Diarrhoea outbreak

[kitsvnesyndrome]

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Recently my oldest girl eevie saw molly varga for recurrent Diarrhoea, she said it might be contagious which I denied as it had been a month and nobody else had fallen ill, well as of today not one of the other girls has got a wet messy bottom and one of the boys who is kept seperately has it. They aren't quite as sick as Eevie as theyre a lot younger but they aren't eating either now. I just spent £400+ on Eevies care depleting all my savings and cant afford to take them all, does anyone have any advice? I'm desperate and panicking!

 

[Piggies&buns]

The home care you need to provide is to switch to weighing them all daily, syringe feeding those who aren’t eating, and making sure to feed enough in each 24 hour period to keep their weight stable. Stopping veg for all of them who have diarrhoea.

Otherwise, a medical diagnosis is needed for them all to find out whether they all have the same thing or whether it is something else going on with them and just a big coincidence that they are poorly after Eevie. (We don’t have the background of Evie’s case on this thread so don’t know what the outcome of that was).

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

 

[kitsvnesyndrome]

The home care you need to provide is to switch to weighing them all daily, syringe feeding those who aren’t eating, and making sure to feed enough in each 24 hour period to keep their weight stable. Stopping veg for all of them who have diarrhoea.

Otherwise, a medical diagnosis is needed for them all to find out whether they all have the same thing or whether it is something else going on with them and just a big coincidence that they are poorly after Eevie. (We don’t have the background of Evie’s case on this thread so don’t know what the outcome of that was).

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

I weigh them all daily, I noticed Cinnamon was off a few days ago but his weight didn't drop until today so i've immediately started syringe feeding. I did make a seperate post about Eevie only recently if that's any help?

 

[PigglePuggle]

The only home care you can provide is syringe feeding recovery food to maintain hydration and gut motility with the water and fibre in the recovery food, and giving a good probiotic like fibreplex to help try restore the gut microbiome.
However, with a gut pathogen this may not be enough, the piggies are likely to need proper diagnostics, and treatment with the appropriate antibiotic or antiparasitic to clear the infection- and also may need subcutaneous fluid injections to stay hydrated.
Dr Molly Varga really is an absolute expert and it seems she was correct here- if you have an infectious pathogen citculating this isnt something you can manage at home, being obligate coprophages who must eat their own and other piggy's poops, so I'm afraid they will continue to reinfect themselves and each other now until they are all appropriately treated and recovered.
I appreciate vets are expensive, especially specialists like Molly, but after paying so much for the best vet in the area I would always trust her judgement- she really is extremely good!
Paws crossed you can find the funds to get your piggies diagnosed and treated correctly x

 

[kitsvnesyndrome]

The only home care you can provide is syringe feeding recovery food to maintain hydration and gut motility with the water and fibre in the recovery food, and giving a good probiotic like fibreplex to help try restore the gut microbiome.
However, with a gut pathogen this may not be enough, the piggies are likely to need proper diagnostics, and treatment with the appropriate antibiotic or antiparasitic to clear the infection- and also may need subcutaneous fluid injections to stay hydrated.
Dr Molly Varga really is an absolute expert and it seems she was correct here- if you have an infectious pathogen citculating this isnt something you can manage at home, being obligate coprophages who must eat their own and other piggy's poops, so I'm afraid they will continue to reinfect themselves and each other now until they are all appropriately treated and recovered.
I appreciate vets are expensive, especially specialists like Molly, but after paying so much for the best vet in the area I would always trust her judgement- she really is extremely good!
Paws crossed you can find the funds to get your piggies diagnosed and treated correctly x

What does appropriate treatment usually entail?

Eevie already had 2 coursed of antibiotics and I am worried about her falling ill again. I have 7 piggies so taking them all to the vet isn't an option now. Is isolating them all an option? As of right now 2/7 are sick and 1/7 is recovered but likely to be reinfected

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, in your previous thread you say you were given a pot to collect diarrhoea if it reoccurred. I would suggest you collect some diarrhoea from the affected piggies so it can be sent to a lab for analysis, so the correct treatment can then be given. You should be able to drop it off at the vets without an appointment if you ring them first and explain the situation.

Appropriate treatment would mean, for example, using the best medication to treat the cause of the diarrhoea once that has been identified. Different antibiotics work better at treating diffetent bacteria, antiparisitic meds would be used to treat parasites etc

 

[kitsvnesyndrome]

Hi, in your previous thread you say you were given a pot to collect diarrhoea if it reoccurred. I would suggest you collect some diarrhoea from the affected piggies so it can be sent to a lab for analysis, so the correct treatment can then be given. You should be able to drop it off at the vets without an appointment if you ring them first and explain the situation.

Appropriate treatment would mean, for example, using the best medication to treat the cause of the diarrhoea once that has been identified. Different antibiotics work better at treating diffetent bacteria, antiparisitic meds would be used to treat parasites etc

Thats a good idea actually! I will try! Thank you

 

[kitsvnesyndrome]

Update, in case it helps others! I did a stool sample for Cinnabon as recommended and they found nothing in it which only raised more questions. Cinnabon was started on the same treatment as Eevie but despite being younger he didn't improve or bounce back as instantaneously as she did, even now a week after finishing treatment hes no better, no worse. He isn't putting weight on and he isn't losing any.

Yesterday exactly 3 weeks after Eevie's last flare up I noticed her butt was slightly wet again, she hadn't gone off her food yet though so I think caught it in perfect timing this time round. I started her on the metronidazole and ranitidine given to me by Molly Varga and by the time I got home in the afternoon Eevie had bounced back to 100% her normal self. The medication definitely seems to have resolved Eevie's problem before it could fully develop.

My vet doesn't know what to do about Cinnabon but said if the treatment for Eevie works we can start him on the same so if he gets worse again I will contact them but for now he is relatively stable.

Still bizzare how two of them have come down with this despite not having contact with each other, and the other 5 guinea pigs are absolutely fine (touch wood!) This case has baffled every vet i've spoken to and still has me pulling my hair out, only time will tell now if we can fully resolve it.