01.26.10
Posted in Memorials at 10:54 am by Jenn
It is with a heavy heart that we wish Pinball the guinea pig a swift trip over the bridge. Last Tuesday, January 19th, Pinball was back in for another tooth trim, in preparation for his new chin sling headgear. The weekend before (5 days after his last trim) we had already noticed his incisors out of alignment, and knew that we were likely to find the same situation this time as we had last time. And we were right. When Dr. Munn got a good gander at his teeth, they’d already trapped his tongue again.
He prepared to start trimming and prodded the first tooth gently. It fell out. The one behind it was also quite loose and with gentle wiggling also fell out. [Picture of the teeth can be viewed here] We were both flabbergasted, but I asked him to trim what remained and we’d go from there. He didn’t appear to have any trouble on the anesthesia while he was under, but showed some difficulty waking up. He was brought home to be coddled and kept warm until he could wake.
Pinball spent most of the evening in a quiet room on his heating pad in his carrier. Much later in the night, he started stirring regularly and we thought he was out of the woods. I went to bed and left my husband to keep an eye on him (to make sure he didn’t get burned on his heating pad and in case he had trouble). At 2am, Anthony woke me up to let me know that he’d sighed and breathed his last.
It was a staggering loss for us. He’d only been here a month, but Pinball was so energetic. He’d learned when feeding times were and would beg as adroitly as any of our other, normal piggies. He loved coating himself nearly head to toe with Critical Care, and tolerated his sponge baths with much dignity. We are still saddened by his loss, and we haven’t yet been able to bring ourselves to break down his little quarantine cage.
We would like to thank everyone who called, emailed, wrote, and posted their good thoughts and good wishes to Pinball. We told him every night how many people were pulling for him and how he’d never have to worry about anything again if we could only get through this. We received donations and cards from all over the US, and even internationally. Our sincere thanks go out to Sponsor a Guinea Pig for allowing Pinball to be January’s pig, and for helping organize all the good will going towards his recovery. If nothing else, Pinball’s illness has been an important wakeup call that vet care is never optional for small animals, and that denying them this care can severely impair them for life. If his suffering can help even one other pig to not end up in the same situation, it has not been in vain.
Thank you again, everyone, for your kind thoughts and for rooting for Pinball. He was one of a kind.
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11.19.09
Posted in Adoptions, Memorials at 1:58 pm by Jenn
It’s been a very mixed month for us here at ACR&S. Some of our close friends have lost pets, and have welcomed n
ew friends into their homes.
Clementine, first talked about here in the blog crossed over to the Rainbow Bridge. It’s likely that her initial bout with such severe neglect had long term complications that we originally could not forsee. Even though she had such a short time here with us, she lived in spoiled abandon, frolicking with her adopted buddies Ben, Bia, and Raindrop. In her memory, Alyse and Gabriella are going to their forever home with Celia, her mom. They leave tonight for a happy Thanksgiving!
Clementine was followed by Wayne, a senior piggie belonging to friend of ACR&S Blair. Wayne was an elderly guy (estimated to be around 7 years of age), so his passing was not unexpected, although it brought Blair & family a lot of grief, especially in the wake of the loss of their dog Rocco to aggressive cancer despite a hard fight with chemo. In his memory, Blair adopted Petey from us, who was neutered, and who will live with her youthful harem of young ladies.
We also lost Picchu, one of our pair of chins nearly two weeks ago. He was fine during first morning checkup, and bounced energetically to the side of the cage for his afternoon hay refresh, but when I went up in the night to tuck everyone in and do one last refill, he was prone in his hammock and cold. He was an amazing chinchilla that loved chin scratches more than anything, and we were devastated by his loss. His unusually friendly antics and clownish showboating are greatly missed in our little zoo.
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09.08.09
Posted in Memorials at 2:29 pm by ACR&S
On Friday, September 4, I came home to find Piglet had died in her sleep. I’ve posted fairly extensively about her in the past - simply type her name into the search bar to read her complete history. She ended up being with us a little over a year and a half. If the information we had on her was correct, she would have been about 4.5 years old - not too shabby for a pig who was malnourished and nearly starved to death through ignorance of her former owner.
I don’t really have much to say about losing her, because as much as it was inevitable, it really stinks. I’m just very, very glad that we of all people got the chance to be Piglet’s happy ending. Bye, you sweet little girl.
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09.07.09
Posted in Memorials at 8:46 am by Jenn
Avery was a beautiful satin abyssinian girl who was surrendered to us in August of 2008.
