Poor Oscar! Not a good way to learn that lesson! I'm glad he's learned to keep his chomping closer to the ground! He's probably seeing all the attention Deo is getting, and thinks he's being left out. Fuss over him a bit extra, so he feels you still love him
I give a piece of orange, or I used to. None of my current pigs will eat it, including Morty, who always ate it. I'm thinking the oranges I have aren't very good, and I should probably get fresher ones. For a regular sized orange, one segment is enough for three pigs. We often buy the Clementines or Cuties, and they are small enough that I give each pig one segment.
Tomatoes also have a lot of C, maybe more than oranges, but mine don't like those, either?
Pip and Squeak 1/19/21, Noodles. I miss you Zippy, Dallas, Dakota, Momma, Harlequin, Molly, Grishy, Mia, Momo, Morty, Oodles and NOodles. You're always in my heart.
Try putting Deo and Oscar on a hard surface, just a small, enclosed area with something waterproof under foot, and a bit of hay/treats for them. That will show you if Deo can get around, but needs more solid footing. If he gets around easily with the hard surface under foot, try just putting towels in the bottom of the cage for now, and see if he gets around on those, better. I'm glad he's showing signs of improvement. It really may just be the bedding under foot that's giving him trouble.
3Piggles, I'm going to try your advice and reduce the bedding in his cage. I usually have about an inch or two of bedding over a few layers of newspaper so they have something soft to lounge on. The vet had said to double it to wick away the urine, but I went back to the usual measurement after he'd healed up from the scalds.
Lately though, I see he's fallen over again. Tonight we took him out for some exercise and he walked across a towel without too much trouble (and stuck his head inside a fresh bag of pellet food!) and just ate as much as he could. I will increase the newspaper layers but cut back on the bedding to see if that makes a difference. Tomorrow he's due for a cage cleaning,so we'll see what happens.
In general, he's a little better. He's eating a little more, has a little more energy, his eyes look brighter and he doesn't really whine when he's picked up. (Maybe a tiny bit, but nowhere near as much as he did weeks ago.) He also purrs when his fur is stroked, so that makes me feel much better.
I'm sprinkling liquid Vitamin C on his lettuce leaves, and also giving Oscar some, just in case.
It definitely sounds as if he's improving, and that's great He seems to not be as steady on his feet as he should be, so walking on the loose bedding is like walking on moving pebbles or loose sand. Being someone with mobility problems, I can assure you having anything loose under foot when I'm not very steady on my feet, makes it a lot worse. Can you just put a towel over the newspapers, so he has firm footing? Maybe that would so the job.
Pip and Squeak 1/19/21, Noodles. I miss you Zippy, Dallas, Dakota, Momma, Harlequin, Molly, Grishy, Mia, Momo, Morty, Oodles and NOodles. You're always in my heart.
Sorry Irina, the conversation about Deo jumped to another thread- I'll re-post my reply here for you:
I guess we're making progress, thanks for asking, Jo!
He's moving around in his cage more, and drinking more water from his bottle. One eye is clearing up, so we're still giving him eye drops for the other eye.
Occasionally he still falls over, but that happens less and less. When I come home from work he's on his feet!
Only one new issue has cropped up: He still doesn't eat hay, and now is spurning his vegetables. He'll eat tomatoes, kind of nibble his carrot, but ignore his lettuce and his cucumber slices. He's still eating his pellets, and I think he's putting on some weight again, but I stopped giving him Bene-bac and Critical Care because I wonder if he's starting to get tired of the same stuff over and over again.
He's also picked up a new habit- wheeking at 3am! He'll wheek LOUDLY and I jump out of bed to see what the problem is, but where he did that when he fell over, now he's not doing anything but standing by his food bowl munching away in the darkness.
Too dark to tell, but I think he's got an expression on his face that says, "I just wanted to see if you'd come running... chump!"
Just another random observation about differing personalities: Deo will allow himself to be picked up and cradled on his back like a baby! My daughter thinks this is utterly precious, and on the flip side, Oscar will NOT permit this in any way! He's already skittish about being handled, and trying to flip him over on his back and he magically transforms into a lean, mean, fightin' machine! (as much as a guinea pig can possibly transform, anyway.)
