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Cacau - Sharing experience about Heat Stroke

derfeljr

New Born Pup
Joined
Nov 23, 2023
Messages
13
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11
Points
70
Location
Brazil
Hi my fellow humans,

First of all, this is my first post on this forum and I would like to thank all this community for sharing your experiences and lots of important information and advices on how to improve our lovely piggies' welfare. I live in Brazil so information about piggies is rather scarce. Finding this forum has been quite helpful on keeping myself together during this tough experience with my piggie Cacau.
Since I wanted to share as most information as possible to other people going through a similar situation, I am going to put down the events like a diary entry:

November 18th (Saturday) - I had to sleep 1 night out of my house during the weekend, so I searched for a "babysitter" for Cacau and left him there on Saturday morning, to pick him up on Sunday afternoon.

November 19th (Sunday) - On Sunday evening I went to the "babysitter"'s house to pick Cacau up, and I noticed he was very lethargic and the babysitter mentioned Cacau was not eating his veggies, which seemed pretty weird to me since he loves them and never refused. I then brought him home, and noticed that he was even more lethargic, almost like paralyzed. I then picked him up, and he was all wobbly, like he had no strength to move at all. I imediately took him to a 24x7 exotic vet clinic on another city (30 minutes from my house). While on the vet, I explained the situation and also that I did not know what could be the cause. The vet imediately gave Cacau a painkiller injection (I don't know the name of the med, sorry) and recommended we did an ultrasound to check his internal organs. The ultrasound was done immediately (same night) and the vet noticed that Cacau had pancreatitis. All other organs seemed normal. After pancreatitis was diagnosed, vet started medicating antibiotics, antiinflamatory, IV fluids and critical care (since Cacau would not accept any food). Vet also asked that I left Cacau hospitalized until his condition improved. I then left Cacau hospitalized.

November 20th (Monday) - During Monday morning the vet collected some blood exams and we had to wait for the results. I also spent a lot of time researching, including here on this forum for possible causes to Cacau's condition, and I saw some examples of heat stroke where symptoms seemed very similar to what Cacau experienced, and on Saturday when I left Cacau on the babysitters house, I remembered it was very hot that day, around 35º C, and she only had a fan to put on the room (no AC). During the afternoon I went back to the vet and suggested if what Cacau was experiencing was a Heat Stroke, and the vet said that it was probably the cause, since the blood exam results were ready and there were no signs of infection. Vet continued with all previous medication, but now we were certain that IV Fluids would need to be maintained until improvement. During Cacau's hospitalization, the vet team kept moving Cacau's legs as to reduce attrophy risk. Cacau still had no will to eat and could not move his back legs and very little his front legs.

November 21st (Tuesday) - The vet told us that Cacau was showing the first signs of improvement by accepting more the critical care during the morning. During the afternoon I was at the clinic to visit Cacau, and he also accepted some solid veggies, like carrot. However, quantity of solid food he ate was very small so critical care had to be maintained. Vet also received new results from blood exam collected on Monday, and noticed that Cacau's creatinine levels were through the roof - 6,40 mg/dL (reference value is 0,6 - 2,2 mg/dL) and his Urea was also very high - 146,30 mg/dL (reference value is 9,0 - 32,0 mg/dL). Vet said that these exam results also pointed to an accute kidney failure (AKI), probably caused by the heat stroke due to dehydration. Vet proceeded to do an X-ray to check Cacau's heart and lungs, and noticed Cacau's heart seemed a little large and also asked for an electrocardiogram. During the night, vet also collected another blood sample from Cacau to compare with the one taken on Monday.

November 22nd (Wednesday) - The vet told us that Cacau was showing some more signs of improvement, as his eyes and expression seemed better, Cacau was eating more veggies and also eating on his own, when putting smal quantities near his mouth, he would stretch his head to get the food and chew on his own. Also, blood exam collected on Tuesday night was available, and vet noticed that creatinine levels dropped to ~5 mg/dl (I still don't have the exam so can't tell exact numbers and also did not get urea values yet). Although creatinine values were still high, good news was that Cacau's kidney seemed to be working (at least a little) since creatinine levels were dropping. Vet proceeded with electrocardigram mentioned on Tuesday, and no major problems were found on Cacau's heart (thank God).

