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Dehydration in guinea pig

Pet_Palace13

Pet_Palace13

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Both of my guinea pigs poops have been softer than usual so vet told me to take them off veg for a week but during this week my five year old guinea pig Bambi started becoming very lethargic and hiding away and started to stop eating so I took him in for an emergency appointment same day his symptoms started and he was all floppy and vet said he had become very dehydrated and his temp was lower than usual for a guinea pig. He actually looked like he was dying and vet was quite concerned when I first brought him in :( He was given subcutaneous fluids and he’s back to himself but I’m just wondering if it could be the lack of veg which caused him to become so dehydrated. This was a few days ago and he’s been fine since and he’s back on veg. Bambi has sterile cystitis so maybe he was having a flare up ? Vet couldn’t feel any lumps or stones and his glucose levels were normal. Both pigs poops are fine now too since I got a new batch of hay cause I felt like the current hay had a funny smell to it.
 
Pet_Palace13 said:
Both of my guinea pigs poops have been softer than usual so vet told me to take them off veg for a week but during this week my five year old guinea pig Bambi started becoming very lethargic and hiding away and started to stop eating so I took him in for an emergency appointment same day his symptoms started and he was all floppy and vet said he had become very dehydrated and his temp was lower than usual for a guinea pig. He actually looked like he was dying and vet was quite concerned when I first brought him in :( He was given subcutaneous fluids and he’s back to himself but I’m just wondering if it could be the lack of veg which caused him to become so dehydrated. This was a few days ago and he’s been fine since and he’s back on veg. Bambi has sterile cystitis so maybe he was having a flare up ? Vet couldn’t feel any lumps or stones and his glucose levels were normal. Both pigs poops are fine now too since I got a new batch of hay cause I felt like the current hay had a funny smell to it.
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Hi

It is of course impossible for us to say what could have caused the decline (any guess of ours can only be based on your own speculations) whether that is the cold weather spell, off-smelling hay or IC flare or any combination but you may find these links here very helpful in managing emergencies and may want to bookmark so you can spot/avoid dehydration and loss of appetite in the first place.

Please be aware that the need to drink comes after the primary need to breathe but before the need to eat. A piggy that is not drinking is generally not eating unless access to water is blocked for some reason. Always check the bottles/nozzles to be on the safe side whenever a piggy is not well or has funny poos.

Wiebke

Thread 'All About Drinking, Bottles and Dehydration'

1 Drinking
Learning to drink and individual drinking needs
- How do guinea pigs learn to drink?
- How much water do guinea pigs need?
- How can I encourage piggies to drink from a bottle?
- Individual drinking habits
- Adding supplements or medication to the water (not recommended)
Problem areas and illness
- When do I need to be worried?
- Which health problems can be connected with marked changes in drinking?
- Signs...
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Wiebke

Thread 'Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment'

1 Statement
2 Emergency assessment and accessing vets
- How urgent is my guinea pig's problem?
- Finding an emergency vet
- Seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs (including lists of safe and dangerous medications)
3 First Aid care and easily available products
- General 'always have at home' stuff and comfort measures for very ill guinea pigs
- Improvising support feed; recovery formulas...
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Thankyou, it was scary to see and never seen him like that before. I Was worried about upper respiratory infection but vet checked all that. I didn’t know whether to take him to the vet or not but when he started to refuse food I knew something really wasn’t right but I’m so glad I did take him cause I worry he would’ve passed without the fluids and probably would’ve went into gi stasis
 
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