Molly
Molly – a very, very bright star on Planet Guinea
Jackie wanted me to publish Molly’s story in the hope that if her experience should help just one guinea pig in some way Molly has done her bit for Pigdom. I suspect that by merely keeping the Piggy Public entertained and interested with this story Molly has done something!
Different Humans will take different things from this story, for me it was the alarming fact that Molly became resistant to Antibiotics so quickly, these things aren’t confined to Humans, think about this when dosing with Ivermectin or giving Baytril “just in case”, that said Molly had never had antibiotics before this…
I recently learned that the other adult sow that came in with Molly’s mum was put to sleep aged 8 and a half after a year of on and off Urinary Infections followed by 2 bladderstones, one developing soon after the first op. Krystal also didn’t respond to Baytril or Septrin making me wonder whether or not she was resistant to them… We’ll never know.
Molly aged 4 wheeks
Molly was a little rescue piggy. Her mother gave birth to her in the car on the way to the vets a day or two after being rescued. She had a sister and both were part Abby. Very very pretty ginger and black and she had a little crest behind her ears running down her back, she looked like a little hyena when she got annoyed!
I decided to adopt Molly from Reading Guinea Pig Rescue (Karen) after losing another little sow also adopted from Karen. Karen rang me to tell me about Molly and I said instantly I would adopt her. She said wait until she is 8 weeks and then come and get her. Well within 6 weeks I’d had a call saying could I come and collect her as she certainly didn’t need her mum anymore and was being very mischievous. In fact so much so Karen was careful to whom she would adopt her as she would wrap you around her little paw if she could!! She never changed!!
Molly came and decided that all guineas were excellent climbing frames and would think nothing of to clambering over all the other guineas. However it did not take her long to realise that this behaviour was not accepted in our little family and a few nips and wheeks later she started to behave. She then decided that very fast laps around her pen was an acceptable way to spend the day, most of them just raised their eyes and yawned at the site.
She would jump clean out of boxes (she always had to go in a carry box with a lid), she had the loudest wheek ever, lips back, tongue out and a full on, ears back wheeeeeek. Always very chatty and in your face. She was the vocal ring leader and had all six singing along on most occasions. Very very loudly, I was always surprised the neighbours never complained. To give you an idea, our shed is next to the wall of the house. Sometimes we could hear her when we were in the house!
My husband decided one day to ‘dance’ with her. He held her two front paws and moved her to the music, livid, she nibbled him twice and the third time after he did’nt listen, she gave him a huge bite and drew blood! He never got mad at her and it was so funny….she was never backward in letting you know how she felt.
There are so many stories to tell but she was such an incredible character, full of life but also love and would love to just curl up in my arms for a hug for hours. The night after her op, she slept on a towel next to me on the spare bed and we spent the night cuddling in between feeds.
Unfortunately she developed a bladderstone which blocked her bladder completely making her very ill and an emergency case to have it removed. She recovered OK from the op but started to go downhill rapidly. She had caught another infection which turned out to be resistant to Baytril, Septrin and all other animal antibiotics. I had a hard choice to make, have her PTS or put her on a course of antibiotics that the lab had confirmed would kill the infection. Unfortunately this was a human antibiotic and had to be injected every eight hours and thus required hospitalisation. I was in tears not knowing what to do, did I have her pts or put her through such an intense treatment that would mean hospitalisation and may not work, plus I would’nt be able to be with her whilst she so sick, this upset me the most.
Karen, Chrissie a wonderful friend, and Jenny my vet were brilliant and through my tearful words helped me work things through and I decided that as she was such a fighter we should give her a chance. Taking her to the hospital that day was so, so hard.
She fought hard and was winning the battle and getting her personality back, but on the day I was due to collect her I had a call from the vets to say she had gone downhill and had another massive bladderstone. We could not operate again so the kindest thing was to let her go. I was devastated as were all the vets and particularly the nurses who cared for her, after all the wonderful care from the nurses and vets it was such a shame. The vets were wonderful and let me rush over to say goodbye.
I think she must also have been one of the bravest piggys I have come across. Over her time at the vets she had over 30 injections. She never nipped or cried and was very friendly towards the nurses. So much so that I was told by several of the hospital team  that they had learnt more about guineas looking after her and her friend than they ever had. They had not appreciated what little characters they were and how friendly and tame they could be.
One of my lasting memories of her in hospital was when I was talking to the vet nurse, I had left a Tesco plastic bag of goodies by the cage (at floor level) as I was talking we spotted her grabbing the bag with her teeth and pulling, with all her might, to smuggle the bag (goodies and all) into the cage to share with her friend….this was her all over!
