Advice for a vet visit

[LMPigs]

Hello, it has been a few months since I posted hope you are all well.

Unfortunately, one of our boys has been gradually losing weight over the last few months. We took him to the vet a few weeks ago and she had a look at his teeth and carried out a physical exam, and couldn't find any physical issues. Since the weight loss was gradual and he was skinny but not emaciated, she suggested a few things to monitor (such as separate food bowls for pellets to check he gets his share, vitamin C supplement (not in the water bottle don't worry), and having them do some floor time on white paper to check urine is normal.

All seems normal according to our monitoring, but he is continuing to drop weight so he will be getting a blood test and an ultrasound tomorrow to see if they can identify the issue.

Although they seem to be well versed in guinea pig issues from all our interactions so far, since they are not a forum recommended / GP specialist vet I wanted to get some input on anything that we should have in mind not to consent to in case it is suggested. For example, I know that steriods can work differently with guinea pigs to other animals. Are there any other particular medications or procedures that an non specialist vet might suggest that we should be aware of?

I know teeth can also be a particular teeth but based on the previous exam and our own investigations both his front and back teeth seem normal with no spurs etc.

I've already read the forum guide for vet visits and have the Guinea Lynx list of harmful medications.

 

[Ron & Reg]

Hello, I can’t give you any advice but just wanted to say I hope it get sorted soon. I know how stressful it is when a piggie is losing weight. Big hugs x

 

[Siikibam]

I’m sorry your boy is unwell. Has he been squeaking while toileting? Did he seem to be in pain when the vet checked him out? There can sometimes be unexplained weight loss but I don’t know much about that.

You need to start weighing him once daily at the same time (preferably morning). You’ll have to step in and syringe feed him every two hours to help him gain/maintain his weight. Eating pellets (and veg) won’t help with him maintaining his weight. The biggest part of their diet is hay. Not eating enough is what causes weight loss.

For now you can use his pellets. Soak in warm water and syringe to him. You are aiming for minimum 60ml in a 24 hour period. You can do one feed near 11 and then start again in the morning. Have a read of the guides I’m linking below.

Another thing you can do is to syringe feed poop soup. Get some freshly dropped poo from his friend and soak in water. You can then syringe him the water. This all has to be within five mins - from poop drop to syringeing. You can put him in a box and give him some veg to munch on. Then just collect his poop.

I would also consider having him seen by one of the vets from the list. I know it may be difficult in terms of transport though. Hope he starts feeling better soon.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Sorry your piggie is loosing weight, hope the investigations come up with something that helps.

One medication that has been mentioned several times as having caused serious issues is Convenia. I don't think it's on the Guinea Lynx list. (Possibly it was confused with Cerenia, which can be used for guineas, and prescribed in error.?)

 

[LMPigs]

Thank you all for responding. He's not in pain, seems very much his usual perky self and is wee-ing normally. The weight loss has been over a period of about three months and poops seem to have been normal during that time (although obviously hard to be 100% confident with two of them in together) so we don't think he's not eating. We've not tried syringe feeding given his intake seems normal and I didn't want him to feel full from that and then be not wearing his teeth down by eating hay etc, but it's getting to the point where we might have too.

In any case, I've just dropped them off and I'm hoping that we'll get some insights following the investigations today. Depending on that we'll decide if he needs to go to a more cavvy savvy vet.

Thanks for the flag on Convenia.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Weight loss is down to a reduced hay intake but you can’t judge hay intake by eye - they can appear to be eating enough of it by watching them but once you see weight loss on the scales then it means that they aren’t. Giving separate bowls for pellets won’t make much of a difference given pellets are only the smallest proportion of their daily food intake (5%)
How much weight has he lost?

If he is still losing weight, then I would offer some top up feeds to stop the losses.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

 

[weepweeps]

I hope you get some answers soon.

 

[LMPigs]

Thanks all. He's lost about 250g but very gradually and consistently over a period of five months, so while it's possible that he's just eating about 1.5g of weight's worth of hay less per day every day, it seems to us that there's likely a cause other than reduced food intake. He is nearly four so when this started I did think it might just be age related weight loss but it seems quite a big drop and also doesn't seem to be settling, which is concerning.

They should call me later so I'll keep you all updated, thank you for all the input and support.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Not eating as much hay as is necessary is usually the cause of the weight loss, but you need for find the reason for him not eating as much in the first place and of course only the vet can do that with checks.
There are some medical conditions which can mean they eat enough but still lose weight though.
Four is not terribly old though, I wouldn’t expect to be seeing weight loss due to that age really.

Definitely step in with syringe feeding. Anything over 100g loss gradually and you do need to step in with support feeding

Do keep us posted. I hope he is ok

 

[Siikibam]

All the best.

