Saffron

It is, bless him he deserves the break though so I get it, its been stressful running the practice. Luckily the new owner is also absolutely lovely, shes been very good with the piggies, plus there's an exotics specialist who is also good, although I don't see her as much, she's not in too often. But I don't like change, so I still try to see him where possible 😅
 
So with the help of some thick gloves, I decided to have a look at her belly just to make sure I'm not traumatising myself, her and the vet for no reason on Friday🤦‍♀️ there's definitely some hair loss and she seems a little itchy but she could've just been grooming so much due to stress of being out of her cage.
She was actually pretty well behaved once out her cage so I'm assuming the aggression is cage aggression, so I'll probably persevere with the gloves for a while to see if she tames down that way, once she's forgiven me for the vet visit.

Anyway, here is the chonky girl herself!

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Aw, she is just beautiful! You did really well to manage to hold her and get a look at her tummy.

As she was okay out of the cage I wonder if she would interact with you in a playpen. :)
 
I feel bad because truthfully I had to scruff her to keep her still, but she didn't attempt to bite, I think at the moment it's all bluff bites but obviously on bare skin it still hurts 🤦‍♀️

I was wondering the same, I'm probably going to start blocking off part of the landing and sitting with some toys and hides to see if she will accept treats or climb on me or something, there's a good 6ft stretch I could put a pen around to let her keep away from me if she wants to.
 
Yes, their teeth are very sharp. It does hurt.

I think that is a lovely idea! I would ensure there is plenty of clutter to allow her to feel safe as she is not used to such a large area. You can always use a taxi such as a mug to carry her there. :)
 
Lovely to see you Saffron 😍
She sounds as though she might be a bit like the one female Russian I had, she was very territorial, a terror in the cage & a little angel out of it!
 
Just back from the vet, who she only bit once, she is indeed going bald and her skin feels a little thin in spite of otherwise being in good condition so he believes we're looking at a hormonal issue, her scent gland was clean and dry luckily! He can't feel any masses in her abdomen, so we're going to monitor her for now and she will go back Jan/Feb for a recheck to see if there's any change regarding any masses. If by then he finds some, he will spay her as it'll be ovarian/uterine tumours or cysts.. if no masses then likely cushings and we will deal with that when it comes.

She was so upset at the vet manhandling her she actually let me take her out her box at home and give her a little hold, remembering we used to be friends at one point! 😅 I've left her to go back to sleep and calm down properly now bless her.

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So glad to hear there were no signs of anything to serious & she’s ok.
That’s lovely that she was happy to have a hold with you after being to the vets, hope she settles back down & gets over her ordeal quickly, time for some nice treats maybe!
 
I've sprinkled some dried mealworm for her to find when she wakes up as an apology 😅
He really is a star bless him, he has done a few previously so she will be in good hands, he said it was easier than doing a guinea pig and he's spayed a good 8 of those for me 🤦‍♀️ but he regularly castrates mice for a local rescue so he's quite used to surgery on the smaller critters.
 
Also glad it's nothing serious. How old is she again? It's a sign she feels safe with you and trusts you if she was happy to be held with you after the vet visit. I hope she settles down again soon :)
 
So she's not that old, but I suppose once they get to a year they're more likely to get some kind of condition. I hope it's something that just settles down. Do you give her linseeds? They work wonders for fur condition and I think it can even help fur regrow. You probably know that anyway :-) And it would still be good to know the cause.
 
Sounds like you were both very brave at the vets. Nice she let you hold her when you returned home, so many cute photos of little Saffron. Hope she settles from the trip, they are never easy. Wishing her well. 🙂
 
So, bit of good news! My vet continued to kind of ruminate over Saffron and spoke with one of his colleagues who suggested given how the hair loss presented, and the fact cushings is mostly seen in males.. that we treat her for demodex mites. I was in with some guinea pigs today so he wanted to let me know the change of plan, I've emailed him Saffrons weight who was surprisingly willing to cooperate considering I woke her up, bless her. Didn't even try to bite, in spite of the fact I smelled like sausage roll, cookies and coffee from Greggs 🤣🤣
She is a whole 61g!!
So, he's going to get me a panomec/propylene glycol solution to treat her with once a week for however many weeks to hopefully see if that resolves the issue!
We assumed mites would be itchy, but apparently not, so, fingers crossed.

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Hes an absolute star, bless him. I'm glad she seems to have mellowed so quickly, attempting to put the medication on her would have been fun otherwise! She still throws herself on her back, so I'll just have to be mindful of letting her get her theatrics out the way first before putting it on.
 
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