Positions, or aka How does your pig sit?

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jatean

Post   » Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:37 pm


Hi everyone,

We have a male and female pig; you might have seen my thread in the medical forum about Abby's red feet. Bellpepper is a very outgoing confident pig who will come when he's called and follow you around the house. Abby is much more shy.

It dawned on me today that Bellpepper has many body positions - he sleeps all flopped onto the floor like a dog, he sits much like a cat's "bread" position - especially when munching hay. I don't remember Abby ever varying her position - balanced on all fours like she's ready to run.
We keep the sides of the cage covered in towels, and put hideys in the corners because Abby needs to hide. Bellpepper doesn't care where he sleeps (except he does prefer to be near Abby).

I wonder if her position has contributed to her red feet problem. It also begs the question of whether she sits that way because her feet hurt; except I don't remember ever seeing her sit in any other position in all the 2 years we've had her.

This is a fleece cage, btw.

Your thoughts?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:56 pm


She sounds like an usual guinea pig! I'm going to let more experienced members reply to this one. Personally, I don't think her positions would contribute to the red feet problem because they lessen contact with the fleece, if I am understanding you right.

jatean

Post   » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:41 pm


I'm not sure I explained well. Abby's positions (been watching her even more) mean her feet are always in contact with the fleece. (However, all fleece has been washed multiple times with All Free and she's been living on it for more than a week)

We've been using the silvadene cream for about 4 days, and don't see any improvement yet. Maybe increase to twice a day?

If nothing changes in a couple weeks, then I'm going to start working from the assumption that the redness is caused by pressure sores...then get creative in how to deal with that. Maybe vet bed? Isn't that used for pressure sores in dogs?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:50 am


Experiment with bandaging one foot. The dressing must be changed daily so you can compare the feet to see what kind of difference it makes.

www.guinealynx.info/bandaging.html

jatean

Post   » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:14 pm


Good idea. It will be a few days before I can get to it.

I'm also wondering what would happen if I let the cage "go natural" - as in use straw or hay for bedding material. They love to burrow in a big pile of hay anyway. I wondered if the texture of the hay would mean that the feet would not have the same pressure point for very long as even a small shift in position would change the pattern of the hay it rests on. (Did that make sense?)

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Lynx
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Post   » Mon Jul 17, 2017 9:46 am


I think the hay would be more abrasive so if there was thinning of the skin on the feet, it might cause issues. I'd go with the soft fleece you are using for now (cleaned frequently).

Note that the bandaging may in fact promote susceptibility to thinning of skin. Kind of like preventing a normal callus from forming.

It is one of the damned if you do and damned if you don't kinda things.

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pigjes
Cavy Comic

Post   » Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:25 am


I would say that piggies ways of sitting, walking and facial expressions even can vary as much as humans can.

jatean

Post   » Thu Jul 20, 2017 12:48 am


Oh boy. I'm really not sure what to do. Find yet another vet I guess, except it looks like I'll have a very expensive car repair bill to face tomorrow.

How would I tell how much pain this causes her?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Jul 20, 2017 8:48 am


Signs of pain:
pain.html

I think not moving around could indicate foot pain too.

You might want to experiment some with the bandaging while you pay off your car bill.

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