Pages

3/30/2009

Update Of The Furry Kind

(No, not THAT kind of furry!)

Here are the updates on four of the four-legged kids that I didn't quite get to in the last post. It was going to include all five, but there's been a lot of stuff going on with Rusty that I haven't shared, so he will get his own chapter.

Little Guy is now 10 weeks out from his knee surgery and continues to do well. We've moved into a new phase of activity. Over the past two weeks, we've been increasing walks, but maintaining strict confinement. Now we are still working on progressing the walks (he can only make it ~3/4 of a block before getting a lot of spasming in his left rear leg), but he is allowed to have a bit more freedom. Running and jumping are both no-nos for 4 more weeks, so he's not allowed in the back yard, off leash and alone yet and he is confined, in the hallway, at night and when we go out. He hangs out in the house when we are home and that makes him extremely happy. He misses the squirrels though.


Cosette continues to be as feisty as she can be at 16 years old. She's been losing weight steadily over the past several months, in spite of a voracious appetite, so we are adjusting some feeding and keeping an eye on it. Otherwise, she's doing fine so we're forgoing any extensive testing at this point. Recent blood work showed a little elevation in some liver values, but that has been going on with her for many, many years and the results aren't as high have they have been in the past. She's going back on a medication for that. Cosette loves veggies and has been enjoying eating some during the nightly preparation of snacks for the guinea pigs. There are a couple of behavioral frustrations, but we're going with the flow (literally) and are just happy to still have her around, enjoying life. She's aging pretty gracefully.


Pepper and Pickle are doing very well. They seem to be fighting less, especially at 2am, which is a relief to me, on work nights especially. I still have the amazing ability to scare the crap out of them (and boy do they crap a lot!), but the girls are getting more used to being handled and have learned where the food and hay come from. Much like Penny used to do, they started squeaking when they hear E's voice as it's usually followed by a special treat of parsley or Romaine. They provide nightly entertainment during floor time. Pickle is quite amusing as she likes to "popcorn" quite a bit, which is supposedly a sign of happiness in a piggie. Pepper occasionally does it too, but she likes being a little more low key, hanging out in her brown paper lunch bag. Well, when she's not picking on Pickle, that is. The pigs both love lettuce, clementines, blueberries, strawberries, parsley, apples, pears, and dandelion leaves. Pickle seems to like carrots better than Pepper does. Neither of them care for tomatoes or peppers. They are good little feeders and growers.

Coming soon: An epic Rusty update. (He's doing just fine, by the way).

4 comments:

ren said...

bah, can't blame 'em, i don't like peppers either.

Anonymous said...

At least they are all doing well thus far, so far - that's great. I'm amazed at the diet of the piggies - gosh, I think I'd quite like to eat that well.

Jodi said...

@Aggie: Well, they mostly eat hay and pellets made from hay. They each get 1 blueberry a day and a handful of lettuce. They need to have Vitamin C in their diet, so we give the oranges. The vet recommended trying a large variety so they don't become too picky early on!

Yvett said...

Aww. . . I love furry updates.

Your piggies have good taste! : P

I'm looking forward to your Rusty update.

Post a Comment

 

Blog Template by YummyLolly.com