December to March 2004

December 7th 2003

This is my very first entry in my guinea pig diary since putting together my new site. I hope you are enjoying your visit and come back to see us again soon.

Well the biggest news that has happened with my piggies recently is that both Jake and Squeekie were neutered on Thursday 23rd October 2003. Visit my neutering page to read about how they went on. On the 12th November, my boys were finally introduced to my girls. Jake went to live with Jasmine and Sweetpea and Squeekie went to live with Clover and Peachy. So happy to report that all my piggies have settled down and my girls are now happy to share their homes with my boys. I even managed to take some pictures of my 6 piggies together.

We'd like to wish our visitors a very happy Christmas and new year

January 12th 2004

On January 8th our bunny Fiver needed a tooth operation. Thankfully there was no complications with the actual operation. Fiver was having problems eating, two lower molars were causing him problems by hurting his tongue, poor little sweetheart. During this time I was hand feeding him. Now Fiver is eating his new Oxbow's Bunny Basics T pellets that are very high in fibre and his poops have vastly improved. He's also managing to eat carrots and a small amount of green vegetables. He's still not eating much hay, but fingers crossed the pellets and hard veggies will go some way to helping his teeth keep in shape, well done Fiver!

Also since starting my new site, a Piggy/Bun Palace is being built, you can read all about it here Piggy/Bun Palace

February 1st 2004

I'm so glad to say Fiver our bunny is still eating well. Also, our other bunny Thumper is on a little diet. I've just been cutting back a little on his pellets as he's getting a bit too plump. He still has his normal veggies and his meadow and Timothy hay, plus redigrass. Piggies Clover and Peachy have finally started using a water bottle, well done girls!! They must have wondered why Squeekie was always going to this funny looking thing with a spout. I'm still keeping their bowl in the cage so Peachy can dip her newspaper and empty toilet rolls in, as she loves to make sure they are wet before she nibbles on them.

February 10th 2004

Its a very special day today, my lovely Clover is 3 years old, "Happy Birthday little lady, you'll definatly be getting extra parsley and red bell peppers tonight with extra cuddles"

February 14th 2004

We have another birthday to celebrate today, sweet Jasmine is 3 years old! "Happy Birthday Jas, extra broccoli and an extra piece of tomato and apple ( your favourites ) will be coming your way, plus of course extra cuddles"

February 29th 2004

I'm so very sad to say that our wonderful cat Felix passed away on saturday February 21st. As you can imagine we are heartbroken. I'm trying to think of him at Rainbow Bridge, playing and meeting up with our other angel pets. When I feel up to it, I will be doing a special page for my little man Felix. I'd like to thank everyone who has given me so much support, its meant such a lot. Thank you also to aL for drawing me three wonderful drawings of Felix which I will put on Felix's page and also to Merry for this wonderful animation, I'll really treasure them.

March 30th 2004

Hello everyone. Its been a very sad time these last few weeks. As some of you may know, our beautiful cat Felix sadly passed away in February. We miss him so much. Run free darling Felix over at rainbow bridge xx

Please visit Felix's page to see what a beautiful cat he was Felix

All my piggies have needed mite treatment this month, although it was mainly Jasmine and Clover that were affected, all my piggies needed to be treated. They had to go to the vets each week ( what a task taking 6 piggies to the vets! ) to have their Ivermectin injections over 3 weeks. Thankfully none of my piggies are itching and Jasmine's little bald patch is recovering nicely. Since this time I discovered that you can give guinea pigs Ivermectin orally, prescribed by your vet so no more painful injections in the future.

Also very recently, I noticed a hard lump on Jasmine. I thought it was a cyst, as it wasn't attached to muscle or bone, it was just under the skin. On my first vet visit, I was advised to leave it as it seemed like a possible cyst. A week later I decided to have a second opinion from another vet, the same vet that neutered Jake and Squeekie. The previous vet I hadn't seen before so I wasn't sure if he was extra knowledgeable about guinea pigs. I was going to ask my vet if he could aspirate it, great advice given by my friend Treen, but I didn't have to ask, my vet quickly reached for a tiny needle to aspirate the lump. Nothing came out, the lump was very solid. Many lumps on guinea pigs are harmless but it's always best to get them checked over. My vet suggested that it should be removed.

On the 25th March, Jasmine had an operation to remove it. Like with any anaesthetics on my animals, I was very worried. Thankfully Jasmine came through the operation just fine and was soon tucking into some nice grass when she arrived back home. However, the vet showed me the lump that he had removed, it turned out to be a tumour. So now it is being sent off for testing to see if its a harmless tumour. I'll update my diary as soon as I know the results.

At the moment Jasmine isn't with her cage mates Jake and Sweetpea just in case they might mess with her stitches. She is in the same room so she can hear them, hopefully in a few more days, Jasmine can live with Jake and Sweetpea again.