[Gpdd] MISC: Tabitha; the mysterious saga continues

[jaaladog]

OK gang, I have been sitting here today, trying to figure out exactly how to 
put all this into words and I figure the best way is just to start at the 
middle.  :))

We rounded up Tabitha and Samantha yesterday, amidst much scrabbling and 
protesting, to take them to see the vet about the mites and Tabitha's little 
situation...  First of all, the vet was wonderful!  More than I could have 
hoped for.  I was supposed to see Mimi Sheperd but she was in surgery with 
another furry friend so we saw her partner, Dr. Hutchinson instead. 
Initially, I was disappointed but after meeting him, I instantly felt 
relaxed and in excellent hands.  The entire staff were warm and welcoming 
and truly seemed to have a great manner with the babies, even my guide dog 
Penny.  This vet sees only birds and small animals and has a special place 
for guinea pigs in their hearts.  The first thing he did was to take a look 
at Tabitha, after I told him the whole grisly story, and took her/him off to 
be weighed and checked out.  He found the whole story very funny and was 
laughing at Tabitha the whole time I was relaying it to him.  He was holding 
her/him and was constantly making soothing sounds and just really impressing 
me with his excellent manner.  After examining her, he told me that he 
thought she was, after all, a girl!  Whew!!  I was still not so sure as I 
told him about her repeated attempts to mount Samantha, so he took another 
look.  Then, he had both techs come in and look too.  I sort of felt sorry 
for Tabitha at this point, because I know how much I hate going to the 
gynecologist!   All concerned seemed to agree that Tabitha is indeed a 
little girl.  Thank God!!  But, the concern/disbelief that was obvious on my 
face made him laugh again and he assured me that he was 90% sure but that if 
he was wrong, and any babies are born as a result of his misdiagnosing her, 
he would find good homes for them and that was a promise.  Okey dokey then. 
He said  it would be OK to let them go back together and be in the same area 
and cage again.  I know they were glad to hear that!  Then, more good 
news... he said that the sore on Tabitha's side from the chewing and 
scratching at the mites was not at all bad and that he had seen much, much 
worse.  He didn't think it was at all necessary to put anything on it and 
that too impressed me.  I mean, here I am, an anxious Mommy/slave and he 
could have taken me for a bundle and he didn't do it...  So, at that point, 
he went ahead and drew up the Ivermectin stuff that I had brought with me 
and mixed it with water and put it on both of the girls.  I thought that was 
nice of him to do since it was a bring your own medicine kind of deal. 
Then, we weighed them both and discovered that Tabitha is now 15.2 ounces 
(0.43 kg)and Samantha is 14.9 ounces (0.42 kg).  So, Tabitha is gaining on 
and passing in weight on little Sam.  He did tell me that they are small and 
he thinks they are still very young, like around 3 months, which is why he 
couldn't be 100% sure of the sex.  Then, he took a hair culture from the 
sore spot on Tabitha, just to make sure that it is not ringworms.  He told 
me to just do what I have been doing up until now and he will let me know in 
the next 10 days, before it is time for the next Ivermectin treatment, 
whether the culture shows anything or not.  If it does, at that point, he is 
going to of course change the treatment plan.

After all that, the bill only came to $93.  I was thrilled.  Having read how 
much some vets charge for the care of these guys, I was expecting much 
worse.  He only charges $165 for spaying and $125 for neutering.  The lady 
at the front desk told me she had had both of her bores done and was 
extremely happy with the care and the expertise that was shown to her pigs. 
He did tell me that all that rumblestrutting going on was probably exactly 
what my first hope was, that it was strictly showing a dominance thing.  I 
have not heard it but once today so I'm hoping like heck he's right

As for Earl's thinking it was a male, I can only guess one of two things... 
Either Earl is having a moment of wishful thinking since we have all females 
in this house and he was hoping to have a male bonding moment  or something 
like that, or...
Tabitha is pulling a now you see it, now you don't magic trick... LOL 
Either way, she has something she would like to say...

I promis, on my onner, to never, ever trick Mommy Lyn and make her turn all 
red and her hair stand up like that again... even if it was really, really 
funny to watch her wen she acts like that and jumps around a lot.
Samantha Williams

I'll  let you know if there are any further developments... In the meantime, 
I am totally exhausted.  These guys had me worried to death... Sheesh!


Wheeks, winks and hugs to all,
Lynn