lilpumpkamo
New Born Pup
Hello!
I wanted to post here to ask for advice on caring for a older guinea pig with recurring health issues. I want to make her as comfortable as possible in the time she has left with us.
Some background: She adopted as an adult from Craigslist and likely 1-2 years old in 2018. I have had her for 5.5 years, so I would say she is 6 at the absolute youngest but likely 7 or 8. She did not have any health issues for the past 5 years other than occasional periods of softer poops, but vets we sought out did not worry about it. Towards the end of 2023, she started to have increasing health issues accompanied by weight loss. Fearing ovarian cysts due to hair loss and crusty nipples, we took Pumpkin to a local exotic vet in December 2023. He did not see any cysts but did notice she had an adrenal tumor which was likely responsible for some of the issues she was having. He also told us he knew she was a very old guinea pig and to manage our expectations. The vet gave Pumpkin a hormone injection and we did two at home 12 and 24 hours later. We noticed a huge change in her behavior and her hair that was thinning grew back. However, in the past month, Pumpkin has had recurring issues. We have brought her to a vet and sought out advice but have been told she is getting very old and will have problems as a result.
Here are some of her current issues and medications
Recurring loud breathing 1-3x a week: this will usually go away with a big cough but did develop into aspiration pneumonia once which was treated with antibiotics.
Recurring bloat-like symptoms 1x a week: we noticed Pumpkin straining and took her out of the cage to massage her and have her sit on a vibrating mat, this was successful for a bit along with simethicone and probiotics.
Impaction?: this week we prepared to say goodbye to Pumpkin because she stopped eating, drinking, and pooping. She also went from being very agile to laying around with barely open eyes. My fiancée is a human medical doctor and suggested it was likely impaction and we could resolve the issue. With our help, Pumpkin passed two very dry poops and then a ton of slimey poops followed and the relief was immediate.
Recurring digestion issues: Pumpkin has been having smaller, more liquidly poops recently. I am not sure if it an affect of the critical care, medications, or an underlying issues. This sometimes will present with the bloat-like symptoms and sometimes will be on it's own. Her butt area is more wet than usual so we cut some fur to prevent the area from staying wet.
Question: Are there any diet changes I could make to perhaps resolve some of these issues? We thought maybe carrots were had for her to eat and causing the labored breathing that was resolved with a cough, but then when she was not eating anything at all, we were desperate for her to eat anything so we gave her carrots. I have been giving her oxbow digestion support but my fiancée thinks we should take away tablets and pellets for the time being. We have been giving her critical care but do not want to syringe feed her and accidentally have her aspirate. Someone suggested giving her some alfalfa hay to help her put some weight back on but I don't want her to have too much calcium and have bladder issues.
I am not sure if in her old age her muscles are weak which is causing her to have difficulty swallowing (leading to the temporary labored/squeaky/sometimes wet sounding breathing) and pooping, but I want to make sure I am not prolonging her suffering in any way. We were given metacam (meloxicam) and buprenex to help mange her pain, but also don't want those medications to cause further digestion issues. I do not want to give up on Pumpkin, but I also do not want her to suffer. It is hard to know what to do. I have made the difficult call to put a guinea pig to sleep before, but have also thought it was a guinea pig's time previously and she ended up living another 9 months. This is really hard. I work from home and can hear her labored breathing during the day so frequently go to check on her and try to help. I have whiplash from preparing to mourn Pumpkin and then seeing her bounce back and full of energy. I took a day off from work because of a migraine I had from crying so much. I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can for her
Pumpkin's poop on the left compared to her cagemates' on the right
I wanted to post here to ask for advice on caring for a older guinea pig with recurring health issues. I want to make her as comfortable as possible in the time she has left with us.
Some background: She adopted as an adult from Craigslist and likely 1-2 years old in 2018. I have had her for 5.5 years, so I would say she is 6 at the absolute youngest but likely 7 or 8. She did not have any health issues for the past 5 years other than occasional periods of softer poops, but vets we sought out did not worry about it. Towards the end of 2023, she started to have increasing health issues accompanied by weight loss. Fearing ovarian cysts due to hair loss and crusty nipples, we took Pumpkin to a local exotic vet in December 2023. He did not see any cysts but did notice she had an adrenal tumor which was likely responsible for some of the issues she was having. He also told us he knew she was a very old guinea pig and to manage our expectations. The vet gave Pumpkin a hormone injection and we did two at home 12 and 24 hours later. We noticed a huge change in her behavior and her hair that was thinning grew back. However, in the past month, Pumpkin has had recurring issues. We have brought her to a vet and sought out advice but have been told she is getting very old and will have problems as a result.
Here are some of her current issues and medications
Recurring loud breathing 1-3x a week: this will usually go away with a big cough but did develop into aspiration pneumonia once which was treated with antibiotics.
Recurring bloat-like symptoms 1x a week: we noticed Pumpkin straining and took her out of the cage to massage her and have her sit on a vibrating mat, this was successful for a bit along with simethicone and probiotics.
Impaction?: this week we prepared to say goodbye to Pumpkin because she stopped eating, drinking, and pooping. She also went from being very agile to laying around with barely open eyes. My fiancée is a human medical doctor and suggested it was likely impaction and we could resolve the issue. With our help, Pumpkin passed two very dry poops and then a ton of slimey poops followed and the relief was immediate.
Recurring digestion issues: Pumpkin has been having smaller, more liquidly poops recently. I am not sure if it an affect of the critical care, medications, or an underlying issues. This sometimes will present with the bloat-like symptoms and sometimes will be on it's own. Her butt area is more wet than usual so we cut some fur to prevent the area from staying wet.
Question: Are there any diet changes I could make to perhaps resolve some of these issues? We thought maybe carrots were had for her to eat and causing the labored breathing that was resolved with a cough, but then when she was not eating anything at all, we were desperate for her to eat anything so we gave her carrots. I have been giving her oxbow digestion support but my fiancée thinks we should take away tablets and pellets for the time being. We have been giving her critical care but do not want to syringe feed her and accidentally have her aspirate. Someone suggested giving her some alfalfa hay to help her put some weight back on but I don't want her to have too much calcium and have bladder issues.
I am not sure if in her old age her muscles are weak which is causing her to have difficulty swallowing (leading to the temporary labored/squeaky/sometimes wet sounding breathing) and pooping, but I want to make sure I am not prolonging her suffering in any way. We were given metacam (meloxicam) and buprenex to help mange her pain, but also don't want those medications to cause further digestion issues. I do not want to give up on Pumpkin, but I also do not want her to suffer. It is hard to know what to do. I have made the difficult call to put a guinea pig to sleep before, but have also thought it was a guinea pig's time previously and she ended up living another 9 months. This is really hard. I work from home and can hear her labored breathing during the day so frequently go to check on her and try to help. I have whiplash from preparing to mourn Pumpkin and then seeing her bounce back and full of energy. I took a day off from work because of a migraine I had from crying so much. I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can for her
Pumpkin's poop on the left compared to her cagemates' on the right
