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Boars Rapid weight loss, not pooping properly - very worried (he is at the vets)

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claire8234

claire8234

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Hi

This morning I have taken one of my Guinea pigs to the vets and he is being kept in for the day so they can assess and see whats wrong with him. I am so worried about him and my children are very upset.

Carrot is only two yet this is the 3rd time he has gone to the vets and I feel like its all my fault, that somehow I am not looking after him properly. He had a urine infection a few months ago which took a while to clear and he was on antibiotics and metacam for a few weeks. He was eating well and didn't lose any weight.

He has gone in today as he has lost around 100g in weight and I can feel he is a lot thinner. His poos were tiny last night and this morning he was producing very squishy tiny amounts of poo. His bottom, whilst looking clean and normal did have a rather strong, almost fishy odour too it.

The vet is going to check his teeth and keep an eye on his eating and urine output etc but she said she didn't know what had caused the weight loss.

My other boar is his brother and is a very healthy pig so I can't understand why Carrot seems to keep getting ill.

I know that his weight loss is not a good sign and that there may not be a good outcome from this but if anyone can shed any light on what might be wrong and the chances of him making a recovery I would appreciate it.

I just want him home and happy and healthy again :(

Claire
 
Aw, hun, sorry to hear Carrot ( love the name) is unwell, you have done the right thing in taking him to the vets, he is now in the best handsm and hopefully they will come up with some answers and a solution.

Some piggies are just more prone to illness, like us humans.

Healing wheeks to carrot, and big hugs to you and your children.

xx
 
I'm sorry Carrot is ill, i agree you have done the right thing and he is in the best hands. I also agree some piggies are more prone to getting ill then others just like humans, fingers crossed for postive results, please keep us posted :) x
 
Sorry to hear you are having problems with Carrot. If his poos are very small this would suggest that either he is not eating much or that his gut motility is sluggish. Either way, given that dramatic a weight loss I would suggest syringe feeding Critical Care may be sensible to stabilise his weight & improve his gut motility. If he has had a course of antibiotics then his good bacteria in his gut may well be a a low level so a probiotic such as Bio Lapis that you can often get at your vets would be a good idea too. This would help to rebuild his gut bacteria & give him the best chance at digesting his food. Are you having any X-rays done? Is the vet checking his back teeth too? Do you use an exotics vet? I find they are better on diagnostics for guinea pigs.

Don't blame yourself that your guinea is ill, some are just more prone to illness than others, you are doing the sensible thing by getting him seen at the vets.

Best wishes to you & your guineas, shiny :)
 
Thank you for your replies.

The vet is going to check all his teeth and his mouth. She said she would ring me this afternoon so will wait to see what she says. I will get some critical care from the vets so I can give him that if need be. I have some probiotics left from when he had the antibiotics so again thats in the cupboard if I need it.

He had an xray done a little while ago when he had his urine infection and it was all clear so he doesn't have any stones etc.
 
Hi lovely,

Lots of good advice on here. Hopefully it's something treatable and he'll be home with you soon. Get well soon Carrot xox
 
The vet has just rang. She says his teeth are fine but she thinks it may be a kidney problem so next step is an in house blood test :( she will ring later with the results and then see where we go. Not very good news really
 
At least if they can give you a definite diagnosis you will know what you are dealing with, a blood test can be very helpful for this. Can they do a full blood profile in house? That's great if so, I've usually had to wait for biochemistry results to come back from the lab which can take 48 hours or more.

Best wishes for Carrot x
 
Everything crossed for Carrot. Sometimes these things just happen, though I understand and identify with blaming yourself, as this is what I do too. We can only do our best, and you are doing, so don't be too hard on yourself. :)
 
I collected Carrot from the vets about half an hour ago and its not good news. The vet believes he has kidney disease so unfortunately there is not much we can do for him. He is on 3 weeks worth of septrin just in case its an infection that has travelled to his kidney (they couldn't get him to produce any urine to test). If we can get a urine sample we will take it in tomorrow. She has also given me some critical care to give him to try and get his gut moving as he isnt pooing properly but I cant suck the dam stuff up with the syringe so its proving difficult to get any of it into him, I spooned some in the syringe but then couldn't depress the plunger to get any out - HELP!

He will go back next week and will just keep an eye on him - if he starts to suffer then I will have to do the kindest thing and say goodbye :(
 
Update on Carrot

Hi everyone

Last night I managed to get Carrot to have 40ml of critical care between getting home from the vets at 7pm and going to bed. He didn't want to know at all and it was a real struggle to get anything down him.

