Home Is Where The Heart Is

So there is a few things. I've been annoying the hell out of Ruffles the past couple of days because I would pick her up to move her feet around so they don't cramp up. It was recommended by one of the forum people at guineapigcages.com who is an occupational therapist assistant student (THANKS!) and I'm glad he brought it up because I never thought about it. Sadly that same day I read it I believe Ruffles right leg cramped up already because from I think it's the ankle? it's completely tense and unmovable, :( but I still try to massage it hoping it would loosen it up. The left leg I still see movement I think when she feels like it, because some days I see her use it sometimes she just drags herself so not sure how much progress she's getting.

                       Ruffles does not like it when Nibbles is in her house because her butt gets cold.
                                     

I'm getting really excited because in a few days she will be getting her wheelchair!! Hopefully she'll be able to move around more on her own to stretch out her legs, relieve herself easier and hopefully see more improvement on that leg of hers. I'll be sure to post with pictures and all.

Another big news is that Nibbles and Ruffles got a new cage. I finished fixing it up yesterday and I love the fleece I picked out! They look adorable! Anyways they have a lot more room to run around which will be great when Ruffles gets her new wheels and I think they loved it because they were playing around a lot when I finally put them in. But one thing that makes me question why they were playing around a lot is because Nibbles was in heat that day and kept trying to hump Ruffles, so not sure if it's because they like it or because there was humpage going around. Regardless I'm really happy.

                                                                   Previous Cage

                                              New Cage. Fleece is sheeps, moons and stars.
Second fleece that boyfriend bought for piggys

Take a look on how they reacted to their new home.

Miracle Pig?

Quick note before I start. Nibbles did the cutest thing. When she was playing around in her cage and going through the cardboard tunnel there was a cardboard tape roll in front of her so she couldn't get out without moving it. So she literally picked up her right paw and pushed it to the side with full force to get across! It looked hilarious!! I wish I would have recorded it. I tried to have her repeat the action, but no luck....I guess it was a once and a lifetime situation. Oh well..

Both Nibbles and Ruffles are very spoiled I gotta say. Today I went shopping for groceries and I had my babies in my mind. I bought them grape tomatoes (which I gotta say they didn't like too much), lettuce and wheat grass (which they loved, I need to grow this). Since Ruffles is paralyzed I checked her and cleaned her rumpus yesterday which it looked pretty clean. I'm not sure if I did it right because I was scared as hell that I was gonna hurt her.  They both did really well except Nibbles moved around a lot, but it was okay and they both got treats from it so it was all good all around.

So here is the big new's that I've been wanting to talk about on this post......Ruffles is able to move and lightly push on her heel of her left leg. Her toes and right leg still shows no improvement, but I believed she was permanently paraplegic so that little movement she is showing is HUGE!!! Could it possibly be trauma? Is she healing which is slowly getting her movement back? Later on which I see the doctor maybe she can give us a better idea of what's going on. I was thinking about when the doctor gave us the news that we would have to either put her down or give her a comfortable and fulfilling life, I am soo grateful she's still with us today. We talked to the people at Doggon' Wheels and we were lucky to find out that they have a guinea wheelchair that can be refurbished to fit Ruffles which makes it half the price which is really nice that we were able to save a bit. I can't wait to receive the wheelchair and see what improvements we will see from Ruffles. <3

Ain't no rest for the wicked

I bought more items for the guinea pigs like houses, toys, etc and Ruffles continues to move around like nothing happened (and she is still really fast). My boyfriend and I started looking into wheelchairs for guinea pigs that day we had the vet appointment and luckily enough we found a company that did just that. My boyfriend called Doggon Wheels and luckily they had some fitter's in the area that could measure Ruffles to send proper measurements for the company to make the wheelchair.

So today or actually yesterday their mommy's, my boyfriend and I all went to Menlo Park to Scout's House Rehab Center to get her measurements and the staff was really nice. It was their very first guinea pig so it ended up being an experience for everyone. Ruffles and Nibbles did not like traveling and Ruffles much less liked being picked up, but the measurements were successful and I found out she was a very symmetrical piggy :p .

All and all I got some really good pictures and a short clip of Ruffles moving around and now we are eagerly waiting to get her new wheels and hope that she'll enjoy her new ride.

