Furry Little Beast in East Ipswich | Pet service

Furry Little Beast

Locality: East Ipswich

Address: . 4305 East Ipswich, QLD, Australia

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25.01.2022 Puff had her surgery on Wednesday to wire her fractured jaw together. Dr Josh drilled a small nick on the outside of both her lower incisors to stop the wire from slipping out of place, then covered the wire with some fancy glue-like substance that hardens when exposed to concentrated UV light, to stop it from rubbing on the inside of Puff's lip. Her recovery on Wednesday was rough (surgery whilst dealing with the miscarriage of her babies!), and I wasn't sure whether she wanted to continue to fight, but she's definitely feeling better yesterday and today. She's still not able to eat very well by herself, but she gives it a good go! Today we are having a Critical Care party (her) on the couch between naps (me).

24.01.2022 It was a brisk 2C in Ipswich this morning! Jersey and Honey decided snuggling in the hay with a friend was the best thing to keep the chill away! My other piggies have an oil heater in their room to help keep them extra toasty

23.01.2022 Puff'n'Stuff made a friend today! Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I was woken by some uncharacteristic squeaking from the pig room. I jumped out of bed to see what the drama was, to find Roxy in the middle of her cage by herself, looking mildly distressed. After a quick check, I determined that she was painful in her abdomen, and had a full bladder. When I expressed some urine (with great difficulty!), I could see that there was a lot of sediment present. So today... I spent my day off with 3 animals at the vets. The initial reason for going was to take x-rays and bloods from Bird, my boyfriend's ancient cockatiel, and Puff was just coming along for the ride, but the more the merrier, right?! Puff ended up having her abscess wound flushed, a dental check and subcutaneous fluids administered because she still isn't eating 100% by herself. She may require a dental procedure in the next month... Roxy had a urine test done, an x-ray to make sure she didn't have any bladder stones (she doesn't!), pain relief, and subcutaneous fluids to help her produce more urine to flush out the sediment in her bladder. She will require fluids for the next few days, so she'll be joining me at work this week too.

22.01.2022 Today is World Redhead Day (or so I'm told!) While I do have one human redhead in my life to celebrate, this is a piggie page, so you get photos of my favourite four-legged gingers, Penny and Nacho! Penny has been in my life since she was about 12 weeks old, and is now nearing 8 years of age, while Nacho has been loved by me for about 3 years. ... #worldredheadday

22.01.2022 "Thanks for cleaning our house, Mum! We know it's sometimes really hard to get the energy and time to do it, but we appreciate it so much!" Ham and Nacho probably don't appreciate my loose interpretation of their wheeks, but it makes me feel better! #mondaymotivation

21.01.2022 It's gotta be so hard to eat your favourite snacks with a sore broken tooth, but Puff is smashing it!

16.01.2022 Two years since I lost this handsome boy

16.01.2022 "Did someone say treats?!"

13.01.2022 Probably creeped out the driver of this car by taking a sneaky pic of their bumper sticker, but after 10 minutes at the supermarket this morning getting vegies for the babies, I felt this in my soul.

08.01.2022 Today I am grateful that all my piggies are currently in good health. I have seen a lot of really unwell guinea pigs at work lately, and it makes me sad.

05.01.2022 Wish I was sleeping right now too!

05.01.2022 Welcome to the family! There's nothing like a new addition to the family to break several weeks worth of radio silence! Puff came into my clinic because she wasn't eating after having a chin abscess lanced without sedation or pain relief at another vet. The reason she wasn't given any drugs is because she is potentially pregnant, and the original vet didn't know what would have been safe to give a pregnant guinea pig. ... Unfortunately, Puff's original owner wasn't in a position to go ahead with treatment, so I offered for her to be surrendered to my care. Puff has a broken lower incisor, which is very likely to have caused the abscess, and she is having difficulty eating, so she is on supportive care - this means daily subcutaneous fluids and regular feeds of Critical Care, plus antibiotics and pain relief. Her wound has been cleaned and in the near future, she will have a light anaesthetic to debride the dead tissue of the abscess and flush out all the yuck. And yes, she is confirmed pregnant! There are a few lessons to learn from Puff's experience. 1. Having a good, guinea pig knowledgeable vet is so SO important! There are definitely medications that are not suitable to give pregnant animals, but not giving ANY pain relief at all is absolutely not ok. A good vet will ask for help from colleagues or refer to textbooks in order to provide the best care possible. (Honestly, if your general practice vet has an exotics question, most exotic vet practices will be happy to speak with your vet to offer treatment advice!) 2. Pain relief, pain relief, pain relief! Piggies are such sensitive little beings and inadequate pain management is not only unfair on the pig, but can delay healing and cause other problems (such as dental and gut issues from not eating properly). 3. Guinea pigs can be expensive pets, despite being cheap to purchase. I definitely recommend having a separate savings account or credit card for your pets, or having a Vetpay account (most Australian clinics will accept Vetpay).

03.01.2022 I don't even know where to start with Puff... In the week she's been with me, my primary focus for her has been supportive care - fluid therapy, assist feeding and pain management. On Sunday, she had some quick x-rays taken which confirmed that she has a broken jaw (see second photo - the fracture is between her two lower incisors, separating and destabilising the mandible), NOT a broken tooth as previously suspected. ... Yesterday, I discussed with my vets the possibility of placing a naso-gastric tube until we could go to surgery to fix the fracture (tentatively scheduled for Friday). The irony of Puff's situation is she needs to be able to eat to keep her gut working before surgery, but she needs her jaw to be stabilised to be able to eat! Unfortunately the naso-gastric tube idea was unsuccessful, so we decided to change her pain medication to make her feel more comfortable to eat. Keeping in mind Puff has babies on board, it was decided that the risk of using drugs that might affect the babies was worth it if it means getting Puff to eat, and thus saving her life. (Also, you can't have babies if you have a mum that won't eat!) This morning I woke up to find that Puff had aborted her babies. While this is definitely sad (she would have had four mini-Puffs!), it is absolutely the best thing for her. Now her body can focus on healing, instead of trying to grow babies and heal at the same time. Puff is scheduled for surgery today to fix her jaw, and she will also have her abscess debrided and flushed out (which, for the record, is looking pretty good just from antibiotic therapy). Despite all the additional stress this has brought to my life, I have zero regrets about pushing for her surrender. She is such a delightful little pig, and she absolutely deserves a second chance.

01.01.2022 "Get guinea pigs," they said. "They're really easy to care for," they said. . . . Hamilton had a bust-up with his buddy, Nacho, this morning, so has joined me at work today for assessment of his wound. When it rains, it pours! ... (Somebody please pour me a wine!)