Fifo
New Born Pup
Hi, I’ve got a two (almost 3) year old female guinea pig called Poppy, who’s had a tough couple of weeks. Started with removing an inch long piece of hay/grass from her eye which resulted in a eye ulcer, but the emergency out of hour vets sorted that with pain relief and eye drops and her eye is all clear now.
On that night I noticed how much weight she has lost, currently down to 1055g but was a hefty 1280g a year and a half ago.
Can feel her back bone and hip bones a little too much for my liking.
That night I also noticed hair loss on both sides of her cheeks, under her ears, almost following her jaw line. Perfect scratching areas, it’s not full hair loss but is thinner and much shorter there. Her skin has been checked over and is fine with no signs of anything? The vet did mention something about lack of second hair? (Hair loss shown in picture attached)
She is running/hopping about as usual, eating everything put in front of her, her sister eats faster than her so thought it might be her not getting to the food quickly enough, so been giving her extra bits of pepper (her favourite) on her own. She loves pellets, and gets plenty of hay, dried grass and is out on the lawn on an given warm dry day.
She had her teeth looked at by a vet - not a guinea pig forum approved one mind you and I’m not entirely convinced the vet had a good enough look. Apparently they’re fine, was just told to keep an eye on her weight and if further weight loss to come back and they’ll do a back teeth check under GA, which I’m not entirely happy is right?
Tonight she has given us such a scare tho - will share the video we caught of her wheezing/chirping or struggling. She goes into a trance like state and makes a strange noise from her mouth (she seems to have lost her squeak a while back and make a raspy noise now instead) with the rest of her body pulsing sharply.
It’s happened three times tonight, sometimes it looks like she’s trying to dislodge something or struggling to breath. But then I pick her up and she stops? I cuddled her and checked her over, trying to look in her mouth - put her down and she hopped about, nibbling things and interacting with her sister, then laid down and after a little while, started doing it again.
It’s terrifying to watch as she looks like she’s going to stop breathing.
She’s normal now and hasn’t done it in over an hour? Terrified to put her to bed out of sight.
Reading different threads, different things come up such as guinea pig chirping - videos show a similar trance like state and a similar noise, if Poppy had her squeak.
Or more concerning - heart problems or URI. One thread mentioned a hooting noise, which I know Poppy has done in the past - I put it down to dust in the nose?
But with the weight loss as well I’m worried this is all signs of something more sinister?
To add to it all, Poppy and her sister are most evenings trying to hump one another or showing themselves to one another? Which had me concerned about ovarian cysts?
Any help or knowledge in any of these areas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fiona
On that night I noticed how much weight she has lost, currently down to 1055g but was a hefty 1280g a year and a half ago.
Can feel her back bone and hip bones a little too much for my liking.
That night I also noticed hair loss on both sides of her cheeks, under her ears, almost following her jaw line. Perfect scratching areas, it’s not full hair loss but is thinner and much shorter there. Her skin has been checked over and is fine with no signs of anything? The vet did mention something about lack of second hair? (Hair loss shown in picture attached)
She is running/hopping about as usual, eating everything put in front of her, her sister eats faster than her so thought it might be her not getting to the food quickly enough, so been giving her extra bits of pepper (her favourite) on her own. She loves pellets, and gets plenty of hay, dried grass and is out on the lawn on an given warm dry day.
She had her teeth looked at by a vet - not a guinea pig forum approved one mind you and I’m not entirely convinced the vet had a good enough look. Apparently they’re fine, was just told to keep an eye on her weight and if further weight loss to come back and they’ll do a back teeth check under GA, which I’m not entirely happy is right?
Tonight she has given us such a scare tho - will share the video we caught of her wheezing/chirping or struggling. She goes into a trance like state and makes a strange noise from her mouth (she seems to have lost her squeak a while back and make a raspy noise now instead) with the rest of her body pulsing sharply.
It’s happened three times tonight, sometimes it looks like she’s trying to dislodge something or struggling to breath. But then I pick her up and she stops? I cuddled her and checked her over, trying to look in her mouth - put her down and she hopped about, nibbling things and interacting with her sister, then laid down and after a little while, started doing it again.
It’s terrifying to watch as she looks like she’s going to stop breathing.
She’s normal now and hasn’t done it in over an hour? Terrified to put her to bed out of sight.
Reading different threads, different things come up such as guinea pig chirping - videos show a similar trance like state and a similar noise, if Poppy had her squeak.
Or more concerning - heart problems or URI. One thread mentioned a hooting noise, which I know Poppy has done in the past - I put it down to dust in the nose?
But with the weight loss as well I’m worried this is all signs of something more sinister?
To add to it all, Poppy and her sister are most evenings trying to hump one another or showing themselves to one another? Which had me concerned about ovarian cysts?
Any help or knowledge in any of these areas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fiona
