Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Guinea Pigs & Mites

Over the last week I've been watching one of our rescues who has been losing hair. I thought at first it was mange because, well, I just thought maybe he didn't get enough vitamin c.

That said, I noticed he was itching A LOT!!!
So I looked it up online and read about mites and noticed he looked exactly like the others who had it. I knew it wasn't lice because we've had that before and just use advantage (the dog kind).

I read that ivermectin is the only way to take care of mites and I really didn't want to go that way without trying something more natural or home remedy(ish).

I found a website that talked about using bag balm (it comes in a green tin), but at the time Walmart was closed and I wanted to find something I could use NOW!!! to help him, poor baby was itching like crazy and had a few open sores :(

In my defense he is mostly black as is his skin so it took awhile to notice the issue. Now back to the issue. I also read on the site that petroleum jelly might help the itching and some people had only used that (vaseline) to cure the mites.

Let me be clear, I am no vet, so I don't technically know that he has mites. But after I used the petroleum jelly, and today used the bag balm, I don't believe he will be going to the vet.

The vaseline seemed to help some and within a few minutes he was moving around a lot better, but the next day (yesterday) I noticed he still wasn't back to normal, so I called walmart to see if they had bag balm, and they had to order it. So today my husband picked it up.

I massaged it into his skin tonight and while I was doing it, I noticed he didnt have any more open sores and wasn't nearly as scabby as he was the other night, so I think the vaseline helped. After putting the bag balm on tonight we kept him out for half an hour, to watch him. He never itched once, he was moving around and seemed much better.

In a few days I'll put more on him, and then in a few days after that as well, but I think we beat this one, without a big vet bill YEA!!!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

From Fleece to Kiln Dried Pine

We had our guinea pigs (and rescue piggies) on fleece for quite a few months. At first they seemed to love it and so didn't we, but after awhile I grew to miss something easier. The fleece was a bit of a pain as the poo would clump up a bit, there were a LOT of cages, and each change would take 10 minutes a cage, because we had to take and shake the fleece out.

This was all before the mess it could leave in the washer and dryer. Needless to say it added up and we needed a change. While we didn't want to go with pine shavings, we found some kiln dried pine shavings at the Tractor Supply Company that is considered safe for guinea pigs.

I was hoping the guinea pigs wouldn't have a big problem with it, and I was pleasantly surprised when we put them back in their cages. So many of them LOVED it. Our own girls just layed in it, chewing up some of it, but then popcorning around too. So cute!

I just wanted to share this experience as I know fleece is huge, but there are other options and when you have tons of piggies like we do, fleece may not be the best option.

Out biggest issue was the hay getting stuck in the fleece- GRRR!!!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

What's New?

We haven't any new piggies lately and I haven't posted some pics, but I thought I would tell a story about one of our males. His name is Cookie Dough, and a week after we got him, he was in the boys' cage and his eye was all white and gooey. YIKES!

We took him to the vet and they said it was so infected that we needed to have it removed. Needless to say I wasn't exactly sure it did need to be removed but I thought they know best, right? I did read online that sometimes with a lot of treatment it might be ok.

We didn't have the money to get his eye removed just yet, and they gave us antibiotics to help the infection but said to come back in a few days.

After a few days we saw that his eye was getting better and guess what, now two weeks later just after he ran out of antibiotics he can SEE! His eye is great, its beautiful just like the other one and he is awesome.

I love this guinea pig. He sits right at his cage waiting to get pet through the cage without sniffing and nibbling my finger. He is such a sweetie and I'm so glad he came to us. Unfortunately he will have to find a home, but the new owners will love him, I promise. Check him out- Cookie Dough!


Monday, March 14, 2011

100th Post & March is Adopt A Guine Pig Month

Seems like we just got started (back in August) and so far we have adopted out 54 piggies, though 3 have come back. Not a bad percentage in my mind though.

So I thought I would post some updates for the 100th post. We have taken in around 60 guinea pigs, a couple didn't make it, many babies did not due to the stress on their moms, and we have done some vet trips. We have traveled to Fort Drum, Cortland (and further south), Oneonta and Albany. The only place I haven't gone is up north on the other side of the state.

We are cutting back because in July we are expecting our 3rd child. Our apartment is small and we need some space, though we will continue doing rescue. So far our worst cases were very skinny pigs, and another who lived on cedar her whole life with horribly long nails. These are besides the cases where guinea pigs have died.

We have gotten a lot of help and even some donations when people are adopting. It's been fun and it was sad to watch some of the cutest, or unique ones go.

Adopt a guinea pig month. This month (march) is adopt a guinea pig month and I encourage anyone who is interested to contact a local rescue/shelter to get a guinea pig. If you have friends or relatives I would be happy to help them find a local place where they won't get sick, unsexed cavies. (Those darn pet stores).

Monday, January 24, 2011

Free Guinea Pig Care Guide

While most pet stores give these out for free, I've learned they aren't the best sources for information to take care of your pet. Through my research in taking care of the 80+ pigs we have had I put together this quick care guide for new and experienced owners. It is one sheet of important guinea pig information.

I am using an email list program to see how many people sign up for the guide because I would like to make updates to it, send out a health care guide later on, and make other recommendations when I learn something new. I hope everyone likes it and I can't wait to get your feedback. Sign up in the right column.