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Cornelius isn‘t right

stef.trg

stef.trg

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Jun 6, 2020
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Location
Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria
After everything that happened with Benito I thought we might be due a break but it looks like life has different plans & Cornelius isn‘t right.

Yesterday at dinner I noticed he only nibbled a bit a of lettuce and then went back into his hidey. He did jump out of my hand and landed face first on a fleece blanket when I picked him up to put him back in his cage after cleaning about 15 minutes prior. The fall wasn’t high at all, 4 inches max and he seemed absolutely fine after it (checked teeth and everything) albeit a bit startled. So at first I thought he‘s still a bit shocked from that but it didn’t really improve. He hasn‘t stopped eating completely and comes out to munch on hay for 10-15 minutes at a time (he’s been at it for the last half hour so hopefully that’s an improvement!), but he‘s lost weight. He‘s usually stable at around 1050g. Last week he was 1028g which didn‘t concern me at the time, today he was down to 996g. He‘s also not been his usual bubbly self since last night - lazing around and sleeping quite a lot, but no obvious signs of pain or discomfort.

This is starting with the same (lack of) symptoms Benito‘s mystery illness started with, except that Cornelius isn’t dripping urine. So I‘m really trying to not go into full blown panic mode but to say I wasn‘t worried sick would be a lie. I will keep an eye on him today and weigh him again tomorrow morning - if his weight’s gone down again I‘ll try to get him booked into the vets tomorrow afternoon/evening. If he hasn‘t lost any more weight I‘ll still get him an appointment at some point this week to get him checked over.

And to top my evening off yesterday Buttons and Pewter seemed a bit under the weather with rumbly, slightly gassy and clearly painful tummies. Poops are normal & they‘re both eating and holding their weight. For Pewter this is a fairly normal occurrence so not something I worry about but Buttons has never had any belly issues before. They had gripe water, belly massages, a ride on the lovely vibrating pillow and some metacam. They are thankfully both better today but will also keep a close eye on those two and get them booked in if necessary.

I would really just love a break for all of us!
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

Please step in and syringe feed Cornelius today. His weight loss has just tipped into the ‘alert’ section so you need to take steps to make sure he doesn’t lose more. Definitely see a vet

Definitely keel a close eye on Buttons and Pewter. Please remove veg and grass from their diet for the time being to make sure things settle. Have they been having access to grass more than normal since the weather is getting slightly better?

I hope they are all ok
 
I already started syringe feeding him, he‘s happily eating the syringe feed from a spoon so at least I don‘t have to fight him with the syringe. Going to call the vets tomorrow morning.

They didn’t no, Pewter gets the most horrible IC flare ups from grass so she hasn‘t had any in 2 years and the other two didn’t have any either yet this year because it‘s been snowing here until last Thursday. No other changes in their diet that could’ve brought this on. I was wondering if Buttons‘ problems were stress induced because Cornelius wasn‘t well. They are as thick as thieves & she‘s been glued to him ever since they were paired up. But I don’t know if that thought is realistic. Her belly is soft and squishy again today and she doesn’t seem to be in discomfort, neither is Pewter but I‘ll keep them off veg today to give their bellies more time to fully settle.
 
Sorry to hear you are having such a difficult time.

I can not offer any advice other than already given, but I am wishing you all the best x
 
Sending hugs, hope you get some answers and whatever it is can be quickly sorted x
 
Good luck. Hope you can get in at the vets and it’s something easily treatable. Sending you a hug 🤗
 
Thank you guys. Our usual vet is on holiday this week (of course!) so we have an appointment at 3:15pm at a different practice. They're friends with my usual vet and generally really good but they're not exotic specialists - our usual vet is the only exotics vet we have around here. I hope they'll still be able to shed some light on what's going on with my little man. I will keep you updated!
 
Good luck at the vets. Hope they can help.
 
We are back and unfortunately none the wiser. They‘ve checked him from top to bottom and there is absolutely nothing visibly wrong with him. His belly was a tiny bit bloated so we got some Emeprid and some Rodicare Akut (it‘s German I think but it‘s really good stuff for the fact that it‘s plant-based). We also got some Metacam in case he‘s in any sort of pain and Rodicare Appetit to hopefully increase his appetite. So now I‘ll just have to see how we go with the meds we got. I‘ll also syringe feed him so he doesn’t lose any more weight, he‘s been stable since yesterday so that’s something.

He tucked into his dinner with the girls, largely sticking to lettuce & then had some hay afterwards before taking a nap. The vet suspects there might be something genetic going on that both boys have and that might comes in waves. We had the same issue 2 years back where both boys lost about 100g each over the span of a few weeks before stabilising and gaining it back again. So she thinks that maybe was the first wave and this is the second, obviously more severe one. I will just try and keep it up and see how he improves/changes over the next few days.

Thankfully he doesn’t really realise anything is wrong. He’s nibbling on food, bumbling around the cage & doing all the piggy things. He‘s not as bubbly as he usually is and sleeping more but he doesn’t seem to be in pain or discomfort at least. It‘s not the news I was hoping for but we‘ll just try and make the best of it.
 
Just an update: I think the worst is behind us! As of Monday evening, Cornelius has really picked up and is currently working on eating like a champ to gain those lost grams back. He's already gained 32g and is at 1002g again. "Only" 50g to go to get him back to his pre-mystery-illness-weight.

Buttons is still a bit worrying. I took her off veg Sunday & Monday after she had a super rumbly belly on Saturday evening. All was quiet both days so she had some veg again last night - just 2 sprigs of coriander and a little bit of romaine lettuce. Few hours later we were back to a very loud belly. She doesn't look bloated and her stomach was/is super soft and squishy. She also doesn't seem to be in any pain and bumbles about as usual; eating & pooping fine. I switched to daily weighing for her as well so I don't miss anything and started her on a course of Fibreplex. She's also getting belly massages and vibrating pillow rides 3x a day for now.

I'm wondering if there was something off with any of the veg they had towards the end of last week and that's why Cornelius wasn't well and Buttons still has an upset stomach. Whatever it is that's going on, we're at least not doing too bad!
 
I'm pleased to read that Cornelius and Buttons are alittle bit better.Sometimes guinea to get sensitive tummies to certain veg .good luck.:hug:
 
Looks like little man has tricked me with a full bladder yesterday as we were back to 975g at the weigh in this morning. Still not too bad as that means he's been holding his weight without any support feeds since Monday. He's happy, alert, eating and begging like a champ so I'm not worried at the moment. Probably just a case of being patient until he'll manage to gain the weight back slowly.

Buttons belly hasn't made any rumbling sounds since yesterday morning and she doesn't seem bloated or uncomfortable at all. Her weight's been steady, she's eating and begging for food at every chance she gets. I'll keep her on Fibreplex for a couple more days and then we've hopefully managed to get a handle on everything that was going on.
 
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