[Gpdd] HEALTH: Old Age Pigsioners

[milton.the_bold at virgin.net]

Captain Noodle will be six on Friday.  I have had pigs before who have probably been this old, but Noodle will be the first one I have had from a very young age.In terms of genetics, his brother (not a twin but evidently a brother) died aged about three and a half, having gradually got thinner and thinner (we never found out what was wrong with him, he was quite happy all the way to the end).Noodle has always been lean, more interested in hay than in bowl food, and very active.  He has always been aggressive and excitable and, despite having had arthritis for the past three and a half years (!!) doesn't seem to realise that he will come off worse in a fight.  He chirps and has a habit of tossing his nose in the air, which everyone loves when they come to see him.He has not had many respiratory health problems.  His main health problems have been the occasional attack of mites, and the arthritis.  He used to be on metacam but I stopped this because he didn't seem particularly bothered by his stiffness.He has always slept a lot - after being out for a run he will literally keel over and curl up.  He sleeps deeply.  I have lost count of the number of times I have fed everyone in the morning and peered into his hutch for minutes at a time, waiting to see a sign that he is breathing, because he simply hasn't woken up while all the others are rioting.His current health problems include misaligned incisors, which have to be clipped.  He is missing one of his bottom incisors.  I have to grate or finely chop all his veggies.  Also his arthritis means he regularly falls over when running out in the playroom.  I have to be extremely careful when picking him up as he will try to leap off onto the floor.  I cover his head and put him down back-end first.  This also applies to putting him back into his hutch, as he will leap off and smack his head into his food bowl, the side of the hutch, etc.  He also has a bit of a snotty nose as he is finding it more difficult to wash himself properly nowadays.  I check him for impaction daily - this is a notorious problem for older boars - and sometimes there are a few stuck poos, but nothing worrying.Peter Gurney's pages suggest giving elderly guinea pigs a tablet called Potter's tabritis.  Noodle absolutely loathes this, so doesn't get it any more.  It is supposed to reduce aching joints etc.I have an instinct that a liking for hay (as opposed to bowl food) indicates that a pig may live a long life, as does a hyperactive nature (wanting to come out for a run all the time).  However both Wigwam and Big Rumble (Noodle's recently deceased friends) reached the age of 4.5 despite spending most of their lives eating, being completely placid and exercising only when Noodle was chasing them around.  I have found no difference between "loners" and "pairs", although all my pigs interact through their hutches anyway.All my pets have been indoor pigs although my former petsitters in Oxfordshire had two female pigs who lived to be eight or nine, and were outdoors all the time until they got old.Hope this adds to the "pigsioner" databaseMilton and the Lads