Little Pig, Little Mamala

Hey Guys,

I wish I had happier news to report to you guys tonight, but alas that is not the case. Mama Pig passed away around 7:45 this morning after a brief battle with an Upper Respiratory Infection. I did everything I possibly could to keep her going, but ultimately she was beyond help. I was able to give her pain medications so she was insanely happy and peaceful when she died.

After we obtained Nellie & Emma we weren't sure if we should go back for their mother and sister. A few months later we were in the pet store, visiting the mother and sister. I walked by the cage, the piggies stayed the hell away from me. My grandmother walked by the cage, and miss Mama Pig ran over and started pouting with her "Patti Lupone" lips... and the rest is history.

Mama Pig was quite the diva. She loved being brushed, bathed, any spa treatment really. Anything except nail trimmings. She was an attention whore and enjoyed being called pretty. She would only eat her pellets AFTER the special cranberry treats were applied. She'd hog all of the comfy beds, sleep near the hay so only she'd get the freshest hay, all sorts of diva behaviors. Hell, even last week if we didn't give Mama her special vitamins before we sat down for dinner she'd stare us down and start to gnaw at the cage for attention until she was fed. 

In spite of her diva attitude Mama was actually one of our kinder pigs. She never tried to kill any of the others (which is impressive knowing the others). She'd give her humans kisses and nuzzles all the time. If ever Mama was displeased with us she'd let us know by pooping in mass quantities. She will always be #1 at #2 in my house. 

Mama Pig was always close with her daughter Frida. She forgave Frida even when she'd use her face as a step ladder. Once they moved into the big cage with Nellie, Mama and Frida became fast friends. You'd frequently see them snuggling, and you know... not using faces as step ladders. 

Frida even got to have a goodbye snuggle with Mama last night (Mama wasn't contagious). Even though Mama was stoned out of her mind she recognized Frida and snuggled close to her. 

Mama Pig was roughly around five years old, possibly older. She was predeceased by her daughter Emma. She is survived by daughters Nellie and Frida, roommate Maggie, strange pig across the room Aggie, those giant furry things Angel and Helen, and of course her humans. All of whom miss her greatly. 

Rest in peace Mama Pig, mommy loves you so much and I'll never forget you <3

Crippie's Tippie - Have a supply of metacam in your house at all times. If your pig is beyond help at least they won't suffer.

The Waiting Game

Salutations,

Quick post tonight. I'm writing this from my sofa, where I'll be sleeping tonight so I can be sure that Mama Pig has a constant supply of food and water. While she seems to show signs of responsiveness to the meds she is very unwell. She is extremely lethargic and will not eat on her own, she is also not using the bathroom on her own. There's still hope that she'll pull through this, but at this point I don't think that will be the case. She's so incredibly frail and weak, it's definitely difficult to watch. I guess it's a waiting game at this point... maybe she'll start responding to the medication tomorrow.

In the meantime I gave her pain medicine to help her get comfy, so she is stoned off her ass and enjoying life. She's probably having awesome hallucinations about shiny things. She watched tonight's episode of "The Walking Dead" with me and my friend (off topic... but OMG AWESOME EPISODE).

Mama says "I would like some ninja vibes... and UNICORNS! I like unicorns, they're shiny. I like shiny things. Where am I? Who am I? What am I? WOW! YOUR AURA IS PURPLE!" Yeaaaaahhh... she's really stoned.

Crippie's Tippie - Use a small syringe to suction out a piggie's nose (seriously I'm proud of myself for figuring that one out)

Mama (Pig) Drama

Ohai Everybody

Yup, it's a piggie post today... all about our attention whore Mama Pig.

Mama Pig recently turned the big 5, meaning she is now officially a "senior pig" (average life span of a guinea pig is 5-7 years). She takes her vitamins daily and is usually very spritely and evil in spite of her age. She has recently taken to eating the cage as a subtle way of saying "ADMIRE MY BEAUTY... or feed me. Either or really".

FEED ME

FEED ME

FEED MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Well, today she wasn't like that, at all. I came home from work to find a limp lil' Mama sitting on my grandma's lap. She had been extremely lethargic and uninterested in food all day. My first thought was "oh crap Mama's dying". Upon closer inspection I found crust on her nose, slightly labored breath, weight loss, and a bit of a puffed coat. This means one thing and one thing alone, an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). My next thought was "If I don't get her to a vet she'll die".

The face of a sick little piggie :(

For those of you unfamiliar with URIs and piggies... they can kill a pig... very, very easily. If I did nothing about this Mama would probably be dead within the next 48 hours. Definitely be dead with 72.  Time is definitely an important factor when treating URIs. If you think your pig might have one (and it's pretty obvious when they do) GET THEIR LITTLE PIG ASSES TO THE VET ASAP!

Naturally it was later on the day when I found out about Mama, we called our local exotics vet about her hours. It was 5:50 and we found out her shift ends at 6:00 (CRAP) but luckily for us our vet is AMAZING and was willing to wait for Mama. So we rushed her to the vet. The vet totally agreed with my diagnoses of a URI. She had to give Mama some fluids via SubQs (they injected saline into a pocket in her skin to keep her hydrated, it buys time for the antibiotics to work). Mama was a very good girl for most of the visit, except for the whole "THE THERMOMETER GOES WHERE?!?!" thing. The vet said she wasn't running a fever nor was her breathing terrible, so hopefully we caught it in time *knocks on wood*.

Unfortunately Mama has to be on antibiotics again, I don't know if y'all remember the last time Mama was on antibiotics, but she got reaaaaaallllllyyyyyyyyyy sick from them. I mentioned this to the vet. She told me to keep Mama ridiculously hydrated. Let's hope it keeps her healthy.

Tomorrow I'm gonna start Mama on "Critical Care" feedings to make sure she's getting all of the nutrients she needs and then some.

So yeah... Mama requests ninja vibes.

Crippie's Tippie - VETS... TAKE YOUR PIGS TO THEM