Product Review: Kaytee layer cakes

Today we're reviewing Kaytee layer cakes, which we received through Piggies Paradise. These are chew toys that are supposed to "provide a hard source for gnawing and trimming teeth." You may be wondering if Buffy can fairly review a product like this when she's feeling sick, but don't worry. The medicine is helping her feel a bit more like her old self, and I saw her chewing on the log chew toy recently. If these chew toys are any good, she'll probably want to chew on them, too.

Wood chew toys are generally safe as long as they aren't shiny or smooth, which indicates they're coated in a sealant.

Doesn't look like sealants were used.

We're not interested. Got any food for us?

These chew toys just don't interest us. They do look nice, though, so we're thinking we'll leave them in the cage as holiday decorations. We give Kaytee layer cakes 2 out 5 stars!

How Do You Know When It's Time To Euthanize A Guinea Pig?

The humans have had to make a lot of hard decisions lately surrounding Buffy's health. A few weeks ago, they brought her in to the vet after she had been exhibiting lethargy and had been losing weight. An X-Ray revealed a uterine tumor that the vet diagnosed as cancer. They sent her home with some medicine, and told them to bring her back in in a few weeks. She had started to gain weight on the medicine at first, but after the course of treatment ended, her symptoms reappeared.

When the humans brought her back in, the vet explained that she wasn't a good candidate for surgery and gave them two options: to euthanize her, or to send her home with some painkillers and other meds to make her more comfortable.

The sad truth is, every guinea pig owner will have to face this question at one point or another; it's part of owning any pet (except for maybe a bird, some of which can outlive their human owners). The humans decided not to euthanize her just yet, and brought her back home, where I have been sleeping next to her and watching over her every day.

I've been sleeping next to Buffy, guarding her pigloo while she rests.
I will chitter at anyone who gets too close to her.

Buffy is in what can be considered a guinea pig hospice at this point, and the humans have been providing her with palliative care. She has regained a bit of weight now that she's back on the meds, but still has to have Critical Care a few times per day. She isn't in any obvious pain, and still enjoys coming out of her pigloo for treats and to hang out with me.

So how do you know what the right decision is under these difficult circumstances? The right decision in a situation where all of the options are bad is the decision you can live with. The humans didn't feel that putting Buffy down at that point was the right call because even though her condition is terminal, she isn't in pain, and with the meds, she can still enjoy nibbling on a blueberry, following me around, and chin scratches.

With Lola, the humans knew it was the right time because she was unable to eat on her own or with assisted feedings, and was in obvious pain on her last day. In that circumstances, it was the humane thing to do. But with Buffy, she isn't quite at that point yet, and the humans are committed to ensuring that her remaining time is as comfortable and happy as can be.

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Cavy Village in the Netherlands

We recently mentioned some guinea pig-related attractions for your humans when they decide to go on vacation. Here's another guinea pig attraction we wanted to bring to your attention: the Cavy Village in Bakkeveen, The Netherlands. The Cavy Village provides a shelter for guinea pigs whose owners can't care for them anymore. In addition, according to their website, "the village has an entertaining and educative function. Thanks to the presence of the many guinea pigs, the chicken and the geese, the cavy-village is well worth a visit."

Watch this video about the village from Vice (make sure you turn on closed-captions if you don't speak Dutch):



Good job, Netherlands! We think every country should have a Cavy Village.

Guinea Pig Attractions Around the World: Nagasaki Bridge and Bogota Races

Many humans like to travel the world on vacations. It's just something they do, and no amount of wheeking can stop them. It's generally best to just let them go do their travel since there are lots of issues with flying if you're a guinea pig. (Just make sure they make proper arrangements for your care while they're out of town!)

If your human has decided they need a vacation but don't know where to go, here are a couple guinea pig themed attractions you can suggest to them to make sure they're thinking of you while they're gone:

Nagasaki Bio Park

If your humans decide to visit Japan, you have to tell them about this place at Nagasaki's Zoo and Botanical Garden. As described by their website, "You can see the adorable going home rush of guinea pigs on the bridge." This attraction is so cool that Parry Gripp made a song about it:

Bogota Guinea Pig Races

As described in the book Forty Five Ways to Feel Alive: "A super cute form of gambling has hit the streets of Colombia, it is called Guinea Pig racing. A number of small colored plastic huts are lined up at one end of the street and spectators place bets on which ones the guinea pigs will run into."

Here's a video of one of these races:

While this is cute, we'd like to know more about how the guinea pigs are treated before fully recommending this one. (If anyone has more information on these races, please let us know in the comments section.)

Buffy Status Update

While we would have liked to have provided you with another food review, product review, etc. by now, it's hard to think about those kinds of things when Buffy is sick like this. So for now, we're just going to give you a status update on Buffy.