Her last passing gift to me was when I held her the last time she was well, I had a new coat on as I had come from work to visit her. She nibbled a hole in the collar and then pee’d on it! I will never wash that coat now 
Molly, you were an incredible inspiration and coped in the face of adversity with all those injections which must have hurt. You were the most lovable, friendly, beautiful guinea with so much character and you have broken my heart leaving me. We will miss you more than I can ever say…I hope one day I will stop crying and remember the good times. You will never be far from my heart, please come and visit us in spirit as much as possible as you have left a vast hole.
Sleep well my beautiful angel xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What Molly has made me realise that they are worth fighting for. Its worth taking the time to explore all options and work with your vet. Molly was incredibly unlucky to get that second stone, the infection had gone and she was happy and well loved at the vets. It will always depend on the individual piggy but I don’t regret giving her the chance and I am pretty sure from the way she fought, she did’nt mind either and just saw it as another big adventure J
Thanks for sharing, Jackie and thanks for giving Molly a lovely home.
Molly's Mum
January 25, 2012
Posted in: One Is Not Enough, Planet Guinea, Rescue, The Pig Issue 
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Bed O’ Linum
Bed O’ Linum
Criteria:
- Animal Welfare Act minimum size cage, 4 foot by 2 foot, used to make the trial realistic. Guineas will always differ in “output” though!
- 2 guinea pigs
- Enough bedding to cover the newspaper but NOT deep, (Deep bedding can easily hide injury to limbs/walking abnormally).
- Bedding removed and replaced as opposed to added to, this is known as “deep littering” and is not advisable due to fumes building up, plus encouraging spores and bacteria to grow/spread).
- How absorbent in comparison to other beddings?
- How compostable in comparison to other beddings?
- How financially economical in comparison to other beddings? Cost is important once safety is established!
Bed O’ Linum is the pet pack version of Flax bedding. Flax is a bedding used for horses and comes in large bales. The Bed O’ Linum is more suited to Humans that only have a few guineas and are unable to store the large bales sold for horses.
When choosing bedding it is the guinea pigs that are paramount, the bedding must not be solely chosen because it suits the Human. Guineas naturally like to forage, Bed O’Linum allows for this, beddings must be, of course, comfortable, Bed O’Linum is comfortable though not snug but putting hay under houses/in the bedding area or just random piles addresses this.
Bed O’Linum is very absorbent and lasts easily until the next complete change of bedding. All guinea pigs are different but Bed O’ Linum that is wet should be removed and replaced daily (ie replace one handful of wet with one of dry). There are often patches that will be wetter than others eg under houses.
Depending on the depth of bedding you give one 35 litre bag will do approximately 4 changes of bedding where the cage is a 4 foot by 2 foot and houses 2 guinea pigs.
Bed O’ Linum is a lot less bulky than Aubiose ( a similar bedding) and will rot down in 6-8 weeks making it environmentally friendly and therefore more appealing to gardeners who are looking for manure for their compost heap. The Bed O’Linum is spread onto of newspaper throughout the 4 foot by two foot cage making a pleasant walking surface and an absorbant base under houses that are filled with hay
Financially Bed O’Linum is more expensive than buying a bale of Flax for equines but makes a useful and reasonably long lasting package for those that are unable to store large bales.
www.thehayexperts.co.uk (currently not in stock, 8/1/2012)
January 8, 2012
Posted in: Bedding No Comments
One Is Not Enough…
For the first time ever Guinea Pig Welfare is going to have a “theme” for 2012. It will be “One Is Not Enough” to highlight the need for guineas to have compatible company of their own choosing. Over the 10+ years of doing rescue socialisation/company has always been prominent. I have never rehomed a guinea pig to live on its own, neither have I condemned any in advice I give to a solitary life. I am certain that all guineas, when all their needs have been met- i.e. behavioural, situation issues etc, will be able to be sociable. If they are in a good place with no issues and are not happy with guinea pig friends then they haven’t met the right guinea or maybe there is an underlying behavioural problem which needs addressing. Behavioural issues can go far back in a guinea’s life. One boar I took in had been rescued from a flood where his brother had been killed, the lovely Human that took him in tried her best to socialise him, she gave him a large choice but eventually he arrived here and coincidentally I was helping an Animal Aromatics student with case histories, Mr. Red became a candidate, some of his hair was taken as a specimen and his oils were chosen. To cut a long story short he found friendship after his course with the first boar he was introduced to, later, when that boar was rehomed, he was castrated and lived with sowfriends.
