PFL's Update (Long)

[pigsforlife]

I havent been on the forums much lately, just hovering everynow and then. Hopefully once work settles down a bit I will be able to spend some more time on here. I am currently at home with the flu thus why I have been on here a bit (mainly floating instead of posting though) more this past 5 or so days.

The dogs (jack and tasha) are doing great. Infact as I type Tasha is fast asleep on the bean bag, and Jack is lying on their mat with his legs resting on the top of the skirting board fast asleep (certainly doesnt look comfy!).

The girls are doing well. They are eating as much as ever and are so incredibly cute. I have started to litter train them and things are going well. I normally have to clean them out every 12 hours but yesterday I left them for 36 hours and they didnt smell! More and more of their poops and wees are landing in the litter box so things are going well and I am pleased.

Since coming back from holidays at the beginning of January I have continued on with the menu that I set up for the people looking after them. This has been fantastic for me because it means that I have a set plan (I like being organised) and I can then toss in the odd thing every now and then like a piece of fruit, some cherry tomatoes, cucumber or once in the blue moon some cabbage. I am pretty sure the plan is good, but any suggestions are very much appreciated.

AM
4+ leaves of Cos Lettuce
4 baby carrots and tops
1/3 of a red capsicum
Handful of rocket

PM
4+ leaves of Cos Lettuce
Bok Choy
1/3 of a green capsicum
2 sprigs of basil

AM
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]4+ leaves of Cos Lettuce[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]4 baby carrots [/FONT][/FONT]
1/3 of a green capsicum
Handful of rocket

PM
4+ leaves of cos lettuce
1/3 of a green capsicum, 1/3 of a yellow/orange capsicum
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]4 sprigs of parsley[/FONT][/FONT]
2 sprigs of mint

Back to the start


Their cage has stayed pretty much the same although I would like to change the stuff in it around (perhaps making a bed area or a kitchen area). One day I would like to make a loft or a second story but that would take away the space on the bottom floor and the bottom floor is already at its bare minimum so I am not sure yet.

This is the 3rd plan that I just did in about 5 minutes so it is not really very good but it will give you some idea.



The green triangle in the corner is their litter box, the green line in the green triangle their hay rack and the 2 green circles near by their food bowls, the small green line down the other end of the cage is their water bottle. The 2 blue squares are their pavers. On the left side of the pink line their bedroom - this will basically be an old doona in a case on top of the 3 layers of towels. The 2 purple squares will be their lazy lounges (Aertyn created these and they are brilliant - this is my thread I have on ACS about re doing their cage and it shows Aertyns lazy lounges ACS messageboards :: View topic - Anything and Everything ). The rounded rectangle is their stuffed dog bone toy. So what do you all think? Any suggestions?

They havent had floor time for awhile due to the weather (one minute it is boiling hot and the next it is threatening to rain or is raining) but have been giving them alot of cuddles.

All 4 girls are healthy and have managed to maintain their weight (have lost a bit but nothing to be worried about - I actually think their weight loss is due to the weather). I need to weigh them again today.

Rosie is miss little trouble maker. She is very active, will not sit still (which makes nail clipping hard) and is very curious. She ripped the paper bag off the top of the grid tunnel (I bent a grid in half and covered it with 2 paper bags attaching it to the grid with cable ties), has claimed the stuffed dog bone toy hers and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKS at the rustle of a plastic bag.

Lily is quieter and no where near as bossy as she was when she was younger (perhaps this is due to their bigger cage). She is quite thin yet eats alot. Lily has become very placid and quite enjoys a good cuddle.

Buttercup is my little fatty boomba. I was lying on the ground the other day with her on my chest and she just fell asleep. Buttercup is a little rascal as well although is far more reserved than Rosie. I forgot to put their towel tent back up the other day after cleaning (I left it hanging down one side a bit) and she put her little paws on top of the corflute and stood on her hind legs on the paving stones and yanked at the towel until it came down!

Toffee loves a good scratch behind her ears. I still think she has a bit of hairloss on her neck but I have treated her for mites and fungus so I think it may just be the pigmentation underneath her skin that makes it seem thinner. Saying that she is a teddy/rex and teddys tend to be prone to skin problems.

I think thats all for now. Once I have re-done the inside of their cage I will get some new photos for you all.

[pigsforlife]

I have the aforementioned photos ready for you all.

These are some new photos of their cage. Their cuddle cups and hammock are currently in the wash so you can not see them in the pictures. Also their lazy lounge is made out of bricks which is temporary until I get some more wood.







And they all come running cause Mummy has arrived!



Buttercup showing how the lounge should be used -



The famous lazy lounge

[pigsforlife]

Rosie munching on some cos lettuce



Lily and Buttercup with their stuffed dog bone toy



Buttercup and Toffee



Lily and Rosie



Lily and Toffee

[pigsforlife]

And the best photo of the day - Buttercup munching on some of Oxbows Western Timothy Hay!

