Ellie's not herself :(

[GPTV]

Hi there

?/ Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions?

Ellie my 6+ year old piggy has been a little quiet the last couple of days, not as much get up & go as usual
She's still eating & pooping, maybe drinking a little more than previously, but i had put this down to them going back into her hutch during the day now the weather has got worse.
They are now eating more dried foods&veg, although hardly any grass now. ( i have been out & picked some tonight, which was eaten readily... food tray tipping & flinging included )

I was given her approx a year ago & she had always previously been an all year round outdoor piggy, i'm just wondering if she's fed up due to being indoors ... Do Guinea pigs suffer from Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD syndrome)?

Her weight fluctuates +/- 20grams regularly anyway & she was 1153g tonight when i weighed her, last week she was 1133g & before that it was 1140g.

this evening she was sat quietly & puffed up a little
I brought her indoors, weighed her, give her a cuddle, she perked up she was chatting a little, also fidgeting around as usual rolleyes .
i probably shouldn't have but I also gave her a little Baytril as i had a dribble left from previous problems ( 0.3ml Much to her disgust!) they have only ever given Baytril for general use so i'm guessing thats what the vet will suggest. i will also dig out the fibreplex or biolapis if i am to carry on with Baytril.

her breathing is normal to slightly heavier perhaps than usual.
Grace her pad mate is fine (touch wood), no issues although she is only 1.5yrs old.

I'm going to book up a vet visit first thing tomorrow, but its going to be hit & miss as to which vet i get as its a saturday &they have a rota at weekends.

Ellie's generally healthy, only whats believed by the vet to be a fatty lump on her belly/side.

I'm veering towards a URI but what does everyone else think?

Any advice appreciated. thankyou. xx

 

[Freela]

I definitely think it's worth having her gone over by the vet. Sitting puffed up and being 'quiet' can be a sign that the pig is in pain or otherwise has something going on, though it can be hard to tell what. Try to check her teeth (my pigs were very quiet when they had an abscess brewing), try to get a pee sample to check for UTI, make sure to listen to her chest for URI. I hope it's an easy fix and she feels better soon!

 

[GuineaGuy]

Is the lump on her solid?

I ask as it could be worth having her checked for Ovarian Cysts - common symptons include crusty nipples and bald patches. They also can sexually aggressive towards cage mates.

Cysts are seemingly very common in older sows. An ultrasound would detect them or a cavy savvy vet would pick up on them straight way.

Our sow has them - and she is also puffed up and in discomfort which does include heavier breathing from time to time.

That said it could easily be a URI or even something else altogether as they are good at keeping things from us. Agree with freela that a urine sample could be good to take. Good luck at the vets, and let us know how it goes.

 

[sport_billy]

How did the vets go? x

 

[GPTV]

Well vets trip went ok, managed to get an appointment. she wasn't as puffed up this morning- she seemed nearly her usual self

The usual cavy savvy vet wasn't in but the vet checked her breathing, squashed, poked & squeezed her. He found Ellies fatty lump (previously checked by a different vet - needle inserted & greasy substance extracted).
Thanks guineaguy- but her nipples seem normal & no crustyness,also she's still snuggling up & chattering to Grace her pad mate with no aggression, well no more than the usual "Oi! you little ripstart get out of my way & off my hay pile" type chuntering .... Bless her

She doesn't sound rattley & her breathing is only occasionally a little heavier than usual. She had an anti-inflammatory & baytril injection, also told to give her 0.2ml of baytril orally, twice daily & i was given 5 days worth. I'm to go back if no improvement.

Well the two injections, she squealed & wheeked like never before bless her little buttons
she doesn't normally run for cuddles... but today she nearly threw herself at me ") usually just enjoys cuddles after she's been put in place

Well the injections induced a rather large, long, soft poop & a wee fountain that a water garden would be proud of
So the urine sample was tested with a dipstick- no signs of anything abnormal- so all good there.

I suggested using fibreplex as i have some here, although it might be a struggle getting it in as she hated it last time, but i'll give it a go!

hopefully the baytril will have started to do it's stuff, i'll keep you updated.

Thankyou xx

 

[Wiebke]

Fingers firmly crossed! it is always very difficult when you know that something is going on, but you can't put your finger on it.

Keep weighing her daily, preferably at the same time in the feeding cycle. A daily variation of plus/minus 30g/1 oz is normal; it can simply be the difference between a full tummy/bladder and an empty one. What you don't want to see is her weight going down quickly or very gradually or a very sudden major weight gain.

 

[GPTV]

Fingers firmly crossed! it is always very difficult when you know that something is going on, but you can't put your finger on it.

