Extremely ill and cant move from bed. Will my guinea pigs supplies be OK till tomorrow?

Popcorns & Wheeks

Popcorns & Wheeks

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 8, 2022
Messages
820
Reaction score
391
Points
475
Location
North East England
Hi all, I woke up today feeling like poo! Throats all swollen, runny nose, feel really sick and burning up. I managed to put my piggies fresh hay in this morning and pellets but felt extremely dizzy before I could change their waters.

My question is will their waters be OK till tomorrow? Their water bottles are still half full but their bowls have poops floating around in them so not sure if this is OK. I know they eat their poops but these are not the poops they eat.

I also want to limit contact as much as possible for fear they may become ill too. Any advice?
 
I hope you feel better soon, I understand you wanting minimal contact, I was the same a few months ago when I was very ill. Their water won't hurt until tomorrow as long as it doesn't run out, it's better fresh every day but needs must! Perhaps next time you move to go to the bathroom or something you could just change the water bowls, although I don't think their poop would put them off drinking from them. My boys eat ordinary poop, their own and those with cage mates each others!
 
I am sorry to hear you are unwell and totally understand your anxieties and wishes to minimise contact.

So long as they have hay and water they should be absolutely fine until tomorrow. If they are thirsty enough, they will drink from their water bottles. Obviously fresher is always better but if they choose to drink from their bowls, the poo won’t harm them

I hope you feel better soon x
 
piggieminder said:
I hope you feel better soon, I understand you wanting minimal contact, I was the same a few months ago when I was very ill. Their water won't hurt until tomorrow as long as it doesn't run out, it's better fresh every day but needs must! Perhaps next time you move to go to the bathroom or something you could just change the water bowls, although I don't think their poop would put them off drinking from them. My boys eat ordinary poop, their own and those with cage mates each others!
Click to expand...

Thankyou so much for replying. I honestly can't move at the moment, everytime I stand up I go dizzy so I may have to leave bowls till tomorrow, as long as the poops in it won't make them sick which is what I was worried of.

Honestly doing their hay and pellets nearly killed me, I was trying not to even breathe on their food and I am so worried incase I did and they end up ill. As you can probably tell I suffer from anxiety and OCD 😬.

I figure if I stay in bed today and get my rest out then there's more chance of me feeling a bit better tomorrow. I did start to feel a bit bad yesterday so I'm hoping its just a 48 hr thing and it's the worst of it today.

Thankyou, I hope I feel better soon too.
 
Claire W said:
I am sorry to hear you are unwell and totally understand your anxieties and wishes to minimise contact.

So long as they have hay and water they should be absolutely fine until tomorrow. If they are thirsty enough, they will drink from their water bottles. Obviously fresher is always better but if they choose to drink from their bowls, the poo won’t harm them

I hope you feel better soon x
Click to expand...

Thanks that is a relief. I'm just hoping I already haven't put them at risk doing their hay. My nose is like a tap and my breathing isn't great. I was trying so hard not to breathe on their hay and pellets. I did give them some veggies this morning too so.
 
They are also in my room which is making me anxious and I have no way to move their gigantic cage anywhere else. I really hope they'll be OK.
 
I am sorry you are unwell. I live on my own too and was very unwell in December and became extremely anxious. I could only manage to give the piggies basic care such as just piling in more hay because I didn't have the strength to clean them out. Everyone survived with no ill effects, I am sure your piggies will be just fine too. Hope you feel better soon x
 
Hi

You may find the practical advice and information in this guide here helpful. It deals with questions around interspecies transmission and owner illness: Contagion - Inter-species transmission and pet care during owner illness/pregnancy (incl. Covid)

Please look after yourself first. As long long as your piggies still hjave food and water, they will keep.
If you have extra at home, please try to give them a larger chunk of watery veg like cucumber or celery next time so they have extra fluid available. Make sure that you sit down when cutting up food and also next to the cage when feeding if you feel dizzy or very weak - I've had a Covid wipe-out last summer and ended up so weak I couldn't even cut up a cucumber without needing to sit down and rest twice. Not great with 27 piggies; thankfully my hub could take over feeding if I showed him exactly what (he'd passed his Covid onto me so he was safe around me by then).
Once daily feeding will do and don't worry about dirty cages; your piggies will survive the experience. Wait until you are able to do it - even if it is just throwing a spare towel over the mess while you are too wobbly for a clean.