Current situation (time of this writing) - Vet mentioned that Cacau showed signs of improvement, and we should keep treatment until Friday and then collect another blood sample to compare creatinine and Urea levels. Cacau is also showing swell signs, since he has gained 100g during the treatment (from Sunday until Wednesday), vet mentioned that added weight was liquid retention due to Cacau not moving and receiving IV fluids.

My main concern now is reagarding Cacau's movements, he still cannot move on his own, his front legs have movement but not strong enought to move him to one place to another, and his back legs has even less movement/strength.
I did some searches on other piggies' stories on this forum and found some that were able to recover movement, but it seems it takes several weeks (I've seen some cases here that took up to 7 weeks for recovery). This has given me hope and is one of the reasons I am posting Cacau's story/situation here, to add to the knowledge base of this great forum which I am sure is helping lots of piggies' owners around the world.

What do you guys think of Cacau's condition? Do you think he has a chance? This whole scenario has been extremely painful for me and my wife and daughter as it is very hard to see Cacau on such a bad shape, and we are blaming ourselves for sleeping out of our home and leave Cacau on a hot place, and to be honest, I was not aware of the dangers of heat stroke (I know, pure ignorance on my side), and now that I did some more research, I can't believe I could do that to my lovely piggy.

As I get more updates on Cacau I'll share on this thread.
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention some additional information on the treatment and complication/symptoms at the time of this writing:

Current treatment at the time of this writing:
- IV Fluids
- Painkillers
- Vitamin C suplements
- Antibiotics
- Antiinflamatory
- Probiotics (due to antibiotics side effect)
- Critical care every 4 hours (not sure on the quantity, I believe vet is giving 50ml)
- Moving/positioning Cacau's legs to avoid atrophy and pressure points

Complications/Symptoms at the time of this writing:
- Pancreatitis
- High creatinine levels
- High urea levels
- Impaired movement (movement on front legs, but weak, even weaker on back legs).
- Swell on belly / retained liquid
- Eating solid food, but not enough like a healthy piggy
- Normal pee color, but not enough quantity like a healthy piggy
- Normal poo color/aspect, but not enough quantity like a healthy piggy
 
I am so sorry you and Cacau are having such a hard time. Sending lots of healing vibes to Cacau I hope he gets well very soon,
 
I hope Cacau is ok. Sending healing vibes your way. Good luck.
 
Oh poor you and your family and your little Cacau, I do not have any experience of heat stroke but you and your vet are doing everything to give him a chance to recover, good luck 🤞 I hope he fully recovers
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention some additional information on the treatment and complication/symptoms at the time of this writing:

Current treatment at the time of this writing:
- IV Fluids
- Painkillers
- Vitamin C suplements
- Antibiotics
- Antiinflamatory
- Probiotics (due to antibiotics side effect)
- Critical care every 4 hours (not sure on the quantity, I believe vet is giving 50ml)
- Moving/positioning Cacau's legs to avoid atrophy and pressure points

Complications/Symptoms at the time of this writing:
- Pancreatitis
- High creatinine levels
- High urea levels
- Impaired movement (movement on front legs, but weak, even weaker on back legs).
- Swell on belly / retained liquid
- Eating solid food, but not enough like a healthy piggy
- Normal pee color, but not enough quantity like a healthy piggy
- Normal poo color/aspect, but not enough quantity like a healthy piggy

Hi and welcome

BIG HUGS

I am so sorry that you and Cacau are having such a tough time in the wake of the recent extreme and unprecedented killing heat wave that has gripped Brazil and other countries on the eastern side of the Andes. Heat stroke can unfortunately affect the body in lots of different ways and can cause lasting damage. You are clearly a very caring owner and your vets are doing all they can.