She entered the rescue along with Alyse, Kevin, and Roger. She lived with her partner, Alyse the entire time she was with us. In June of this year, we added Gabriella to the pair after she gave birth to her adorable babies. Though Avery was not very fond of Gabriella, she did tolerate her, and the three were adopted to their forever home.
Less than a month later, they were returned because they were “too much work”. The trio came back to my house to await adoption again. This Saturday, September 5th, we returned home in the evening after dinner to find that Avery had laid down and not gotten back up. She had been fine during the morning feeding, and was fiesty and demanding as ever. We’ll be consulting with our vet about a necropsy, which will be difficult because of the time elapsed (since it’s a holiday weekend).
Avery will be missed, and not only by her friends. She was a bossy and enthusiastic pig, who frequently spent time scolding the cage next door for being too loud. Her antics always brought a smile to our faces, and she will be greatly missed. We’re only sorry that she never found a place to call her forever home.
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08.25.09
Posted in Medical, Memorials at 12:10 am by ACR&S
Gypsy was found dead in her cage on the morning of August 21. She came to ACR&S in late 2008, surrendered by her owner with two other pigs. She was thought to be about 5 years old at that time, and was very aggressive with the owner’s other two pigs. As a result she lived alone until she arrived at the Sanctuary in December 2008 and was successfully paired with Stinky.
Gypsy showed no signs of illness at all prior to her death; her appetite was good and her weight had been stable. A necropsy revealed that the proximate cause of death was pericardial effusion, which is an abnormal buildup of fluid around the heart. However, the underlying cause of this was unable to be determined. There was no overt evidence of infection or lymphoma, which are the two most common causes of pericardial effusion.
She was a sweet girl and will certainly be missed by all who knew her.
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07.17.09
Posted in Memorials at 9:19 am by ACR&S
Sorry for the lack of updates - the last few weeks have been filled with unexpected goodbyes, and that always makes me want to avoid writing about things.
On June 11 we lost Honi. We first introduced her here - she was a rescue transfer from the Wisconsin Guinea Pig Rescue - she came to them in late 2007 with numerous health problems, stemming from having spent most of her life having babies in a 12″x12″ opaque tupperware container. After her health problems got under control, we took her in to be a partner to our Sanctuary guy Stinky. They got along great and she seemed to be doing well on her medicine - she loved to try to steal the syringe and run off with it!
On June 10 she was a little more listless than usual, but there was no change in her weight and we assumed it was just one of her usual bouts with gas. We scheduled a vet visit for June 11, but literally 4 minutes from the vet’s office she just lay down and died in her carrier. Fortunately, she went very peacefully, and showed no signs of distress either before or during her passing.
We got a necropsy done and found that she had extensive lymphatic leukemia - cancer. Literally her only normal organs were her intestines and her thyroid, EVERYTHING else was affected. The vet even remarked that he’d never seen such an extensive metastasis. I like to think that cancer is a win for us; these diseases of old age are not well documented in pigs as they typically don’t live long enough to develop them. I also like to think it speaks well of our standards of care that she had no symptoms and no chance to suffer up to the very end.
Honi was a wonderfully sweet, friendly pig despite everything she went through before she was rescued, and while we miss her, we’re mostly grateful that we got to care for and know her for even this brief time.
On June 25 we got the notice from one of our adopters, Cyndi, that her adopted bunny Dutchess had passed in the night. Dutchess was rescued from the Orange County Animal Shelter in late 2004. On her surrender form, her original owner wrote that she was 7 years old, and had been housed outside in a wire-floor hutch her whole life! She had damage to her toes from the wire, and was also found to have a persistant case of snuffles (an infection of Pasturella in the sinuses). Because of this we figured she’d never be placed, until our friend Cyndi came along in 2005 and wanted to adopt her! She lived an absolutely spoiled life like the royalty she was. She would have been nearly 12 years old if our original information was correct! She is sorely missed by her mom and by everyone else who ever knew her.
On June 26 we had to euthanize Elmer, our oldest and most long-term Sanctuary resident. He was our very first Sanctuary resident, having come to us in early 2003. I blogged about him back in April, when he started having some health issues. We assumed it was his age catching up with him, but his problems resolved and he seemingly went back to normal. In the months since then, however, the effects of his age have been evident. His fur was less soft, he did not groom himself well, and he was much less active. He reminded me very strongly of our first geriatric pig Chuck. They just seem like very old men after a certain point!
