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Guinea pig not eating or drinking for a week without help

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GuineaPigCarrots

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Hi everyone, I own 2 guinea pigs and have had them for around 3 years now (their whole lives). Unfortunately, one of them has stopped eating and drinking over the last week, and I am running out of options to help her. I will share the full details below, but would appreciate any help or guidance you can share.

I took her to the veterinarian around 3 weeks ago for an unrelated issue, and they performed a urinalysis and x-ray, both of which came up with minimal issues aside from one problem with small crystals in the urinary bladder, which they recommended giving her more water to help with. Overall though, things were much better at this time and she weighed around 930 grams.

Around 1 week ago, I noticed that she seemed to be having trouble eating and drinking. She would go around and sniff food, but never actually ate any of it. I started to observe more and found that she had almost totally stopped drinking water also, which was an immediate concern. She would sometimes try to eat something but couldn't pick it up, so things like hay would fall from her mouth. She would try to use her hands to pick up food, but it did not help much. I was able to buy her Critical Care from a local veterinarian very quickly and have been feeding it to her with the recommended amounts since then.

Several days ago I took her to the veterinarian and they recommended trimming all of her teeth (including molars). They also found that her weight had dropped down to 820 grams, much lower than the visit 2 weeks ago. They ended up doing the operation and reported that her molars were pinning down her tongue in the back, which should be resolved now. They also recommended antibiotics and pain medicine for the next few days.

It has been 3 days since the operation and she still continues to eat and drink nothing unless it is fed to her directly as I am doing with Critical Care. She clearly shows interest in food, and comes over and smells it when putting out new food in the morning for her and her friend, but unfortunately does not eat any of it and is not drinking any water on her own. She also tends to spend a lot of time in one spot, and does not move around very much during the day anymore. Today I went back to the veterinarian and her weight was down to 770, which is very alarming as she continues to get the right amount of critical care each day.

We are unfortunately running out of options here, as the veterinarian said he could not identify the cause of the issue. She looks very normal but will not eat or drink anything on her own. Please share any experiences or input on how to help her feel better and get back to normal.
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

The first thing to note here is that if she is losing weight, then she isn’t being syringe fed enough and you will need to increase the amount she is given each day in order to stop weight loss. You also need to weigh her yourself at home every day so you can be sure she is not losing weight in each 24 hour period. (Weight checks should be done weekly as routine when piggies are healthy but switching to daily when there are health concerns).
You cannot go by how much the packaging of critical care says she needs, you need to go by what her daily weight checks are telling you.

It is still early days post dental and sometimes they can need to be fed for much longer before they regain their confidence in eating for themselves.
Is she still on pain medication?
Is she getting her pain meds twice a day? Piggies metabolise their pain meds in around 12 hours so they need to be kept topped up.
Is she is on dog or cat metacam? What dosage? (dog metacam being three times stronger than cat)
Have you tried giving her some strands of fresh dog pee free grass? Often dental piggies can be encouraged with grass.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
I’m sorry your girl is unwell.

The first thing I want to clarify is the critical care. How much (roughly) are you giving her in a 24 hour period? A piggy that’s not eating (enough hay) on its own needs minimum 60ml in a 24 hour period. So about 5ml every two hours. You do have to sleep so you could perhaps start the feeding at 7am and do the last feed at 11pm. You could also consider leaving some in the cage for her if she will eat it.

You will have to weigh her once daily (preferably in the morning) to keep an eye on her weight. You are aiming to help her maintain, with any small gains a bonus.

When they have their teeth done, it has been the experience of members on here that they can sometimes be scared to eat again because of the pain. You can try and cut the vegetables into matchsticks and prop them up in a bowl. Otherwise continue the topup feeds.

The other thing is that antibiotics can also kill the appetite. If you can also offer her a probiotic either 2 hours before or after the antibiotic dose.

May I ask which antibiotic she was given and also the dosage (and type) of painkiller? I am assuming she was prescribed metacam but I could be wrong.

Hope she starts picking up soon. You’re doing a great job with her.
 