A reduced poo output is always the result of a reduced food intake. Keep in mind that over three quarters of what a guinea pig eats in a day hay or fresh, unsprayed and dog pee free grass. Most people underestimate the amount. Pellets, vegetables and any treats all together only fill the supplementary role that wild forage has in the diet on which guinea pigs have evolved on. What should be upped is the amount of syringe feeding support if a guinea pig is not able to sustain their current weight - stabilising the weight is always the first aim during a crisis. Heat stroke does unfortunately badly affect the digestive system and it can take quite some time to recover. It can cause stasis-like symptoms.

Regaining it can only happen once a guinea pig is well into their recovery or back to normal; it can sometimes take months after a serious illness to happen. At this stage, it is important to get the bulk in over the quality if that are your concerns. The rest is down to patience. You cannot hurry on the healing process unfortunately. I hope that Cacau will in time recover.

Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Sending Cacau some healing vibes.
 
Hi guys and gals, I appreciate the warming welcome and all the positive & healing vibes you're sending for Cacau, I bet this is helping him recover as well. @Wiebke , thanks a lot for all the precious information. I will definetely need to take a look at those articles, specificaly the one about Syring Feeding and medicating, since I've never had to do that before.

I am visiting Cacau 2 times a day (1 hour per visit), which is what the limit that the vet clinic allows. Cacaus continues on his medications that I posted earlier, including the IV fluids.

Today we noticed that Cacau is eating a little more solid food than yesterday, which is a good sign. It also seems that his strength is a little better, since he is no longer shaking his legs so much, and at some times is able to drag himself a little bit with his front legs, which is something he had not done until now.

On my last visit today during the night, Cacau seemed not hungry as he ate very little of what I offered him, but he did not seem in pain, he just seemed like he was not hungry. It could be the symptoms that @Wiebke mentioned about heatstroke affecting the digestive system badly, and it could also be that he is not so hungry, since the vet said he took some vegetables during the afternoon, as well as the critical care through syringe.

Tomorrow morning the vet will collect another blood sample to follow up on the creatinine and urea. If those are within normal levels, the vet will release him so I can bring him home and we will continue his medication and care on his home. I am hoping that Cacau can come back home tomorrow, since he has been on the vet for 5 days now with little activity, in a small space, with fluids attached to his front leg and taking medicine through injection now and then. I bet it's not a pleasant experience. Being home maybe will help him feel better and hopefully can help him on his recovery (I hope!).

Again, thank you all for all the support and positive thoughts. I'll come back tomorrow with further news.
 
Hi guys and gals, I appreciate the warming welcome and all the positive & healing vibes you're sending for Cacau, I bet this is helping him recover as well. @Wiebke , thanks a lot for all the precious information. I will definetely need to take a look at those articles, specificaly the one about Syring Feeding and medicating, since I've never had to do that before.

I am visiting Cacau 2 times a day (1 hour per visit), which is what the limit that the vet clinic allows. Cacaus continues on his medications that I posted earlier, including the IV fluids.

Today we noticed that Cacau is eating a little more solid food than yesterday, which is a good sign. It also seems that his strength is a little better, since he is no longer shaking his legs so much, and at some times is able to drag himself a little bit with his front legs, which is something he had not done until now.

On my last visit today during the night, Cacau seemed not hungry as he ate very little of what I offered him, but he did not seem in pain, he just seemed like he was not hungry. It could be the symptoms that @Wiebke mentioned about heatstroke affecting the digestive system badly, and it could also be that he is not so hungry, since the vet said he took some vegetables during the afternoon, as well as the critical care through syringe.

Tomorrow morning the vet will collect another blood sample to follow up on the creatinine and urea. If those are within normal levels, the vet will release him so I can bring him home and we will continue his medication and care on his home. I am hoping that Cacau can come back home tomorrow, since he has been on the vet for 5 days now with little activity, in a small space, with fluids attached to his front leg and taking medicine through injection now and then. I bet it's not a pleasant experience. Being home maybe will help him feel better and hopefully can help him on his recovery (I hope!).

Again, thank you all for all the support and positive thoughts. I'll come back tomorrow with further news.

Hang on in there.