The intention this year is to illustrate this need (an Animal Welfare Act requirement) by example, using the stories of the Guests that have been on Planet Guinea, this will be their contribution to Pigdom
Boarfriends. Castration doesn't alter behaviour significantly enough to guarantee friendship.
Sowfriends. Guineas are highly sociable animals.
January 1, 2012
Posted in: Miscellaneous, One Is Not Enough No Comments
Just Another Year?
That was 2011! Just another year, or was it? For me the highs were our seventh Piggy PM held at Active Vetcare with the support, as always, of The Hay Experts, Gorgeous Guineas and the band of enthusiastic volunteers. 2011 also saw the second Guinea Pig Welfare Wheek which reached a larger number of guineas than the first one did, thanks to Jenny Towers of Active Vetcare Tilehurst for her continued support with all things guinea pig, also to Gorgeous Guineas and Supreme for supplying useful goodies for the Goody Bags that were handed out.
The low point of the year was the closing of Reading Guinea Pig Rescue in September; no regrets, just that “end of an era” feeling. Herby and Blossom (both now rehomed) were the RGPR final intakes, Herby had been a guest here previously and was adopted to live with Goldie, his Humans were devastated, although prepared for the eventuality, when they had to move abroad and could not take Herby and Blossom. They knew, providing they just had the 2, that I would take Herby and Blossom back to rehome them should the need arise. I am sure that had circumstances been different they would have had more than 2 guineas! RGPR helped guineas find good homes for 10 and a half years, every home was checked and when the Animal Welfare Act was passed that was observed and quoted as “minimum requirements”, every guinea pig also went with the promise that should, at any time, they find themselves without a Human again they can return. This didn’t happen often but I was always pleased that Humans felt happy that their little charges would find very good homes. After all, they were best placed to know the hoops you have to jump through to get a RGPR guinea, seeing it from the other side of the coin simply confirmed that minimum Animal Welfare Act standards are the very basics one should be rehoming to. The hardest part of all of this was turning away guineas (I will still take back any I have rehomed and have kept the facilities should the need arise). I had anticipated this! Despite being sure about closing the rescue I wanted to continue to be involved, and so Guinea Pigs United was tentatively born, it will take its own direction, there is a need for its presence as a means of communication between Humans if nothing else. “I see you have set up a dating agency for guinea pigs! Fab idea!” A comment from a devoted Human that has been adopting guinea pigs from me for a few years now, he and his girlfriend were thrown in at the deep end when they adopted Goldie, a Satin, who later developed Osteodystrophy; they had, of course, been warned that this was a possibility and if it did develop what they would need to do. Poor Goldie had been living with a rabbit previously and was fortunate to spend his last years in a Cavy Cage inside the house.
Guinea Pigs United is proving more useful for those looking for guinea pigs than those needing to rehome. Questions that can be asked when getting a guinea pig or when finding a home for one have been put up in the hope they will be of use. A few have been rehomed this year but often it is lone boars looking for a new home and the choice of their new friend cannot be widened until someone pays for a castration or someone willing to take him to choose a friend comes along.
A Happy New Year to everyone, wishing you the best to you and yours.
Herby n Blossom
Herby
Blossom
December 31, 2011
Posted in: Miscellaneous, Planet Guinea, Rescue No Comments
Guinea Pig Welfare Week 2011
Active VetCare Tilehurst held their second Guinea Pig Welfare Week starting 7 November 2011. In 2010 Karen tentatively decided to give the week a go based on the format used by Rabbit Welfare. As it was the first time there was no real pressure, if the guinea pig community wanted it it would be up to them to take part. After a more successful first Guinea Pig Welfare Week than the 2010 Rabbit Welfare week (at Tilehurst surgery), it would have been, perhaps, foolish not to organise a second one!
Gorgeous Guineas and Supreme once again provided useful items for the goody bags: some kind yet effective shampoo from Gorgeous Guineas and Science Selective food from Supreme as well as some of their informative literature. Guinea Pig Welfare added other useful literature.
In total 30 guinea pigs were given a free health check; there were a few fungal skins and one skin problem that needed a follow up appointment. All teeth were ok, as Jenny Towers can do conscious dentals any dental patients would have been in good hands. Jenny was kind enough to allow Guinea Pig Welfare to put up a large display which stayed up for the month, not just during Welfare Week!
