What to check at the vet

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:54 am


Muffin is Eloise's cagemate (the one who came in with pneumonia - now recovering nicely). I had mentioned in a thread on chat that something was wrong with her.

She eats and is gaining a little weight. She's plump already and mushy feeling.

She moves around very little - but she can move, and is very fast when she wants to be. When I pick her up she's very quiet (too quiet), apart from when she decides to make like a bird and fly out of my hands. She had some minor cracks in her foot pads, and when I soak them I can just plunk them in a bowl of water and she sits like a statue for the full 5 minutes. The rest of the time she sits in her pigloo in the same position, like a pig statue!

She doesn't seem to be in pain.

She is also missing a front incisor - she had a small scratch when she came in on her front lip, and so I think it may have been knocked out in an accident.

I would really like to avoid another large vet bill, so I'm wondering what are the minimum reasonable tests that should be done?

Obviously the vet will listen to her heart (and I'm sure she sounds like a heart pig!), but what else could it be? She has a wet bottom from sitting in one wet spot on the pigloo. When I put veggies in the cage, she does the statue thing, but I know she must be eating because when I go back into the room I see some in the pigloo with her (Eloise is always out sniffing around like she should be).

I've been giving her 50mg vit C a day, which she takes - not eagerly, but she doesn't struggle either. She never struggles, which is strange, because I don't think these pigs have been handled much - if at all.

I really can't tell how old she is - in fact I have no idea. She has red eyes, and I don't see any irregular edges around them, which makes me think she's under 3.

I can't adopt her out without knowing what's wrong with her, so I'm torn as to whether I just need to say to heck with it, get all the x-rays and bloodwork done. But I've had a few too many of those recently, and I'd rather not have to go that route again!

We have an appointment to see the vet tomorrow morning, so I'd appreciate any ideas.

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Amy0204
We miss our sweet Oreo

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:50 am


Could it be that her adjustment has just been untypically slow and that she's still bewildered by the new setting/people?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:54 am


Good on the vitamin C. Try to pique her curiousity by putting in bags filled with timothy and boxes with holes in the side she can chew on. What kind of bedding? I take it you don't feel there is a uti, just sitting in one place too long? How long has she been at your house?

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:21 am


She's been here a week. I have them on a white sterilon pad, and there are some orange (?) spots around the edges. I'll have her checked for a UTI, but she's not hunched.

Amy, I wondered about that too. I also wondered if in splitting up the foursome (sus has the other two) that I'd taken away her friend by accident.

Both girls are drinking almost nothing.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:32 am


If they've only been there a week, it may be too short to see them coming around. Oh, you could check for blood in urine if you wanted to. See if you can somehow lure them into drinking more. Wet down the vegs a bunch.

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Amy0204
We miss our sweet Oreo

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:01 am


Clark's with us 3 weeks today and it's only since Sunday that he's started to warm up a bit. He's starting to show interest in Bilbo from the other side of the fence again, so I might put them together and see if he feels any less threatened. You just might want to try to put all 4 together again and watch who hangs out with who. (whom?)

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:39 am


I don't have the other two - sus does - and one of them is a bit of a bully!

klynne

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:19 pm


It does sound like psychological issues to me, Mum. She just sounds freaked.

And she may remain that way, sadly. No matter how much I work with him, Meekly is like that--hide in the pigloo, freeze, then suddenly bolt and leap for freedom.

I know he was severely abused and it sounds as if your girl may have been too. Of course you are doing the right thing by ruling out health issues first.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 12:31 pm


Poor little Meekly.

Well, I hope there's nothing physically wrong with her, and that in time she'll come out of her shell. It's hard at the moment, because my quarantine room is in another area of the house, behind closed doors, so I can't keep as close an eye on the girls as I'd like. Once they move into the main house she should get more used to sounds - but at the moment she freaks every time I open the door to that room!

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:21 pm


The visit was interesting. Poor Muffin has lenticular sclerosis and sees very little. I suppose both the vet and I could be wrong about her age, but she seems pretty young to us. I had blood drawn for a panel just to see if there might be anything else going on, but certainly the fact that she can hardly see might account for her behavior. (The vet techs were extremely upset with me that I insisted on getting a toenail overclip. They said that all the literature said it was too stressful).

Poor little Muffin. I suppose I have to be prepared for the fact that I may have yet another pair of special needs pigs here for a while (Muffin obviously would need to be kept with her friend).

I'm wondering what might have caused this in a fairly young pig. We've pretty much ruled out diabetes, because she drinks very little.

Here is a picture I posted on the other thread:

Image

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Amy0204
We miss our sweet Oreo

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:23 pm


Poor baby. She couldn't be in a better place, though. Mum, could you explain exactly what that is?

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:30 pm


Um, well the vet explained it as black spots (not the floating ones) clouding her vision. Her left eye barely reacted at all to light, but did a little after a long period of time. The right eye isn't so bad, but is still far from normal.

I looked it up when I got back, and it appears that it is a normal part of the aging process in dogs.

But, we don't think Muffin is old.

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