Matilda's Story

Matilda and her friend were surrendered into the ACS Brisbane shelter by a kind member of the public who found them both in a local park in a closed cardboard box sitting underneath a tree. The sows were in appalling condition. They were suffering from severe mange and had deep lacerations on several parts of their bodies and were missing a lot of hair. Their skin was very dry and scaly and neither sow could be touched without crying out in pain. Both sows were filthy. Sadly one of the sows back legs were both broken although she was in no obvious pain from the disability.

Both of the sows required intensive monitored treatment over the next 8 weeks. Within this time, controlling the excessive scratching and skin irritation from the mites was difficult and both sows kept opening up old wounds and were in pain which had to be treated and monitored daily. Both sows were given a course of Ivomectin for several weeks for the mange mite infestation although it took 8 weeks for them to respond to treatment because they were so heavily infested. The sows both lost all their hair before new coats started to grow. The sows were also treated with Betadine and other skin treatments to soothe their sores. They were kept on towels several times so that no dust could touch their sore skin.

Within 12-16 weeks the sows finally began to improve. New hair growth started to come through and the wounds healed. Matilda still had one wound on her shoulder up until the day of her adoption. It took longer to heal as it irritated her. On the day of Matilda's adoption the sore was at a healing stage.

Sadly in early January 2006 Matilda's companion passed away after a long fight she was about to be declared healthy and we are still unsure to this day as to what happened as she was found passed away. We suspected heat stress of summer contributed to her death or a sudden heart attack. In a way the sow was freed from her terrible disability of being unable to use her back legs and is hopefully in a happier place. Matilda fully recovered and technically was healthy enough to be available for adoption by mid January 2006 her coat was beautiful and all her hair had grown back. Matilda was one of the most docile guinea pigs I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Her beautiful big bold eyes were always glowing with a love for life. Matilda was saddened by the loss of her friend and you could also see this in her eyes but a little miracle soon came along when Matilda was adopted into a new home only a couple of weeks after losing her companion and as it turned out her new piggy companion had sadly lost her companion recently and was also suffering from the loss of her piggy friend. We thank Matilda's new owners for giving her such a wonderful new home where she will receive the love she always deserved.

(c) Copyright 2006, Australian Cavy Sanctuary. All rights reserved.