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Specialist Colitis and kidney failure after fly strike

G

Guineamum

New Born Pup
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Hi, I posted before about needing a new friend for our younger boar, Buzz, and that George had rejected Buzz after an operation for flystrike. So, almost as soon as George finished his baytril he started to eat less and then got very watery diarrhoea. We booked him in for an emergency appointment straight away but before we got there he started bleeding quite badly from his bottom. The vet says it's colitis and kidney failure and he's on more baytril, a critical care formula and a probiotic. We've been advised to stop all food and water except Timothy hay. His bleeding is mostly settled and he's passing a few slimy poos.
Could the flystrike have caused this? How long do you think we have got left with him? He's dropped to below 1kg weight. We have prepared the children but it's hard. We are taking him back on Friday.
His mate Buzz has been unsuccessful with his dating visit to the rescue centre, so will have to come back to looking at George through bars again.
Sad times 😞
Thank you for reading.
 
Guineamum said:
Hi, I posted before about needing a new friend for our younger boar, Buzz, and that George had rejected Buzz after an operation for flystrike. So, almost as soon as George finished his baytril he started to eat less and then got very watery diarrhoea. We booked him in for an emergency appointment straight away but before we got there he started bleeding quite badly from his bottom. The vet says it's colitis and kidney failure and he's on more baytril, a critical care formula and a probiotic. We've been advised to stop all food and water except Timothy hay. His bleeding is mostly settled and he's passing a few slimy poos.
Could the flystrike have caused this? How long do you think we have got left with him? He's dropped to below 1kg weight. We have prepared the children but it's hard. We are taking him back on Friday.
His mate Buzz has been unsuccessful with his dating visit to the rescue centre, so will have to come back to looking at George through bars again.
Sad times 😞
Thank you for reading.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am very sorry; fly strike is a nasty thing. It is fatal if not discovered soon enough. I can't however say whether the two are connected, but with the bleeding from the bottom, it is highly likely. :(

Here is our emergency care advice. Please be aware that the poos reflect the dimished food intake from 1-2 days ago; just waiting for him to eat timothy hay on his without support feeding formula won't be enough. How piggy savvy is your vet?
You have to make the choice to either feed him round the clock or to please let him go and spare him the discomfort of fading away as he will increasingly lose his strength on your vet's advice. Taking your piggy off any fresh food is sound advice, but not support feeding a piggy with recovery formula or mushed up pellets won't be enough to pull him through on his own strength.

Here is our emergency and crisis care advice, inlcuding how you can improvise and how to go about top up support feed: Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

You may find the information via this link here helpful; it doesn't make easy reading but it includes advice re. children as well as information and considerations that may hopefully help you when it comes to making some rather tough decisions that only you can make.
Death, Dying, Terminal Illness, Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children

My thoughts are with you.
 
Thanks for your kind reply. We are feeding critical care formula, 30 syringes 4 times a day. This is as well as the probiotic, hay and baytril. We are hoping to get him well enough to heal internally with the extra nourishment as apparently even though he has been eating it's not been able to be digested properly. He hasn't had many caecal poos since before the flystrike.
Thanks for those links. I will have a read :-)
 
Guineamum said:
Thanks for your kind reply. We are feeding critical care formula, 30 syringes 4 times a day. This is as well as the probiotic, hay and baytril. We are hoping to get him well enough to heal internally with the extra nourishment as apparently even though he has been eating it's not been able to be digested properly. He hasn't had many caecal poos since before the flystrike.
Thanks for those links. I will have a read :-)
Click to expand...

OK! That answers the question about crucial syringe feeding support. General vets are not always aware just how crucial it is in guinea pigs to keep them going through a crisis, so it is important for us to make sure that you are not losing your piggy just because it is not getting enough energy to pull through.

I sincerely hope that you can pull him through!
 
Thinking of you and your little chap as this difficult time, hope he makes a full recovery soon x
 
Thanks. He's had a faecal analysis and is being put on some more targeted antibiotics for parasites, so hopefully this will help, as he's bleeding fairly regularly still. X
 
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