Thursday, November 24, 2016
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
Summertime and the Livin' is Easy
Lately I have been sort of happy-sad about getting Biscotti & Harvey out to eat grass. Happy because they are so happy to have fresh grass and clover. As soon as you set them down they start eating at turbo-speed.
But it's also bittersweet because Xabi never got to fully experience eating grass. When we were in Indiana, it was too risky to set them down on grass that had ticks. Then, while in Utah he got a little taste but it was in mid-March and too chilly to stay outside very long. Once it warmed up he was too weak and sick to be taken outside. Even if he had a burst of energy, he didn't have the ability to eat anything that wasn't in liquid form. So although it's really fun to take the two pigs out, I always feel a twinge of grief for Xabi.
Anyway, I didn't actually mean to make this a sad post, so I'll continue to the happy parts of the post. When we first moved to the house we're now in, the lawn had not been mowed in a really long time. In other words, it was piggy heaven! Here are some photos of Biscotti and Harvey in their dream environment.
But it's also bittersweet because Xabi never got to fully experience eating grass. When we were in Indiana, it was too risky to set them down on grass that had ticks. Then, while in Utah he got a little taste but it was in mid-March and too chilly to stay outside very long. Once it warmed up he was too weak and sick to be taken outside. Even if he had a burst of energy, he didn't have the ability to eat anything that wasn't in liquid form. So although it's really fun to take the two pigs out, I always feel a twinge of grief for Xabi.
Anyway, I didn't actually mean to make this a sad post, so I'll continue to the happy parts of the post. When we first moved to the house we're now in, the lawn had not been mowed in a really long time. In other words, it was piggy heaven! Here are some photos of Biscotti and Harvey in their dream environment.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Saying Goodbye
I haven't been able to bring myself to write this post until now. Six days ago we lost Xabi to surgery. We were given the option to either try a risky surgery where we could lose him that day, or he would just get worse and die slowly. We chose the surgery. Part of the saddest part is that he did actually survive the surgery, but died the next morning. I miss him so much, but I'm glad he isn't in pain anymore and I'm glad we gave it one last shot to improve his life.
I don't want to dwell on his death. I want to write this post to celebrate that sweet, curious, feisty, smart little pig. Here are some of my all-time favorite pictures of our little Xabster.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
Xabi: Answers
We have finally gotten some concrete answers for Xabi. I noticed that his eye was really bad and that he started having discharge in his ear. He was losing weight and was making pained noises quite a bit. We took him to the specialty vet. This time we were able to see the real specialist, not just the vet tech. We dropped him off at 8 am and didn't get to take him home until around 5pm. This is what we found out.
We already knew he had a nerve deficiency on the right side of his face. We were told this could have been a birth defect or from a traumatic injury. The vet told us that she did dental work because his teeth were very overgrown and uneven. The reason they are overgrown is because he is unable to grind them properly due to his TM Joint being partially deteriorated. His TM Joint is partially deteriorated (as she could view by dental X-Rays) because he had an ear infection (hence the discharge) for a very long time. The ear infection has actually been around so long that it has progressed into a bone infection. His middle ear bones are deteriorated. In fact, so long, that she believes that is what has caused his nerve deficiency.
The vet gave us an option. The only way to treat the bone infection and his hollowed out middle ear is with surgery. Without surgery, the vet indicated, we will just be temporarily throwing antibiotics at a bigger problem. However, there are only 4 known cases EVER of this particular surgery on a guinea pig. 3 of those cases resulted in the death of the guinea pig within days of surgery. 1 of those 3 cases were performed by this vet. If the surgery was successful, it would be an open gaping wound on Xabi's head. The fact that this vet visit was 1 week before we were moving, the fact that there was only a 25% survival rate, that it would have cost easily $3,000 when all was said and done without the guarantee of him even surviving, plus the fact that it wouldn't solve his nerve or dental issue, made us decide to just do the best we can.
So, the vet did the dental work to grind down Xabi's teeth, and gave us antibiotics, pain medication, and critical care, which is like a little piggy hay malt-o-meal that I feed him with a syringe. We also do physical therapy with him to keep his teeth from overgrowing again. Luckily we do have a resource of a good exotic vet who actually trained under the vet specialist we saw right here in Utah.
