Project Save Hamp: Day 1

Let me start by saying this: this is not my typical blog post, but a friend of mine has an injured beloved family pet and with 4 kids she had to play the role of a very good vet. And because she has 4 kids, and well, our economy sucks, she couldn’t afford a vet so she had to do a lot of research to become Google certified to help save Hamp. So, to show my support we (my friend, the wonderful newly graduated vet Dr, Jazmine) and I are doing Project Save Hamp. (donations welcomed but not necessary 😀 )

Hamp is a 1-year-old Guinea Pig, and she broke both her back legs during a horrific fall. Dr. Jazmine and her kids lost all hope, at first, because Hamp was laying there on the ground after the fall and was not moving. It kind of looked like Hamp just wanted to give up hope too and didn’t have the strength to move. That’s when Jazmine started to do all the research to see what she was able to do since she knew there was no way she would be able to afford a vet. Her 4-year-old son was in tears because Hamp is his cuddle buddy and he had witnessed her fall and her hurt.

After she had done some research, she came to the conclusion that Hamp needed something for her pain and some calcium. So she found out that she could give her baby ibuprofen and looked up the dosage, then found her calcium supplements and administered both to her with a baby syringe.

She Googled how to make a wheelchair for a Guinea Pig and found nothing. Can you believe it? Google DID NOT have the answer! So she looked up images of what the wheelchairs looked like that the veterinarian would give small animals and decided to put her creative mom mind to work.

She took one of her kid’s knee pads (like the kind used for riding bikes), she took a toy car and broke it apart to get the wheel and the axle (still all attached), she cut the plastic part of the knee pad off and left just the foam, and then she sewed the wheels onto the knee pad. After that, she took a large gauze pad and laid it on top in the knee pad (where Hamp’s belly would rest). After that, she put Hamp in her new wheelchair, used the straps from the knee pad and secured her in place.

Dr. Jazmine taught Hamp to walk in the wheelchair using treats until she got the hang of it. Once Hamp realized what the wheelchair was for, she seemed like her normal chipper self again.

This is only a tempory fix though. Hamp still needs to find her way to an actual vet. But at least this made Dr. Jazmine’s 4-year-old much happier and he high-fived his mom and said, “Great job mom!”

More to come on Project Save Hamp! 🙂

Hopefully, if anyone needs to figure out how to make a wheelchair for a small animal this will help them out!

-Samantha & Dr. Jazmine ♥