UK Piggy - Jon Snow's medical thread

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Fri Apr 11, 2014 10:35 am


I thought I should start this thread now, just to be on the safe side. This is more a reference post at the moment.

Jon Snow is an intact boy, born on 15th June 2014. He's a PEW.

I adopted him from BamBam, and he has a brother, Marshall, who lives with wle312. He has recently moved back in with his cagemate Anselmo, after Anselmo had bladder stone surgery.

So, he's been perfectly healthy until 23rd March when I noticed him struggling to eat. Everything seemed okay but two days later I noticed his top incisors were very wobbly, and an hour later one was gone. I took him to a vet who helped get the other out. It was broken at the gum line so didn't really need any help.

Since then I've been helping him to eat and he's stayed at a steady 1050g, or thereabouts.

Yesterday morning I woke at 5:45 to the sound of a dog trying to be sick. We don't have a dog. I couldn't tell which pig it was at first, but when he did it again a few minutes later it was Jon. He was heaving quite a lot.

I took him out to watch him and his tummy was making very loud rumbly noises, but no more heaving.

I gave him something to eat, which he devoured (with help) and then he was fine. I let him have a run for 15 minutes and he was his usual happy self jumping around and exploring.

This morning his tummy was rumbling again, very loudly. After his breakfast it was fine again.

His cagemate, Anselmo, also lost two teeth at around the same time, so I've been checking them both often. Whilst Anselmo's are coming back straight, Jon has the one long incisor on the right, a shorter one on the left, and vice versa on the bottom. They don't meet yet.

So, I think he's probably going to need them trimmed.

And I wonder if the rumbling is hunger as he can't tear his veg.

I'm going to spend a few hours with him this evening to make sure he eats enough, poops and see if it's gas.

I have some simtheicone and CC to hand.

Hilary Holmes

Post   » Fri Apr 11, 2014 5:50 pm


Jaycey, if you have any concerns about his teeth, please get in touch with BamBam. She has done the CCT dental course and has had referrals via Vedra, recently. As you know, she knows what she is doing and what she is talking about.
Good luck.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Apr 11, 2014 11:33 pm


He was heaving quite a lot.
Possibly choking on a piece of poorly-chewed food? Another thought would be another loose tooth (pre-molar, maybe?) that was swallowed.

You meant to say that he was born in June 2013, right? So less than a year old? We had a guinea pig, Sebastian, who started losing teeth when he turned 4. They'd become loose and then fall out, and new teeth would grow back very ugly and mis-shapen. Our vet diagnosed it as some sort of auto-immune disease. I *think* steroids helped him, but would need to go back through my notes and see. That has been a few years ago.

Does Jon Snow aggressively chew the bars on his cage?

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Sat Apr 12, 2014 5:22 am


Sorry, yes 2013.

I've never seen him chew the bars but he has popcorned a few times into the cage bars or sofa when he's out in the living room.

His bottom incisors aren't straight at the gum line so I think it's definitely worthwhile getting them looked at. Plus Anselmo's might need a trim too, even though they're straight the top two are a bit longer than the bottom now.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Apr 16, 2014 4:23 am


Jon had his teeth checked yesterday. His front incisors have grown back, and are wearing wonky as his molars are wearing unevenly.

He's had his molars filed, and his front teeth snipped back into line.

Hopefully that solves the problem, but he'll need them checking regularly and filed if necessary.

He seemed happy enough after his 'ordeal', he was biting through a piece of carrot for the first time in a few weeks so it was good to see the trim helped.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:54 am


Jon's teeth are still wearing straight at the front. I've not checked the back yet but he's still chewing fine. I'll check them at the weekend.

Poor Jon is now a solo pig. At least for the time being anyway.

On Sunday we popped out for a few hours, and came home to quite a few big clumps of white hair dotted around the cage.

I leaned in to ask what they had been upto and an all out war started. Jon got battered.

When I parted them Jon had his head on one side and his mouth wide open with his jaw skewed. I panicked and he didn't seem to be able to right himself.