To live or not to live

Ruffles wasn't eating and I had to force feed her the liquid food and her pain meds and constantly clean her poo because she would not be able to eliminate properly because her butt is always on the floor. That Monday I heard the news I didn't want to hear, Ruffles is paraplegic and she cannot feel any deep pain anywhere below her injury. I felt like it was all my fault. The doctor said if she's not happy and her quality of life isn't good then it would be more humane to put her down. My boyfriend and I were heartbroken, we didn't want her to lose her life that quickly because we knew she had so many more years ahead of her. We mentioned to the doctor that I noticed that she began eating more when she would hear Nibbles eating and she recommended to try to keep them near by but not together until a couple of days just so we can continue to supervise her. After leaving the vet we did just that.

Coming home, I began setting up the cage to be two parts of one cage to allow Ruffles and Nibbles to see, hear and smell each other without being in the same cage and sure enough Ruffles ran around, was eating, drinking and pooping like nothing ever happened. She seemed happy. Since it was our first guinea pig we had no idea what was a happy guinea pig (she was really quiet). I signed up to the forum guineapigcages.com and asked people there and gave them the scenario and the description of her behavior and everyone agreed she sounded happy!

The beginning and where it's heading.

This is the very first blog of the beginning. I'm blogging about my cute little guinea pigs named Ruffles and Nibbles. Technically it's made for Ruffles, but I wouldn't be able to help talking about her little partner in crime. So Ruffles is about a year old and Nibbles is about 2 years old. They are my very first piggys and my first pets since being independent from my parents. I never really planned on blogging about my guinea pigs, but something happened two weeks ago and other recent events that I thought what the hay :p .

So the piggy's mommy's are my best friends JT and BT, but as much as they loved them JT has sever allergies from being near them or their hay and it has gotten worse over time that it was time to let them go. So they began looking into new owners and I have been wanting a pet in the house for the longest time that when I heard they were giving them away I spoke to my boyfriend to see if he would consider having some new roommates. Without bringing up the topic of adopting them, he too was considering adopting them which I was ecstatic because I no longer had to pull reasons out of my ass on why we should adopt them. After discussing with him about space, money, what if's and researching a bit about guinea pigs, I called my friend right away to tell her we would be happy to adopt them. I think it was a bit of a relief for them because the biggest fear was giving them away to someone who wouldn't give a lot of care, love and attention, but also the extra benefit of being able to see them.

They brought them over and a week in, I continued to research and tried to create floor time with basic items around the house and Ruffles did not like the idea of being picked up. I knew it soon and I had to give it a couple weeks, but I wanted them to have some exercise, so the first attempt was not successful but a few days later I was able to get her and put her on the floor to play in their newer cage. That same day I picked her up and put her on my lap to get her used to me holding her, petting her and getting use to my scent and when I reached over slowly to get a carrot for a treat, the worst happened.

In a blink of an eye she freaked out ran up my shoulder and jumped! There was no way for me to have stopped her and I wish I would have had a better hold of her, but there's no turning back time. When I turned around on my chair see if she was okay, she was trying to turn on around off her back to run but I picked her up and the first thing I did was check for her feet. From researching I knew that they're back were really sensitive and very vulnerable to damage. I saw some movement from her feet and thought she was okay, but I was so very wrong. When I placed her back in her cage the first thing I saw was her dragging her feet to the corner of the cage. My heart skipped a beat and didn't know whether to scream to my boyfriend or call my friend and tell her what happened to her Ruffles. I told my boyfriend and he called all the emergency vet hospitals but no one had one available to view a guinea pig and we took all the advise the the vets gave up including separating the two guinea pigs. After several hours of watching over her that night for a moment it looked like she moved her legs back into original position so I believed that maybe she was back to normal and was just trauma (which is what the doctor said could happen as well). The next morning, I dropped my boyfriend off to work and coming home checked on Ruffles to see if she was still okay. My heart sank, she was back to dragging her feet and I began calling all the vets to see who could take in a guinea pig to get X-rayed and checked but because it was a Saturday there was few available. The 6th vet I called was successful and they were willing to see her and asap (which was awesome because I had work later that afternoon). After X-ray and all the doctor gave me some pain/inflammatory meds and some powder food (because Ruffles wasn't eating) to hold me off until my actual appointment which was that coming Monday.