Mochi's Drinking Problem

I posted a while back about my little girl Pocky, who suddenly stopped eating hay. It progressed and she stopped eating altogether, but after a month or so of syringe feeding, meds, and vet visits we finally got her back to normal with prednisone. Shortly after Pocky's recovery, her mother Mochi stopped eating hay...

We brought Mochi to the vet, and started her on the prednisone. It worked for her as well as it did on her daughter, and she was eating again sooner than later. She actually seemed to get a little neurotic on the pred, so I tapered the dosages down and got both of my pigs off of it. Mochi was very hungry and thirsty on the pred, which I understand is a side effect. She continued to be very, very thirsty even after getting off the meds. I had to get her a larger water bottle and a large litter tray. Mochi would literally drink an entire large bottle of water, 20 oz, and soak the entire litter tray of Carefresh with pee, every day. Fearing the big D word, we took her to the vet for testing.

The tests showed that, thankfully, she wasn't diabetic and she didn't have kidney failure. The doctor examined her and could see that she had enlarged ovaries, which may be a factor in her thirsty behavior. I brought Mochi back in for an all-day water deprivation test, in which they controlled the amount of water she had and tested her urine. Blood was found in her urine, indicating an infection, so we put her on antibiotics. After a couple of weeks on the meds, she was still drinking an entire water bottle a day.

Again I brought her back to the vet to get spayed. The enlarged ovaries were suspected to be the cause of the drinking issue, as they could be releasing a large amount of hormones into her body. The procedure went well, and she did actually have a uterine cyst that would have caused her problems in the future. I'm glad that Mochi got spayed because it would help her have a longer, healthier life, but she was still drinking a lot afterwards. The doctor told me that it may take a while for the hormones to get out of her system.

It's been about a month now since Mochi's been spayed. I'm not refilling her water bottle everyday anymore, and she only uses up half of the carefresh every day. Seems like it's going to be a very gradual decrease in her water intake, but I'm glad she's showing some improvement. I wonder if there have been other piggies with drinking problems out there?

Another Sick Little Guinea

My latest guinea pig medical issue is affecting my little Kokiri. He was brought to the vet recently because his eyes were constantly watering and getting crusty, and his breathing looked a bit labored. He also had some spots on his piggy tush and tummy where the fur was looking a bit sparse. The doctor examined him and listened to his lungs. Thankfully Kokiri didn't have a URI, he was exhibiting the symptoms of allergies. The balding spots were the result of over-grooming, probably due to itchiness. He also saw that Kokiri was a bit lumpy, and was concerned that he may have tumors. We bought a new bale of blue grass hay, and I completely scrubbed Kokiri's cage and accessories clean and gave him a bath before giving him the new relatively dust-free hay. Despite these efforts my little peeg was still showing signs of allergies.


We took him for a biopsy a few days ago. Luckily, the mass in Kokiri's neck wasn't a tumor, but a large abscess. The vet removed the abscess and stitched him up, and sent a sample of the pus to a lab to find out what kind of bacteria it is. The poor peeg still has smaller abscesses. He apparently has guinea pig strangles. We're going to try to get rid of the infection with antibiotics, and he was put on a regimen of acidophilus, reglan, and baytril for 3 weeks and metacam for a week or so.


My poor peeg! His neck is shaved and the stitches look terrible. He's eating well, and even seems a bit perky. Before the surgery he looked like he wasn't feeling well at all, sitting around all puffy. Now his eyes are a tad brighter and he appears to be feeling better. I removed his brick and litter tray so he wouldn't have to jump or accidently scrape his neck on anything. I put a big pile of hay down for him to nom on. I've been sitting with him and he even does his tiny little mousie squeaks while I pet him. Kokiri seems like he's doing ok, and I think he'll make a full recovery. I'm still concerned for my little squeaker though.

Here's a picture of Kokiri well before he became ill. Doesn't he look so cute and comfy? If I was smaller I'd climb into his cage and use him as a pillow. I'd post a recent photo.... but maybe I'll wait til he feels and looks a little better.

Custom Plushie Update! Too Many to List! Part 2

Here's the second part of the large amount of custom plushies I made during and immeditely following the holidays. There are a few ornaments and even a few custom mouse plushies.

I've been busy. I've moved into a lovely new home with a big workroom. My boyfriend's mom recently came to stay for a few days. She's such a sweetie, it was a lot of fun. I also had to take yet another guinea pig in for surgery. Poor Kokiri. But I suppose I'll leave the details of that for another day.

Custom Plushie Update! Too Many to List! Part1

I have been immensely busy since last year's holiday season, and as a result lapsed on updating many things, such as this blog. I made many custom plushies, and just got around to putting together some photos and posting them online for all to see.

I'm getting ready to move to a nice house at the end of the week. Really, we should have moved in about a month ago, but there was a series of rather annoying delays. I've got all of my shipping boxes packed up, and my furs (I didn't seal the boxes yet, in case I need a few things).