Concentrate on yourself and on getting better. As their prime carer it is important that you can function again once the worst is over.
Do you have anybody who could do the shopping for you and drop any fresh food supplies for your piggies and you at your door if needed as it sounds like you may be out of the count for several days?

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

You may find the practical advice and information in this guide here helpful. It deals with questions around interspecies transmission and owner illness: Contagion - Inter-species transmission and pet care during owner illness/pregnancy (incl. Covid)

Please look after yourself first. As long long as your piggies still hjave food and water, they will keep.
If you have extra at home, please try to give them a larger chunk of watery veg like cucumber or celery next time so they have extra fluid available. Make sure that you sit down when cutting up food and also next to the cage when feeding if you feel dizzy or very weak - I've had a Covid wipe-out last summer and ended up so weak I couldn't even cut up a cucumber without needing to sit down and rest twice. Not great with 27 piggies; thankfully my hub could take over feeding if I showed him exactly what (he'd passed his Covid onto me so he was safe around me by then).
Once daily feeding will do and don't worry about dirty cages; your piggies will survive the experience. Wait until you are able to do it - even if it is just throwing a spare towel over the mess while you are too wobbly for a clean.

Concentrate on yourself and on getting better. As their prime carer it is important that you can function again once the worst is over.
Do you have anybody who could do the shopping for you and drop any fresh food supplies for your piggies and you at your door if needed as it sounds like you may be out of the count for several days?

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
Click to expand...

Hi, thankyou for your reply. Oh dear, 27 piggies and I'm struggling with just two, you must be superhuman! Yer, it is the dizziness and weakness thats mostly the problem and the fact I am not sleeping great.

The coughing, runny nose has my anxiety up when I'm doing the hay etc and I have no masks to hand. I was overrun with them last year and now I don't even have one! Hopefully they will not end up ill. I will keep everything to the bare minimum until I am a bit better. Thankfully, I have plenty of supplies in so I should be OK for at least another 5 days. Thanks again.
 
Popcorns & Wheeks said:
Hi, thankyou for your reply. Oh dear, 27 piggies and I'm struggling with just two, you must be superhuman! Yer, it is the dizziness and weakness thats mostly the problem and the fact I am not sleeping great.

The coughing, runny nose has my anxiety up when I'm doing the hay etc and I have no masks to hand. I was overrun with them last year and now I don't even have one! Hopefully they will not end up ill. I will keep everything to the bare minimum until I am a bit better. Thankfully, I have plenty of supplies in so I should be OK for at least another 5 days. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Hi

It is highly unlikely that your piggies will catch it from you, whether it is Covid, flu or another of the many infectious bugs that currently make the round. Rodents and humans don't share much that can jump across.
I was lucky to have my husband to do some of the feeding although his arthritic knees didn't stretch to cage cleaning. But even though my Covid coincided with a record heat wave and I was extremely weak for two weeks (I have Long Covid now as it has never come fully back), we have all made it through it - keeping them cool without air conditioning in soaring temperatures was actually the bigger challenge.

Please stop worrying about your piggies. They will keep as long as they have just plenty of hay and topped up water dispensers at least once a day for a few days during the very worst of it. Anything else you can do is great but only do as much as you are able to and just do it in very small bits and never all at once.

If you can, go to the bathroom and do your businees, wash your hands (so you only have to do it once), do a little feeding/topping up if you feel up to it after having a rest by sitting on top of the toilet if you feel too dizzy and then go straight back to bed again. Place a chair by the kitchen counter or near the fridge, another by your bed and a third by the cage so you can always sit down until you get your bearings again without risking falling over. Make sure that you keep drinking enough - hydration is very important even if you do not feel like it - and try to get a little food down, even if it is just a few spoonfuls or some nibbly bites; little but as often as you can.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top