Here are some practical care tips for looking after guinea pigs with mobility problems. Please be aware that the lack of movement also impacts on the bowel movement; being able to move around stimulates the gut. It is all connected but to the degree that the lower body is obviously starting to gradually come back, leg movement and bowel movement will hopefully slowly improve and so will the strength as more food is processed.
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

Hopefully, it will all come back slowly but the fact that Cacau is starting to perk up thanks to the good care is very encouraging. :tu:

PS: Please bookmark this link here. It is the access link to our full information resource (which is one of the largest around), which you will hopefully find very helpful as well as fascinating. Over fifteen years' worth of questions on this lively forum and up to half a century of personal experience with guinea pigs have gone into our guides.
The guides format allows us to update and add at need or as we have some extra time, seeing that we are all doing this for free in our own free time around our jobs, family and our own guinea pigs. We are an owners' forum that specialises in providing personalised practical and moral support for getting started or during difficult time, a safe place to ask all the 'little' as well as the large questions and not least a friendly place to hang out with like-minded people. It is our explicit forum ethos to provide a friendly place where we give moral support as much as practical answers.
Here is the link for browsing, reading and re-reading at need; especially as you are in a different time zone to the UK where the forum is based in although we have members and enquiries from all over the world. We cannot explain everything in full in each thread so we have our guides for all the helpful how-to tips and in-depth information.
Comprehensive Owners' Practical and Supportive Information Collection

We would like to ask you to please also bookmark this your specially monitored support thread so you can always pick it up easily again. Unlike social media we can provide personalised support for as long as needed but it helps both sides if we can keep all relevant information for each case together so you do not need to explain everything but we can refresh our memory if needed to give you the answers that really apply and help you most. We will be here for Cacau and for you for as long as needed.
 
I am very sorry for my delayed replies. It's been very busy managing work and the visits to the vet clinic.

@Wiebke , thanks a lot for all the helpful information and great articles, I will definetely need to do a deep dive on those for the coming days.

The good news I have to share is that creatinine levels on Cacau dropped to 2.6, almost at normal levels now, so the renal problem seem to be sorted with the IV fluids therapy. Cacau is going to be out of fluids therapy tomorrow morning, and we will finally be able to bring him home and continue treatment from home.

What I am now worried is that he is eating very little solid food. He accepts Critical Care well, but he is not interested in solid food. My concern is that this might be bloat. On Wednesday Cacau started to get better and started eating solid food, the vet proceeded to feed him lots of veggies, like carrots, cucumber, japonese pumpkin, gillo, eggplant, and then on Thursday and today he is not very interested on solid food, he is eating very little. All these veggies were present on Cacau's diet before the heat stroke, but now that he is not moving and his gut is slower, these veggies may be harder on him and I am worried it may have caused bloat.
Cacau is pooing, but his poos are all very small. The vet told that Cacau's poo is small now because he is being fed with critical care. Does this make sense?
 
Poor Cacau, small poos is usually a sign that they are not eating enough. Is the vet weighing Cacau regularly and is the weight being maintained? I will wait for someone with far more knowledge to help you though, but small steps, and hopefully he will be so much better once back at home with you 🤞
 
Thank you @Bill & Ted . Yes, the vet has been feeding him daily and his weight is stable. My concern is that he accepts very little solid food, and considering that he ate lots of veggies when his apettite started to improve on Wednesday, and now he is eating very little, may indicate that he got a bloat.
Before getting him home today, I'll ask for an xray on his tummy to check for bloat signs. If he has bloat, I want to make sure we are treating with proper medications.

From your experience, does feeding mostly on CC (even on enough amounts to estabilize weight) causes small sizes poops?
 
I managed to find the weight stats for Cacau since he got hospitalized. The vet weigh him every morning:

19/11 - 1444g
21/11 - 1558g
22/11 - 1555g
23/11 - 1454g
24/11 - 1455g
25/11 - 1442g
 
I have no experience, just wanted to send healing rumbles from my boys ♥️
 
Thank you @Bill & Ted . Yes, the vet has been feeding him daily and his weight is stable. My concern is that he accepts very little solid food, and considering that he ate lots of veggies when his apettite started to improve on Wednesday, and now he is eating very little, may indicate that he got a bloat.
Before getting him home today, I'll ask for an xray on his tummy to check for bloat signs. If he has bloat, I want to make sure we are treating with proper medications.

