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Post by margaret6 on Apr 1, 2014 20:13:07 GMT
She's a lovely addition to have. More pee and poo, enjoy, xx
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Post by glittze2001 on Apr 1, 2014 23:40:29 GMT
Welcome Elli, she is a cutey. Hope she settles in quickly!! Xx
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ayemee
Bronze Member
Posts: 397
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Post by ayemee on Apr 2, 2014 9:57:20 GMT
Gorgeous piggie! Welcome Elli! X
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Post by jolovespiggies on Apr 3, 2014 16:07:24 GMT
She is lovely hun, please let us know how she gets on.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by weesilvie on Apr 12, 2014 12:57:12 GMT
Hooray for extra pig Elli
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Post by SiLamb on Jul 28, 2014 18:33:16 GMT
Hi colonthree, I joined Wheekers after you posted the above. Your piggies are adorable. How is Elli getting along with your other six (if I counted correctly)?
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Post by colonthree on Dec 14, 2014 17:37:12 GMT
It's been a very long time since I've updated, I know... But Elli seems to have settled in decently well!
Over time, she started following us around the edge of her cage - she's a very curious one. We had tried to integrate her, and started introductions, but she got extremely aggressive! I have actually never seen this level of aggression from a guinea pig towards another! I had all 7 of them bonded before Elli, when we still had Mimi (<3 I miss her so much), and no problems at all. Elli is like no other guinea pig I have ever met - I love her to bits, though. She's still in a separate cage, but it's right next to the other girls so she can see and hear them, and that brightened her spirits quite a bit! She's always on her hind legs looking in on them, and she seems to really like Yuki, our youngest girl (who also seems to be the most popular one with the rest of the girls).
Our tentative plan that we've had for a while now is now to order another 2x6 to extend the current cage and put a divider in so Elli can watch the other girls a bit better, and they can get more used to seeing her a bit closer without putting any of them in danger. I feel like they're all mellowing out towards each other, so I'm reasonably confident this will result in success. I can tell now Elli is seeming ready to cooperate, but she certainly will not be at the top of the hierarchy.
Money has been quite short lately (which is why the cage extension is delayed), as I have had a spell of illness for a very long time (bronchitis, then strep, then strep again, then staph for two months which I'm still fighting), and we've also racked up some pretty substantial vet bills recently. Kuma has had more abscesses that had to be removed... and Aya has a sizable lipoma on her chest which we had to get checked out, but it looks like it's benign and not causing her any problems. She's also pretty rotund, which we were aware of but unsure of how to address, and we're going to slowly work on that with the plan he gave us. He was so taken by her size and cute face (she is very gorgeous even considering her gut size) that he pulled out his Nikon DSLR and started taking photos!
Osaka is now approaching 7 years old, so we got her a check-up while we were there, too. She got a clean bill of health, for the most part! The vet was very impressed with how well she's doing, but she is developing some small cataracts, which aren't hindering her vision right now. She also has some minor hearing loss, but the ears do look good - she's just a typical senior citizen. Teeth, heart, lungs, everything else clear of problems. I must say though, it was an interesting experience getting 3 of them to the vet at the same time!
I apologize for the wall of text, and for being pretty absent for a while. I hope everyone's piggy children are doing well! <3
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Post by Bean on Dec 16, 2014 9:44:51 GMT
Good to see you and thanks for the update. Sorry you've had some health problems in your pigs, but it sounds like they're all in hand now which is great. And sorry you've been poorly yourself too.
Glad to hear Ellie is settling in well, and it's looking more likely integration will be possible! It does sound like something spooked her, but having lived around all her new pals for a while now, hopefully she's relaxing. Good luck sorting the new cage extension as the next step towards that.
My piggy boys are well - getting on most of the time and squabbling like mad for about 10%! Typical brothers I guess?!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 16, 2014 18:08:34 GMT
Welcome back love.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 16, 2014 21:59:26 GMT
Great to have you back Sorry about the illnesses and money problems. I hope they all get sorted. I have a loner pig that I tried to integrate repeatedly. Sadly, the last time she drove her sister over the edge, and her sister kicked her out of the cage,literally.I wish I had the space for a side-by-side cage for her, but her cage is above theirs. She can hear and smell them, but not see them I hope your girl does better with the integration
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 17, 2014 19:06:13 GMT
Yes, good luck hun.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by colonthree on Mar 12, 2017 1:32:16 GMT
It's been so long since I've posted here... I just wanted to give a quick update again. Unfortunately it's not a great one. We're down to four girls now. Last year we lost Elli (~4.5 yrs) and Aika (~5.5 yrs). Last week I lost my first and oldest, Osaka (9 yrs). I understand that she was very old, but she was particularly special to me and I'm still feeling devastated. Kuma lost a lot of weight the week Osaka wasn't well and we didn't notice right away. We got her to the vet ASAP thinking it was a UTI (squeaking while urinating/bloody urine), but it was a stone. I say "was" intentionally - she shot it out earlier today, so she's pretty sore right now (it was a sizable stone). It's looking like she'll be on the mend now, though. We're having to force feed her several times a day right now. Sika, Aya, and Yuki are all doing just fine. They're all pretty old now (5.5 and up). Gotta say - I really love my bossy senior ladies!
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Post by Bean on Mar 12, 2017 8:12:00 GMT
Good to see you, but I'm really sorry to hear about Elli, Aika and Osaka. Nine is certainly a fantastic age, but when you've spent that many years with a companion, losing them can be even tougher.
