1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)
Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK.
Important notice: Zantac (ranitidine) has been recalled worldwide in 2019. A new version is now available but due to high worldwide demand it can be very difficult to get hold of for vets. Cisapride is often prescribed instead.
1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
If your guinea pig goes off any food or suddenly eats noticeably less, then it is seriously ill and needs to see a vet for a diagnosis and treatment for whatever problem is causing the loss of appetite. In many cases it is either the need to breathe (which comes before the need to drink or the need to eat), the inability to eat or swallow (like problems with the teeth, especially those at the back, a mouth infection or a blockage in the guts) or there is very often a pain issue at the bottom of it that requires a hands-on examination or a scan.
The whole list of what could cause anorexia is listed here: Guinea Lynx :: Anorexia (not eating)
You need to step in with syringe feeding within 24 hours with a guinea pig totally off its food in order to keep your guinea alive until it can be seen by a vet and until any medication can kick in – which may take several days – until the appetite gradually returns.
Here are the links to our very practical feeding support guides:
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
How much to feed a very ill guinea pig?
When dealing total loss of appetite, aim for as close to 40-60 ml in 24 hours as you can get. Use scales to check the food intake once daily at the same time; don’t rely on your eyes when you see a piggy nibbling on a little food! The overwhelming majority of the daily food intake is hay, and you can’t control that!
We see so many people reporting that ‘my guinea pig has eaten a little bit of lettuce’ – with is about 1% of what it should eat or less and doesn’t mean that said guinea pig is going to survive!
Important advice for syringe feeding
When syringe feeding, please do not just press the contents of a syringe into the mouth as quickly as you can; this can lead to them going in to the lungs if your guinea pig struggles with swallowing and can kill. Ideally you push the syringe gently, little and with many pauses to allow your guinea pig to swallow and to chew as long as it is no actively taking food from your syringe. Give only as much as it has the strength and capacity to swallow. In the very ill and weak, this can be 1/10 to 1/3 of a small 1 ml syringe, and it may take as much 10 minutes to work your way through one syringe full.
Here is our detailed illustrated beginners guide that talks you through every aspect and shows you exactly how, how much and how often as well as how to handle your guinea pig in a range of situations and depending on how cooperative it is.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links
There have been recently several enquiries from people worried that syringe feeding could cause bloat. In over 10 years of existence and with well over 10.000 enquiries passing through our Health & Illness section during this time, we have not lost a single piggy from syringe feed induced bloat.
Please note: When we talk about syringe feed, this does NOT mean lukewarm water that has no calories or pureed baby food (veg or fruit) that may indeed cause problems. You need to feed hay based fibre as much as possible, as hay is what keeps the guts balanced!
This means mushed up pellets or emeraid (is easily taken but doesn't contain a lot of fibre) in an emergency and powdered recovery formula, like Critical Care fine grind for the longer term (or any mix of these - whatever is accepted best by a guinea pig that is not eating).
Syringe feeding emphatically does NOT cause bloat! NOT syringe feeding on the other hand will most surely result in your guinea pig going eventually into gut stasis and dying if your guinea pig is not eating.
You syringe feed because an illness has caused your guinea pig to lose their appetite and therefore their weight. Bloat can – very occasionally - result from the original illness that is causing the problem in the first place, not proper syringe feeding! Sadly, in this case cause and effect have got confused and may sadly cost lives unnecessarily as a result.
Keeping the guts going and enough food passing through them during an acute illness whether your guts go into overdrive or stop altogether can make the difference between life and death. During the acute crisis, this means regular feeds every 1-2 hours around the clock – how often depends on how much feed your guinea pig can take and process in each session.
Our comprehensive guide talks you through all aspects (including how to improvise in an emergency):
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
Please always take any guinea with digestive problems (soft poos, runny diarrhea, bloat) off any fresh veg, forage and grass until ideally 48 hours until the digestive process has normalised and your guinea pig is producing normal poos again.
Then start re-introducing fresh food slowly, starting with fresh herbs and slowly adding more veg with every meal, leaving the watery veg like cucumber, lettuce or celery for last. Stop feeding fresh food the moment you notice the poos getting soft again.
With any soft poos (down to cow pads), you can wait and see whether 24 hours off fresh veg normalise the poos again or bring about a marked improvement. See your vet promptly (i.e. within 24 hours) with runny diarrhea or if your piggy is looking very poorly; also if your poos don't normalise in that space of time or if the digestive problem recurs or persists.