From your experience, does feeding mostly on CC (even on enough amounts to estabilize weight) causes small sizes poops?
In my experience (solely feeding critical care for over 8 weeks) my piggy did have smaller than normal poops. I hope once Cacau is home they start to feel better and start to eat for themselves. ❤️
 
I am very sorry for my delayed replies. It's been very busy managing work and the visits to the vet clinic.

@Wiebke , thanks a lot for all the helpful information and great articles, I will definetely need to do a deep dive on those for the coming days.

The good news I have to share is that creatinine levels on Cacau dropped to 2.6, almost at normal levels now, so the renal problem seem to be sorted with the IV fluids therapy. Cacau is going to be out of fluids therapy tomorrow morning, and we will finally be able to bring him home and continue treatment from home.

What I am now worried is that he is eating very little solid food. He accepts Critical Care well, but he is not interested in solid food. My concern is that this might be bloat. On Wednesday Cacau started to get better and started eating solid food, the vet proceeded to feed him lots of veggies, like carrots, cucumber, japonese pumpkin, gillo, eggplant, and then on Thursday and today he is not very interested on solid food, he is eating very little. All these veggies were present on Cacau's diet before the heat stroke, but now that he is not moving and his gut is slower, these veggies may be harder on him and I am worried it may have caused bloat.
Cacau is pooing, but his poos are all very small. The vet told that Cacau's poo is small now because he is being fed with critical care. Does this make sense?

Hi

Over three quarters of the daily food intake should be hay and/or fresh grass. This is what guinea pigs have evolved on. Too much rich veg is not good for the gut microbiome, especially the amount of high sugar veg he is being provided with. But even all that veg is by far not replacing what he needs to eat in term of hay/fresh grass fibre and ideally leafy green forage with only a little occasional fruit, root veg and starchy foods. But we can discuss diet when Cacau comes homes home and after he starts eating properly again to see what is available to you and how it can be introduced without upsetting his disgestive system any further.

It is not the syringe feed that is the problem; it is the fact that your current level of syringe feeding is not high enough to replace the normal hay/grass intake and to stabilise the weight. Your vet seems to think that guinea pigs eat mainly veg but they are not aware that this is actually just about a quarter of what they need.
Cacau should ideally be fed every 2 hours throughout the day for you to get 60-90 ml of feed (plus additional water, as much as he is actively drinking from a syringe) into him in 24 hours.
Can you please check the next time you see him whether he his belly is hardly gurgling or whether it is overactive by holding your ear against the belly? The difference is quite noticeable.

Does that make sense to you? A guinea pig gut is like a big conveyor belt; what comes out at the end reflects what goes in at the mouth. It takes on average about a day for food to pass from one end to the other but it can take much longer in a sluggish gut so what you are seeing is currently running 1-2 days behind the intake.
Additionally Cacau is currently unable to eat some of his poos for a second run through the gut, so that means even less nutrition. He is also unable to walk, which means that his gut is not stimulated enough and that can make any bloating or gut movement worse.

But I am glad that the creatinine levels in the kidneys are coming down. They build up very fast in the blood during a heat stroke, which is what causes the GI stasis, salivating and fits and, in your case, possibly the additional back leg paralysis. The kidneys are the place that filters them out.

Cacau is not yet out of the woods by a long way but he is at least somewhat stable and has got a chance of recovery. But it won't be quick. He has been very, very close to dying. He has been lucky to find such a loving and determined owner who has obviously raced him to specialist vet just in time.

HUGS

PS: If you really badly need a laugh in between all the worries for Cacau, try this thread here from the top of our Guinea Pig Chat section: Guinea pig memes - feel free to add!
 
Thank you Wiekbke, it does make sense, I discussed this with my vet yesterday, and he agreed that introducing veggies is too soon now, yesterday I got to bring Cacau home, and got the instructions on meds and food intake from the vet. The vet did recommend that we should be feeding cacau mostly hay and some veggies like romaine, and Critical Care every 4 hours (not every 2 hours) of about 5-10ml.

