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Cowslips Warren posted:That is actually a huge fear of mine, bringing in an animal that has fleas or something else. Can you use food grade diatomaceous earth to help alleviate some of their itching? Yeah it kinda sucks but I think sometimes it is completely unavoidable. I've had the new pig for 3 months now and I didn't notice any signs of lice for the first two months I had her. I'm sure the foster I got her from had no clue either. I would not use diatomaceous earth, you'd have to dust their whole body and it would likely be not great to have them breathe it in, get it in their eyes/ears, etc. The day I noticed the lice I went out and got some anti-fungal shampoo that is safe for pigs, Nizoral, and gave everyone a bath. This wasn't going to kill the eggs but it purportedly is somewhat effective at eliminating the adult lice. Everyone seemed to be much less itchy for a good 2-3 days after the bath so I think it did some good. Once I finally got ahold of the vet she recommended sevin dust which is a toxic insecticide that I wouldn't even put on vegetable plants, let alone live animals. She recommended using that over Ivermectin, and that I should make sure to apply it "in a well ventilated area". No loving poo poo. I am still absolutely mystified by this 'recommendation' and am actually going to see a new vet tomorrow to try and start building a relationship with a new clinic because  .It turns out there was a formulation of Ivermectin that Tractor Supply had in stock locally that I just did not see at first. For reference it was Durvet Ivermectin Pour-On, 250 mL and the dosage instructions can be found here: http://www.guinealynx.info/topical_ivermectin_pour-on.html. We've gone through 3 rounds of treatments so far, the adult lice were dead within 2 days of the first treatment. Ivermectin is safe and has been proven effective on animals for decades now, normally it is very easy to find at a farm supply type store.
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Mar 28, 2022 23:22
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New vet today told me the old one was full of poo poo, Ivermectin is safe and proven effective and if for some reason it doesn't do the trick, they like to prescribe Revolution (selamectin). I've got some of that on hand too, just in case. I brought two pigs in and they both got a clean bill of health. This is especially great since my other vet misdiagnosed lice as ovarian cysts and also told me the same pig had enlarged lymph nodes which could mean a low chance of lymphoma in the future, which of course caused immediate worry. New vet says she is in prefect health, lymph nodes feel normal, and that there is nothing to worry about. Huzzah.
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Mar 29, 2022 14:35
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Malachite_Dragon posted:I have never owned a guinea and the last time I had a hamster I was in grade school, but how the gently caress do you misdiagnose lice as cysts? Ovarian cysts are really common on female guinea pigs who have not been spayed, something like 75-80% of adults might have them. HOWEVER, for most it does not bother them in any way and they do not have any symptoms. The pig with lice (Tuna) has a sister (Salmon) with an obvious ovarian cyst (even I could feel it once I knew where to palpate) that was causing problems which she was treated for with a hormone implant at the same visit Tuna came in, so my assumption before today was Tuna has some small ovarian cysts and the vet did not look close enough to her fur to see the lice and just made an assumption that they were causing pain since I had observed Tuna biting at her own abdomen. That vet's office is still not letting people into the building with their pets so I could not actually observe the exam. But today this vet didn't find any evidence of cysts on a physical exam (we didn't do xrays or an ultrasound or anything) soooo honestly I don't know.
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Mar 29, 2022 16:32
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https://twitter.com/scootertooter7/status/1520324757329166338
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May 1, 2022 22:00
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Has he lost weight? If he has you can be relatively sure this isn't just a behavioral thing. If you aren't already I would highly recommend weighing both of your pigs regularly (you can get a cheapish kitchen scale for this), I do this weekly during the regular cage cleaning. Pigs are so bad at showing symptoms of illness, a sudden weight loss that isn't perceptible from a visual inspection can give you an early indication that something is wrong before it turns into an emergency.
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Jun 23, 2022 20:27
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In a week? That's not too bad. I was thinking maybe it was a teeth problem until you said he snatched a treat out of his buddy's mouth and ate it no problem.
