Houdini

Mabel had been doing well.  She'd been off all the meds since Labor Day.  Her fur had finally grown back.  She'd gained more weight.  Things were looking great!

Then a week or two ago, she started losing weight.  Her paw looked odd - I was afraid the infection had returned.  She's started to be needy, always looking for food and attention, and started to chew apart her cozies.  Clearly not feeling well.

Back to the vet.  More antibiotics.  No fun.

Soon after Mabel went back on the antibiotics, she started pulling this Houdini trick in the morning.  This first photo?  That is a guinea pig on the wrong side of the gate.  At 7am.  Surprised the heck out of me when I pulled the fleece cover off the cage.  How long had she been on the wrong side?  Just since we got up?  Longer?  I suspect it couldn't be too long for the lack of chewed furniture/boxes on the floor and no poo. 

I clamped the grids more carefully.  Or so I thought.  This photo is an example of what I found over the next two mornings:  Mabel was in the cage, but the gate was pushed open.  Have no idea if she wandered around and came back, or if just getting it open was enough to be satisfying.

Mabel is amazingly willful when she doesn't feel well.  She must have been impatient for breakfast while we were out for our morning walk.  The binder clips have worked well with the new gate design, but I had been dealing with a passive pig. 

Feed me!  Feed me now!  What a monster!

By Wednesday Mabel started to feel better.  Hay and pellets were disappearing at a normal rate, I stopped the hand-feeding, she stopped chewing bars and cozies and everything she knows she shouldn't.  I repositioned the binder clips on the gate and she appears to be contained.  That could be simply because she no longer feels the need to escape.  May she continue to feel better.  No one in the house is happy when Mabel doesn't feel well.