doctor visits

I was wondering if I have to have a check up every year as do cats and dogs.

[CavySpirit]

You don't HAVE to, but it's a good idea to do an annual wellness check with any pet. Gives your vet a baseline if and when something does go wrong.

Most people never do it. Some people go every six months!

[liluqt]

My pigs just went for their first check-up. Well, I also had to drag them because I think they all have mites, too. But I believe I will be doing this on a regular 6 month interval basis. They're my babies and I have to make sure they'll healthy, too! Anyway, don't forget to bring your own treats with you if you take them. The vet had some awful crouton looking thing for the pigs that dogs won't even touch.

[MetallichicA]

If you do bring treats or hay, I would recommend waiting til the end to give them. Last time I took Poppy in, she had recently had hay, and the vet said it was hard for her to poke around in her mouth because green gunk kept getting on the otoscope.

Lol... that vet gave me a bag of cut carrots they said they probably weren't going to use up. When I opened the bag and took some out for Poppy, I realized they were pretty old - they were so tough!

[cornhill]

I've been taking my 2 pigs to the vet every two months for over a year for checkups. Now I have 4 pigs and I will still take them every 2 months for their checkups. All 4 at the same time. I guess it's called "Preventative Maintenance" And it's worth the cost. I admit, sometimes I get carried away with mine.

[Denise]

I don't think it's getting carried away. It's called love.

[liluqt]

I have a pig who is currently getting ivermectin shots and we are awaiting results of their fungal culture results to see if they have ringworm. However, last night I noticed a bloody splotch on the upper part of his back and I thought he had cut himself, but noticed that the hair around that area was missing leading me to belive he's been itching there again and quite severely. We put neosporin on it and have been monitoring him and give him the look of death everytime he tries to scratch again, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I had made an appointment for today, but the vet isn't that close and he seems to be doing a little better today after the neosporin was applied. I called the vet and the lady there said if he seems to be doing better, there's no real need to bring him in seeing as how we an arranged appointment for this upcoming Monday to find out the results of their fungal culture and for their 2nd ivermectin shot. Do you think neosporin and cleaning the wound until I take them Monday is enough? Or should I rush them over right away? I'm just afraid the doctor won't be able to do anything other than what he's already done since it all stems from itching and they're already being treated for it. Advice please Also, to clean a wound... is hydrogen peroxide okay? I've just been applying neosporin and the bloody area seems to be drying and clotting. Just wondering if I should use hydrogen peroxide on top of it.

[Piglet]

That sounds exactly like what Ascot had. It was like a bloody scab and small clumps of hair were coming out. It turned out it wasn't mites, but it was ticks. I'm really not sure about hydrogen peroxide.