BlueStoneCommerce- Scooter’s Misadventures Part II
Scooter recovered from his abscess on his belly only a year later to have an abscess on his jaw. It was almost a year to the day that Scooter had another abscess. Our wonderful vet took x-rays and felt that Scooter’s abscess had not penetrated the jawbone and he had a good chance of a full recovery. She informed me that if it involved the jawbone it usually keeps reoccurring and the prognosis is not good for a complete recovery. Rabbits also tend to get abscess of the jaw and need the antibiotic beads implanted in their jawbone to have a chance of recovery. Scooter went through his fifth surgery in the two years that he had lived with us. This time the stitches were in a place that he could not chew on. No Bodysuit! Yeah! Our vet thinks that guinea pigs and rabbits are prone to jaw abscesses because a sharp piece of hay may injure them and subsequently get infected and cause an abscess.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
BlueStoneCommerce – Scooter’s Misadventures
BlueStoneCommerce – Scooter’s Misadventures
Scooter (the guinea pig in the guitar case) was our friendliest pig and loved to be petted all of the time. If you remember we thought he was a she when we first brought him home but soon discovered otherwise. We have a wonderful vet that is very skilled and knowledgeable about exotic pets, which guinea pigs are considered to be exotic. Therefore, we had Scooter neutered so Pepper, our shy and nervous female and he could live together in wedded bliss. About 7 months later we noticed a large bump underneath him, near to the area that had been neutered. We took him to the vet immediately after spotting it. It turned out that he had an abscess that needed surgery to remove it. At the time he was only 1 years old and the vet never really figured out the cause of the abscess. She didn’t think it was from being neutered since it had been many months later that the abscess appeared.
After bringing Scooter home after surgery he proceeded to chew on his stitches and they were coming apart. Of coarse, it was the weekend and we had to bring him to the emergency vet hospital. The vet there tried to stitch him up again but discovered that there was a large amount of dead skin that needed to be removed. This resulted in a quarter-sized open wound on his belly. She devised a gauze bandage that was sewn in a way that could be removed and replaced with a new one everyday. We brought Scooter home again but he started chewing on his bandages. Then we took him back to our vet to see if we could figure out a way to stop him from chewing on the bandage. At first, they tried to put a cone around his head, like they do with dogs. Since, a guinea pig is shaped like a potato they had to wrap gauze strips under his front legs to keep the cone on him. Needless to say it stopped him from chewing but the gauze strips rubbed into his skin and caused huge sores under his front legs. You never saw a more pathetic and rejected looking pig. They had to figure out something else. Eventually they made him essentially a body suit out of this material that looked like an ace bandage. It was like a sock that had cut out holes for his legs. Our vet never had this kind of problem before with a guinea pig and it was a huge learning experience for all of us.
After repeated attempts with me going back and forth from the vets office to try to figure out something that would keep Scooter from chewing on his bandage and something he wouldn’t just walk out of because he has no shoulders, the bodysuit idea worked. We had to put honey on his wound everyday and change the gauze bandage. The honey was used like an antibiotic cream. The first time my husband and I tried to do it ourselves I almost fainted. It was a large sized open wound and I now know I can never be a nurse. So, we took Scooter everyday except Sunday to the vet’s office to have his bandages changed for a month. Finally, it was healed enough that Scooter had another surgery to close the wound up. He had to wear his bodysuit until the stitches healed but at least we did not have to go to the vet’s office everyday. Through this whole ordeal with three surgeries in about a months time Scooter was the best pig ever. The techs that changed his dressing everyday were amazed at how good he was at laying on his back to get his bandages changed. He took it all in stride even though I felt we were torturing him when the initial cone rubbed his skin so bad that he had sores from it. After putting antibiotic cream on the sores did heal. There were times I thought Scooter would never recover but he did until a year later……… Stay Tuned for Part II!
To Happy and Healthy Pigs!
Nancy from BluestoneCommerce Cages and Guitars
(Your eBay and Bonanzle Guinea Pig Store)
Scooter (the guinea pig in the guitar case) was our friendliest pig and loved to be petted all of the time. If you remember we thought he was a she when we first brought him home but soon discovered otherwise. We have a wonderful vet that is very skilled and knowledgeable about exotic pets, which guinea pigs are considered to be exotic. Therefore, we had Scooter neutered so Pepper, our shy and nervous female and he could live together in wedded bliss. About 7 months later we noticed a large bump underneath him, near to the area that had been neutered. We took him to the vet immediately after spotting it. It turned out that he had an abscess that needed surgery to remove it. At the time he was only 1 years old and the vet never really figured out the cause of the abscess. She didn’t think it was from being neutered since it had been many months later that the abscess appeared.