Very sad to hear :( I hope your little pig gets better. unfortunately, I have no experience with this. but I wish you and your pig luck
 
I am currently giving her 60 ml of Critical Care separated into 4 sessions per day (15 ml per session). Aside from this, she is getting doxycycline (antibiotic) twice a day, metacam (painkiller) once per day, and bene-bac plus (probiotic) after all antibiotic doses with the recommended dosages from her veterinarian.

Currently trying to see whether she will eat a gel provided by the veterinarian (DietGel Criticare), but she does not seem interested in it so far. Also measuring her weight every morning. It sounds like increasing the amount of Critical Care might help to maintain the weight for now, but I really hope she will begin eating normally again.

Thank you all for the advice and help so far, really hoping she feels better soon.
 
Painkillers do ideally need to be twice a day as they metabolise their pain meds in around 12 hours. A piggy in pain won’t be encouraged to eat.
What metacam is she being given - dog or cat?

Yes do increase her critical care. A healthy piggy would eat the equivalent of around 100-120ml per day and while a poorly piggy probably won’t eat that amount, it gives you an idea of the amounts that might be needed. I would personally feed more frequently than four times a day if at all possible.
 
Good luck. I had to syringe feed my piggy recently when he was on antibiotics. He didn’t start eating again until 3/4 days after the antibiotics were finished. It’s very tiring but you are basically keeping them alive until they recover. ❤️
 
Hi, so sorry to hear this! I had a similar issue with one of my piggies, stopped eating, drinking and pooping. I also fed critical care around the clock but also made sure to get some probiotics especially for small animals to try and keep her gut healthy and moving. I sprinkled this on food and added it to water, even added it to water that I syringe fed and critical care just to try and get her eating/pooping again. Antibiotics can be very harsh on our piggies digestive systems so probiotics could help to keep her gut health stable. I hope she is OK.
 
What dosage of meloxicam is she on? I've read everywhere that twice a day for meloxicam is ideal, but that really comes down to dosage and weight of the piggie.

In my case, I had the option of going even higher than I wanted to go twice a day or to go with a slightly lower dose three times a day. So now, at 8am, 4pm, and 12am every day, I dose my piggie.

It's a pain in the rear, but if you can, I'd recommend three times a day, and if you can't, twice a day. But I am very curious what dose of meloxicam your piggie is on. Many vets underdose guinea pigs due to fear of kidney/liver problems when in fact they tolerate it very well. Good luck. My thoughts are with you and your piggie!
 
Hi everyone, unfortunately have a sad update on my guinea pig. Went to the veterinarian again today to get her checked out, since she has not shown signs of improvement and has continued to lose weight. She went from 770 this weekend to around 730 today, even with feeding her around 100 ml of Critical Care per day. She still shows interest in food, but won't eat anything at all, not even a bite of fresh fruits and vegetables or hay.

The veterinarian took another x-ray and could not find anything which showed up as an obvious issue. After showing them videos of her behavior and inability to eat, he said that the issue seemed to be neurological and may not be possible to fix. They thought that it could potentially be a brain tumor or other issue, but there would be no clear way to know for sure. The doctor said to stop giving her antibiotics, but that it will not make a difference. She is still continuing with the painkillers. Because she continues to drop weight so much, even with all the Critical Care, he said that she is not going to make it.

Considering getting a second opinion but unfortunately preparing for the worst. Got a lot of nice warm blankets and pillows to help make her remaining time nice but don't know what else can be done.
 
So sorry to read this, I feel for you :hug:has there been any improvement
 
I'm very sorry to hear this. Personally, I'd play around with the dosage of meloxicam because the worst case scenario there is decreased pain.

Dose at 1mg/kg, and then work backwards depending on the strength of the meloxicam.

For example, a 1kg piggie would need 1mg. If the strength of the meloxicam is 1.5mg/Ml, then the piggie would need 0.67mL once a day. Spread that out to twice a day at least, or three times a day.

They've done studies in rodents from 0.5mg ->2mg/day and there were marked improvements in pain markers. Personally, I think the piggie is in pain from the teeth surgery, and as such I would recommend increasing the amount of meloxicam.

Good luck
 
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