Entropion

I noticed that the eyes on two of Ruby's boys were a little cloudy yesterday. Naturally I had a little panic, thinking that we'd had more hay-poke injuries. But on closer inspection I could see that the bottom eyelid had rolled in a little, making the curls rub on the eye. A quick bit of google research and I had my answer - entropion. Seen in lots of different species (cats, dogs, humans...) and apparently really common in the curly haired guinea pig varieties (rex/texel/teddy etc).


I was able to get some valuable advice from a breeder who has had a lot more experience than me working with the texel lines, and she explained that it's very common, not a genetic concern, and that they'd most likely grow out of it by 2 weeks. I'm currently treating them with saline to flush the eye and clear the crusty bits that form around the eyelids due to the excess fluid being created to combat the irritant. Then gently pushing away the stray curls/hairs with a cotton-tip, and lubricating the eye with basic human eye lubricant (from a chemist). So far so good, the boys are being very cooperative and looking more comfortable.





This was Ruby and her little men shortly after I was harassing Rollo and Romeo for eye treatment. She's just the epitome of a perfect mum. So attentive, so chilled out, so loving. (Bit of a contrast to miss Alice, who I watched kick Chloe in the head a few times this morning while she tried to nestle in for a feed. I did however spot Alice chilled out and feeding Cricket and one of Ruby's boys this afternoon! Cheeky little boy! So she is letting them suckle - but only when SHE wants to!)

Fat Fat piggies

Here's the weigh in for Monday the 4/7/2011:

Sprout is 570g (gained 15g) - 12wks
Sparrow is 635g (gained 85g) - 12wks
Liam is 605g (gained 20g) - 13wks
Ruby is 730g (gained 30g) - 15wks
Ginger is 740g (gained 10g) - 15wks
Kobe is 715g (gained 10g) - 18wks
Alice is 680g (gained 55g) - 20wks
Beeno is 685g (gained 60g) - 18wks
Alba is 670g (gained 25g) - 18wks
Custard is 985g (gained 50g) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.015kg (gained 15g) - 2yrs
Bonnie is 495g (gained 100g) - 5wks
Galaxy is 725g (gained 75g) - 27wks
Sheba is 635g (gained 50g) - 23wks
Crumble is 910g (gained 65g) - 31wks
Yeti is 225g (gained 15g since wed) - 5wks


Total piggy weight 11.020kg (total gain 890g across 16pigs, with one newby addition!).

Wow, the pigs gained a fair bit of weight this week! Thats quite amazing. A special mention needs to go out to Bonnie who went from 395g to 495g in one week! That girl is going to be a big mumma when she's fully grown.



Ruby is looking heaps better too. Her eye is basically back to normal, and it was good to see her gain a little this week after nearly staying the same last weigh in.

Sprout is looking so much better too. All of his hair has grown back, and the scabby skin stuff (assumed fungal infection) has almost disappeared after his last bath in malaseb shampoo. I decided to give him another bath today, just for good measure, and because the weather was quite warm. He's currently rugged up in his bright green towel on my lap at the moment. He's stopped shivering now, and is just sitting there looking up at me with his big ruby-black eyes. There's something special about this boy... not sure quite what yet. But there's a bit more behind those eyes than the usual guinea pig...

We're back from the vet

We just got back from the vet trip. Ruby's eye was close to rupture, but not quite there. So it looks like it can be saved. She'll be on antibiotic eye cream and paste for the next week. (which is surprisingly expensive!)



This is her good side.



This is the sore side. It looks a little green due to the stain the vet used. Apparently there is an ulceration on the eye itself, and the red bit is the flesh trying to grow over it to heal.



A bit of special treatment for a while and we should have her looking good in no time!

Ruby's Sore Eye

The good news: Subi's sore eye from this post is looking great. A couple of squirts of breast milk over the last few days and it's cleared up nicely.