After bringing Scooter home after surgery he proceeded to chew on his stitches and they were coming apart. Of coarse, it was the weekend and we had to bring him to the emergency vet hospital. The vet there tried to stitch him up again but discovered that there was a large amount of dead skin that needed to be removed. This resulted in a quarter-sized open wound on his belly. She devised a gauze bandage that was sewn in a way that could be removed and replaced with a new one everyday. We brought Scooter home again but he started chewing on his bandages. Then we took him back to our vet to see if we could figure out a way to stop him from chewing on the bandage. At first, they tried to put a cone around his head, like they do with dogs. Since, a guinea pig is shaped like a potato they had to wrap gauze strips under his front legs to keep the cone on him. Needless to say it stopped him from chewing but the gauze strips rubbed into his skin and caused huge sores under his front legs. You never saw a more pathetic and rejected looking pig. They had to figure out something else. Eventually they made him essentially a body suit out of this material that looked like an ace bandage. It was like a sock that had cut out holes for his legs. Our vet never had this kind of problem before with a guinea pig and it was a huge learning experience for all of us.
After repeated attempts with me going back and forth from the vets office to try to figure out something that would keep Scooter from chewing on his bandage and something he wouldn’t just walk out of because he has no shoulders, the bodysuit idea worked. We had to put honey on his wound everyday and change the gauze bandage. The honey was used like an antibiotic cream. The first time my husband and I tried to do it ourselves I almost fainted. It was a large sized open wound and I now know I can never be a nurse. So, we took Scooter everyday except Sunday to the vet’s office to have his bandages changed for a month. Finally, it was healed enough that Scooter had another surgery to close the wound up. He had to wear his bodysuit until the stitches healed but at least we did not have to go to the vet’s office everyday. Through this whole ordeal with three surgeries in about a months time Scooter was the best pig ever. The techs that changed his dressing everyday were amazed at how good he was at laying on his back to get his bandages changed. He took it all in stride even though I felt we were torturing him when the initial cone rubbed his skin so bad that he had sores from it. After putting antibiotic cream on the sores did heal. There were times I thought Scooter would never recover but he did until a year later……… Stay Tuned for Part II!
To Happy and Healthy Pigs!
Nancy from BluestoneCommerce Cages and Guitars
(Your eBay and Bonanzle Guinea Pig Store)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
BlueStoneCommerce - Life Moves On
BlueStoneCommerce - Life Moves On
Scooter, our friendly neutered male pig and Pepper, our nervous female pig settled into life in their Penthouse cage. Scooter was always showing Pepper how manly he was by doing his rumble strut. Pepper mostly ignored him unless she was in the mood. Sound familiar!
The Penthouse cage was the first Cubes and Coroplast (C & C) cage we had ever designed. We enjoyed the open top level because it gave us easy access to our piggys and made it easier to clean. There were no cats in our household, just frogs, a bunny and a small terrier dog. So, the pigs could not be harmed by our other pets because it was raised to waist level with two levels of storage underneath the one 28”Wx56”Lx14H” cage level. Guinea Pigs are not known to escape their open top cages and therefore a top/lid is not necessary unless you have other creatures, including toddlers that can harm your pigs.
The Penthouse Cage with the two levels of 28” Wide and 56” Long of storage space provided more than enough room to store all of the piggy’s supplies. We had all of their big bags of hay, pellets, treats and the cleaning supplies, like the vinegar and water spray bottle I used stored below the cage right at our fingertips. This made it very convenient with everything I needed so close at hand. We were very happy with our C & C cage design and so were Scooter & Pepper.
Sadly, after about 3 ½ years Pepper became ill. It was around Christmas and my usual vet was on vacation and I had to take Pepper to the Emergency Vet Hospital. She had stopped eating, which is always a sign that your pig is sick. She ended up having a lung infection after the vet x-rayed her. We were given antibiotics to give her by syringe and they thought she would get better. Pepper wasn’t eating so we also had to feed her Critical Care by syringe every 4 hours. When my vet returned I took Pepper in to see her because she still wasn’t eating on her own and nothing was coming back out. If you ever lived with a guinea pig you know something is really wrong if that is happening. The vet gave us some medicine to get her to poop again and it worked at first. However, it stopped again and she was not eating on her own. On January 1, 2007 Pepper had a stroke and never recovered. My vet was surprised and said there must have been more going on with her then we realized. Guinea Pigs live an average of five years so she was relatively young when she passed away.