With very dark, very smelly, watery diarrhea you need to see a as life or death emergency. Please keep in mind that guinea pigs with runny diarrhea are at high risk of dehydration and may require subcutaneous fluid injections.
If problems persist, then a faecal lab test is the way forward to find the correct medical treatment.
Here is the link to our poo guide with pictures: Wiebke's Guide to Poops
Food supplements and gut medication
When the natural fermentation process in the gut derails and the gut microbiome becomes dominated by bad bacteria (dysbiosis) that can cause diarrhea, bloat and GI stasis (or a mix of all), then your first aim is to ensure that your guinea pig keeps eating by weighing daily and stepping in with offering extra support feed if your guinea pig is still eating or step in with syringe feed if your guinea pig is not eating at all. The scales will help you to judge just how much support your guinea pig will actually need. We talk of weight loss only once it has reached 50g or more.
Your second priority is to help restore the gut microbiome balance, whether that is from overfeeding fresh food, a bad reaction to an antibiotic or from a bug affecting the gut.
-The most effective way to transfer healthy live gut biome to an ill guinea pig is what is called 'poo soup'. This means soaking just dropped, totally fresh poos from a healthy companion in a little water and then syringeing the water to the ill guinea pig. It is somewhat gross, but it mimics natural behaviour and is more effective than any probiotic powder if done correctly.
- You can always add a pinch of probiotic powder to any syringe feed and will have to resort to probiotics in case all your guinea pigs are affected or you are stuck with a single guinea pig. Pet shops usually have some herbivore probiotics in an emergency, but you can also order online for your first aid kit.
- In more severe or chronic cases, especially when an antibiotic has caused total loss of appetite or when milder problems persist, a course or two of fibreplex can often make a real difference. If your guinea pig doesn't like the taste, then give it mixed in a little recovery or mushed up pellet mix.
Product information in this link here: Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links
Gut stimulants like zantac/ranitidine and emeprid (both together as they work on different parts of the digestive tract) are also recommended as a gut support in case of diarrhea or persistent digestive problems, not just bloat. Please do not self-medicate and always only do so with prescription or consent of your treating vet.
Cisapride is a rather strong drug but can help in more severe chronic digestive illnesses, like IBS (which can be diagnosed by a noticeable thickening of the lower gut).
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pig Safely
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)
Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK.
Important notice: Zantac (ranitidine) has been recalled worldwide in 2019. A new version is now available but due to high worldwide demand it can be very difficult to get hold of for vets. Cisapride is often prescribed instead.
1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
If your guinea pig goes off any food or suddenly eats noticeably less, then it is seriously ill and needs to see a vet for a diagnosis and treatment for whatever problem is causing the loss of appetite. In many cases it is either the need to breathe (which comes before the need to drink or the need to eat), the inability to eat or swallow (like problems with the teeth, especially those at the back, a mouth infection or a blockage in the guts) or there is very often a pain issue at the bottom of it that requires a hands-on examination or a scan.
The whole list of what could cause anorexia is listed here: Guinea Lynx :: Anorexia (not eating)
You need to step in with syringe feeding within 24 hours with a guinea pig totally off its food in order to keep your guinea alive until it can be seen by a vet and until any medication can kick in – which may take several days – until the appetite gradually returns.
Here are the links to our very practical feeding support guides:
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
How much to feed a very ill guinea pig?
When dealing total loss of appetite, aim for as close to 40-60 ml in 24 hours as you can get. Use scales to check the food intake once daily at the same time; don’t rely on your eyes when you see a piggy nibbling on a little food! The overwhelming majority of the daily food intake is hay, and you can’t control that!
We see so many people reporting that ‘my guinea pig has eaten a little bit of lettuce’ – with is about 1% of what it should eat or less and doesn’t mean that said guinea pig is going to survive!
Important advice for syringe feeding
When syringe feeding, please do not just press the contents of a syringe into the mouth as quickly as you can; this can lead to them going in to the lungs if your guinea pig struggles with swallowing and can kill. Ideally you push the syringe gently, little and with many pauses to allow your guinea pig to swallow and to chew as long as it is no actively taking food from your syringe. Give only as much as it has the strength and capacity to swallow. In the very ill and weak, this can be 1/10 to 1/3 of a small 1 ml syringe, and it may take as much 10 minutes to work your way through one syringe full.
Here is our detailed illustrated beginners guide that talks you through every aspect and shows you exactly how, how much and how often as well as how to handle your guinea pig in a range of situations and depending on how cooperative it is.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links
There have been recently several enquiries from people worried that syringe feeding could cause bloat. In over 10 years of existence and with well over 10.000 enquiries passing through our Health & Illness section during this time, we have not lost a single piggy from syringe feed induced bloat.
