cavyservant
New Born Pup
My female guinea pig Millie is just 5 and normally v.active and able to do lots of tricks and a more of an explorer than a cuddler!
Millie has had 72 hours continuous diarrhoea + 30g weight loss in 24hrs. With about 6-12 hours diarrhoea Wednesday as well. She has a background of chronic cystitis and 300g weight loss in last year.
I’m tired from being up with her multiple nights and I guess I want a sounding board on the decisions I’m making:
Millie currently alert and eating/drinking , almost her normal temperament.
On Wednesday night (posting this on a Sunday night) I noticed guinea pig’s poos were mushy and very abnormal shape or firmer but very small (attached photos- the poos are normally the length of the end but of my little finger). I removed other food in the cage and left only unlimited hay. The poos returned to normal within a few hours. I fed her some critical care and additional few ml of water every couple of hours during the day. I carefully re-introduced the vegetables. Poos remained normal.
Then on Friday night her poo got worse again, but even worse than Wednesday. The poos were mostly large piles of mush with some small thin tiny poos. Poo smelled foul. I fed her critical care and water through the night. No vegetables. Millie seemed a bit quieter and settled for a cuddle(she doesn’t normally).
I got an appointment on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the exotic vet I normally see is away for a couple more weeks. The vet on duty gave fibreplex and thought there was an abnormally shaped kidney (although previously exotic has identified cystic ovaries so not sure if that was what Saturday vet was feeling). Vet advised to carry on with critical care, but not to give additional water beyond the liquid in the critical care. Millie’s temperature was slightly raised but she had just scrambled away from the vet so the activity might have raised it a bit. We also realised Millie has had 300g weight loss in the past year. (Yes I’m kicking myself, i had been falsely reassured by how active Millie seemed, normal urine samples and previously no poo issues so got out of habit of weighing).
Millie seems really thirsty and when out for feeding, keeps going to the syringe I usually give water in and picking it up (yes she is that clever). I reduced the critical care a bit because I wasn’t sure whether that was exacerbating the diarrhoea but given the 20g loss in 24 hours tonight I have ramped it up again along with a couple of leaves of lettuce (given the diarrhoea hasn’t stopped on just hay and fibreplex and critical care, I thought if she’s going to die from the diarrhoea anyway, I’d rather she did it feeling happyish).
She has had a history of chronic cystitis for which she is on continuous 0.3 to 0.7 ml dose of 1.5mg/ml metacam (dog one). I keep as low as possible but elevate if flares. No flares for around 6 months.
Reflecting on the past few months, she always seems desperately hungry (I thought her she was just greedy) and this has been getting a bit more intense the past few months. Very recently she has started to get the look older guinea pigs get around their eyes. Her and her friend are the closest bonded guinea pigs I’ve had and therefore dreading when one of them dies.
She’s booked to see the exotic vet in their 1st appointment but that’s 2 weeks from now.
Edit: did urine dipstick and all normal there
Millie has had 72 hours continuous diarrhoea + 30g weight loss in 24hrs. With about 6-12 hours diarrhoea Wednesday as well. She has a background of chronic cystitis and 300g weight loss in last year.
I’m tired from being up with her multiple nights and I guess I want a sounding board on the decisions I’m making:
- Could critical care be making her worse;
- Should I give her some small bits of veg?
- Should I syringe extra water?
- Any other advice?
Millie currently alert and eating/drinking , almost her normal temperament.
On Wednesday night (posting this on a Sunday night) I noticed guinea pig’s poos were mushy and very abnormal shape or firmer but very small (attached photos- the poos are normally the length of the end but of my little finger). I removed other food in the cage and left only unlimited hay. The poos returned to normal within a few hours. I fed her some critical care and additional few ml of water every couple of hours during the day. I carefully re-introduced the vegetables. Poos remained normal.
Then on Friday night her poo got worse again, but even worse than Wednesday. The poos were mostly large piles of mush with some small thin tiny poos. Poo smelled foul. I fed her critical care and water through the night. No vegetables. Millie seemed a bit quieter and settled for a cuddle(she doesn’t normally).
I got an appointment on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the exotic vet I normally see is away for a couple more weeks. The vet on duty gave fibreplex and thought there was an abnormally shaped kidney (although previously exotic has identified cystic ovaries so not sure if that was what Saturday vet was feeling). Vet advised to carry on with critical care, but not to give additional water beyond the liquid in the critical care. Millie’s temperature was slightly raised but she had just scrambled away from the vet so the activity might have raised it a bit. We also realised Millie has had 300g weight loss in the past year. (Yes I’m kicking myself, i had been falsely reassured by how active Millie seemed, normal urine samples and previously no poo issues so got out of habit of weighing).
Millie seems really thirsty and when out for feeding, keeps going to the syringe I usually give water in and picking it up (yes she is that clever). I reduced the critical care a bit because I wasn’t sure whether that was exacerbating the diarrhoea but given the 20g loss in 24 hours tonight I have ramped it up again along with a couple of leaves of lettuce (given the diarrhoea hasn’t stopped on just hay and fibreplex and critical care, I thought if she’s going to die from the diarrhoea anyway, I’d rather she did it feeling happyish).
She has had a history of chronic cystitis for which she is on continuous 0.3 to 0.7 ml dose of 1.5mg/ml metacam (dog one). I keep as low as possible but elevate if flares. No flares for around 6 months.
Reflecting on the past few months, she always seems desperately hungry (I thought her she was just greedy) and this has been getting a bit more intense the past few months. Very recently she has started to get the look older guinea pigs get around their eyes. Her and her friend are the closest bonded guinea pigs I’ve had and therefore dreading when one of them dies.
She’s booked to see the exotic vet in their 1st appointment but that’s 2 weeks from now.
Edit: did urine dipstick and all normal there
. I’m taking back to the vet now.