I was working on rat plushies a few weeks ago, then I got the swine flu. Well, at least I think it was the swine flu, it was pretty nasty and left me with a cough that lingered far too long. I've got a bunch of half-finished rats sitting on my desk for some time now...

Mochi's gone through a bit of an ordeal herself. She was spayed yesterday, but hopefully it'll take care of her issues. I'll make a more detailed post about her later, with some photos of her shaved tummy (poor peeg).

Oh, Those Considerate Piggies

Last week I was hit with a nasty flu. I'm sure you know, it's the flu that's been making everyone you know sick, if it hasn't gotten to you already. One morning I woke up around 5 am, coughing and coughing and just couldn't get comfortable because I had to keep getting up to grab a tissue. I sat up for a bit and played my DS (trying to get everyone to level 40 so I can finally put Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story down before the new Pokemon games come out). About two hours later, when I started to feel dizzy I decided to lay back down, and thankfully got back to sleep pretty quickly.

I woke up late. As I slowly stumbled out of the bedroom, I was expecting to be greeted with the customary clamour of guinea pigs waiting to be fed. It was considerably later than I usually get up, which would usually mean a louder rodent ruckus. But on this morning, not a peep. I quickly took a gander at my messages, then took a shower. The hot steam was such a relief on my sinuses and sore throat. I left the bathroom, and upon entering the living room there was yet silence. Archie was under his stool, sitting up attentively, but silently. My girls, Mochi and Pocky, stood there in their cages, watching my every move ever so quietly. It wasn't til I actually walked into the kitchen and pulled out the tupperwares of parsley and lettuce did the first squeaks of the morning resound through the air.

My guinea pigs always seem to know when I don't feel well. This is most notably evident when I wake up late due to stomach aches in the middle of the night, or due to the flu in this most recent scenario. My little squeakers can tell when I'm ill, and they politely stay uncharacteristically quiet until I'm ready to feed them. This may sound a little silly to some of you, but those of use who have cavies know how relentlessly adament they can be about getting their meals.

Of course, now that I'm feeling better, the moment I set foot outside the bedroom door in the morning they all start wheeking their little heads off.

I :heart: Guinea Pigs & Mice Plushies

With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought I'd make some seasonally appropriate plushies. These are baby guinea pigs and mice, but they feature sweet fuzzy hearts in red and pink fur on their little bums.

As always, they are available in my Etsy shop and Artfire shop .

I've been busy still, which is a good thing. I like having a lot of work, especially when I enjoy what I do. I'm hoping to get all my orders and custom plushie requests done soon so I can get my plushie rats online, I know there are a lot of people waiting for those.

My boyfriend and I have also been house hunting recently, and hopefully we can be in a nice new home soon with a great workspace for me and plenty of room for piggies. Mochi's been feeling much better lately, and I'm trying to get Pocky completely weaned off the cortizone. I can't wait to see these guys scurrying across a nice hardwood floor.

It's Been Far Too Long

...since my last blog post. The holiday season was overwhelmingly busy. I had so many plushie orders, the volume of which I have to admit I was a tad unprepared for. I have learned a lot though, next year I'll be getting ready for the holidays well in advance!

The piggy herd is doing well. Pocky is back to her old self, eating lots of hay and pellets, and due to all the attention she got from syringe feeding and daily medicine she's even become a lot friendlier. Big brother Miso is also doing great, there's no sign of the abscess returning. Mochi, their mom, unfortunately suddenly stopped eating hay... Her pattern of behavoir was just like Pocky's when she'd gotten ill, so we immediately took her to the vet and got her on the same medicine we used to treat Pocky. Luckily we caught it before the issue progressed further, so she had a quicker recovery.

I've just about caught up on my plushie orders, so I'm ready to take on more custom orders. I've finished a few rat plushies, and even came up with a cute Valentine's plushie idea, so I'll be posting those as soon as I've got some photos taken. In the meantime, here are some custom piggies I made last year for some kind folks over on the GuineaLynx forums.

My First Craft Fair

On Saturday I did my first craft fair. Well, that is , as a vendor. I set up a table with some grids and fleece and made it look like a guinea pig C&C cage (or as much as I could). I also had a cage for my mouse plushies, and brought a couple of my new ratty plushies too.

There wasn't a large attendance. I blame the weather! It rained all day, and quite heavily. I did make some sales and some new friends, and the experience was invaluable. I'll be looking forward to doing more of these events.

Autumn is my favorite season. The richness of colors that flare in almost every tree, the crispy chill in the air, the grey drizzly days, the crunchy leaves that carpet the ground, I love it all. Warm drinks abound, and cuddles with your favorite furry friend under a soft blanket become mandatory.

I've gathered some of my most colorful plushies to play for a while amongst some seasonal autumn items.

Punkin is a guinea pig with bright orange fur, and an in-your-face personality to go with it! He refuses to tone it down, and instead relishes the fact that he stands out so much. He's a critter who loves being the center of attention, and will do whatever he can to get noticed. Punkin actually hates autumn, since there's so much blazing orange and red he feels like nature is trying to one-up him. As winter draws near, he feels that he's the best piggy up to the task of brightening up a dreary grey day.