 

[LMPigs]

Hello again. Here is the promised update:

It seems that Marshmallow's left kidney is enlarged and misshapen The vet wasn't able to say based on the physical exam and the ultrasound whether this could be a tumour, an infection or something else. We agreed to wait to see if the blood results shed light on the situation, and if its not clear from that then we'll get a second opinion.

In the meantime she agreed with the discussion above that we should do some supplementary feeding. If they have recovery feed in stock then we'll buy some when we pick up or else I will get one of the forum recommended brands online. The good thing is we have previously done some practice syringe feeding with mushed up pellets so hopefully he will take well to the supplementary feeding and we can put some weight back on or at least stop him losing any more.

He remains his perky and curious self (although I'm sure he had a good grumble when they were palpitating his tummy at the vets!) so just keeping our fingers crossed it will turn out to be something treatable. Apparently the blood test results should come back from the lab tomorrow or on Monday.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I am sorry to hear that. I hope it is something which can be treated

Definitely use mushed pellets until you can get recovery feed. Weigh daily so you can monitor that he is not losing anymore weight.

Fingers crossed

 

[weepweeps]

I hope the bloods show something treatable. Glad he seems well in himself.

 

[LMPigs]

A question for you all. We have some science selective recovery feed. Does anyone know how long you can keep it for once it's mixed up? I.e. could we mix a sachet in the morning and use part in the morning part later.

Since we're supplementing rather than replacing food we'll be feeding their breakfast, weighing feeding some recovery and then kinda working out from there how much we should be using

 

[LMPigs]

Hi just bumping this to see if anyone has advice on whether we can still use the rest of the recovery food we mixed this morning or if we need to mix another pack? Thank you.

 

[Swissgreys]

I tend to mix it fresh as needed.
I just take a few spoons out of the pack at time rather than mixing up the whole sachet.
But I think if it's only an hour or two old it should be ok.

 

[LMPigs]

Thanks @Swissgreys now we know what consistency it's supposed to be it does seem to make sense to mix it bit by bit.

As an update, I've put Marshmallow's weights and rescue food intake yesterday and this morning below. This morning he was slightly heavier than yesterday (only a few grams so not significant in terms
s of weight gain but at least it not lower). We will aim to give him another 20-15ml after the evening feed as well.

13 Aug,
10am
682g
10ml

6:30pm
691g
15ml

14 Aug
10am
13ml

I'd be delighted to get anyone's input on whether this seems right in terms of support feeding.

The other thing we've noticed this morning is that his poops seems a bit sort of crumbly. Is this a normal side effect of the food supplementing or shod we be concerned?

 

[Piggies&buns]

You need only weigh once a day and compare that to the day before. The more you weigh in one day the more fluctuation you pick up and the less accurate it is.

As you weighed at 10am yesterday, stick to weighing around 10am every day then compare it with the day before - that is what will tell you if you have found a good syringe feeding balance. You are looking to stabilise weight loss as a priority rather than gain. Gaining lost weight takes considerably longer

If his weight at 10am today was the same or slightly more than 10am yesterday, then that is good

 

[LMPigs]

Thank you.

Keeping our fingers crossed that he'll keep maintaining weight and that we'll get a good result when the vet phones on Monday.

In the meantime, here's a pic of the two of them having a rest after an exhausting grass scoffing session earlier.

 

[LMPigs]

Bit of a delayed update here as we've had bad news and taken some time to process.

We got Marshmallow's blood tests results back and it's clear his kidneys are not functioning correctly. Based on that plus the ultrasound the vet thinks he likely has some sort of kidney tumour. They offered us an x-ray to try to work out specifically what is going on but apparently the prognosis would be the same so it doesn't seem worth the additional cost and disruption to him.

Sadly, he won't recover from whatever it is so it's just a case of keeping him happy and comfortable until his quality of life deteriorates to a point where it will be kinder for him to be PTS.

As the moment we are continuing with supplementary feeding although he's co-operative to varying levels depending on the day, but his weight is still gradually falling .

The vet has also suggested subcutaneous fluid may help. My understanding of animal biology (or any biology!) is a bit limited but it seems as though that's the closest you can get to doing dialysis on a Guinea Pig. We have an appointment tomorrow for that to see how well he tolerates it/whether it seems to make a difference. Apparently it might be something we could potentially do at home if we think that's helpful as well - if there are any current forum users that have experience of this it would be great to get your input.

Otherwise he continues to generally be a perky little guys, so we're hoping we still have some time left provided we can find a way to keep his weight up.

All advice or experience welcome at this stage.

 

[LMPigs]

Just as an FYI that was a temporary leg stretching location on a visit to my parents, and not their usual run accomodation.

 

[Siikibam]

I’m sorry it’s not the news you wanted. At least you know what may be wrong. Just have lots of happy todays with him.