Last night I left him inside his pigloo and that was where I found him this morning, I don't think he moved at all during the night because he stinks of wee and the hair around his legs is all dirty he also had a bit of poo stuck to his leg as well :( I haven't attempted to wash him as I think it would just be too much for him at the moment but will have to if he gets any worse.

He has had a mixture of critical care and mushy pellets today via syringe. He had 30ml at 8am and about the same at 1pm, he has eaten some rocket and broccoli which is encouraging however he isnt eating any hay and I haven't seen him drinking anything he just stays inside his pigloo. I will feed him some more critical care and veg at about 5pm and then again before I go to bed and hopefully he will take 120ml in total today.

He has produced a little bit of poo but its a long way off from what it should be.

His weight today is 826g and he was 850g sunday night (he used to weigh just under 1kg). I am hoping that when I weigh him tomorrow he wont have lost any more weight but I am trying not to get my hopes up as I know that he really isnt very well.

Feeling very sad for him and really hoping that we can help him and get to have some more time with him.

Claire

x
 
Yesterday I managed to get a good amount of critical care into him over about 6 feeds - he had about 125ml in total and he had some veggies.

weight yesterday 826g weight this morning 796g so I am gutted. This morning he actually came out to see me and ate some veg but I could only get 3ml of critical care into him, he just wasn't having it and got really cross with me (was really struggling and throwing his head back and grumbling at me so I then left him alone).


I will keep trying to feed him but if he keeps losing weight I am worried that he will either pass away or have to be put to sleep - I don't know what his chances of recovery are :(
 
Oh honey, this must be heart breaking for you, i dont have any experience with kidneys, but a fair bit with syringe feeding, this time last yar i had a VERY Poorly little boy, not eating, drinking for himself and just laid in the same place asleep all the time, i had to feed him every couple of hours around the clock, it was a struggle, he put up such a fight, but i made it known it wouldnt be tolerated and that i was bigger and stronger than him and he would be syringe fed weather he liked it not, he lost so much weight over the 4 weeks, going from just under 1.3kg to 900g. I know it is so disheartning and emotionally draining, but you are doing a fab job! Keep up the good work, you are getting good amounts og CC into him, i would let him eat anything he voluntarily wants to right now, parsley and banan was a fav with my boy, even the odd digestive biscuit, and some bread, porridge oat mash is calorific and filling so should help him with weight gain, also porridge oats and banana mash as both high in calories and sugar so will give him some energy!

It was a very long 4 weeks, but we got there (i never thought we would, i almost had him PTS thinking it would be the kindest thing) Thank god i didn;t, with the help and support from here, he is now absolutely fine, still only 1120 ish grams but he is 4.5 years old and its unlikely he will ever gain all of his weigh again.

Keep fighting Carrot! x
 
Sorry too late to edit, but you could also try offering different brands of hay than normal to try and keep him interested, also readigrass. xx
 
Thanks Toffeewoffee. I have some readigrass but he isn't eating that or hay or pellets. I have picked some grass from the garden (neighbours must think I am barmy) which went down well and he seems keen on his veggies which is good but will go to the shop tomorrow and get some of his favourites. Both piggies usually empty their water bottle on a daily basis but its still half full this morning and I haven't seen him moving from his bed. Both my boys love oat hay so will try to source some of that.

I last fed him at 11pm and then again at 6am - do I need to start feeding him at night too? Both piggies live in my daughters bedroom so I haven't been going in there at night to try and get him as it wakes her up. I had thought of moving them downstairs for a while but would need to make a lid for their cage as they are in an open top C&C and we have a cat (not that he shows any interest but dont want to risk it).

Our other Boar Daisy (yes apologies for the silly name!) is fine but I think he seems to know something is up as he doesn't seem his usual cheeky self - do you think they sense these things? I am keeping them both together as normal - is that right?

Still can't get a urine sample from him so haven't been able to confirm if its a bad kidney infection or kidney disease/failure - time will tell on that one I suppose as he is on septrin twice a day.
 
Frsh grass is also good as i belive it is quite fibreous if thats a word lol, so if he will eat that then let him. Have you tried putting some probiotic in the water, my piggies seem to love it and usually drink much more, but Lilly (another boy with a girls name) wouldn't use the water bottle either, even for week safter his recovery, i had to teach him all over again! I think it would be an idea to feed him through the night aswell while he is still losing weight, i got up every 2 hours with Lilly in the end, syringe feeding burgess excell b&O nugget mash, CC mash and banana and oat mash.

