Antioch, Ignotus, Cadmus - all identical) This is loving glorious  Now I wish I had 3 matched anything to name them that.
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Feb 14, 2017 21:53
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Just seeing if anyone else has ran into this issue with Guinea Pigs, I've had two pigs for about a year and a half and about six months ago I switched their cage to a midwest cage with a divider and ramp in it. I put all their food things on a smaller section and then let them run free in the bigger section. But starting a couple months ago they've decided when I fill up their hay ball they have to pull out every single piece of hay and spread it all over the food side of their pen. They then almost refuse to eat the hay they've used for bedding. And I'm a bit too scared to not refill their hay wheel. So I'm wasting poo poo tons of hay now because about twice a day they have to yank their hay out and make bedding with it. When I clean it's a huge mess, I'm throwing out multiple pounds of hay. Anyone have any ideas? I thought about putting in paper bedding on just that side of the pen but I dunno. I currently just have a custom fleece cover on top of a few towels.
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Feb 15, 2017 06:38
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Disappointing Pie posted:Just seeing if anyone else has ran into this issue with Guinea Pigs, I've had two pigs for about a year and a half and about six months ago I switched their cage to a midwest cage with a divider and ramp in it. My pigs act like little princesses and won't eat any hay that has touched the floor. One of my pigs also enjoys grabbing big piles of hay and dragging it into whichever hiding place is her favorite that day, generally making a huge mess. I don't think you're going to be able to stop them from doing something similar, but you can make life a bit easier for you in terms of cleanup. Because the hay sticks to fleece I've got two hay boxes set up that are filled with a recycled paper bedding (carefresh works too but is more expensive). Here's some pics so you can see my setup:   (The camera is running the Ustream app as a pig web cam .) The boxes keeps the hay somewhat contained, and they work better than hanging feeders and other methods that I've tried over the years. My pigs are not litter box trained by any means but they will do a lot of their business in the boxes and dumping them mid-week really helps keep down the smell. They still waste a bunch of hay but I think thems are just the breaks with pig life.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:14
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That's a hell of a setup. I wish we had the space for an open-top cage and cats that wouldn't jump in there like they do the loving rabbit cage to eat the hay. Fatty McButterpants always spreads his hay all over the place, but he'll eat it just the same. I stopped giving him a hay ball and just put it in a little manger thing now.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:19
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D34THROW posted:That's a hell of a setup. I wish we had the space for an open-top cage and cats that wouldn't jump in there like they do the loving rabbit cage to eat the hay. Yes my pigs are spoiled as gently caress and they know it. From the webcam I can currently see them burrowing under the fleece bedding and making a huge mess. That's my current dilemma, how to use my already-made fleece+towel sections without needing a million safety pins to connect them together each week. The cage used to be ~33% smaller, just added on the extra 2x2 on the bottom (section on the left) and reconfigured the top to move the ramp and be longer. Also I've got some marine vinyl covering up those crates that are holding up the plywood, it looks a lot tidier now. The cage design has definitely been an evolution through the years, coroplast is really cheap and versatile, I highly recommend it as a cage building material. You'll be able to build cheaper and bigger than anything pre-made. If you have the room, of course.
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Feb 15, 2017 19:37
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Sirotan posted:Yes my pigs are spoiled as gently caress and they know it. From the webcam I can currently see them burrowing under the fleece bedding and making a huge mess. That's my current dilemma, how to use my already-made fleece+towel sections without needing a million safety pins to connect them together each week. For our chinchillas we use a mixture of bricks and tiles that are like 4x12 or something to hold down the edges of the fleece so they can't "liner dive". They need wiped off periodically since they will get peed/pooped on, but they keep the chinchillas above the fleece for the most part.
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Feb 15, 2017 21:38
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Eeee, in the past 2 days our 2 ebony white chinchillas had a total of 4 babies between them, the older one had 3(an ebony, an ebony white, and either a dark standard or light ebony, hard to tell at this point), which is highly unusual for her, and the younger had a single ebony white. Watching the little ones wobble around cages is always adorable. Will try and get pictures of the little fluff balls to share.
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Feb 16, 2017 06:49
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Khisanth Magus posted:Will try and get pictures of the little fluff balls to share. You're goddamn right you are! 