I got him out and in the process his mouth closed. I held him for ages and he was twitching his head.

I checked him over and he has a chunk of hair missing from his side, quite a slice taken out of his nose/lip (it's scabbed over now) and on lifting his lip his top front teeth were covered in blood.

I think that's enough. I know I should leave them to it, but I'm constantly worrying about him when I'm not there. Also, Jon has been eating Anselmo's limited diet so now he can have some of his pellets and romaine lettuce again as treats.

He's eating fine now, so I'm hoping it was just pain or shock that caused him to have his head tilted.

Their cage is now split into 2 2x3.5 CC (it was 2x7), with a covered middle so they can't see each other until I can decide what to do next.

Anselmo seems happy enough on his own, so I think I need to start looking for a new friend for Jon. He's not neutered so maybe that's something I need to sort if I can't find a solo boy he'll get on with.

I'm not sure if something happened with him, but since I got him out for the cage and held him whilst he was injured, he now lets me pick him up, and even came over to me when he was having floor time.

The poor boy has had a tough few months so he deserves something good to happen now.

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Wle312
Guinea Supporter '11

Post   » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:24 am


Aw, poor Jon :( He has been through the wars hasn't he?

Get Well soon fella!

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:31 am


Yup. Hopefully we can find him a less grumpy cagemate than Anselmo!!

Since his incident with Anselmo he's become a lot more brave around me. He's okay for me to pick him up now, and he even came to me during floor time yesterday.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Mon May 12, 2014 6:03 am


Saturday - was woken up at 6am to the sound of Jon heaving again.

He's had a grumbly rumbly tummy all weekend too.

I'm going to slowly rotate out a vegetable at a time to see if I can work out what it is that's causing his tum to complain.

His poops look fine so I don't think his tummy is upset. His poops are smaller in width to Anselmso's banana's but Jon doesn't have quite as prominent boy bits which I've noticed does make a difference in the shapes.

I think he's bored too. Quite a few times I've come into the room to see him sitting in the corner of the cage next to the divide, where Anselmo's bed is on the other side. Just sitting there with scrunched up eyes (He's a PEW and closes his eyes a lot, I think the light is a bit bright for him). He's okay as as soon as I come in he'll come dashing over to climb up the side for a scritch or a drink.

He's not been treated for mites since I got him so they're both going to get a routine treatment, and a bath once it's all over.

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NoCableisSafe

Post   » Mon May 12, 2014 1:18 pm


Oh Jon, feel better soon.

Could try to give him his food as a problem, perhaps? Cardboard tubes stuffed with hay and hung from the top of the cage? Instead of offering him a bowl of pellets perhaps offer him the puzzle-of-pellets that Webs offered her girls?

And perhaps, in the way of where the sunlight reaches his cage, you could install one of those sun-masks that people use to block the sun from their children in cars?

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue May 13, 2014 5:22 am


Great idea NCiS. I never thought of hanging things from the top of the cage. I have loads of string around so I'll construct something for him.

He needs a little piggy pair of sunglasses I think! I've pulled the curtains across a bit for him, so the sun shouldn't hit his end of the cage as much. If it gets worse for him I'll cover part of the cage and have a look into Vitamin D for him.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Mon May 19, 2014 5:07 am


Jon's tummy is still rumbling quite loudly and he's still doing his "dog heaving" motions. Strange piggy.

I stopped the orange juice and water for a few days to see if it were that, but due to the hot weather we're had over the past few days I've been giving him (and Anselmo) it again.

It might take a while to work out what it is, but I'll have to cycle out his veg one at a time to see what it is.

I observed him doing his sick motions and he wasn't eating when I noticed it. He did a couple of heaves and then he was okay again.

Very odd.

He seems completely fine otherwise, and is eating and bouncing around happily, so I don't think it's something medical. But if it continues I might see if I can find a good piggy specialist that could maybe look at his throat to see if there's anything weird in there.

I'm hoping it's just me being paranoid though.

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