Keep weighing her daily, preferably at the same time in the feeding cycle. A daily variation of plus/minus 30g/1 oz is normal; it can simply be the difference between a full tummy/bladder and an empty one. What you don't want to see is her weight going down quickly or very gradually or a very sudden major weight gain.

Thankyou i normally weigh them fortnightly or weekly if i can, my days &times of weighing them are all over the place, as i work odd shifts that change on a daily basis :{
i never know what day it is... people think i'm going senile!:p@)

 

[Goth Mummy]

I hope your piggie is well, I know how worrying it is when you cant say exactly what the problem is but you know there is something wrong! I have had this with both my horse and rabbit. In the case of the rabbit she was fine apparently (and is now behaving fine) but the horse did have something wrong, so its worth checking.

 

[GPTV]

Hi there well the problems had settled down &we were back to normality for. Nearly 3 weeks- Wednesday night I noticed some red spots on the bedding &couldn't make up my mind if it was blood or the red pepper that thegirls have been eating.
Checked yesterday morning &yes it was definitely blood &an awful lot of it
I checked both girls for cuts but found nothing. I then checked both bottoms & found a bloody looking liquid by Ellies opening. Booked a vet visit for yest afternoon/evening.

Vet checked her over &said he couldn't find anything out of order lumpwise but did a urine sample &found it contained high levels of blood, high levels of protein &high levels of lacellites well think that's what he said sounded like it started with an L!
But basically he said its cystitis? Anyone have any suggestions on anything I can do to help her?
She has been prescribed baytril 0.4ml once a day.(as opposed to half the amount twice a day as she's such a little sod (vet agrees!) to take it! (love her )For 5days or so &to go back if any issues.
I'm just rather concerned as it seemed like a lot of blood &red opposed to spots&blobs like I have found on previous occasions with her &other piggys.
I have some fibreplex& biolapis I can give her althoug she hates both
Hope someone can advise something I can do to help her too.
She's still eating fine (like a horse) &her poops are a little softer than usual although still formed.

Thanks xx

 

[helen105281]

I think Septrin is a better antibiotic for cystitis, so if there is no improvement, maybe discuss this with your vet. Is she on any pain relief too? They can also have over the counter cystitis remedy such as Canesten Oasis.

Cystitis can also be dietary induced, would you be able to summarise what you feed daily?

I think the L word is Leucocytes and a positive reading can indicate an infection.

Fluids are key here too, is she a good drinker?

 

[GPTV]

I think Septrin is a better antibiotic for cystitis, so if there is no improvement, maybe discuss this with your vet. Is she on any pain relief too? They can also have over the counter cystitis remedy such as Canesten Oasis.

Cystitis can also be dietary induced, would you be able to summarise what you feed daily?

I think the L word is Leucocytes and a positive reading can indicate an infection.

Fluids are key here too, is she a good drinker?

Aha Septrin, I knew I had read a more effective antibiotic than baytril for this.
I'll Just I didn't have time to searcheverywhere for the answers.
Yes I will definitely discuss this with my vet if no improvement by Monday-luckily its my day off

Oh dear no I didn't think to ask about pain relief, as she was too busy screaming blue murder at us fora giving her baytril
Feel guilty now
Although she doesn't squeak when wee.ing like others have done. And she does have a mostly dry rear end not wet like the last one I had.


Thankyou yes the L word sounded like that one, yes she is a good drinker- always tries to swallow the awhole metal tube when she drinks. k

Foodwise they have Burgess excell pellets about 1.5 bowl between them a day small bowl 2inches
Diameter& 1inch high if that.)
Meadow grass hay &assorted veg daily . Usually consisting of cucumber, celery, cabbage pointed, peppers& as treats sweetcorn or baby sweetcorn, curly kale carrots ,green beans- all a mixed bag really. Oh &parsley or coriander if its on offer

Is this any help? Should I change anything_
?
Xx thankyou

 

[helen105281]

If she is not squeaking then hopefully she does not need pain relief at this stage but you could get some from the vet to keep in case.

If you get the over the counter cystitis remedy that should help too.

As for diet, most dry mixes are high in protein and this has shown up on the urine test, so limit the dry food and I can recommend one which has less protein but I do struggle to get mine to eat it. How often do you feed the parsley and kale and do you feed any lettuce? You could maybe try adding some different type hays into their diet too such as timothy hay, orchard grass and oat hay? I find mine eat a lot less dry mix when they have a variety of hay.

PM me if you need any more dietary info.