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Feb 16, 2017 08:48
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For being less than a week or the babies sure are mobile and energetic! https://goo.gl/photos/UQeGCroDuuozrN236
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Feb 17, 2017 01:58
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D34THROW posted:That's a hell of a setup. I wish we had the space for an open-top cage and cats that wouldn't jump in there like they do the loving rabbit cage to eat the hay. Hell I wish I ever owned pigs that favored a corner or whatever because all of them have been the "do the business wherever" types which means I have to use bedding and do full cage cleans because none of it is unpissed-upon
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Feb 17, 2017 10:59
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Adult Sword Owner posted:Hell I wish I ever owned pigs that favored a corner or whatever because all of them have been the "do the business wherever" types which means I have to use bedding and do full cage cleans because none of it is unpissed-upon Oh, don't get me wrong, they do their business wherever they feel like. I still do a full cage clean every 6-8 days, the hay boxes I just dump midway between cleans, it knocks down the smell a little.
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Feb 17, 2017 15:18
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Is it possible for guinea pigs to grieve? We had a pig for the first year of his life but for the last 4 years he's been being cared for by my wife's grandmother. She died and we got him back a couple days ago but he won't eat and isn't really drinking either. He ate like a tiny bit of celery but won't touch his usual favorites like cucumbers, bell pepper, carrots. Edit: I know take him to the vet and we will be asap. Just wondering if it could be based on a new environment/people and what not SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Feb 18, 2017 |
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Feb 18, 2017 03:58
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Is it possible for guinea pigs to grieve? We had a pig for the first year of his life but for the last 4 years he's been being cared for by my wife's grandmother. She died and we got him back a couple days ago but he won't eat and isn't really drinking either. He ate like a tiny bit of celery but won't touch his usual favorites like cucumbers, bell pepper, carrots. I have had pigs that grieved the loss of a cagemate. It sounds more like he's having a hard time adjusting to his new home or surroundings. Are you feeding the same hay/pellets that he had at your wife's grandmother's home? If not, that could definitely put him off his food. Any change in his behavior since you posted this yesterday?
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Feb 18, 2017 23:39
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Same type of hay, pellets, and everything else he's ever had. We bought new because the old smelled. Took him to the vet and they said he was mostly stressed and acted sad. We're trying what they told us. His stomach was full of air, so we have some medicine, some supplements, and are (force) feeding him (small amounts of) baby food
SSJ_naruto_2003 fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Feb 19, 2017 |
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Feb 19, 2017 01:30
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Same type of hay, pellets, and everything else he's ever had. We bought new because the old smelled. Took him to the vet and they said he was mostly stressed and acted sad. We're trying what they told us. His stomach was full of air, so we have some medicine, some supplements, and are (force) feeding him (small amounts of) baby food Poor piggy Critical Care might be better than baby food if you can get it, or just crush up some pellets and mix with water. As long as you keep force feeding while he's not eating, you should be able to get him over the hump and back on the mend. Bloat can be a real bitch. Good luck and keep us updated.
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Feb 19, 2017 03:09
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They didn't have any critical care and we can't find any around here
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Feb 19, 2017 05:06
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:They didn't have any critical care and we can't find any around here Yeah then I'd really suggest crushing up some pellets you already have and mixing with water. Looks like Amazon sells it too if you are in the US and want to pay a little to get it on Monday: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KSOIJG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-IsQybZNBX37Y
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Feb 19, 2017 06:12
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Rip little pig buddy . We took him to the vet Saturday and found him some critical care. The vet said it was probably stress and gave us some medicine to try to get his stomach and everything working again. We medicated him that night and Sunday morning and he started eating again, chomping down on lettuce and hay and pellets He was good all Sunday and Monday, even ran around and made friends with our cats(supervised of course) Tuesday he stopped eating again and wasn't purring much when we petted him. We woke up today and the cat that took best to him was meowing from the living room. Go and check and piggy is gone He may not have had a great last week but we loved on him and held him and he even made some new friends. He was around 5 and a few months. Casper is still walking around meowing and looking for him
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Feb 22, 2017 16:02
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Rip little pig buddy Aw, I am so sorry to hear that.
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Feb 23, 2017 20:59
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https://twitter.com/shunkannews/status/842619414696480768 They really go nuts for sunflower seeds, don't they?
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Mar 17, 2017 11:15
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A rat got into my house yesterday. I scooped it up in the only container I had that was large enough to comfortably hold it (my stock pot) and returned it outside. While I was gently pushing it into the stock pot, it kept making this spitting sound at me. Does that mean it was scared? It seemed really docile. It never once tried to run away or attack. I'm kinda wondering if it was someone's abandoned pet or if it was sick. All the rats I've seen outside have been a lot more active and seemed a lot more smart. Even after it was outside and running free again, it seemed lost and didn't really try to hide. I feel kinda bad for it, but there's no way I could take it in since I'm horribly allergic to rodents. Besides that, eventually my cat would try to play with it and I imagine that would not be a nice experience for the rat.
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Mar 19, 2017 10:58
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