Please note: When we talk about syringe feed, this does NOT mean lukewarm water that has no calories or pureed baby food (veg or fruit) that may indeed cause problems. You need to feed hay based fibre as much as possible, as hay is what keeps the guts balanced!
This means mushed up pellets or emeraid (is easily taken but doesn't contain a lot of fibre) in an emergency and powdered recovery formula, like Critical Care fine grind for the longer term (or any mix of these - whatever is accepted best by a guinea pig that is not eating).
Syringe feeding emphatically does NOT cause bloat! NOT syringe feeding on the other hand will most surely result in your guinea pig going eventually into gut stasis and dying if your guinea pig is not eating.
You syringe feed because an illness has caused your guinea pig to lose their appetite and therefore their weight. Bloat can – very occasionally - result from the original illness that is causing the problem in the first place, not proper syringe feeding! Sadly, in this case cause and effect have got confused and may sadly cost lives unnecessarily as a result.
Keeping the guts going and enough food passing through them during an acute illness whether your guts go into overdrive or stop altogether can make the difference between life and death. During the acute crisis, this means regular feeds every 1-2 hours around the clock – how often depends on how much feed your guinea pig can take and process in each session.
Our comprehensive guide talks you through all aspects (including how to improvise in an emergency):
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
Please always take any guinea with digestive problems (soft poos, runny diarrhea, bloat) off any fresh veg, forage and grass until ideally 48 hours until the digestive process has normalised and your guinea pig is producing normal poos again.
Then start re-introducing fresh food slowly, starting with fresh herbs and slowly adding more veg with every meal, leaving the watery veg like cucumber, lettuce or celery for last. Stop feeding fresh food the moment you notice the poos getting soft again.
With any soft poos (down to cow pads), you can wait and see whether 24 hours off fresh veg normalise the poos again or bring about a marked improvement. See your vet promptly (i.e. within 24 hours) with runny diarrhea or if your piggy is looking very poorly; also if your poos don't normalise in that space of time or if the digestive problem recurs or persists.
With very dark, very smelly, watery diarrhea you need to see a as life or death emergency. Please keep in mind that guinea pigs with runny diarrhea are at high risk of dehydration and may require subcutaneous fluid injections.
If problems persist, then a faecal lab test is the way forward to find the correct medical treatment.
Here is the link to our poo guide with pictures: Wiebke's Guide to Poops
Food supplements and gut medication
When the natural fermentation process in the gut derails and the gut microbiome becomes dominated by bad bacteria (dysbiosis) that can cause diarrhea, bloat and GI stasis (or a mix of all), then your first aim is to ensure that your guinea pig keeps eating by weighing daily and stepping in with offering extra support feed if your guinea pig is still eating or step in with syringe feed if your guinea pig is not eating at all. The scales will help you to judge just how much support your guinea pig will actually need. We talk of weight loss only once it has reached 50g or more.
Your second priority is to help restore the gut microbiome balance, whether that is from overfeeding fresh food, a bad reaction to an antibiotic or from a bug affecting the gut.
-The most effective way to transfer healthy live gut biome to an ill guinea pig is what is called 'poo soup'. This means soaking just dropped, totally fresh poos from a healthy companion in a little water and then syringeing the water to the ill guinea pig. It is somewhat gross, but it mimics natural behaviour and is more effective than any probiotic powder if done correctly.
- You can always add a pinch of probiotic powder to any syringe feed and will have to resort to probiotics in case all your guinea pigs are affected or you are stuck with a single guinea pig. Pet shops usually have some herbivore probiotics in an emergency, but you can also order online for your first aid kit.
- In more severe or chronic cases, especially when an antibiotic has caused total loss of appetite or when milder problems persist, a course or two of fibreplex can often make a real difference. If your guinea pig doesn't like the taste, then give it mixed in a little recovery or mushed up pellet mix.
Product information in this link here: Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links
Gut stimulants like zantac/ranitidine and emeprid (both together as they work on different parts of the digestive tract) are also recommended as a gut support in case of diarrhea or persistent digestive problems, not just bloat. Please do not self-medicate and always only do so with prescription or consent of your treating vet.
Cisapride is a rather strong drug but can help in more severe chronic digestive illnesses, like IBS (which can be diagnosed by a noticeable thickening of the lower gut).
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pig Safely
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets