Tag: guinea pig health

Lots of funny things going on

On By bertie bootsIn Happenings2 Comments

Hello, Bertie here.

Lots of funny things are going on at the moment.

Last week we were here all week and so was Mummy. Nobody came to do the floor, although someone came on Monday to measure it or something.

Then somebody else came and took away all the grass! Then he did lots of things where it had been and when he finished, there was lovely long grass all laid out in neat rows! We’re not allowed to eat it till after Easter, so Mummy says. What is Easter and when is it?

Mummy’s been very worried about something called avirous. She had to go to the shop to get enough food for her for five weeks, and for us for two weeks. She says that’s all the time the fresh veg will store for. But we have lots of pellets and hay, and she’s ordered hay to be delivered from a place called Hay Box, and we’d better like it, because it’s not cheap. Well, Mummy never gives us cheap food, only good quality things, so it must be good, don’t you think?

Neville likes hay

She’s also been busy painting the room we’re in, which she said she wasn’t going to do when we were in it because of the smell. It certainly does smell funny. Not very nice, but not bad. She said she had to do it before the furniture came, and that’s on Friday. But the floor isn’t finished, and Liam is coming today to work on it so it’s finished on Thursday. And Mummy’s going back to Norfolk without us on Tuesday to make sure all the furniture arrives on Friday.

I hope you understand all of this, because to me it makes no sense at all. Oh, and now she’s also worried because Uncle James is in Spain and he’s not allowed to leave.

Do you have all these complicated things going on in your life too? Or is it just Mummy?

More news next week.

love, Bertie xxx

V is for Vets, who are Very Nice

On By bertie bootsIn a to z challenge2 Comments

2019 A to Z badge
Blogging from A to Z

Bertie here!  I’m feeling fine now, thank you for your nice messages. I finished my medicine yesterday, but Mummy says I can still have some of Hugo’s Brew if I want it.

Today I’m doing letter V in our A to Z Challenge.  Not long to go now!  Kevin did V for Vets in 2017, too.  You can see what he said here.

I had to go and see the VET the week before last.  I had a horrid crackly breathing problem which Dr David said was pneumonia (Mummy spelled that out for me).

Dr David with a cat or a puppyHe held me tight and made a funny feeling in my back, which hurt a little, but only for a second. Mummy says it was an injection of the medicine she then gave me twice a day after that.  It doesn’t taste at all nice.  It’s called Enrocare, and it’s the replacement for Baytril, which tastes even worse, according to Mummy. I had it from a tube mixed with apple juice, which was okay till the apple ran out and the medicine was all that was left.  I had to take it for ages. And then I had Hugo’s Brew afterwards which taasted nice, once I got used to it.

We have nice Vets.  They are hugely knowledgeable people about all sorts of illness and problems for all sorts of animals.  Ours specialise in ‘exotic animals’ which includes guinea pigs.  Sometimes when Mummy goes to the vets she sees other things.  Cats and dogs and birds are the most usual.  Also rabbits, lizards, bearded dragons, snakes, and one day she met a penguin. Auntie Vikki met an emu there once! I’d be scared stiff to meet an emu.  And Mummy took a kestrel there, one that Uncle Michael had rescued. Dr Louise looked at it and kept it in their special place for birds until it recovered, then let it free where he’d found it.

When Mummy first took George there, it was quite small, just Dr Louise and Dr Sally and Uncle Stuart on Reception. There were the same consulting rooms and just one room for operations and xrays, and a bay for sick animals next to the staff kitchen.  Now they have a huge area behind the consulting rooms, with special rooms for xrays, scans and operations. Each set of animals has its own room to recover in, so one for dogs, one for cats, one for reptiles, one for guinea pigs and rabbits, and one for birds!  Mummy says they also have lots of vets working there, and there’s a picture of some of them and the nurses above on their tenth anniversary.

Dr Sally
Dr Sally and baby, with Dr David at the back

Roscoe saw Dr Helen in January; she put him on a diet! She’s now working in Cambridge, but Dr Sally is back at work after having a baby.  We like Dr Sally. We see her most often.  Dr David is very very nice, though.  I liked him, even if he did stick a needle in me. I’m feeling a lot better now.

So that’s V for Vets, and next week Roscoe has W.  I wonder what he’s going to do? Oh—I get X the week after. Any suggestions?

Love

Bertie  xxx

J for Joint Support #AtoZChallenge

On By KevinIn a to z challenge, Health6 Comments

img_3706Hi, Kevin here.  We’re into the second week of the A to Z Challenge, and in case you’re just visiting, I’m a six year old ginger and white guinea pig.  This blog was started by Fred and George, Mummy’s very first guinea pigs.  She writes books about them too.

Our A to Z Challenge theme is “Our Favourite Things”

jJ for Joint Support tabs

Here I am with an empty bottle of my Joint Support tabs.  They are like mini-haycakes specially formulated for elderly companion animals. Despite that, they are really yummy.

img_3713

Mummy’s been giving me one of these a day since I started being a little creaky in my joints.  I think it was after Colman moved on, and he was the first piggy to have them here.  It’s especially for something called Arthur-itis, which makes me feel a bit stiff.  When I take these, though, I feel really good, and I go up and down my ramp much more easily.  Actually I started finding it more difficult last year so Mummy put it on a box, which means I can go up onto the box and then the ramp is shallower.  And I still get my Joint Support tab after cuddle time each morning.

I wait for it when I get back in my run, and then stretch up to get it.  Mummy tried to get a photo of me standing up on my hind legs, but I sat down too quickly.  Even with the tabs I can’t do that for long these days.

Colman used to have his tab softened in some water for a few minutes before he ate it.  He used to do that with his pellets by himself – pellets, then water, then pellets, then water…  I thought he was silly, but after my front tooth broke last November (it grew back in a few days) Mummy started softening my tabs too.  they’re just as good – even more so, really, since they are easier to bite.

It says on the bottle

“Natural Science Joint Support is designed to support the joint health of your pet. Glucosamine supports cartilage health. Ginger root and turmeric support the body’s normal response to inflammation. Yucca is anti-oxidative and supports a normal anti-inflammatory in pets.”

I don’t know what it means, but after Colman started taking them, Mummy said maybe she should start taking them for her joints too.  The ones I have are for “Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Chinchillas and other small animals.”  I expect they do them for Mummies, too.

Kevin with Colman
Kevin (age 5) with Colman (age 7)

Tomorrow – the letter K.  Guess what that stands for!