After taking care of Xabi under this new medical regiment every day at noon, he actually is doing really, really well. In fact, he has gained 60 grams already and is much more active and curious than before. He is eating on his own a lot more, and he is also making a lot less croaking/grunt noises, and back to his happy wheeks. It's fantastic. We know that it won't last forever and at one point in time, we'll decide that maybe it's time to say goodbye, but I'm really happy that he seems to be thriving.
In fact, the vet said most baby guinea pigs don't survive ear infections that aren't treated right away. I'm hoping that he really did have a birth defect that explains his nerve deficiency/jaw issues, and that his ear infection was more recent/can be completely treated with the antibiotics we have. Crossing my fingers!
We already knew he had a nerve deficiency on the right side of his face. We were told this could have been a birth defect or from a traumatic injury. The vet told us that she did dental work because his teeth were very overgrown and uneven. The reason they are overgrown is because he is unable to grind them properly due to his TM Joint being partially deteriorated. His TM Joint is partially deteriorated (as she could view by dental X-Rays) because he had an ear infection (hence the discharge) for a very long time. The ear infection has actually been around so long that it has progressed into a bone infection. His middle ear bones are deteriorated. In fact, so long, that she believes that is what has caused his nerve deficiency.
The vet gave us an option. The only way to treat the bone infection and his hollowed out middle ear is with surgery. Without surgery, the vet indicated, we will just be temporarily throwing antibiotics at a bigger problem. However, there are only 4 known cases EVER of this particular surgery on a guinea pig. 3 of those cases resulted in the death of the guinea pig within days of surgery. 1 of those 3 cases were performed by this vet. If the surgery was successful, it would be an open gaping wound on Xabi's head. The fact that this vet visit was 1 week before we were moving, the fact that there was only a 25% survival rate, that it would have cost easily $3,000 when all was said and done without the guarantee of him even surviving, plus the fact that it wouldn't solve his nerve or dental issue, made us decide to just do the best we can.
So, the vet did the dental work to grind down Xabi's teeth, and gave us antibiotics, pain medication, and critical care, which is like a little piggy hay malt-o-meal that I feed him with a syringe. We also do physical therapy with him to keep his teeth from overgrowing again. Luckily we do have a resource of a good exotic vet who actually trained under the vet specialist we saw right here in Utah.
After taking care of Xabi under this new medical regiment every day at noon, he actually is doing really, really well. In fact, he has gained 60 grams already and is much more active and curious than before. He is eating on his own a lot more, and he is also making a lot less croaking/grunt noises, and back to his happy wheeks. It's fantastic. We know that it won't last forever and at one point in time, we'll decide that maybe it's time to say goodbye, but I'm really happy that he seems to be thriving.
In fact, the vet said most baby guinea pigs don't survive ear infections that aren't treated right away. I'm hoping that he really did have a birth defect that explains his nerve deficiency/jaw issues, and that his ear infection was more recent/can be completely treated with the antibiotics we have. Crossing my fingers!
Road Trip!
We did it! Justin graduated with his master's degrees and we packed everything up, including the piggy boys, and moved back home. I was really worried about moving 1500 miles with these little guys, but they actually did mostly well. Harvey was pretty stressed, though, and dealt with a lot of bloating as a result. In fact, it wasn't until the 3rd day of driving that he even moved off of his little cushion. Poor little fella.
"Hey. Hey, heyheyheyheyhey. Hey guys."
"Are we there yet?!"
Biscotti, resting on his cushion.
Poor Harvard, for about 2 days he just stayed glued to his little bed. I think the rumbles in the road scared him.
We set up their full cage with hay, water, pellets, veggies, and beds.
Little Xabi had his own cage. Partially because 3 pigs wouldn't work in the larger cage (Which was divided in two in order to separate Harvey and Biscotti), but also because he needs extra care. More details on that in the next post.
Xabi got cuddles when I took him out to handfeed him. Cute little guy was sleepy here.
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