Nothing has been discussed yet but we look forward to a 2012 Guinea Pig Welfare Week and there have been mutterings of other surgeries doing the same on a similar format. That is down to the guinea pig enthusiasts of the guinea pig community to organise but Guinea Pig Welfare have been happy to share information etc with interested parties. Many thanks to those who took part in this year’s event, without you it won’t happen, you are important to the guinea pig community and in promoting good veterinary/healthcare for guinea pigs
December 5, 2011
Posted in: Health No Comments
Blowing One’s Own Trumpet…
There is no point in blowing your own trumpet if no one is listening but if they are then… Many thanks for every one’s Emails etc over the years, but this one in particular summed up everything I stand for and want to represent: Some Northern guineas have the good fortune to belong to a Human that only wants the very best she can do for her guineas and thanks to her persistence at searching for info she has helped them enormously and also the guinea pig community in Leeds! I am not sure I will be too popular with a certain James Brooks for promoting him and his knowledge of guinea pigs but hey, I am not in this for the popularity! It will help local guineas and that’s what matters.
When I started rescue my whole mission was to promote good basic care and share information. This was made easier when Chrissie of Gorgeous Guineas started my rescue website and later handed it over to me. However, working in education has taught me about attention to detail, children are the first to spot any inconsistencies! Therefore everything was written down, copyrighted and retained, most of it available to all on the internet.
I had the good fortune of meeting Chrissie who is like minded particularly when it comes to vets and sharing info, neither of us have any desire to do the vet’s job, we wish to promote good veterinary care because it is the only legal way a guinea pig can be treated save for exceptional circumstances. Chrissie and I and latterly Jenny Towers (current clinical director at Tilehurst Active Vetcare), recorded our learning journey with vets we have worked with so that others could hopefully benefit. The CCT were kind enough to print the first articles in the BAR magazine and Gina, tutor and lecturer, travelled to Reading to give the group of practices some pointers on the specifics of guinea pigs (but thats another story!).
Our “Northern Human” remembered seeing about vets in her Gorgeous Guineas Email and on finding said email discovered that James Had moved “up North”, a little detective work later revealed that she had actually seen him for a post op check with a guinea! In short she approached him and asked if he was the one and same James Brooks that once worked as a vet in Reading and was told yes! James is not the exotics specialist at his new surgery but then Jenny Towers isn’t the exotics specialist at the Active Vetcare group…
So, I am glad I have chosen to to share, I am glad I have Chrissie Slade who is like minded, and I am especially glad that I have promoted veterinary care and when Emily was given a wrong dose of Baytril I didn’t stamp my feet and run to Peter Gurney (my then rodentologist), I chose to improve vetcare in Tilehurst by asking Gina to come down, with James’ permission, and talk guinea pigs to our local vets; the rest as they say is history and I have 3 guinea pig competent vets at the top of the road and another who has moved to another practice in Berkshire. Blowing my own trumpet because I think I can!
Karen, BIG thanks to “Northern Human” for sharing, it’s what helps the guinea pig world go around
James Brooks’ current practice
November 3, 2011
Posted in: Health, Rescue No Comments
Lily…
On 17 August Lovely Lily went to be a star on Planet Guinea, or maybe on Planet Lily, who knows, she spent most of her time in her own little universe so is probably in a sub-universe of her own now She’s the white one, dusty in parts, doing her own thing and occasionaly bumping into the other Stars, much to their disgust.
Lily arrived here because she was deemed unsuitable to sell as a pet shop pig and was due to be returned to her wholesaler 
A wonderful Human rescued her and she found her way here and was, I thought, going to be quite a learning curve. Lily had a dentition all of her own, met first by her 3 Incisors on going further into her mouth you were met with Lily Landscape of teeth some of which would just fall out at any given time for seemingly no reason… Lily was also obviously blind, her eyes were very small, almost non existent, as well as this she was deaf, watching her sit by the open window in a recent thunderstorm when all the others were huddled over the far side of the pen (other side of shed!) brought a smile to my face, Lily was nasal gazing out of the window probably enjoying the smell of the rain Similarly sudden noises were no problem, unless the others were nearby and ran, sometimes she would join them and try to follow suit Lily lived here for 21 months, she was about 2 1/2 when she left us, no age at all, quality not quantity.
Lily lived with her 8 friends, 7 sows and a castrated boar, after about 3 months of feeding her grated food separately from the others and soaking her pellets I decided to see how she could fare without the extra attention- I caught her biting into a piece of carrot, something I didn’t think she could do! So I left her teeth, didn’t file or trim them and monitored her eating closely. She preferred the high energy foodstuffs such as carrots, sweetcorn, apple and dry food (mix or pellets); no hay to speak of maybe some Just Grass but loved fresh grass! Lily was even able to graze grass, after a fashion. It has been very noticeable since her depature that the dry food dish ( a flat one that she would eventually end up sitting in) has gone down a lot less, for the last 2 days it has hardly been touched whereas once lLily had eaten her fill of fresh food she would move to the dry food dish and sit and eat before choosing a place to sleep. Although Lily seemed to be quite a distant guinea when it came to mixing with the others Emi and Sienna were her eye washers and would frequently steal her food, Lily was treated as any other guinea pig, no allowances made.
