crumbilina
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I think that there is something wrong with Eve. My gut says that there is and since my gut was right last time I'm going to go with it.
First some background: Eve came to me from Chelle after the SV outbreak. She has some lung damage and she sneezes quite a lot but this is just because of the aftereffects of the virus. She also has a giant mammary tumor that Chelle and I agree probably cannot be removed on account of her lung damage. She is a sweetie that took some time to win over after a home change and the loss of a cage mate. I haven't been nipped (on "purpose") for almost 3ish weeks now (Yay!). I think that she was born late 2008 making her approx. 1.5 years old. Now she is an absolute SWEETIE!
So here is the problem. I gave her a couple of cheerios the other day and I noticed her propping the cheerio on the ground and trying to eat it that way. I watched her for a bit and wasn't sure if this was just balance compensation due to the mammary tumor or if it was something else. I decided I needed to test her co-ordination/movement. I then put her on the ground in my room to see what she would do. Not much - her legs separated so she was kinda lieing on her belly (my flooring is carpet and not slippery) and so I put her in the cage and grabbed my playpen type surround thing that I let them all play in, opened that up and let her run around there since it is familiar ground. She ended up walking around but really didn't do much. I put her back in her cage and decided that I needed to wait it out and watch her VERY closely.
Over the next little wile I noticed that she only came out of her little house when I came to get her. She didn't come out to do her "business" or anything except to get some food (not too often but she still does eat) and to get water (she actually does this quite frequently). This morning I put her in her hammock and was able to get a really good picture of how she eats:
Now, what she does is she will stick both of her paws out like that and sort of shove her face into her food and hope that it catches on the ground (haha or hand) so she can take a bite. Its really ingenious! She does something similar with her food dish. She leans over the side of the dish and puts her paws in and holds the food there to get a bite. Sometimes she does grab it but others she just pulls it towards her with her forepaws.
Now, I really don't know what to think. I AM going to make a vet appointment for her no matter what, but some early thoughts before going in would be nice. I just really hope it isn't what I am thinking it is... Any thoughts are appreciated. I don't know... I may be overreacting, but still - its nice to be sure.
Edited: changing the title
First some background: Eve came to me from Chelle after the SV outbreak. She has some lung damage and she sneezes quite a lot but this is just because of the aftereffects of the virus. She also has a giant mammary tumor that Chelle and I agree probably cannot be removed on account of her lung damage. She is a sweetie that took some time to win over after a home change and the loss of a cage mate. I haven't been nipped (on "purpose") for almost 3ish weeks now (Yay!). I think that she was born late 2008 making her approx. 1.5 years old. Now she is an absolute SWEETIE!
So here is the problem. I gave her a couple of cheerios the other day and I noticed her propping the cheerio on the ground and trying to eat it that way. I watched her for a bit and wasn't sure if this was just balance compensation due to the mammary tumor or if it was something else. I decided I needed to test her co-ordination/movement. I then put her on the ground in my room to see what she would do. Not much - her legs separated so she was kinda lieing on her belly (my flooring is carpet and not slippery) and so I put her in the cage and grabbed my playpen type surround thing that I let them all play in, opened that up and let her run around there since it is familiar ground. She ended up walking around but really didn't do much. I put her back in her cage and decided that I needed to wait it out and watch her VERY closely.
Over the next little wile I noticed that she only came out of her little house when I came to get her. She didn't come out to do her "business" or anything except to get some food (not too often but she still does eat) and to get water (she actually does this quite frequently). This morning I put her in her hammock and was able to get a really good picture of how she eats:
Now, what she does is she will stick both of her paws out like that and sort of shove her face into her food and hope that it catches on the ground (haha or hand) so she can take a bite. Its really ingenious! She does something similar with her food dish. She leans over the side of the dish and puts her paws in and holds the food there to get a bite. Sometimes she does grab it but others she just pulls it towards her with her forepaws.
Now, I really don't know what to think. I AM going to make a vet appointment for her no matter what, but some early thoughts before going in would be nice. I just really hope it isn't what I am thinking it is... Any thoughts are appreciated. I don't know... I may be overreacting, but still - its nice to be sure.
Edited: changing the title