Yes you should keep him with Daisy, Daisy will stimulate him, and yes they sense things, all 3 of my other piggies pampered lilly while he was ill, they are not cuddly pigs and at the time only had one cosy cup, which minnie claimed as hers and would never let anyone else near it, Lilly had it as his hospital bed and she was fine with it, but they all used to take food over to him and lick him while he lay there, it was so sweet to watch!

xx
 
Edit Have you tired sitting him in a clean dry washing up bowl and syringing him some water? This is a good way of getting a urine sample?
 
Thats a good idea about the washing up bowl - I hadn't thought of that. I have some fibreplex (think thats what it is called) so I have mixed a little in with his CC mash but will try it in the water bottle. Daisy has always been the biggest and more dominant one, always first to barge his way into the veggie bowl but he hasn't done that and he keeps poking his head in the pigloo as if he is checking on Carrot. I am going to clear a space in the living room and see if I can move their cage downstairs (benefit of C&C is that it comes apart easily).

How do you do the oat mash - just soak the oats in water and syringe feed? I tried putting some mashed pellet in a bowl for him to eat but unless its syringed into him he doesnt eat it
 
Yes, just poor some warm water over some porridge oats and let it sit for a while until it forms to a waste then mix it up and syringe it, or with banana mash, i usually put the banana in the microwave for 10 secs first to soften it, then masg it up and add the dry oats to that. None of my piggys are keen on oats to be honest, but it is a good weight booster so maybe try that aswell.

xx
 
well oats and mashed banana was a big success! He loved it although he NEVER eats banana when offered rolleyes He had over 20ml of that and he had a lot of water too. As I haven't seen him drinking from the bottle I gave him water via syringe and he must have had over 30ml (in between syringes of oats and banana).

I have managed to collect a few drops of wee but not really enough to take to the vets so I shall try the washing up bowl technique again later when I feed him again.

They are both downstairs now (much to the disgust of my other half) so at least feeding, weighing etc will be a much easier process. He is now happily snuggled up with Daisy on a large piece of vetbed until its time to try and shove more food down him and get more wee out of him poor boy

xx
 
Oh excellent news! That is really good, atleast you have found something he likes, and good that he is getting some water too!

If your worried about his water intake you could always make his CC more watery.

xx
 
I have some of the banana & oats left so I will alternate between that and CC which he isn't as keen on but will probably be better for him. Hopefully I can a decent amount of wee from him to take to the vets.

Just take it a daqy at a time and see how we go
 
How about making some veg juice and mixing it with the CC powder and see if he will eat that? I also mixed banana with CC which Lilly liked if carrot likes banana atm might be worth a try?

x
 
yes good idea I will mix some banana with his CC as he seemed to like the banana - CC smells nice but I think he only wants to eat something if its really tasty

x
 
Have you tried feeding extra vitamin C? I usually try to keep some of the syrup sort that's sold for children in my piggy first aid kit, as once a pig has a break form eating, their Vit C levels can drop alarmingly. I didn't know this until my vet told me, but one of the symptoms of Vit C deficiency is appetite suppression! So not eating can make them not want to eat.
For instance, my old sow Smartiehad a problem in Feb. She wouldn't eat, so I syringed Critical Care and additional Vit C syrup for some time (do persist, it may take a while) and she did eventually get her appetite back. She did like the syrup also - it made her happy so I was happy too.
 
Carrot had a good amount of CC at 5pm and happily drank water from the syringe. He is still staying inside his pigloo but ventured out for some veggies earlier. Went to feed him at 9pm and he was having none of it. He had some celery and a few syringes of water but only got 2ml of CC, oat & banana mixture (he had this this morning and wolfed it down). He was really struggling and chirping at me so I left him alone. I will aim to feed him in the early hours of the morning and see how we go.

Urine sample sent to the vet so hopefully some results from that tomorrow. He did seem a little brighter today but his poops go from starting to look like normal albeit small poos to these very stringy ones. If by the morning I have managed to stop him losing any more weight I will feel a lot happier.

Thank you everyone for your advice and support

xx
 
Sometimes it can be more palatable if it is warm. Also if you have a blender you can syringe-feed any blended veg.
 
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