[Gpdd] [ANNOUNCE] Ella And Kayla (and the story of why pet stores are bad!!!!)

Michelle Lazarus michelle.lazarus at jefferson.edu
Fri May 6 08:50:03 EDT 2005


To whom it may concern,
This is my first addition to the digest as I am a new member.
 
I, like many purchased two guinea pigs about a year ago from a pet store
(Ella and Sydney) and I, like many made a huge mistake by doing this.
This mistake was not in regards to caring for these adorable little
babies (they were only 6 months old).  My mistake was buying them as
opposed to adopting them.  It turned out that Ella had a horrible URI
and Sydney had epilepsy.  The pet store said they would pay for pet
visits . . .but we would have to go to their vet.  Me not being well
versed in gp info, assumed all vets would be the same . . . boy was I
wrong.  This vet gave my gps the worst penniciliin based med that was
possible.  Luckily, I took the time (after the vet visit) to look up gp
info and learned about the lethality of the drug.  We found a new vet,
got Ella on a new medication that curried her URI.  The only negative
result is that because Ella was so young when she was on the meds, her
growth is stunted (and she was already the runt of the littler) so she
is quite small.  And worst of all, my beloved Sydney ended up having
heart problems (that I didn’t pick up on until it was too late).  She
was the most amazing gp . . .everyone loved her.  Because of her
epilepsy, she had a permanent head tilt (we had her checked for a middle
ear infection, and htat was negative) and she was the most friendly,
calm gp.  I know we aren’t supposed to have favorites, but I really did
lover her.  So about 2 mo ago (she was just a year old) I noticed her
breathing heavy with her whole body . .. we took her to the vet, and
that is when we found out that she had a valve problem and was already
at the point of congestive heart failure.  I cried and cried, it was so
awful.  We did aggressive therapy with laskis . . . and that was when I
learned about all the wonderful gp resources there are.  Like cavies
cages and guinealynx forum.  The forum was especially helpful and the
people on it told me what meds syd should be on and such.  Sadly,
however, Syd was in the late stages and passed away withing 24 hours.  I
was devastated.  But the gp community really helped me out.  I think the
hardest part of all of it was that in addition to my pain and sadness,
Ella was severely depressed.  They were a bonded pair, Ella and Syd.
Ella is very much a follower, and would follow Syd EVERY where she went.
So I knew, that although I was in pain, I needed to find a new partner
for Ella quickly.  In the meantime, I spent lots of personal time with
Ella and we created a new found bond too.  
So, here I am in the present.  . . I have adopted a new HUGE female gp.
Her name is Kayla.  She is a healthy adoptee who likes to lick your
hand.  She, however is a VERY dominant female, and at first she
terrorized Ella, but slowly after bathing together a few times, they are
now at least tolerate each other.  So if any one has any more advice on
how to help gp get along, it would be much appreciated!
I think the most important lesson from my story is that pet stores are
so terrible for selling gp for more then one reason.  First off, they
tend to sell gp who have not been vet checked and carry illnesses.
Also, they provide you with sooooo much misinformation about how to care
for your new gp.  They sent us home with a cage that was WAY too small,
food that had seeds that gps can choke on and contained no vitamin C,
and a water bottle that was way too small.  Pet stores also don’t stress
how much time and effort needs to go into taking care of your pet, and
that money will be spent on vet checks and such.  
Now, though, my fiancé and I have two wonderful gps who live in a nice
huge cavie cage (built with our own hands) and I spoil them by using
carefresh.  I have found that carefresh is the best for absorbing odors.
Also, Ella has a thing for eating paper, so I feel safer with pretreated
carefresh.  Now we are so addicted to the wonderful gps, that our veggie
garden is filled with gp safe food :-)  So we can grow our own!
Well, thank you for your time, and for putting together this forum.  I
think it is essential to have info so easily accessible and to build a
community.  I would not have gotten through Syd’s death without it!
-
ml



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