Late on June 25 Elmer didn’t want to move at all for his dinner. Normally I put his veggies and pellets right in front of his favorite house, and he didn’t even want to take the few steps to eat. I put pepper right in front of him and he ate it willingly, but it seemed like he was having a lot of trouble with his hind end. I really expected to lose him within the next few minutes. We gave him some metacam and when still wasn’t moving within a few hours, I was afraid he would linger on without being able to move or eat on his own, so we took him in and the vet helped him go. Necropsy revealed nothing to cause his weakness, so it was probably just his time. He would have been 10 years old this coming December. I think I might miss him most of any of my recent losses, just because he’s been with me for so very long - it’s hard to think of ACR&S without him.
Unfortunately this is the unavoidable cost of doing rescue when the animals you care for have such limited life spans. It’s sad, but I’m sad for me, not for them. At least they all were safe and loved.
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06.12.09
Posted in Memorials at 12:03 am by ACR&S
We’re lost a great number of the Hamster Hoard this year, and the latest casualty was Logan. He was born in the rescue on September 8, 2008; one of three litters that came from pregnant females we pulled from the local shelter. He simply didn’t wake up this morning (June 8).
He didn’t really do much of anything - he was named for his preference for hiding in his oatmeal container all the time - but he deserves a memorial as yet another unwanted pet who never really had a home of his own.
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06.09.09
Posted in Medical, Memorials at 5:42 am by Jenn
We lost a foster pig yesterday, and I’m typing this up mainly so that other people might see if they see the signs that we did. We didn’t connect the dots in time, but someone else might, now, and be able to save their pig.
Harley came into our rescue about 2 months ago. He was huge. Over 3 lbs huge. His owner was a pretty good owner, and kept him in a C&C cage, did a good quality diet with lots of veggies, and was heartbroken to have to give him up. He came with a plethora of stuff, including a bottle of Selsun Blue shampoo.
She explained to us that he had a reoccurring spot on his back, and that once she washed it with the Selsun Blue, that it went away. Given the description, we figured he had some sort of active fungal infection, and didn’t think twice about it.
Sure enough, he had the spot when we picked him up. We dosed him with Revolution and started treating the area with a fungal cream, but it didn’t seem to have any ongoing infection or fungus. The skin was perfect, but bald. He’d just sat there and chewed himself bald. (You can see the bald spot in his earliest pictures.)
When it went away briefly, and then subsequently came back, we went to the vet’s to try more stuff. He gave us an oral antifungal and used scotch tape to look at the skin cells under the microscope (he hates doing skin scrapes on pigs and does that instead). He told us that the skin seemed healthy, but sent off for ringworm testing, and it came back negative.
We both, at that point, wrote the spot off as a neurosis reaction to being alone most of the time. Susan has had animals start chewing their backs when they had bladder stones, but before they came painful enough to wail while they peed, and she’d caught several that way by doing x-rays. Since he was having no other symptoms, and his weight remained stable, that didn’t seem likely. After all, there are a number of animals that self mutilate from boredom, right? We went ahead and neutered him since we had a lot of available ladies, and sat back to wait.
The neuter was unremarkable and he healed with no problem.
This week (4 weeks after the neuter), while preparing for his pending adoption, I did his weekly weighing and noticed that he’d dropped 4 oz. I was concerned, but not too concerned. He was a huge pig. I felt like having pigs around him (he was sharing a grid wall with my herd) was probably making him more active, but I still gave him a once over looking for anything out of the ordinary, and I found a lump above his penis.
I swore, and figured he had an abscess (even though it didn’t feel like one) and took him in yesterday to have it drained. I got a call at work from our vet who had him open on the table. The lump was just the bottom end of an enormous (presumed) abdominal tumor, bigger than a golf ball, that was extremely invasive, and had even wrapped partially around his penis. He hadn’t cut it yet, because he wanted to talk to me beforehand.
I told them to try and remove it if at all possible (and to check and make sure it wasn’t some bizarre abscess) but that if he felt he couldn’t, not to wake him up.
I got a call about an hour and a half later. The tumor (it was definitely a tumor) was too big. It had multiple blood supplies going to it, and he couldn’t get it disentangled from his penis. He said that even on the highest gas he was using, Harley was still flinching to him trying to remove it while sedated. After trying as gently and persistently as possible, Harley started to visibly struggle with the anesthesia, and we made the decision to let him go.
He was kind enough to snap some photos with his phone during the surgery as well, and I’m linking to them (as they’re pretty graphic) just to give an idea of how huge this thing was:
Surgery 1
Surgery 2
(For orientation purposes, the penis is on the left in both pictures)
Initially, we thought that somehow the neuter had triggered the growth somehow, but when we started going back over his symptoms, I think he probably had at least the beginnings of the tumor when we got him.