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Jun 23, 2022 20:51
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You have some gorgeous pigs. I would not be too worried yet, as long as they aren't physically attacking each other they're still getting along fine and this just sounds like normal herd dynamics. If someone is in heat it could cause some mood charges maybe. If it were me, out of an abundance of caution I would just have your vet check to see if she can feel ovarian cyst on the girls, they're very common and sometimes can cause some behavior changes.
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Jul 17, 2022 18:27
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Cowslips Warren posted:About 2 years ago I had the difficult choice to put down my hedgehog, and I did not want to stress him out by taking him to an exotic vet where he would be poked and prodded before forced open to get an injection. So I looked online and found it at home euthanasia set up with CO2 that you can make with pretty much anything that you probably have in the house. The person who posted it actually used it on his hamsters for Mercy euthanasia, and I think he specified that the largest you could euthanize this way it was about 2 lb. http://www.alysion.org/euthanasia/ I bookmarked this page a ways back because I had a pig with congestive heart failure during the lockdowns and wasn't sure if I'd be able to get to a vet in time when she needed to be put to sleep. Luckily, she had good quality of life for much longer than anticipated and my regular vet made time for me when it was time for her to go, and I never had to try this at home myself.
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Jul 21, 2022 12:04
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Feelin' pretty bad y'all. Yesterday, Christmas, my guinea pig Tuna pretty much just up and died. I cleaned the pig cage and she was fine. An hour later, she's limp. I rush to the emergency vet and she's dead before we even get into the door. She was only 4. She had been occasionally squeaking while peeing and for the last two weeks her weight had been trending down a little bit so I was concerned maybe she had a UTI going on. The only reason I even found her limp like that is because I was going to hold her for a while on a white towel before heading to the family Christmas gathering to see if she maybe had any blood in her urine. Today I'm finally getting to the pig laundry and can see on the underside of the bedding that someone had bloody urine. It seems like quite a lot of blood but also not totally-fine-to-dead-in-an-hour amounts. I have four pigs including one with currently ongoing bladder issues (Tuna's mom) so I can't even be sure this is from her. Basically just beating myself up over not catching whatever happened even though I know there's nothing else I could have done. I wish I could just not do this to myself every time I lose one. Here's Tuna. The only pig of my current herd who really loved being petted. She was such a sweet girl and I miss her a lot. 
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Dec 26, 2022 23:31
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Cowslips Warren posted:coin swine hee And thank you both. See I even know all this but dang it still hurts every single time. She did have a great life.
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Dec 27, 2022 02:22
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Dang what a cutie. Got a real nice group of piggies there.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:59
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Humidifier will help both you and her with that problem. Dry air will cause the static and isn't particularly healthy for you either, it can increase the chance of catching an airborne virus. You really want to try to keep it between 30-50% indoors if you can.
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Jan 5, 2023 17:25
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Feb 2, 2023 14:51
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nunsexmonkrock posted:I have been thinking of getting a couple gerbils and ordering some bluegrass or third cut timothy hay from KMS Hayloft because they like to immediately chew it to bits and build tunnels with it but I can not find their original website anymore, do they still exist? Unfortunately they went belly up. The original owner died and the family sold it to some new guy who pretty much immediately drove it into the ground. The pandemic didn't help either I'm sure but at the end there they just straight up stopped replying to customer emails and phone calls. I get my hay from Small Pet Select now and honestly the quality is better than anything I got from KMS over their last few years. I've been buying both 1st and 3rd cut timothy hay and both are great.
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Apr 3, 2023 03:42
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It might be a kindness to consider euthanasia. Guinea pigs are so good at hiding pain since they are prey animals, a large tumor may be causing discomfort even if they aren't showing it. I've been in your exact position more times than I'd like and it's always very hard- you know your pet best but remember to also consider your own needs at this point, both emotional and logistical. So sorry you're going through this but 7 is an amazing age to reach for a pig, you've given them a great life.
