Scatter's Medical

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:01 am


Good luck. I understand your frustration. I have never been able to get any cloth product to work right, although plenty of folks on here have so don't give up.

We use Carefresh, but it costs a blue fortune.

My husband has back problems and leans heavily on the cage sides in certain spots. If you have the cage put together with connectors, reinforce them with zip ties just below the connector (at the top) and just above (at the bottom). Doing that has given me some peace of mind.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:29 am


I always recommend zip ties anyway. Literally the day after I built my 2x7 with a 2x7 on top I tripped over and flew headfirst into it and I'm not what you would class as petite.

It didn't collapse although most of the connectors fell out. It had gone all wonky but it was still held together by the zip ties.

Better safe than sorry. I'd rather have a few impressive bruises than a collapsed cage.

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:29 pm


You are so right, Jaycee. Bumps and bruises on me is much better than bumps, bruises and worse on my babies. I promptly went in and zipped them all together. Ashamed to say I hadn't done that before. Thanks to both of you for the reminder.

I used to use Carefresh too. Then switched to fleece. I still keep a couple of bags on hand in case of emergencies, but because of the cost, I try to keep the fleece in use. For now, I've made some pads to change every day. Whatever it is, it seems to be clearing up already.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:07 pm


Excellent.

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sun May 22, 2016 2:59 pm


Scatter turned 3 yrs old in April, and is neutered. He started the year 1400+ grams, but for this last month he's been 1200+ grams.

100+ grams seems a lot to me. Is this something I should worry about, or just watch? At what point should I go into action?

No diet changes; no changes in intake or output. Only change this year has been to a smaller (2x5 grid) cage, and is now on a table instead of the floor.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun May 22, 2016 6:07 pm


Have you evaluated his weight using the vet guidelines on this page?
www.guinealynx.info/.html

She wrote up some great guidelines for evaluating weight!

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Mon May 23, 2016 4:06 pm


Ditto. What's your impression of his body condition?

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:03 pm


I'm sorry, Talishan. I missed your question! Scatter's weight and body condition seem fine to me. He bounces between 1275 and 1300 (+/-) in a month's time. I'm not worried about his weight.

However, since he is now showing a dirty spot on his bottom (along with Flossie), the vet thinks they just aren't moving enough and he's thinking it's due to insufficient Vit. C. Per his orders, Scatter will now be getting double the normal Vit. C (2 tabs or .4cc of liquid). Hopefully this will help get him up and running more. I'm also going to increase the Vit. C foods, mainly bell pepper.

I did take the water bowl out of the cage so he could run more freely. That has seemed to help, too. I've seen him run some laps lately.

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:29 pm


It appears that Scatter has broken both front upper teeth out, possibly to the gum-line, since I can't see any white. I realized this morning he couldn't get any food into his mouth to chew. I tried putting it into the back corner of his mouth, but he didn't want it there, and I was trying to feed him in the cage. A bit later, I did manage to get 40-60 cc of Critical Care into him (and/or on us). He does eat some by himself from a plate, but not enough. It's been about 5 hours since then; he's eaten another 15-20 cc from the plate, and I managed to force another 10 or so into with another 10 on us instead of in. Soon as the husband gets home, we'll force another 40-60 into him. Poor guy is so hungry!

Now to prepare to have his molars planed. How fast do those grow?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:39 pm


I think the teeth in general grow pretty fast. Pictures of the incisors here:

www.guinealynx.info/_broken.html

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GrannyJu1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sun Dec 04, 2016 1:34 pm


Managed to get a good look at his teeth this morning. Lowers are fine; upper (his) left is broken in half and right is broken to the gum with a little white showing and a small amount of blood.

Food-wise: if he can get a piece of hay turned just right so it's crosswise, he can eat it. If I roll up the lettuce and spinach cigar-like and cram it into his mouth, he can eat it. Things like parsley he has no trouble except keeping it away from Flossie while he gets it down. CC - he'll eat a little, then no more. I managed to get 15 to 20 ml down him early this morning; tried again a few minutes ago and he fought me all the way. Biting and jerking his head around so we ended up wearing it instead. I know I read to hold his head just behind the jaw but how do you do that without hanging the poor thing, because the whole time, he's trying to pull away and bite.

He lost about 20 grams overnight.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Dec 04, 2016 1:38 pm


You put your non-dominant arm on a table that's a comfortable height for you. You drape a towel over the table and your arm, and put the pig on the towel.

Then you wrap him snugly in the towel, and use your non-dominant hand to hold his head. That keeps him from backing away from you, and also from biting you.

You put the syringe in his mouth from the side, behind his front teeth and in front of his back teeth, insert a little less than a half inch, turn it toward his throat, and give him about .25-.5 cc at a time.

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