We did an x-ray on Cacau yesterday morning, and it showed some gas on his tummy, but not so much (as per the vet), but his tummy was all full of food.
The problem is that I spent the day with Cacau at home yesterday, and he is barely eating, he shows very little interest on food, he seems reactive enough to his surroundings, but he will simply not eat and move very little. And the x-ray showed that his tummy was full of food, so it makes me think that his digestive system is very very slow.

At 2 AM local time today when I went to give medicine to Cacau, I noticed that he still had critical care on his mouth while I was medicating him, and I then panicked, because I thought that his digestive system stopped and the critical care I feeded him 2 hours was not digested. When I got to the vet, the vet examined Cacau and said that there were no food on his through, and his mouth was clean. Vet said that sometimes piggies leave some food on their mouth, and that was normal, and that it could also have been the romaine that he was eating (very little) just before I medicated him.

I decided to hospitalize Cacau again, since he seemed more in pain during his time at home, and that is because he was taking additional painkillers via injection, whereas with me he was only taking 1 oral painkiller, which the vet said he could not add anymore (via oral). Also, the idea to bring him home while he was not 100% recovered from the renal problems was in hope that he would feel encouraged to move around more on his familiar (and bigger) pen, but that's not what happened, since Cacau ate even less when home (probably due to additional pain).

Same as you, vet also told me that his healing process will be very slow, since he went through a near-death experience, he said I have to be patient as it will take time for Cacau to eat and then to want to move around more. I still don't think I quite grasped that "slow recovery" term, since every day I hope to see Cacau improve a little, like have more apettite, or move around a little more, but he is 7 days now hospitalized and still will barely eat anything other than critical care via syringe.

Last blood exam was on Friday morning, and his creatinine was at 2.6 mg/dl (reference limit would be 2.2 mg/dl) and urea was at 93.90 mg/dl (reference limit would be 32.0 mg/dl), so it did improve a lot, but not within normal levels yet. Maybe this could be one of the reasons for him not having any appetite and feeling some pain. He is also on antibiotics, which I hear causes loss of appetite as well.

I had a long conversation with the vet last night (3 AM) when I took Cacau to the clinic, and I asked for his honest opinion on Cacau's chances of recovery. The vet was very optmistic, since Cacau is very responsive (is aware of his surroudings, when vet goes to give him injections, he tries to runaway, he move around complaining, etc) and is still accepting syringe feed. Vet said that he saw worst cases than Cacau where the piggy was not taking any solid food for about 1 month due to dental problems, and was still able to recover and surive. I'm willing to do whatever it takes for Cacau to recover, but I don't want to extend his suffering if he has no chances of pulling it through.

Ah, one more comment, the on-duty vet from last night (2 AM local time) also suggested to discuss with the vet responsible for Cacau about doing some acupuncture sections (which is available at the clinic), since that might help him get moving and also alleviate some of the pain on his legs. Any experience from you guys on this? I saw some stuff on the internet where acupuncture quite successful on some guinea pigs.
 
I have my fingers crossed that Cacau will soon be feeling better. When I had a piggy being solely syringe fed for about 8 weeks I was feeding close to 100ml a day and he was still losing weight. Once Cacau comes back home you will need to feed often to sustain his weight. Good luck.
 
Thank you Wiekbke, it does make sense, I discussed this with my vet yesterday, and he agreed that introducing veggies is too soon now, yesterday I got to bring Cacau home, and got the instructions on meds and food intake from the vet. The vet did recommend that we should be feeding cacau mostly hay and some veggies like romaine, and Critical Care every 4 hours (not every 2 hours) of about 5-10ml.

We did an x-ray on Cacau yesterday morning, and it showed some gas on his tummy, but not so much (as per the vet), but his tummy was all full of food.
The problem is that I spent the day with Cacau at home yesterday, and he is barely eating, he shows very little interest on food, he seems reactive enough to his surroundings, but he will simply not eat and move very little. And the x-ray showed that his tummy was full of food, so it makes me think that his digestive system is very very slow.

