[Gpdd] Rufie and glycerine

[warmbreath at comcast.net]

Dear Ellen,  Dont worry about long email, I am here for you 

First about the bun, can you switch her to timothy hay pellets from alfalfa? Or there are some that are half and half, this move will cut allot of calories and calcium without cutting down how many times she gets to chew.  Buns tummies are much more touchy than piggies and get stasis more easily. Of course if she isn't eating alfalfa pellets this suggestions wont help, but for buns it is very imperative to hold their svelte figures. I was so pleased to hear she is a house bun, that is very important for buns cause they are more intelligent than piggies (pretend I never said that) and need the stimulation as well as exercise. Also with buns it's more important to make a dietary switch more carefully, at least mix half and half till she is used to new pellets and every new veggie should be a thumbnails worth at a time.  The gas -x should just say simethecone as the active ingredient, it works great. There is as far as I know some controversy about whether Reglan and Cisapride (and there is a third drug in this class I cant remember), about side effects and also about tapering off slowly if you do have to use them. The point is do not use them without a thorough discussion with the good vet)    Also diet wise be sure that 95% of her veggies  are the very low calorie leafy green type. Carrots, fruits, raisins, sweetened cranberries should be given one at a time, and a tiny nubbin of banana, orange, and carrot is all she should get.  Use the raisin or cranberry as the treat to train her to come to her cage, she only gets it there.

I am also pleased to hear you have tried to have tried the professional route to solve the problem with your vet, it is still possible that you may have to ambush her if the front office intercepts the mail, but I do recommend ambushing if you have to, this would involve either talking to the partner or even meeting up as she comes in or leaves for the day. A great vet is too precious for a pushy clerk to ruin either your chances with her or her chances at a successful practice. Its fine to say you may have been overwrought at the time as  front office and techs deal with a dozen of those pet parents every day, but its still in their job description to handle these people, not punish them, and without you the vet may ever know.  If you go through all this and it doesn't work then the handwriting is on the wall.

I change Sammy twice a wheek, but his cage isn't as large as I would like. May I suggest a compromise use one corner of the cage with towel for them to lay on or in their pigloo. Thick newspapers for the rest of the cage, then a med to thin  layer of Carefresh (alternative is what I use) then a large pile of hay at one end. The way you do your laundry is very sound, might try putting a big piece of cut linoleum under the cages in their room, the bigger the better so as not to have the condo destroyed. 

The boar who drinks 12 oz and so fouls his cage should be discussed with a vet, he may have diabetes or something else. That is way off normal. If he does have diabetes before drugs try a strict timothy hay and pellet diet with romaine, no sweet fruits or veggies. Diabetes is common in gp pigs, you can get dip sticks from a pharmacist, he may have them behind the counter and do the tests at home before you get to the vet so as to save some money, put him on the diet as soon as you test him and do it soon, this could ruin his kidney.  Its hard to treat gp's with drugs for diabetes as their blood sugar bounces up and down like a yo-yo 

I dont believe lady pigs have heat or periods, I would think at their age they are very young to have stones. Separating them to find out who is a good idea, put them right next to each other though.   See if she recommends and has access to ultra sound rather than x-rays, sometimes a private company has portable ultrasound they bring around to the vets offices. At this early age I hate to see them getting irradiated. Cancer  is common in female reproductive organs but not nearly as common as buns but starting x-rays this early doesn't help matters, but if you have to. Did you see the suggestion this week about putting the pig in a tight shoebox for x-ray, there are many ways to x-ray a pig without anesthesia, which should be avoided.

I consider my vet a whiz at surgery, i wish he was my surgeon but none of my pigs have lived long after surgery, not from his failure, I made mistakes in the aftercare, I think I could have been better instructed, and they are at risk for a couple months after, but I have never had tooth or stone surgery as is most common. 1 spay, and 1 abscess, it was the spay that turned into the chewing incident.  Most of my piggies died with no notice and without a long illness or anything like that. One had hormone disease, Manny had pneumonia. Some died of water bottle mistakes which is why I campaign to have 2 bottles in every pigs cage  I think the reason your message to the list got rejected is because their program will automatically reject any old messages that are attached at the bottom, it will only accept your fresh new message.  If that doesn't sound right to what the message said I will help you contact the moderators.  Let me know if you have any more issues, I will do my best  love Sandy and Sammy