It all started with Gordy...

Post Reply
User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Sat May 24, 2014 9:19 am


And I found a photo of us both together. I hate having photos taken so it's rare to find me in one, even more so to have a piggy with me.

It's good to look back on though and remember his silly face.

Image

User avatar
NoCableisSafe

Post   » Sat May 24, 2014 9:21 am


What a lovely, silly wee face he has! And hello you!
Love the fabric in his cosy! :)

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Sat May 24, 2014 9:32 am


Tuff colours for tuff guy! Little did I know how tough he would be over the next couple of years.

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Sat May 24, 2014 9:46 am


Although the other two didn't want to take part in Arnold's birthday celebrations (except for the eating of course), they were still getting on well

Image

It was at this photo session I got one of the best guinea pig photo's ever. It's so funny. Although it was taken 3 years ago now I used it for my boyfriends birthday card this year. Silly Toki Wartooth

Image

User avatar
GP_mum
Supporter in '13

Post   » Sun May 25, 2014 5:24 am


I love Toki and Arnold's eye shadowing. Arnold does seem to have a surprised look in most of his photos. Your boars were all such handsome boys.

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue May 27, 2014 12:07 pm


Toki was settling in well. He loved to relax and snooze in ridiculous positions:

Image

"I'M SLEEPING!!!"
Image


Anselmo in the mean time was putting in some extra hours protecting and trying to impress his "Princess":

Image


"I'll always be here for you, m'lady":

Image

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:17 am


It wasn't long after his birthday that the start of Arnold's problems started to show

Image

You can see from the photo how slim his back half is. He had an xray and was diagnosed with quite severe arthritis. He had started to hop a little bit and was walking on his heels.

Although the xray said that his knee joints were almost non existent we decided to to try to help him. He was given Glucosamine and Metacam. Unfortunately he had a terrible reaction to the Metacam but was sucessfully swapped onto Rimadyl.

He ceased to hop and seemed to get around the cage a lot easier.

Due to the arthritis he had a loss of muscle tone in his rear and as you can see from the photo he suffered quite badly from impaction.

Man, the poops I got out of him were huge! I'd expect that size poop to come from my parents dog!

He didn't seem to be fussed by me cleaning him out and he was still quite happy in himself. He could still get into that hay box in the photo.


In the meantime Toki still looked like a cloud:

Image

User avatar
snowflakey
E's Moriarity

Post   » Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:33 pm


It's hard to watch them get old! It sounds like you have a good plan to keep his quality of life good.

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:32 am


It definitely is isn't it?!

I was very lucky to have Arnold around for as long as I did. He was very poorly when he was young and my non guinea savvy vet said he would be lucky to make it to 6months. He proved them wrong.

Cinnabuns Legacy

Post   » Thu Jun 05, 2014 1:48 am


I am sorry to hear he is having these issues. Arthritis can get really awful with these guys. Good luck with the pain medication. He is still handsome as ever though.

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:50 am


The pain relief was almost like a miracle cure. He had a bad reaction to the Metacam, he bloated and got diarrhea. So, the vet swapped him over to Rimadyl.

It was almost like he didn't have arthritis anymore. He kept on walking on his heels but the hopping disappeared and he was able to run quite fast when he wanted too.

Unfortunately the Metacam had a lasting impact on him and he could only eat certain foods or else he'd bloat up again. Green peppers were a big no. Poor guy had quite a limited diet after that, but thankfully he could still eat the majority of lettuce types.

User avatar
Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:34 pm


Seeing as it's such a lovely, warm few weeks over here in the UK, thought I should update the chronicle.

And outdoor piggies is the best way to continue. This was in June 2011.

The piggies didn't get to go outside very often. I had a full time job and my mum wasn't able to catch the piggies due to her arthritis. And as we have lovely British rainy weather, and lots of local cats that meant the piggies could only go outside when I was off work:

Toki Wartooth
Image


Anselmo
Image


Arnold J. Rimmer
Image

And "Guard Dog" Jessie helps keep watch:

Image

Post Reply