That's adorable. Just make sure his head is cradled even with his body, and he's not in that position for very long at a time. Oscar sounds like a cool pig, but I like the spunky ones
Pip and Squeak 1/19/21, Noodles. I miss you Zippy, Dallas, Dakota, Momma, Harlequin, Molly, Grishy, Mia, Momo, Morty, Oodles and NOodles. You're always in my heart.
Post by jolovespiggies on Nov 13, 2015 19:34:40 GMT
That sounds adorable love, I have never had a piggy that will let me do anything like that to them, I have had really soft bunnies but all my piggies have been rather independent. I would love a snuggly one.
We went to a shelter tonight to look for another cavy, and we walked out empty-handed only because it was late and the remaining staff couldn't verify which ones were male. We could come back on the weekend, but the staff warned us that an adoption fair was going on that weekend and it would be CROWDED.
The few piggies we looked at were absolutely charming- there was a cage of three girls and each had her own style. One sat atop her pigloo, calmly surveying the scene. Another one continually walked in and out of the two pigloos in their cage, and a third smaller one spun in circles and did laps around the cage. If I were looking to start anew, I would have grabbed the entire cage full of 'em!
There were a few others, but most were either confirmed female or unknown. We decided to try again next week.
I really wanted to walk out tonight with a new piggy. It's best this way, though. I'd rather the staff be honest about it instead of taking a chance.
Oooh that's promising you've found a rescue with quite a few guinea pigs. Definitely a good idea to be triple sure of the sex though, so well done being patient as it must have been tempting to scoop one up! Those girls do sound adorable.
Have a look at this page on sexing and with a bit of practise you should be able to check for yourself too. I'm sure Oscar won't mind you practising the old willy popping out trick on him...?!
This is why I take hubby with me, or I'd bring home all the pigs in the shelter. I hope you get to visit when they aren't busy, and the staff is there to help you sex the pigs, however, check the page Bean suggested. Rescues have made mistakes before!
Pip and Squeak 1/19/21, Noodles. I miss you Zippy, Dallas, Dakota, Momma, Harlequin, Molly, Grishy, Mia, Momo, Morty, Oodles and NOodles. You're always in my heart.
Post by jolovespiggies on Nov 26, 2015 20:51:03 GMT
I am the same hun, people say to me at these places "Which one would you like" and I always say "all of them." I have bookmarked that article on sexing piggies, it is brilliant.
Trying to determine their sex isn't going to be easy! When the staff member attempted it at the shelter, each cavy was alternately pooping or fighting, so it's an ordeal!
I figure why not just put an unknown with a confimed female and if the unknown tries to buy the female dinner, or write really sappy poetry then it's probably a male.
Oh, and another observation: Oscar is rapidly becoming a careless clown, as this is the FOURTH time he's got his teeth caught on the top bar of his cage again! I swear, from now on I'm going to bring my camera in every time I get him a snack so I can record his idiocy for posterity!
I figure why not just put an unknown with a confimed female and if the unknown tries to buy the female dinner, or write really sappy poetry then it's probably a male.
Your Honour, may I present Exhibit A, my two females Rocky and Poppy.
Thus proving that just because one acts as if one wishes to take another pig to dinner, it doesn't mean one can actually pay for it!
Post by jolovespiggies on Nov 27, 2015 19:28:37 GMT
He sounds adorable Bazookagoof love, I would love to meet him, what a little character. Lovely video Bean honey, I think it is a mixture of play and who is the boss LOL!!
Incredible video, Bean. I had a great chuckle watching their antics
Bazookagoof, we've found too many of the sows have very questionable judgement where dinner invitations are concerned, lol
Pip and Squeak 1/19/21, Noodles. I miss you Zippy, Dallas, Dakota, Momma, Harlequin, Molly, Grishy, Mia, Momo, Morty, Oodles and NOodles. You're always in my heart.
Bean, that first ten seconds where they're just walking around in circles had me laughing almost to tears!
We stopped by the shelter again, but no luck- they had an adoption sale, so the place was crowded beyond belief- we couldn't get anyone to help determine the sexes of the guinea pigs we were interested in. They even brought in a new one that had been abandoned (it was beautiful) but no sex had been determined, and it had no medical record yet.
This was not unexpected; I was just taking a chance to see if I could rescue one for the weekend. I was planning to go back on Monday, but I think I might wait an extra day or two so they can give that new one a medical checkup- if it's healthy and male, it's MINE!