I was out the day, walking through a carpet of leaves and breathing in the crisp autumn air. As I admired the vibrant colors swirling and rustling all around me, I was startled by a sudden squeak and burst of leaves. A plushie piggy had been hiding in the fallen foliage, his fur a rich auburn red that camouflaged him perfectly. I picked him up and brought him inside, as no piggy should be outdoors on a chilly day like that. We drank hot cocoa and watched the windbourne leaves from the warm indoors.

Ruby is a mouse with fiery red fur, but don't let that fool you, she's not hot-tempered! Despite her blazing demeanor, she's actually very mild-mannered and easy to get along with. She enjoys having deep conversations over hot tea, especially if there are cinnamon flavored treats to be had as well.


All of my autumn plushie friends are available in both my Etsy shop and my Artfire shop til the end of fall and beyond.

On the Road to Recovery

Well, despite improvement in her demeanor and increased appetite, Pocky still wasn't eating any hay or pellets. I didn't want to wait til we finished the antibiotics so I called the vet. It was a really busy day, so they said they'd call me back to discuss our options. Hours went by without hearing from them, so I called back. The doctor still wasn't available so all I could do was reserve the last available appointment for the next day. They must have been really busy, because I never got to talk to the vet. As soon as I woke up the next morning I called again. The person I spoke to said that if I wanted to bring Pocky in for a dental exam, I'd have to bring her in the next day in the morning since it's a procedure that couldn't be handled in a regular appointment slot. I agreed, made arrangements, and cancelled the appointment for that afternoon. Since we spent so much time on Pocky recently, we decided to give all the piggies a weighing that morning before feeding them. Everyone's weight was fine, but when I picked up Miso, Pocky's brother, I found a lump under his chin. Crap. I called the vet back no more than five minutes after hanging up and asked if they still had that afternoon appointment available. I brought Miso in, and the doctor says it was most likely an abscess, and we scheduled an appointment for surgery to have it removed.

Pocky's dental exam showed that her teeth were in good condition, they were filed down a bit but there was nothing that would cause her to stop eating. She seemed bothered after her procedure and showed no interest in even nibbling anything. I had stopped giving her antibiotics thinking that the exam would bring to light a dental issue. After another visit to the vet we switched her to Baytril, a different type of antibiotic in the hopes that it would target different bacteria, but again, Pocky still didn't eat on her own.

Miso went through his surgery just fine. The abscess wasn't related to a tooth, which is a good thing, and was most likely due to an external puncture wound like a bite (I'm looking at you, Archie!) The doctor wasn't able to take out the abscess cleanly, however, it burst during the procedure. They had to suture the incision open as they couldn't close it up as a sterile wound, and I was given the responsibilty of flushing it out with an antiseptic and packing it with Neosporin twice a day. When I first saw him, I cried. It looked horrible! It's really not as bad as it looks, the vet told me it's mostly scar tissue with no nerve endings so it doesn't hurt. Miso acts like it's not even there, he eats and drinks and goes about his daily life as if nothing were different. When I brought him back for a follow up exam his wound was doing fine with no signs of infection, and on the next visit his sutures were removed. Now I only need to cover the incision area with Neosporin twice a day, and I'll continue to give him acidophilus and antibiotics until he's fully healed.

I've had Pocky on baytril for almost 2 weeks. She's been very affectionate and vocal, and gets excited when it's feeding time but still didn't eat more than a nibble or so. I could see that whatever was affecting her still wasn't being treated, so I brought her in again to the vet when Miso had his stitches taken out. Her front teeth were getting misaligned, the lower tooth was very skinny and long, and the top was very thick. She squealed like I never heard her squeal before when they trimmed her teeth. The doctor felt her facial muscles, especially around her jaw, and could see that they'd become rather emaciated in comparison to the rest of her body. I also didn't realize that Pocky wasn't opening her mouth very wide until I had to give Miso meds and saw how enunciated his chewing motions were in comparison to his sister's. Taking all this into consideration, and seeing how she didn't have any bad teeth and probably not an infection, the vet said that she probably has some pain in the main muscles of her jaws, and that would be the cause of her lack of desire/inability to eat. He prescribed her a form of cortizone for the pain, so now I'm giving her that and acidophilus til her poops regain their normal consistency, but no more reglan or antibiotics.

This photo was taken just this morning, as Pocky eats her first piece of hay in over a month.

When I syringe feed Pocky now, it seems like her chewing is a bit more animated. She'e really been trying to get at her hay, pulling at it but not eating it. This morning she ate a whole meal's worth of parsley and lettuce, and even ate a long piece of hay and a couple of pellets. I'm so relieved and happy! Seems like we finally found out what the issue is. As tiring as it is to force feed her and give her meds several times a day, it's not nearly as frustrating as knowing that your pet is suffering and you can't figure out what to do to help her.