 

[GPTV]

If she is not squeaking then hopefully she does not need pain relief at this stage but you could get some from the vet to keep in case.

If you get the over the counter cystitis remedy that should help too.

As for diet, most dry mixes are high in protein and this has shown up on the urine test, so limit the dry food and I can recommend one which has less protein but I do struggle to get mine to eat it. How often do you feed the parsley and kale and do you feed any lettuce? You could maybe try adding some different type hays into their diet too such as timothy hay, orchard grass and oat hay? I find mine eat a lot less dry mix when they have a variety of hay.

PM me if you need any more dietary info.

thankyou,

@) right I'm not sure quite what i did there, but started to write a reply & it didn't submit properly, thought i was doing an update after work this morning & a chunk went missing
Darn phones sometimes & was tired so probably a mixture!

Anyway... after reading helen105281's previous post i decided to phone the vets Saturday morning & ask for some metacam, luckily the same vet that had seen Ellie was on & prescribed some for me, the cat strength 0.2ml once a day ( seems a bit low to me but i guess better than nothing... she doesn't sqeak when wee'ing just looks a bit uncomfortable)
I managed to collect it on the way to work & gave her a dose last night around 10.30pm.

We sat having a cuddle, she had a couple of poops & i noticed blood on my hands, just afterwards she had a wee & this was the usual clear/milky looking healthy wee. No real signs of blood present in this. so it would appear its mainly when she poops.
tonight she has had her tea, baytril & metacam. As usual she was eating like a horse quite & unphased by my concerns. i checked her bottom & no signs of blood tonight & another healthy looking wee.

?/ I'm thinking of getting her to the vets tomorrow, but i'm not really sure what to suggest further than whats already been done.
Would a conscious xray be of any use to see if she has any stones? or maybe an ultrasound... can stones be seen on an ultrasound if big enough?
can anyone suggest anything else to pinpoint the problem?

Could it just be infection causing the bleeding? Should i ask the vet if i can change to septrin or leave the baytril to it as it seems to be improving at the moment?


Her diet... generally they have usually got some pellets left each evening, so i guess they dont overindulge as such, but i can try & cut them down a little. cant remeber what the recommendation was, but it was the recommend amount on the packet of burgess excell that they get, 50g seems to ring a bell.
The parsley & kale i usually give them a packet over about a week. when its on offer, so probably about once a month or six weeks or so.
I have never given lettuce to any of my piggies, i was alway led to believe it would give them diarrhea due to the high water content , so always stayed clear of it.

Hmm ok never thought of trying different hay's, anyone recommend a good place, reasonable price to buy them from?
They're on farm meadow grass hay at the moment & i have a bag of coarse'r hay for when thats finished, i'll start putting some of this in too for some variety

I'm nowhere near any of the recommended cavvy savvy vets, my vets is quite a large practice & its very pot luck if i'll get the best one for guineas as the rest are more the usual domestic or farm animal orientated.

Any more advice gratefully received.

Thankyou

 

[helen105281]

I defintiely think an xray or ultrasound is needed if you found blood in your hand, best to rule out stones. If your practice did the xray could they email the results to a more cavy savvy vet from the vet locator or I could recommend one. If they won't do it conscious, it would only be a whiff of gas needed. The Metacam dose seems ok I think as the cat one may be stronger but someone correct me if I am wrong on that, I usually get the dog one.

As for hay, I always use the Hay experts who have a wonderful selection and offer really good service.

That's good about lettuce, some people feed romaine and it is bad for the bladder, I found out to my cost with my Johnny.

Wonder what happened to your post, forum gremlins maybe.

 

[GPTV]

I defintiely think an xray or ultrasound is needed if you found blood in your hand, best to rule out stones. If your practice did the xray could they email the results to a more cavy savvy vet from the vet locator or I could recommend one. If they won't do it conscious, it would only be a whiff of gas needed. The Metacam dose seems ok I think as the cat one may be stronger but someone correct me if I am wrong on that, I usually get the dog one.

As for hay, I always use the Hay experts who have a wonderful selection and offer really good service.

That's good about lettuce, some people feed romaine and it is bad for the bladder, I found out to my cost with my Johnny.

Wonder what happened to your post, forum gremlins maybe.

right ok i'lll see if i can get her in tomorrow at the vets, will try & get the most guinea savvy & see what she can come up with!

I'll have a look at the hay experts site shortly

Glad i got the lettuce bit right, sorry to hear about your johnny

my post... goodness knows.... probably that i was tired & I'm no techno head, give me fur-babies any day above using my computer.... except this wonderfully helpful forum... of course
x