At 2 AM local time today when I went to give medicine to Cacau, I noticed that he still had critical care on his mouth while I was medicating him, and I then panicked, because I thought that his digestive system stopped and the critical care I feeded him 2 hours was not digested. When I got to the vet, the vet examined Cacau and said that there were no food on his through, and his mouth was clean. Vet said that sometimes piggies leave some food on their mouth, and that was normal, and that it could also have been the romaine that he was eating (very little) just before I medicated him.

I decided to hospitalize Cacau again, since he seemed more in pain during his time at home, and that is because he was taking additional painkillers via injection, whereas with me he was only taking 1 oral painkiller, which the vet said he could not add anymore (via oral). Also, the idea to bring him home while he was not 100% recovered from the renal problems was in hope that he would feel encouraged to move around more on his familiar (and bigger) pen, but that's not what happened, since Cacau ate even less when home (probably due to additional pain).

Same as you, vet also told me that his healing process will be very slow, since he went through a near-death experience, he said I have to be patient as it will take time for Cacau to eat and then to want to move around more. I still don't think I quite grasped that "slow recovery" term, since every day I hope to see Cacau improve a little, like have more apettite, or move around a little more, but he is 7 days now hospitalized and still will barely eat anything other than critical care via syringe.

Last blood exam was on Friday morning, and his creatinine was at 2.6 mg/dl (reference limit would be 2.2 mg/dl) and urea was at 93.90 mg/dl (reference limit would be 32.0 mg/dl), so it did improve a lot, but not within normal levels yet. Maybe this could be one of the reasons for him not having any appetite and feeling some pain. He is also on antibiotics, which I hear causes loss of appetite as well.

I had a long conversation with the vet last night (3 AM) when I took Cacau to the clinic, and I asked for his honest opinion on Cacau's chances of recovery. The vet was very optmistic, since Cacau is very responsive (is aware of his surroudings, when vet goes to give him injections, he tries to runaway, he move around complaining, etc) and is still accepting syringe feed. Vet said that he saw worst cases than Cacau where the piggy was not taking any solid food for about 1 month due to dental problems, and was still able to recover and surive. I'm willing to do whatever it takes for Cacau to recover, but I don't want to extend his suffering if he has no chances of pulling it through.

Ah, one more comment, the on-duty vet from last night (2 AM local time) also suggested to discuss with the vet responsible for Cacau about doing some acupuncture sections (which is available at the clinic), since that might help him get moving and also alleviate some of the pain on his legs. Any experience from you guys on this? I saw some stuff on the internet where acupuncture quite successful on some guinea pigs.

I know that I sound like a broken record but please feed Cacau every two hours if you struggle to get 5-10 ml into him per session and - now that he is back with you - please try to gently massage his belly several times a day for half an hour. You can reduce only onace a piggy is taking 10-15 ml at once.

A massaging pad of some sort for feet or a car seat can help in order to stimulate gut movement, especially as he is not able to move himself. That is also crucial. Both things are very important to get his body going again now the poison has been removed.

I know that it is very hard and disheartening but please do not give up.
 
Thank you weepweeps. Yesterday while Cacau was home, it was my first time every syringe feeding a piggy. I admit that it was a little dauting trying to feed Cacau via syringe and he would complain and move away his mouth, I had to fight with him to give servings. When the vet said Cacau was "accepting" syringe feeding, I thought he was feeding on it like a baby.. but no, vet said that "accepting" meant that Cacau was swalloing and not letting the critical care go out his mouth.
I felt like I was just forcing food through him while he did not want it and thought to myself if that was the right thing to do. But I assume that is something you experienced folks here have to go through with your piggies at some point.
 
I know that I sound like a broken record but please feed Cacau every two hours and - now that he is back with you - please try to gently massage his belly several times a day for half an hour. A massaging pad of some sort can help in order to stimulate gut movement, especially as he is not able to move himself.

Both things are very important to get his body going again now the poison has been removed.
Thank you Wiebke. Yesterday when I was with Cacau, I gave him 2 belly massages of about 30 minutes each. But last night I hospitalized Cacau again due to him still feeling pain and not being 100% recovered from his renal problems. I did ask the vet for that though while Cacau is hospitalized.