Fingers crossed for a smooth recovery for Kuma (ouch!), and glad that Sika, Aya and Yuki are all doing well. Got any photos?!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Mar 12, 2017 14:15:39 GMT
I am so sorry to hear about your loss love and I really hope that Kuma gets well soon. Nine is a great age but as you say, it doesn't stop us from missing them to bits and grieving.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Mar 13, 2017 22:07:48 GMT
Great to hear from you again! Sorry it's sad news. It's never easy to lose one of our babies, even if they have lived extremely long and happy lives. I think we all have had that one pig we can't really forget. Sorry your Osaka is gone I hope Kuma heals quickly. I'm glad the stone is out. Hugs to you and your babies
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Post by colonthree on Oct 28, 2017 1:10:48 GMT
I can't believe how fast time passes. I kept meaning to spend more time here, but I've been working so much overtime and taking care of sick piggies back to back, so I just haven't had the time. We've had a very bad year, and have lost Sika, Kuma, and Yuki since my last post. I'm just devastated, it's all happened so fast. I didn't think about the possibility of losing them all so close together when we adopted them all around the same time. I know what happened with Sika and Kuma, but I still have no idea what happened with Yuki. I went into their room to give vitamin C treats and vacuum around 9:30 Monday night and Yuki was popcorning around and doing zoomies all over the cage. When I woke up the next morning at 5:30 she was gone (and had been for a few hours at least). Has anyone else experienced this? I'm still so shocked, I didn't see it coming at all. Yuki was always so active, and that hadn't changed much, even with old age. Anyways, Aya is our only guinea pig now. When we lost Kuma, she lost a lot of weight grieving because Kuma was her very best friend in the cage. Then she was left with just Yuki, and they didn't really spend time together, but at least she had company. I'm keeping a very close eye on her weight now that Yuki is gone. We've added small cages throughout the house so she can stay with us wherever we are. I'm hoping we can keep her happy. If anyone has any advice for keeping a solo pig happy (besides getting another pig, it's really not an option), I'd be happy to hear it.
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Post by Bean on Oct 28, 2017 9:07:36 GMT
Sorry to hear of your losses, what a tough year. I've lost pigs to old age quite suddenly and always consider it a blessing that up to the night before they were happy and popping round, even if it had been evident they were ageing over the previous months. A sudden death can be concerning when there's a worry of it being something infectious, when there have been other recent unexplained deaths. But if that can be excluded, it's reassuring to think that they didn't suffer, but that they just didn't wake up. It's a nice idea to have the smaller cages throughout the house so she can spend time with you wherever you are. It might be that one larger cage with lots of things to do would be more stimulating for her though, and give her more reassurance. With solo pigs, they tend to need more encouragement to be interested and lively, so just focus on enriching her environment and varying what she has to do to keep her interested. There are some good ideas on this page, many of them free or cheap so you can really have fun finding out what makes her tick without breaking the bank. That and lots of attention and interaction from you are the best things you can do. I hope Aya is adjusting okay to life without her buddies and that she has many happy times ahead of her with you.
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Post by 3piggles on Oct 28, 2017 17:13:27 GMT
I'm so sorry about all of your losses, and really hope Aya does okay on her own. Some of my friends have had great luck putting a push toy in the cage, so the lone pig has something to cuddle with. I also agree with Bean about putting a lot of things in her cage to keep her occupied. We never know the genetic history of our pigs, so we can't know how long or how well they will live. I've had pigs just pop off that way, and it was a shock, because they were doing so well last I checked Genetically, their time just came to an end. I'm just glad they had such a great life up to that point. Huge hugs
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Post by jolovespiggies on Oct 29, 2017 14:21:28 GMT
I am so sorry you have had such a hard time with your piggies darling, not much consolation I know but we all know how you feel. Hugs Jo xx
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Post by colonthree on Oct 29, 2017 17:30:41 GMT
Thanks for all of the kind replies.
I didn't think to mention that Aya still has her massive (7-guinea-pig-sized) cage in the living room that she stays in while we're out of the house or sleeping. I've been changing the layout of it, adding new things to it, etc, to keep her entertained when she isn't with us. My husband and I both work full time so she does have plenty of time in there, I just figure it can't hurt for her to be with us when can be here, and it does seem to be helping. Her weight has been stable, and I'm thinking we're gonna do another checkup soon to touch base with my vet to make sure everything looks good.
In response to your concerns of unexplained deaths, it was only Yuki that went unexpectedly. Sika and Kuma both had a lot going on with their health, and I'd been maintaining both of them for a while.
Sika had an issue with her molars growing out of control (they grew over her tongue trapping it and I had no idea because she was always eating until she stopped cold turkey) and a terrible bone infection that was found on an unrelated x-ray later. We were all caught off guard with that, including the vet, because we were so focused on the front end. Even with strong pain medicine, it became very painful for her to do anything, even sit... And her teeth had required two trimmings within a month of each other (they grew back over her tongue in a matter of weeks). Everything was so stressful for her and there was no more quality of life. With all of these things combined, we made the difficult decision to put her to sleep.
Kuma had been having chronic bladder/kidney stone issues for about 6-7 months (despite a low-calcium diet), and then I woke up one morning to find her extremely bloated... I rushed her to the vet, and he relieved the gas, but everything had already become too much for her. Up until that, she'd shown so much resolve to keep going, but that day she told me she was ready (and her body had already begun shutting down). We had to put her to sleep as well so as to not drag out the pain any further.
This year has just been really, really hard. I've been doing everything by the book with these girls to the best of my ability, and it's so frustrating when things continue to go wrong. It's just been one problem after another, back to back. These girls have been so sweet and I hate that many of them had it so rough in the end. I know what you mean by it being a blessing when they just go in their sleep. The shock of her suddenly not being there with no mental preparation was just... a new thing for me. But you know, they were all really old. And I know they had a good life - I've spoiled them all rotten, let them boss me around. And I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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