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  • The Ballad of Belle G. Pig

    The Ballad of Belle G. Pig

    Belle (f/5, going to be 6 next month) has some severe arthritis. Right now, she has extremely limited mobility in her back legs, along with some sort of grunty breathing. We went to see Dr. Fowell on Tuesday, who confirmed via X-ray that she has arthritis. As for the breathing, her lungs looked clear, so no respiratory issues. Dr. Fowell thinks it might have been caused by convulsions, from the pain. Along with the meloxicam (and anti-seizure/anti-convulsion meds), I’ve been doing warm water soaks (per vet) and rubbing her leg joints. She kind of flexes them a little and no longer does the loud breathing, as of Sunday.

    But because she can’t completely move around on her own, I’ve been having to move her around the cage, putting new hay piles in front of her and hold the water bottle in front of her (if she’s not near one) so she could drink.Despite that, you couldn’t tell she has bad arthritis. Her face still looks alert and perky as usual, and she still gets excited for vegs and her urinary & vitamin C supplements.

    And obviously, all of this didn’t happen overnight. Dr. Fowell thinks this was developing for a while now, but Belle was hiding it (as guinea pigs do). I remember her doing the grunty breathing last Thursday night, the night before I found that she having mobility issues.

    And something triggered the arthritis, like maybe something scared her. And at the time, I couldn’t think of what could’ve caused it, but after contemplating and going through previous messages to contacts, I remembered, Friday night when they were getting their dinner, a loud plane flew over our house. Belle screamed from her hidey and at the time, I thought the noise just scared her and that was it. But after all this happened, I think the noise triggered the arthritis, and she was screaming from the sudden pain?

    🤔

    Timeline of Events

    Apr. 22, 11:40pm — Noticed she had loud, grunty breathing. Thought she had something stuck in her throat and thought it would pass (based on what I read and my previous experience when hearing this sort of thing).
    [Actual probable explanation: Pain from the arthritis was making itself more known, but she was still trying to hide it.]

    Apr. 23, 8:31pm — Loud plane flew over our house and Belle screamed/wheeked from her hidey. They were also getting their dinner, so I couldn’t tell if the noise scared her or if she was telling me to hurry up with the food (it wasn’t a loud wheek, more like “wheeeeeeeee!”, which is how she normally wheeks, unlike most guinea pigs who go “wheee wheeee wheeee!”).
    [Actual probable explanation: The noise triggered somehow triggered the not-able-to-walk part of arthritis.]

    She ate her greens as usual (in her hidey—so at the time, I thought she was still freaked out by the noise).

    Apr. 23, 11:50(ish)pm — Noticed that she having seriously trouble moving on her hind legs. Had a huge thing of messy 💩 stuck to her bottom, usually means she hasn’t been eating hay (probably hasn’t been getting up).

    She did eat the hay I put in front of her though.

    Apr. 27, 2:00pm — X-rayed, diagnosed with severe arthritis. Prescribed meloxicam (for the pain) and Gabapentin (for the convulsions from the pain).

  • The Ballad of Butter’s Nose Battles

    The Ballad of Butter’s Nose Battles

    Written November 25, 2017

    Some call them “nose-offs”. I call them “nose battles”. It’s where guinea pigs living together might have a dispute and will try to solve it by raising their noses in the air, and the highest nose wins the battle.

    Butter has always been a fairly dominant pig, so nose battles were like one of his favorite ways of making sure everyone knew who was the boss pig. But that didn’t mean he always won his nose battles. :O (Luckily, he’s also a graceful loser, otherwise things could’ve been pretty bad.) There are a few of them that stuck out to me, and here they are:

    Attempt #1

    Soon after I introduced Bianca to the team, B^3 (Butter, Belle, Bianca) moved into their cage together for the first time as a trio. Both Butter and Belle spent a decent amount of time during intros making sure Bianca knew where her place was (at the bottom of the totem pole), but Butter wanted to be extra sure, so he went up to her to and initiated a nose battle (by swiping his nose upward at her nose). She didn’t get it and stared at him for a couple of seconds before finally raising her nose as well…and won. Butter walked away, disappointed. 😐

    (There have a been few other attempts by Butter, but Bianca won each time. Judging by how long it took her to raise her nose, I’m not sure she even knew what was going on.)

    Attempt #2

    This time, Butter was determined to win, so when he initiated another nose battle with Bianca, he waited for her to move her face. When she did, Butter was SOOOO EXCITED THAT HE RAISED HIS NOSE UPUPUP!!! INTOTHEAIR!!!!!!!! (As in, pointed STRAAAAIGHT up toward the ceiling at a 90 degree angle.) And waited a few seconds to give Bianca enough time to raise her nose as well. After what he thought was a sufficient amount of time, he looked back to Bianca to see if he won…only to find her looking straight at him in confusion.

    -______-;;; -Butter probably

    Butter pointing his nose at the camera
    Butter showing off his famous nose

    Attempt #3

    Butter initiated the nose battle as usual. This time, Bianca didn’t waste time raising her nose BUT OH GUESS WHAT? Butter won!! He was soo happy he popcorned*!!

    * Bunny people might recognize this as a binky.

    But What About Belle?

    So why doesn’t he ever challenge Belle to a nose battle. Well, uhhhhh…you see, he does actually, but she HAAATES nose battles and will just sit there and scream at him in whispery tones (it sounds like a screech almost), until he just gives up.

    Butter, The Mediator

    In a lot of cases, neutered males can act as the mediator between two girls bitching at each other. More often than not, Belle and Bianca will have some sort of dispute. One day, while this was happening as usual, Butter decided to take up his destiny as The Mediator Pig! (Being the sole neutered male in their cage.) Nose battles as we know are his favorite way of solving problems, so when he saw that Belle and Bianca were arguing over something, he happened to nearby (just a few inches away), and raised his nose, like “Oh ohh, I know! What about–?” But Belle just crabbed at him like “No, we’re not doing that!” Then he just walked away like “ohh .___.”

    (Butter recently, has been reduced from boss pig to henpecked husband, btw.)

    11.25.17

    As of writing this, I’ve had to move Bianca from their cage (16 square feet) to a much much smaller cage, following her spay. Her recheck is Monday, so I’m sure (hopefully) Butter will welcome her back with open arms, just so he can have someone to nose battle with again. He’s trying with Belle lately, and well….yeah.