About Syringe feeding, that is something I need to discuss with the vet, since feeding every 4 hours is like a regular procedure he does with all his hospitalized piggies (they have a lot of piggies hospitalized for different reasons on the clinic, including surgery), so that will need to take some convincing, specially Cacau is overweight (was overweight for quite some time while he was healthy).
 
The first few days syringing a poorly piggy is awful. So stressful because you are so wanting them to eat something. But it does get easier. They usually realise you are helping them and you get better at doing it. Do you have someone to hold Cacau while you sit in front syringing? That will help immensely. They hold Cacau so they can’t move backwards and you gently hold their nose behind the top incisors. Raise their head up slightly and pop the syringe into the side behind the incisors and squeeze. Are you using a 1ml syringe?

I would also say it’s not an exact timed procedure. If you only get in 5ml in each session the sessions will need to be closer. If you can get in 20ml at each session then every 4 hours seems ok. I don’t feed through the night so I aim for more in the day.
 
Thank you Wiebke. Yesterday when I was with Cacau, I gave him 2 belly massages of about 30 minutes each. But last night I hospitalized Cacau again due to him still feeling pain and not being 100% recovered from his renal problems. I did ask the vet for that though while Cacau is hospitalized.

About Syringe feeding, that is something I need to discuss with the vet, since feeding every 4 hours is like a regular procedure he does with all his hospitalized piggies (they have a lot of piggies hospitalized for different reasons on the clinic, including surgery), so that will need to take some convincing, specially Cacau is overweight (was overweight for quite some time while he was healthy).

He won't be overweight now... You can check that by feeling around his ribcage. If you cannot feel any ribs at all, a guinea pig is overweight. In a healthy piggy, you can feel the ribcage but not every single rib - if you can feel all ribs, a piggy is underweight. This method works for all ages and sizes. You cannot starve a critically ill guinea pig. That is entirely the wrong time.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

The two hours work for us forum members with critically ill guinea pigs. It is tough feeding an apathetic and uncooperative piggy, physically and emotionally. And it is very exhausting, especially when it drags on.
By feeding more often throughout the day, you can then ensure that you get your own unbroken sleep and do not need to get up all the time. You do not have round the clock nursing care available at home. ;)
 
Yes, that's exactly what I did. My daughter held Cacau for me, while I held his nose behind the top incisors to hold his mouth in place (saw a video on youtube for that), but I felt bad by having to do that, still very new to this.
 
Yes, that's exactly what I did. My daughter held Cacau for me, while I held his nose behind the top incisors to hold his mouth in place (saw a video on youtube for that), but I felt bad by having to do that, still very new to this.
It has to be done. Don’t feel bad. The alternative is that he won’t make it. You have to keep his tummy working until he feels well enough to eat for himself. Also don’t worry if he’s overweight. Weight comes off so easily but takes ages for them to gain it back. My piggy lost 400g and took him 10 months to put it back on.
 
He won't be overweight now... You can check that by feeling around his ribcage. If you cannot feel any ribs at all, a guinea pig is overweight. In a healthy piggy, you can feel the ribcage but not every single rib - if you can feel all ribs, a piggy is underweight. This method works for all ages and sizes. You cannot starve a critically ill guinea pig. That is entirely the wrong time.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

The two hours work for us forum members with critically ill guinea pigs. It is tough feeding an apathetic and uncooperative piggy, physically and emotionally. And it is very exhausting, especially when it drags on.
By feeding more often throughout the day, you can then ensure that you get your own unbroken sleep and do not need to get up all the time. You do not have round the clock nursing care available at home. ;)
I'll defenitly discuss this with the vet. I'm also going to the clinic later today to visit Cacau and I'll take a look on his ribs.

Ah, so feeding every 2 hours is only during the day? Then during the night you and the piggie can have a pieceful sleep? That does sounds better than the every 4 hours, since I could only sleep 1 or 2 hours, because I had to get up all the time to medicate or syringe feed.
 
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