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Jul 31, 2023 04:46
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Nori would like you to believe that she is very hungry, possibly even starving. Pay no attention to the fact that it's 10am and she has already had 3 snacks today.  
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Aug 7, 2023 15:10
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euphronius posted:I have the same modular set up with the storage bins underneath. A+ Yeah I love the bins, they are so useful. Previously I had the whole setup on top of some plywood that was resting on milk crates. Kinda looked like crap. Here's the whole thing:  I keep trying to think about how I can make it a little bigger. Thinking about maybe a little ramp down to the floor for floor time when I'm working at my desk.
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Aug 7, 2023 17:01
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euphronius posted:How many in there ? Three at the moment. Thinking about adding another one here soon-ish.
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Aug 7, 2023 18:01
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Nice! What kind of water bottles are you using there? I've got a box full of different kinds that my pigs refuse to use but I've never seen that one before.
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Aug 7, 2023 18:15
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Any time they go under anesthesia is definitely a risk, but neutering a boar is much less invasive than spaying a sow. There is some extremely old info here with vet recommendations, maybe you'll find something useful? https://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewforum.php?f=97&sid=8ac23d6e25112c9cbf74c19120b42562 If there are any small animal rescues around, they might also have some recommendations.
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Aug 31, 2023 14:21
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newts posted:I’m happy to report that our guinea guy was neutered about 12 days ago and is doing well. The incest babies were born and are also doing well. They’ll go to the no-kill shelter when they’re weaned at 21 days or so. Awesome news, glad he's doing ok. Those babies are sure drat cute too.
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Sep 27, 2023 03:54
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Fearless posted:One of our three female guinea pigs has been really irritable over the past few weeks and spending a lot of time hiding. No changes in terms of her appetite, and she is still drinking water but we got her to a vet yesterday that specializes in guinea pigs and from what we described and an examination of Bellona, the vet diagnosed her with cystic ovaries and has prescribed a monthly hormone injection rather than spaying as apparently with guinea pigs there are concerns about anaesthesia and the fact that three incisions need to be made due to the locations of their ovaries and uterus. Not looking forward to having to stick the poor creature with a needle once a month but hopefully this will allow her to be her more typical, affectionate self as opposed to the world's smallest grizzly bear. It may end up not being necessary to give her an injection every month. Sometimes they will respond very well and the cysts will shrink and not return on their next cycle. Unfortunately on the flip side the hormone injections can also stop being effective over time. Spaying is the only permanent fix. Surgery is always a risk but if the pig is otherwise healthy it can be successful.
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Sep 27, 2023 12:43
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Cowslips Warren posted:Mom and I looked them over, and we will take just $140 for all four. It's been a minute for me but that was also my first impression on the pics, first one a female maybe, but not confident, and the rest are males.
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Oct 6, 2023 17:51
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So glad to hear Bellona is doing well after her surgery! I lost a pig over the weekend after a two week battle to resolve some teeth issues that I thought we'd finally found the answer to. Was eating again and happily screaming at me for more treats, and then the next day just...crashed. The worst gut stasis I've ever seen. RIP Mommy you were a very good pig.  I've still got two pigs, one of which was Mommy's offspring, and they are pretty quiet in there now. I had been actively looking to adopt another pig for a while but it was hard to find just single pigs available. Looks like I will now be trying to adopt two.
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Feb 6, 2024 18:49
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Alright, still on the hunt for some news piggies but in the meantime I've finally got a pig cam back up and running. Still tinkering with things a bit but at the moment this link should always redirect to the current live stream: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcGROzwcPCVlXd0VuLZMTiA/live
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Feb 10, 2024 21:05
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Sirotan posted:Alright, still on the hunt for some news piggies but in the meantime I've finally got a pig cam back up and running. Still tinkering with things a bit but at the moment this link should always redirect to the current live stream: Double posting bc I adopted a new pair of pigs and they are full of baby energy and being generally adorable on the stream. 
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Feb 26, 2024 23:29
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