[Gpdd] Health: Blossom update

corrine sakumoto oreochockc at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 26 03:21:18 EDT 2009


Hello everyone and everypig!  We haven't been able to find many vets who will see guinea pigs.  The only one we found is very nice but not very knowledgable.  Not sure how to explain this but we live on an 'avenue' that is several miles long.  We live on one end and we found that on the same street, several miles away though, right at the other end of this long 'avenue' is a vet who will see guinea pigs!  So Blossom was taken to this vet and he said outright that he doesn't know much about guinea pigs.  But he did know more than the vet we had been seeing.  Since Blossom and her daughter, Baby Truffles, are bonded, live in the same pen, we always bring them both.  I had bathed them both yesterday as it had been a warm sunny day.  Besides losing hair on both sides/flanks, I had recently noticed that I could see her neck a little easier.  It wasn't hairless nor bald, but getting just a tad thinner.  Well, the vet looked and combed the hairs and looked at
 it under the microscope, Michael did too, and there was a tiny bug.  The vet said it doesn't appear to be a mite, but something he many have seen on cats.   They tried to identify it but couldn't.  To be safe, Blossom and Baby Truffles were given ivermectin shots.  He said he'll check with us in ten days and see if that helped in any way.  He felt Blossom's ovaries (the other vet didn't feel anything unusual, but we think she didn't know what she was 'feeling') and he said he feels something but it didn't feel like a cyst, that maybe he's just feeling an organ.  Whatever it was, Blossom was not happy, as she wheeked at the top of her lungs.  But it wasn't a 'pain' wheek, it was more of a 'what are you doing!!!!!!' wheek.  At this point I'm somewhat worried, but he said the first thing is to treat/rule out mites.  One thought we had is that if she does have mites, it could be the 'stress' of an underlying problem.  I had noticed she'd been scratching
 lately, but not overly so.

Now, if it's not mites, I'm worried as to what it is and where it came from.  As I mentioned, I did bathe them yesterday, then after returning from the vet's today, we thoroughly cleaned out their pen.

Just waiting to see if that's what it is, or if there is an underlying problem.  I was worried that Blossom usually felt very warm, and even her ears were red and hot, but now she seems more 'normal.'

Thanks for everyone's input and caring thoughts.  They really do help!!!

Many thanks,

Corrine and Michael and Blossom and Baby Truffles



      




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