Guinea pig seems off, but vet cannot figure out what it is?

[morumotto]

Hey! I have concerns over one of my guinea pigs and I would love to see if anyone has potential insight into what is going on.

I have a 4.5 - 5yo girl piggie, Oreo. For the past couple of months I've noticed her squinting a bit and fluffing up slightly, like she is uncomfortable, with occasional ill-formed poops. It eventually became frequent enough that I took her to the vet and it was discovered she had developed a bladder stone and had a lot of gas in her body. She had a procedure done to remove much of the gas and to remove the bladder stone.

All seemed well for about a week until she started showing the same symptoms again. Since then I have been to the vet multiple times, trying to figure out what could still be wrong. She had more xrays done which showed she did not have any more gas and no new stones. It also does not seem like she has any UTI or the like; she had a course of antibiotics when she had her procedure done and a little bit afterwards we had a urinalysis done, which came back normal.

My exotics vet can't seem to pinpoint what is wrong, and at our last visit told me that this might be the new normal for her as the physical examination, urinalysis, and xrays came back normal. Yet I still have a gut feeling that there is still something off. The eye squinting, fur-fluffing and ill-formed poops all seem like something is still wrong. Does anyone have any thoughts of what it could be that I could bring up to the vet?

Some extra info: She is still pretty active, maybe only slightly more lethargic than usual. Her weight seems to fluctuate pretty wildly from week to week, both up and down. She is on long-term medication: urinary tablets, low-dose painkiller and a glucosamine supplement for cystitis from her bladder stones (this recent case was her third stone in 6 months). I've never noticed any overt problems chewing food; she may drop a pellet here and there, but no drooling or anything like that. Her diet is mostly timothy hay with filtered water, pellets, and veggies (romaine lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and pepper). She has two cagemates and lives in a big cage.

 

[StayGold86]

What urinary tablets is she on? Try giving her a some Bene-Bac. That will help out her gut microflora and should straighten out her poops. Maybe her tummy doesn't feel well.

 

[Wiebke]

Hey! I have concerns over one of my guinea pigs and I would love to see if anyone has potential insight into what is going on.

I have a 4.5 - 5yo girl piggie, Oreo. For the past couple of months I've noticed her squinting a bit and fluffing up slightly, like she is uncomfortable, with occasional ill-formed poops. It eventually became frequent enough that I took her to the vet and it was discovered she had developed a bladder stone and had a lot of gas in her body. She had a procedure done to remove much of the gas and to remove the bladder stone.

All seemed well for about a week until she started showing the same symptoms again. Since then I have been to the vet multiple times, trying to figure out what could still be wrong. She had more xrays done which showed she did not have any more gas and no new stones. It also does not seem like she has any UTI or the like; she had a course of antibiotics when she had her procedure done and a little bit afterwards we had a urinalysis done, which came back normal.

My exotics vet can't seem to pinpoint what is wrong, and at our last visit told me that this might be the new normal for her as the physical examination, urinalysis, and xrays came back normal. Yet I still have a gut feeling that there is still something off. The eye squinting, fur-fluffing and ill-formed poops all seem like something is still wrong. Does anyone have any thoughts of what it could be that I could bring up to the vet?

Some extra info: She is still pretty active, maybe only slightly more lethargic than usual. Her weight seems to fluctuate pretty wildly from week to week, both up and down. She is on long-term medication: urinary tablets, low-dose painkiller and a glucosamine supplement for cystitis from her bladder stones (this recent case was her third stone in 6 months). I've never noticed any overt problems chewing food; she may drop a pellet here and there, but no drooling or anything like that. Her diet is mostly timothy hay with filtered water, pellets, and veggies (romaine lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and pepper). She has two cagemates and lives in a big cage.

Hi

Diagnosing guinea pigs can quickly become a detective job once you have excluded the obvious issues.

Are you weighing Oreo daily on your kitchen scales in order to monitor her food intake; ideally first thing in the morning for best day-to-day comparison. At least three quarters of what a guinea pig eats in a day is hay - but you cannot control this by eye; it can be very deceptive. If there is a pain issue somwhere, the hay intake is often the first to suffer.

Has your vet checked the mouth and especially the teeth for a potential pain issue there (could be a developing root abscess, which can make itself felt quite a while before it blows off but please accept that I can only guess). Pain in the mouth/head while chewing can cause eye squinting, it also can cause more general signs of pain in the body, like fluffing up and your piggy increasingly avoiding/struggling foods that hurt when chewing can then also account for the irregular poos. Of course, I cannot tell you whether my guess is in the right area at all just from your words without any other access and not being a vet myself; but from my own experiences it is the one that would account for most of the seemingly unconnected and vague symptoms.
I can of course be that the eye squinting is totally unrelated...

I feel your pain not knowing what is going on; it is always a very worrying time. Trust your instincts. If you feel something is not right, then it likely is, even if it is hard to find.

Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs

 

[Merab]

I can’t advise but want to offer support.
Mystery illness is so frustrating

 

[Livia Rabideau]

Have they ruled out reproductive issues? Did they look while they had her open for her cystotomy?

 

[Popcorns & Wheeks]

So sorry to hear your piggie is suffering some discomfort. Can I ask if she has been spayed?

 

[morumotto]

What urinary tablets is she on? Try giving her a some Bene-Bac. That will help out her gut microflora and should straighten out her poops. Maybe her tummy doesn't feel well.