Lily came to 2 Piggy PMs and stole the show for sure at the last one, as well as Chrissie’s, of Gorgeous Guineas, banana. Lily had a very good sense of smell and her nasal gazing went into action as soon as the airwaves carrying banana reached her little nose! She trialled the new Recovery Plus that was kindly donated to the Piggy PM by Supreme, favouring it to another well known brand, possibly and probably because of the higher Protein content. Supreme kindly sent her some sachets afterwards and she would “put away” almost a complete sachet at one sitting first thing in the morning Lily enjoyed Supreme Science Selective which has a hole in the centre unfortunately and got caught around her single Incisor so she needed watching while eating that as unfortunately every nugget got caught.
- Lily 2010
Lily took me on a learning curve so high it would’ve been scary to look down, she taught me that for her, natural occlusion was right and acceptable. Her teeth looked a mess but she was able to eat normally and live her own little life, not being syringe fed or having dental work done too often (though her teeth needed monitoring for overgrowth or curving inwards). The others reaction to her said that Lily was just different and not disabled, she could do more than manage she could her little life to the full with them and be treated as the others were. Seeing corn on the cob and bananas will always remind me of Lily, I need to get used to not waking her from deep slumber up in the mornings by tapping her Fiddlestix only for her to go crazy and make that silent wheek where it’s all effort and not sound Not seeing her with her back to me looking through the opposite wall of the pen because she can sense the others excitement but isn’t quite sure where its at
Karen, missing the wonderful whiteness that was Lily
August 19, 2011
Posted in: Piggy PMs, Planet Guinea, The Pig Issue No Comments
Rowatinex
A recent enquiry has led me to seek further information on a prescription only product called ROWATINEX. The product has been recommended by sources to dissolve bladderstones and thus the guinea pig will not need an op!!!!! This is not an option! Bladderstones need removing or pushing back in the bladder, possibly with pain management, if an operation is not an option.
One of the guinea pigs concerned was an eight year old sow, her human was advised to use ROWATINEX instead of putting her through an operation (this was NOT veterinary advice, ). The human sought a second opinion, worried that should the product not work time will have passed and the situation have got worse. Veterinary advice from the exotic centre at Swindon was that they would go ahead and perform an op despite the sow now having a respiratory infection- things had escalated to a do or die situation. The local vet agreed to perform the operation (as always with the consent of the owner), though was not happy that treatment had been delayed and the sow’s condition worsened by an inaccurate and irresponsible source.
The 8 year old sow came through the operation with no complications and is now living happily with all her friends and a Human that is so much wiser now!
For those interested here is some information that Chrissie at Gorgeous Guineas was able to provide me with:
If you look at the ingredients for Rowatinex they are rather scary: Pinene, Camphene, Cineol, Fenchone, Borneol and Anethol. These are all chemical constituents of essential oils and here in the UK, essential oils would never be prescribed for internal use. This is only done for humans in France by doctors that are also trained in Clinical Aromatherapy. Pinene and Camphene are strong irritants for skin and mucous membranes, especially when they oxidise and Cineol is neurotoxic, hepatotoxic and a respiratory irritant. Why do people think that it is acceptable to use products like this on guinea pigs when they designed for humans, and obviously haven’t investigated properly in terms of what goes into them?
Chrissie has recently done a “scientific based” course regarding essential oils hence being my first port of call. I agree with Chrissie when she talks about human products being used on animals, yes they have probably been tested on guineas but for use on Humans!!! One day the penny might drop Obtaining Rowatinex by importing without a prescription is illegal and that goes for online buying as well, it is a prescription only drug…
In the meantime Guinea Pig Welfare supports only guinea pig friendly people such as Gorgeous Guineas and The Hay Experts who both refuse to stock or sell anything that is not guinea pig friendly. Please remember you have a legal obligation to seek veterinary advice if you suspect your guinea pig is ill. Find a good vet and surgeon before you need one.
Phoebe Gorgeous, my Piggy Power
August 14, 2011
Tags: bladderstones, Gorgeous Guineas, Health, Rowatinex, veterinary care Posted in: Health No Comments