The Princess and the Flower
The hardest part of wrting these threads is starting off, it gets easier later on. Plus, your writing doesn't seem awkward at all to me. And pictures are always good :)
Can't wait to hear more!
Can't wait to hear more!
Since we've all seemed to have voted pictures, here's a few more of Princess & Rosie's first day in their new home.
Sorry they're so blurry - this was from my old crap-ola camera
Princess
Rosie - you can see the terrified expression on her little face
My poor babies were afraid of everything! They both wheeked horribly whenever they were touched. Poor Princess itched so hard, she'd run in circles and scream while scratching.
One of the first things we did was book an appointment at one of the recommended exotics vets. They contacted the humane society for the girls' treatment history and what they discovered made us really angry.
The humane society had only been treating Princess for parasites! Both girls had a severe mite infestation, but Rosie had been suffering for who knows how long, and re-infesting Princess in the process. My poor, poor girls!
Sorry they're so blurry - this was from my old crap-ola camera
Princess
Rosie - you can see the terrified expression on her little face
My poor babies were afraid of everything! They both wheeked horribly whenever they were touched. Poor Princess itched so hard, she'd run in circles and scream while scratching.
One of the first things we did was book an appointment at one of the recommended exotics vets. They contacted the humane society for the girls' treatment history and what they discovered made us really angry.
The humane society had only been treating Princess for parasites! Both girls had a severe mite infestation, but Rosie had been suffering for who knows how long, and re-infesting Princess in the process. My poor, poor girls!
- codyNpatches
- Supporter in '09 - '10
YAY! I always wonder about your girls too. So glad you started this!
Our vet was very lovely, and just as mad at how the humane society had handled the girls treatment.
We immediately got them both on Revolution and pulled some hairs for fungal testing. The girls could soon be touched without angry piggy noises!
Everything was still frightening for them. Being out of the cage was clearly a scary experience.
Wedging yourself between two objects and staying perfectly still was the preferred method (as demonstrated by Rosie-peeg).
However, come June, despite the parasite treatments, Princess was still very, very itchy, and she started to loose more hair.
All the fungal tests came back negative, experiments with anti-fungal cream showed no difference, and the vet (and the other vets she consulted with) couldn't figure out what was going on. So, they suggested a biopsy to see if we could get some more information. Since she still had large bald spots with self-inflicted wounds and wanting to solve this for her, we agreed.
Up next, so many owies!
We immediately got them both on Revolution and pulled some hairs for fungal testing. The girls could soon be touched without angry piggy noises!
Everything was still frightening for them. Being out of the cage was clearly a scary experience.
Wedging yourself between two objects and staying perfectly still was the preferred method (as demonstrated by Rosie-peeg).
However, come June, despite the parasite treatments, Princess was still very, very itchy, and she started to loose more hair.
All the fungal tests came back negative, experiments with anti-fungal cream showed no difference, and the vet (and the other vets she consulted with) couldn't figure out what was going on. So, they suggested a biopsy to see if we could get some more information. Since she still had large bald spots with self-inflicted wounds and wanting to solve this for her, we agreed.
Up next, so many owies!
New page? New picture!
Warning! Owies depicted below!
This is our Princess after the biopsy last June. Most of this is actually healing self-inflicted wounds (when we first adopted her, they were much deeper and much worse. This was actually an improvement). However, there are also 4 little biopsy sites - you can see the stitches!
We got some Hibitaine cream, which has antibacterial & anti-fungal properties to help her heal up. We also started looking at new & different ways to prevent the self-inflicted injuries.
The biopsy revealed that Princess has spontaneous spot baldness - alopecia areata, but it didn't find the cause of her itchiness, so we decided to treat her with Ivermecton 1x weekly in case she was supersensitive to any remaining mite-ness that might be around.
Playtime was getting less & less scary. Here's Rosie-peeg leading a train!
Warning! Owies depicted below!
This is our Princess after the biopsy last June. Most of this is actually healing self-inflicted wounds (when we first adopted her, they were much deeper and much worse. This was actually an improvement). However, there are also 4 little biopsy sites - you can see the stitches!
We got some Hibitaine cream, which has antibacterial & anti-fungal properties to help her heal up. We also started looking at new & different ways to prevent the self-inflicted injuries.
The biopsy revealed that Princess has spontaneous spot baldness - alopecia areata, but it didn't find the cause of her itchiness, so we decided to treat her with Ivermecton 1x weekly in case she was supersensitive to any remaining mite-ness that might be around.
Playtime was getting less & less scary. Here's Rosie-peeg leading a train!
- CavyCastle
- Supporter in '10
Oh, I remember that picture. Your little family has come so far! Hello little ones. :)