Scooter changed after Pepper died. He became more easily frightened and stayed on one side of the cage. I had to move his water bottle over to the other end of the cage because he wouldn’t drink from it because something had scared him from going over to it. He began to chew huge chunks out of the corrugated plastic because he was bored and stressed without Pepper. Scooter never became ill from chewing on the corrugated plastic because it is not digestable and comes out the other end. After awhile we discovered if you put the white, hard plastic molding on the edges it stops the pig from chewing on it. Scooter never chewed it again after we used it to make the edges chew-resistant. BluestoneCommerce sells the Chew-Resistant upgrade package in our eBay and Bonanzle stores for pigs that like to chew the coroplast. Guinea pigs are social animals and like to live with other pigs. Scooter was listless and slept a lot more until we brought a new pig to live with him. Stay Tuned!
To Happy and Healthy Pets,
Nancy from BluestoneCommerce Cages and Guitars
(eBay and now Bonanzle Guinea Pig Cage Store)
Scooter, our friendly neutered male pig and Pepper, our nervous female pig settled into life in their Penthouse cage. Scooter was always showing Pepper how manly he was by doing his rumble strut. Pepper mostly ignored him unless she was in the mood. Sound familiar!
The Penthouse cage was the first Cubes and Coroplast (C & C) cage we had ever designed. We enjoyed the open top level because it gave us easy access to our piggys and made it easier to clean. There were no cats in our household, just frogs, a bunny and a small terrier dog. So, the pigs could not be harmed by our other pets because it was raised to waist level with two levels of storage underneath the one 28”Wx56”Lx14H” cage level. Guinea Pigs are not known to escape their open top cages and therefore a top/lid is not necessary unless you have other creatures, including toddlers that can harm your pigs.
The Penthouse Cage with the two levels of 28” Wide and 56” Long of storage space provided more than enough room to store all of the piggy’s supplies. We had all of their big bags of hay, pellets, treats and the cleaning supplies, like the vinegar and water spray bottle I used stored below the cage right at our fingertips. This made it very convenient with everything I needed so close at hand. We were very happy with our C & C cage design and so were Scooter & Pepper.
Sadly, after about 3 ½ years Pepper became ill. It was around Christmas and my usual vet was on vacation and I had to take Pepper to the Emergency Vet Hospital. She had stopped eating, which is always a sign that your pig is sick. She ended up having a lung infection after the vet x-rayed her. We were given antibiotics to give her by syringe and they thought she would get better. Pepper wasn’t eating so we also had to feed her Critical Care by syringe every 4 hours. When my vet returned I took Pepper in to see her because she still wasn’t eating on her own and nothing was coming back out. If you ever lived with a guinea pig you know something is really wrong if that is happening. The vet gave us some medicine to get her to poop again and it worked at first. However, it stopped again and she was not eating on her own. On January 1, 2007 Pepper had a stroke and never recovered. My vet was surprised and said there must have been more going on with her then we realized. Guinea Pigs live an average of five years so she was relatively young when she passed away.
Scooter changed after Pepper died. He became more easily frightened and stayed on one side of the cage. I had to move his water bottle over to the other end of the cage because he wouldn’t drink from it because something had scared him from going over to it. He began to chew huge chunks out of the corrugated plastic because he was bored and stressed without Pepper. Scooter never became ill from chewing on the corrugated plastic because it is not digestable and comes out the other end. After awhile we discovered if you put the white, hard plastic molding on the edges it stops the pig from chewing on it. Scooter never chewed it again after we used it to make the edges chew-resistant. BluestoneCommerce sells the Chew-Resistant upgrade package in our eBay and Bonanzle stores for pigs that like to chew the coroplast. Guinea pigs are social animals and like to live with other pigs. Scooter was listless and slept a lot more until we brought a new pig to live with him. Stay Tuned!
To Happy and Healthy Pets,
Nancy from BluestoneCommerce Cages and Guitars
(eBay and now Bonanzle Guinea Pig Cage Store)
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