[Sammy and Peanut]

Aww! Adorable pigtures! I hope you get well soon! How did you make the lazy lounge? I am thinking about making one myself...

[pigsforlife]

Thanks. The way I made the lazy lounge (with bricks) is a temporary thing until I can get some wood. Aerytn was the creator although my version is slightly different.

1. I bent a grid to a 90 degree angle.
2. I cut some corflute and made it go along the base and up the side
3. I taped 2 bricks together with duck tape
4. I taped the corflute/grid to the bricks with duck tape
5. I taped the top side of the corflute to the grid (this thing aint going nowhere )
6. I folded a tea towel in half, and a square of fleece and held it to the corflute with clips and pegs
7. Added a brick to the side so that they can get up easily although they tend to jump up

[Feylin]

4 girls! They're so cute- especially with their dog bone.

[GuineaWolf]

Aww im in love! Toffee is just so cute.

[pigsforlife]

Thanks for all of your replies.

Buttercup will be going to the vet asap. She was wheezing very loudly yesterday, and I wonder if it was due to a fluid build up in her lungs (as she had been lying down most of the morning and night before) in which case she is a heart pig. I have a thread on all 4 girls on GL - Guinea Lynx :: Topic - Advice needed for my girls - the last page mainly being about Buttercup and her last episode.

If anyone has any opinions or advice please post them.

[pigsforlife]

Cross post from Guinealynx:

[FONT=Times New Roman]Well that was an interesting experience! [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]]The vet managed to squish us in last – when she should be packing up – so that was nice of her. We actually saw a different vet this time round and she was far better. We both got along better and I didn’t get the impression that it was all about money like I did with the other vet. She also was much more thorough and didn’t hurry as through.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Now during the consultation Buttercup didn’t show any symptoms, so the vet at this point in time really did not want to do anything. We did discuss a couple of different things though.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Firstly we discussed Buttercups tiny nasal passages (far smaller than your average pig), and that possibly things could get up but not out resulting in infections. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]She went on to say that one guinea pig – much like Buttercup – had re-occuring respiratory infections and in the end they took a biopsy of the pigs lungs. They traced it back to the owners not washing the pigs veggies. The pig breathed up the small bugs/micro organisms on the unwashed veggies and this resulted in the re-occuring infections. But as I wash their veggies this was ruled out.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]As Buttercups nasal passages are so small we agreed that we needed to keep her environment as clean and dust free as possible. So swapping to towels was a great decision even though a bit of a hassle. I only use vinegar with their towels so the possibility of washing powder/detergent causing problems was ruled out.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]We also talked about how pigs have small pockets next to their nasal area and that a possibility as to why she was wheezing yesterday was that a piece of cartilage was covering half of this pocket. I didn’t think this was so as it would mean that she would be wheezing all the time and she currently isn’t.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]She also said some pigs are prone to infections and that if Buttercup was to get something wrong she may immediately get a respiratory infection. That doesn’t make sense does it? I will use me as an example. I am prone to sinusitis. So if I get a simple cold it will lead into sinusitis. Last week I had the flu, this week I have sinusitis.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]I then brought up that one of my fears was heart problems, and that a possibility is that after lying down the fluid builds up in her lungs resulting in the wheezing. She said that this was a possibility but didn’t really want to put her on anything as she wasn’t presenting any classic symptoms and seemed fine in every other aspect at the moment. She said that this was something to monitor and come back to later on if anything came back.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]We then talked about what to do next if either the discharge or the wheezing came back. She said in both instances to bring her straight back. If the discharge came back they would do a swab and find out which exact antibiotic to treat it with. If the wheezing came back then we talked about a couple of different treatments. One being a Ventolin of some sort, she explained the different medicines and stuff they can mix together for each certain pig. The other was a vaporiser – again you put something in it (cant remember what she called it). If neither of these worked then she thought the next step would be to look into heart problems.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]She gave Buttercup a thorough look over, and felt everywhere, particularly her ovaries (which Buttercup hated). I chatted to her and found out that she would be working more often now and that I could come back to see her instead of the other Dr if I preferred. I said yes. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Afterwards, as I was waiting for the payment to go through Buttercup decided to show her great disgust at the whole vet appointment and being separated from her sisters (at the vets wish) by peeing on me even though she had a mountain of oxbows hay and wet cos lettuce in her carrier (which I left in the car opting to hold her instead). Yes that’s right. She peed on me and my hands still stink of pig urine even after washing them several times. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]My Mum was down, and came with me to the vet. She came down as she needed to get some shoes and this was what we had planned to do. So with pig in hand we went into the shoe shop near the vet. She caused quite a stir and everyone wanted to come up and pet her. Lapping up the attention, she ran around in circles in her cuddle cup! It was hilarious![/FONT]