The original discharge instructions said that we should have our humans contact the vet if Buffy doesn't improve in 3-5 days. Fortunately, she seems to be getting better. The humans have been diligently feeding Buffy her Critical Care and medicines, and for the past few days, her weight has been going up:

• 12/2/15 = 727
• 12/3/15 = 731
• 12/4/15 = 747
• 12/5/15 = 755

Hopefully, her increasing weight means that we can shift our attention from the partial GI stasis to the uterine mass. The next steps are for the humans to call the vet with a status update, and to schedule a recheck examination soon to "reevaluate the suspected reproductive tract mass/pathology." 

Glad to see you're not too sick for floor time with me, Buffy!

Let's hope the good news keeps coming so we can get back to reviewing products that you might be considering getting your guinea pig for the holidays!

Older Guinea Pigs and Reproductive Issues

Hi readers, Broccoli here. Buffy is now 5.5 years old, which is grandma pig age in guinea pig years. The humans noticed she has been losing weight and has been pretty lethargic lately, and while she has been eating, she's been eating more slowly than she usually does.

The humans took her into the vet yesterday, and they were concerned because her GI tract was almost in compete stasis. This means that food wasn't moving through her body like it is supposed to. To figure out what was wrong, the vet sedated and took an x-ray to see what was going on. They confirmed that her belly was pretty empty and gassy, and that there was a mass around her uterus. Not great news at all. This could be anything from a tumor to ovarian cysts, but they weren't 100% sure based on the x-ray. They also did a blood test, which came back normal, except for low electrolyte levels (which is not especially worrisome given her other symptoms).

The treatment is to provide hormones that shrink the mass and restore her natural hormone levels, so they injected her with a tiny device called Suprelorin that slowly releases hormones into her body (now she's a cyborg pig!).

They also prescribed her drugs to reduce pain (Meloxicam, Tramadol), reduce gas (Simethicone), encourage GI movement (Cisapride), Critical Care, plus an antibiotic (Enrofloxacin). That's a lot of meds, but strangely enough, Buffy has enjoyed taking them and is very obedient during assist feeding time.

Lola made much more fuss when the humans were feeding her Critical Care.

The humans also bought lots of green pepper and Belgian endive to hand feed Buffy, since the goal over the next few weeks is to get her to gain weight and fight the GI stasis. Hopefully, once she regains her appetite and weight, the device will have also shrunk her mass.

Hang in there, Buffy! We're all rooting for you.

Product Review: Higgins Sunburst Forage Pies with Carrots and Alfalfa Hay

Today, we're reviewing the the second item from our November Piggies Paradise box: Higgins Sunburst Forage Pies with Carrots and Alfalfa Hay. As we mentioned before, Piggies Paradise is no longer in business, so we're going to take our time and review each product individually until we've run out of complimentary products to review.

Pies? I hear humans say good things about pies. Can we eat these things, or is this going to be just like the pizza treats all over again?

At this point, we're learned to be naturally suspicious of any treats that aren't from Oxbow, so we wanted to take a look at the ingredients before getting our hopes up:

Well, at least it's a much shorter list to look into than some other treats we've reviewed.

There are only 5 ingredients on the back. Unfortunately, some of them are concerning:

• Corn, Corn starch - The diet expert at guineapigcages.com and Guinea Lynx states that: "Corn products (including corn bran, corn germ, corn gluten, ground corn, etc. There is no legal definition of 'corn' alone in animal feed, so it may be any combination of products. Corn is not a normal feed for cavies, may contribute to allergies, and can be high in fat and certain sugars/starch depending on the product. Additionally, some corn is contaminated with deadly aflatoxin which can cause liver failure and death.)"
• Alfalfa - As we said in our Ask A Guinea Pig Post on the best hay: "Alfalfa hay is a legume hay, not a grass hay. Only give alfalfa hay to pregnant, nursing, or young guinea pigs under 6 months old. Alfalfa hay is too rich for adult guinea pigs because it contains high levels of calcium, and in excess can lead to health problems, such as bladder or kidney stones. Even if you have a young, pregnant or nursing guinea pig, certain piggies who are prone to stones or other medical conditions should not be given alfalfa hay."

We feel the same way about these treats as we did with the Power Snap treats: we've seen more egregious ingredient lists on treats before, so we're not going to give it the absolute lowest rating, but the ingredients are still not good. We might have even given these treats a higher rating if they acknowledged that only certain piggies (pregnant, nursing, young) should be eating alfalfa, but they don't say that. It just says "For guinea pigs." For all these reasons, we're giving Higgins Sunburst Forage Pies with Carrots and Alfalfa Hay 1.5/5 stars.