[Gpdd] Health: a short medical history that might be helpful

[Cuttlefish Arts]

I promised myself to post this to help other gp "associates". I don't think
of myself as a slave, but as an "associate". (Common term for basic employee
in discount store = associate) I think the gps think of us with the same
attitude a monarch thinks of a cart attendant at a discount store, but with
slightly more contempt.  ;)

Winston suddenly lost his cage mate in May to an aneurysm. I went to my
excellent local gp shelter and found a new cage mate. Disaster! they didn't
get along at all, Fought like wild things, I tried everything, then had to
actually RETURN her to the shelter.

Meanwhile, Winston got an abscess on his bum. We licked it eventually, but
he was on and off antibiotics, and his appetite suffered. I got him eating,
but never as well as before. We went on a short trip, and left Winston to
board with the shelter lady, with the hope that she could hook him up with a
new friend while he was there. He got a great new friend, but was
frighteningly thin when we picked him up, not because of the
shelter/boarding; I think he was just weak and had not enough energy to
fight back in strange surroundings. We had no idea he was so debilitated
when we left, and were devastated.

To the vet. Our excellent vet found nothing organically wrong. He was barely
eating. But this vet moved fast and sure. She decided to buff him up with a
fluid IV loaded with vitamin B, and see what this did for him.   I guess
vitamin B stimulates the appetite, and it really helped.

He very soon started eating enthusiastically again, and is a big hungry pig
once more. He is happy with his friend (who is quite a gem herself) and
constantly voracious. It's really brilliant how well they have done.

I credit my vet, but ALSO I credit his new friend, Angela. I've decided that
the combination of antibiotics, AND isolation from other pigs can be deadly.
I have to believe that Winston's  stomach flora was finally renewed by
contact with another gp, and if he had remained alone he would have died.

Sorry about the long post, but I've been wanting to put this up for some
time. I think that the stomach is the single most important gp health
concern, and almost every time I've been faced with a gp who won't eat, they
die. This was really an amazing turn around.

Vic