KikiKaka
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi all,
Possibly a long one so apologies in advance!
We've had two guinea pigs, Kiki and Kaka, since July 2022. We were told they were around 1.5 to 2 years of age upon getting them, but they weren't 100% sure as they were both rescues. Both piggies have grown in size since getting them, so we don't believe either of them to be particularly old if they were still growing when we got them.
We noticed last Tuesday that one of our girls (Kaka) had diarrhoea and wasn't eating/drinking as much as she should. We immediately took her to an out-of-hours vet (Emergency Vets Glasgow) who weighed her (710g, which is quite low for her - usually around the 800g mark), gave her some subcutaneous fluids as well as an Metacam and Emeprid injection (0.2ml and 0.7ml respectively) and prescribed Metacam Cats (0.28ml once per day) and Emeprid (0.35ml once per day). She was in gut stasis at the time so these were prescribed to help recover from that. Upon returning home, we also noticed some red staining in her urine (pictures here: ) which we initially thought was blood but we're not 100% sure on this. They're not fed anything heavily pigmented, but we're also not sure if it could be oxidisation or anything similar to that. The emergency vet advised that if this is blood, then it could indicate a UTI and that we should take her to a specialist vet for a thorough check. The (potential) blood was a one-time thing and we haven't noticed this again since.
Since then, we've been giving those medications at 12pm daily as well as 3 doses of Fibreplex a day and a syringe feed every 6 hours. The syringe feed started as Excel DualCare with water (2.5g pellets to 5g water), but upon running out we switched to a mix of her standard Excel pellets with water. This switch took place on Monday.
She still seemed quite low, but we took her to a more specialist vet (Robb Vet Motherwell) on Thursday, after which she immediately perked up somewhat! They advised that she seemed to be heading in the right direction despite still being lethargic, and that we should continue as advised. They said we could get her in for an ultrasound to check for a UTI if needed, but didn't think it was necessary given she seemed to be improving, and there were no signs of sludge or stones.
From Thursday to early Tuesday, she seemed to improve - her weight stabilised at 660g-670g (she was this weight between last Wednesday and yesterday), drinking water of her own accord, grazing, and eating veg when it was given daily (albeit not as much as usual). Her poops were on the mend - still small and quite dehydrated, but getting better.
Last night, however, she went downhill again - we're still syringe feeding her successfully, but she seems lethargic and isn't moving around much. We weighed her before bed, she was at 654g, but when we woke up for another syringe feed 5 hours later, she was at 640g, indicating that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink in that time. We fed her, which got her up to 645g, but upon checking on her 2 hours later, she hadn't moved from the hay she settled in at 7am. Poop-wise, there seemed to be 6 or 7 long, thin, and quite dehydrated ones between 2am and 7am, which seems like a very low amount. Her poops have been quite dehydrated ever since the diarrhoea.
We called our vet again this morning, who advised we can take her off the Metacam and continue administering the Emeprid and syringe feeding. They offered to refer us to the Hospital for Small Animals at the University of Edinburgh if needed.
Our plan is to take her off the Metacam but continue with the Emeprid and syringe feeding as advised and see how she fares, then opt for the referral if she shows no sign of improvement.
Would anyone be able to provide any advice to confirm whether we've been advised the right course of action please? I'm very conscious of the fact that getting care at the recommended vet in Edinburgh could be incredibly expensive but I'm more than happy to go down this route if needed - however, if there are more affordable specialist vets around the Glasgow/Hamilton area, this would definitely be preferable! We were originally referred to ARK, but they're not currently taking on new patients.
Many thanks in advance, and apologies for the long read! Happy to answer any questions if more information is needed.
Possibly a long one so apologies in advance!
We've had two guinea pigs, Kiki and Kaka, since July 2022. We were told they were around 1.5 to 2 years of age upon getting them, but they weren't 100% sure as they were both rescues. Both piggies have grown in size since getting them, so we don't believe either of them to be particularly old if they were still growing when we got them.
We noticed last Tuesday that one of our girls (Kaka) had diarrhoea and wasn't eating/drinking as much as she should. We immediately took her to an out-of-hours vet (Emergency Vets Glasgow) who weighed her (710g, which is quite low for her - usually around the 800g mark), gave her some subcutaneous fluids as well as an Metacam and Emeprid injection (0.2ml and 0.7ml respectively) and prescribed Metacam Cats (0.28ml once per day) and Emeprid (0.35ml once per day). She was in gut stasis at the time so these were prescribed to help recover from that. Upon returning home, we also noticed some red staining in her urine (pictures here: ) which we initially thought was blood but we're not 100% sure on this. They're not fed anything heavily pigmented, but we're also not sure if it could be oxidisation or anything similar to that. The emergency vet advised that if this is blood, then it could indicate a UTI and that we should take her to a specialist vet for a thorough check. The (potential) blood was a one-time thing and we haven't noticed this again since.
Since then, we've been giving those medications at 12pm daily as well as 3 doses of Fibreplex a day and a syringe feed every 6 hours. The syringe feed started as Excel DualCare with water (2.5g pellets to 5g water), but upon running out we switched to a mix of her standard Excel pellets with water. This switch took place on Monday.
She still seemed quite low, but we took her to a more specialist vet (Robb Vet Motherwell) on Thursday, after which she immediately perked up somewhat! They advised that she seemed to be heading in the right direction despite still being lethargic, and that we should continue as advised. They said we could get her in for an ultrasound to check for a UTI if needed, but didn't think it was necessary given she seemed to be improving, and there were no signs of sludge or stones.
From Thursday to early Tuesday, she seemed to improve - her weight stabilised at 660g-670g (she was this weight between last Wednesday and yesterday), drinking water of her own accord, grazing, and eating veg when it was given daily (albeit not as much as usual). Her poops were on the mend - still small and quite dehydrated, but getting better.
Last night, however, she went downhill again - we're still syringe feeding her successfully, but she seems lethargic and isn't moving around much. We weighed her before bed, she was at 654g, but when we woke up for another syringe feed 5 hours later, she was at 640g, indicating that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink in that time. We fed her, which got her up to 645g, but upon checking on her 2 hours later, she hadn't moved from the hay she settled in at 7am. Poop-wise, there seemed to be 6 or 7 long, thin, and quite dehydrated ones between 2am and 7am, which seems like a very low amount. Her poops have been quite dehydrated ever since the diarrhoea.
We called our vet again this morning, who advised we can take her off the Metacam and continue administering the Emeprid and syringe feeding. They offered to refer us to the Hospital for Small Animals at the University of Edinburgh if needed.
Our plan is to take her off the Metacam but continue with the Emeprid and syringe feeding as advised and see how she fares, then opt for the referral if she shows no sign of improvement.
Would anyone be able to provide any advice to confirm whether we've been advised the right course of action please? I'm very conscious of the fact that getting care at the recommended vet in Edinburgh could be incredibly expensive but I'm more than happy to go down this route if needed - however, if there are more affordable specialist vets around the Glasgow/Hamilton area, this would definitely be preferable! We were originally referred to ARK, but they're not currently taking on new patients.
Many thanks in advance, and apologies for the long read! Happy to answer any questions if more information is needed.