Now we believe the following behaviors to have been subtle symptoms associated with the tumor:
- the bald spot. It was directly over his spine, and lined up perfectly with the tumor. We guess that he was having pain issues with it, and would chew there trying to get at it (much like neuter pigs will sometimes chew their legs). Once he got to the skin, it probably hurt more to chew than the tumor did (or perhaps the tumor pain came and went). If picked up and turned upside down, he would also sometimes chew his front paw, but so many pigs hate it that I didn’t pay attention to it until afterward.
- distinct dislike of being touched on the rump. Harley actually liked being petted, and would run up to the front of the cage with no fear to have his head scratched, but if I tried to pet his back or sides, he would try to bite. Again, enough pigs did this that I didn’t think it hugely out of the ordinary.
Since he’d been chewing at the site for several months (according to his mama), we believe him now to have developed the tumor sometime in 2008.
So if you have a pig with a bald spot like this, who is otherwise healthy, and mites, fungal, etc, have all been ruled out, it may be worth pursuing an x-ray, if only for peace of mind. I wish now that we had caught Harley’s problem earlier, so that we could have given him pain medication at least, and made his life a little easier. But he was such a happy go lucky pig. Always had his head in the hayrack, eating like a horse, and otherwise healthy.
Goodbye Harley, you were a good pig.
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05.27.09
Posted in Memorials at 8:26 am by Jenn
We’ve received some very sad updates from old friends in the past week.
We first heard from Michael and Carrie last week, letting us know that our beloved Mia Hamm had passed away. A couple of months ago, Mia began bleeding from beneath her tail, and after multiple rounds of antibiotics, and an x-ray was done that revealed a serious tumor. She passed her final days surrounded by her family and in comfort. Hers was a happy tail from beginning to end — she found her family and lived a full and cherished life with them.
We then heard a followup from Twoflower the guinea pig. 
He as adopted by Chris to be friends with his strong-willed ladypig Stealth. They lived together in harmony and happiness for many months. Unfortunately, early last week Twoflower passed in the wee hours of the morning as his heroic dad tried valiantly to get him into the emergency vet.
While we are always saddened to hear that our friends have gone over to the bridge, we are always heartened to know what good little lives our friends have had, and how dearly bought having a happy ending is. Thank you again, to our wonderful adopters, who give so much to these little guys.
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05.22.09
Posted in Medical, Memorials at 8:00 am by Jenn
Goodbye to Lilith and Nimue, two baby ratties who have left us with so much unfulfilled potential. The sisters arrived in a trio, along with their sister Morrigan, abandoned at a local animal shelter. Their owner had said that they were moving, and did not have room for the tiny rats.
ACR&S took them in in order to find them homes with high hopes! They were playful, bold, and daring, and absolutely loved people. After only a few days in foster, Lilith started limping quite badly on her back leg. She was rushed to the vet, who did x-rays, and confirmed that there were no bone breaks and no congentical abnormalities. Sweet Lilith was prescribed pain medication and cage rest.
3 days later, on a Sunday morning, I got up early and made the rounds, checking everyone, refilling water bottles, and refilling food and giving treats along the way. I greeted the trio of babies and played a gentle game of tag with them before returning to bed to “sleep in”. When I woke up a few hours later, Nimue (left)had passed quietly in her sleep. My husband and I were heartbroken, and we took her body in to see if we could find anything on necropsy. Necropsy showed no apparent signs of death.
Meanwhile, Lilith continued to limp. Even in a smaller, one level cage with no ramps and precious little to do besides snooze, her problems intensified.
Soon, she was beginning to have difficulties with her front legs as well. She kept her front paws curled up and had poor balanced, seemingly out of nowhere and with no reasonable cause. Several people, including our vet, suggested that she may have a pituitary tumor (although such a thing is relatively unheard of in such a tiny rat), and we began an aggressive steroid treatment to try and delay the inevitable.
Only a few days later, she crossed the bridge after I had gone to work for the day. She had taken her steroids that morning with gusto (having been compounded by the lovely people at Carolina Compounding Pharmacy to be a delicious tutti fruitti). She chittered her teeth and boggled at me (all signs of a happy rat) as I held her that morning. She was a real cuddle-bug, and seemed to genuinely enjoy snuggling up to “her” people.
Their sister, Morrigan, continues to stay with ACR&S, and has bonded to another pair of rats named Mischa and Persia, and so far has shown none of the frightening symptoms of her sisters. Rest in peace, little rats. We’re glad you had a time with people that loved and cared for you.
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