The bad news: Ruby's has gotten worse. Much worse! I actually think the eyeball itself has ruptured... I've popped a pic up, so be warned, it's pretty yucky. The poor little thing is acting perfectly fine (in true guinea pig form!). But we will definately be making a trip to the vet first thing tomorrow. With toddler and baby in tow... not what I had in mind for my monday... thank you very much produce place that sold me crappy straw!



Mind you, I can't blame the produce place entirely. I did see that it was crappy quality - and still bought it. Then I saw just how crappy it was when spreading it out in the cage - but still left it there. So this is just as much my fault.

Oh, and I was giving little 3.5 week old Bonnie a cuddle today and noticed she had a tiny sharp shard of it stuck right in one of her eyes too! Luckily the eye wasn't damaged yet, and I managed to get it out. But that was the final straw for me (pardon the pun).

So the girls have been upgraded to fleece, towels and newspaper! I have no idea if this set up is going to be practical. And I'm a little sad that I have to take away the straw. They really loved burrowing under it. But I think with the addition of a few more hidey things, it will be just as much fun for them. And a hell of a lot safer!

Oh! And - in that same produce shop trip we bought a bail of 'Prime' hay. I went to pull some off to feed the pigs this morning and promptly got a hand full of prickles. On closer inspection the whole bail is riddled with some kind of prickle/burr weed. And the prickles are huge, and sharp. In the photo below you can see a small scattering that I went through by hand, pulling out all of the burrs. That took about an hour! So as much as I hate to waste things, I think this bail is going to need to be binned. The last thing I need is the guinea pigs getting prickles stuck in their mouths!

I had Custard and her 3 sisters for four years without any hay issues. And I used to buy a bail every month and pack the cage full of it!

Anyone else had any experience with a hay product that won't injure guinea pigs!?

Damn straw!

On the weekend we took the kids to the local produce place to buy another bail of hay, some straw and some more piggy mix. The bag of straw we picked up looked a little inferior, but we were in a hurry as kids needed sleeps, so we just paid for it anyway.

When I was cleaning out the mansion on monday, and scattering the new straw down in the lower level (the pigs just LOVE making tunnels through it, and hiding in it!), I got to see just how crap it was! Instead of the lovely big fat pieces of straw we usually get, it looked like it was just the dregs that had been swept up off the floor! All the pieces were short and spiky and there were lots of bits of rubbish - dirt, leaves etc all through it as well. I was a bit pissed off, but it was all I had so I had to leave it. (It was either dodgy straw or dirt!)

This morning while I was checking the girls over, I noticed that both Ruby and Subi had one sore eye each. I am assuming they have had straw-poke incidents, and the eye has gone all weepy and opaque (exactly like the photo above of a piggy called 'Cookie' I found on google). So far it's only those two. I took them inside, checked the eyes for foreign objects and applied some antibacterial eye cream. I have no idea if this is going to help them, or if the damage has been done now, but I figured it was worth a try. If that doesn't work I'll try breast milk. I managed to clear up a nasty case of conjunctivitis in Custard a few months back with a few squirts of my milk! :P Sounds really gross, but it actually works!

Here's Monday's Weigh in:

Sprout is 515g (gained 50g) - 10wks
Sparrow is 520g (gained 20g) - 10wks
Liam is 550g (gained 15g) - 11wks
Ruby is 695g (gained 25g) - 13wks
Ginger is 670g (gained 10g) - 13wks
Kobe is 630g (lost 10g) - 16wks
Alice is 580g (gained 10g) - 18wks
Beeno is 575g (stayed the same) - 16wks
Alba is 620g (gained 5g) - 16wks
Custard is 895g (gained 20g) - 4.5yrs
Subi is 1.035g (lost 35g) - 2yrs (Nursing Bonnie)
Bonnie is 330g (gained 60g) - 2.5wks old
Galaxy is 625g (gained 25g) - 25wks
Sheba is 510g (gained 20g) - 21wks
Crumble is 830g (gained 35g) - 29wks (?)


Total piggy weight 9.850kg (total gain 530g across 15pigs, average gain of 35g per animal. Some had double that, some had losses)