She's on the Sherwood Urinary Support tablets. I do forget about Bene-Bac, I can certainly give that a try. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[morumotto]

Hi

Diagnosing guinea pigs can quickly become a detective job once you have excluded the obvious issues.

Are you weighing Oreo daily on your kitchen scales in order to monitor her food intake; ideally first thing in the morning for best day-to-day comparison. At least three quarters of what a guinea pig eats in a day is hay - but you cannot control this by eye; it can be very deceptive. If there is a pain issue somwhere, the hay intake is often the first to suffer.

Has your vet checked the mouth and especially the teeth for a potential pain issue there (could be a developing root abscess, which can make itself felt quite a while before it blows off but please accept that I can only guess). Pain in the mouth/head while chewing can cause eye squinting, it also can cause more general signs of pain in the body, like fluffing up and your piggy increasingly avoiding/struggling foods that hurt when chewing can then also account for the irregular poos. Of course, I cannot tell you whether my guess is in the right area at all just from your words without any other access and not being a vet myself; but from my own experiences it is the one that would account for most of the seemingly unconnected and vague symptoms.
I can of course be that the eye squinting is totally unrelated...

I feel your pain not knowing what is going on; it is always a very worrying time. Trust your instincts. If you feel something is not right, then it likely is, even if it is hard to find.

Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs

Hi!

When she had her procedure to remove the stone I weighed daily, and back then her weight slowly went up over the course of a week. Soon after I went back to weighing weekly. I just weighed her tonight and she's up 15g in weight from last week. I can certainly try weighing daily again.

Oreo has only had her teeth examined as far as what's normal during a physical exam, not the full examination back into the back teeth. She does eat a urinary tablet everyday, which is a very hard pill. I have not noticed her struggling to chew it compared to her cagemates. But you're right that it could be worth getting her teeth further checked. Thank you so much for giving me another idea to look into!

 

[morumotto]

I can’t advise but want to offer support.
Mystery illness is so frustrating

It really is! Thank you so much for your support

 

[morumotto]

Have they ruled out reproductive issues? Did they look while they had her open for her cystotomy?

It's my understanding that this most recent bladder stone was situated in the vestibule of her vulva, and so all they had to do was scrape it out. I don't think they did a cystotomy, and so I don't think they looked into a potential reproductive issue. She has had an ovarian cyst in the past, but it was successfully treated with a series of hormone shots. Are there other reproductive issues than cysts? Is that something that would have shown up on an xray?

 

[morumotto]

So sorry to hear your piggie is suffering some discomfort. Can I ask if she has been spayed?

I appreciate your kindness, thank you. She has not been spayed; I adopted her when she was around 3yo and thought it might be too risky at the time.

 

[Livia Rabideau]

It's my understanding that this most recent bladder stone was situated in the vestibule of her vulva, and so all they had to do was scrape it out. I don't think they did a cystotomy, and so I don't think they looked into a potential reproductive issue. She has had an ovarian cyst in the past, but it was successfully treated with a series of hormone shots. Are there other reproductive issues than cysts? Is that something that would have shown up on an xray?

An ultrasound would be needed to find reproductive issues as far as I know.

 

[Lady Kelly]

What urinary tablets is she on? Try giving her a some Bene-Bac. That will help out her gut microflora and should straighten out her poops. Maybe her tummy doesn't feel well.

It's worth noting that, whilst a probiotic like bene-bac won't cause any issues, it is unlikely to resolve this situation as odd poops are not the only symptom and it's clear there is something more than a dodgy tummy going on. We do kindly ask that members stick to sharing their experiences when they have been through similar, or simply sending messages of support when they have not, rather than advising in the health and illness section. We have a team of experienced members who are our health and illness moderator's who get alerts of new posts in this section to be able to provide guidance.

@morumotto I'm sorry you are going through this. You have had some excellent advice from Wiebke so I have nothing more to add other than I know so well how hard it is to watch a piggy who is clearly not well and not being able to get any answers. Hopefully the vet can find a cause soon

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

When she had her procedure to remove the stone I weighed daily, and back then her weight slowly went up over the course of a week. Soon after I went back to weighing weekly. I just weighed her tonight and she's up 15g in weight from last week. I can certainly try weighing daily again.

Oreo has only had her teeth examined as far as what's normal during a physical exam, not the full examination back into the back teeth. She does eat a urinary tablet everyday, which is a very hard pill. I have not noticed her struggling to chew it compared to her cagemates. But you're right that it could be worth getting her teeth further checked. Thank you so much for giving me another idea to look into!

If her weight is stable, then she is eating enough and doesn't have a problem with chewing, and the squinting is unlikely to be directly linked to the funny poos. It is likely just a very minor discomfort.
It is however something to keep in mind and to keep a casual eye on in case the squinting is becoming stronger and you notice other dental pointers.

The good news is that whatever her pain, it is not so serious as to impact on her appetite (i.e. causing weight loss). We recommend to see a vet and to switch to weigh to daily weigh-ins once your piggy has lost over 50g (or 100g in a very gradual decline). You are still in the observation stage as there is likely not much to find for a vet right now.

As long as the weight is stable, I would continue to only weigh weekly but always at the same time in the feeding cycle. First thing in the morning is when the weight is usually lowest as it swings in a band of around a 30-40g over 24 hours depending on how full/empty the tummy and the bladder are. The more often you weigh, the more the weight will jump around and upset you. If you have anxiety issues, frequent weigh-ins and obsessive health monitoring can quickly become a bit of a rabbit hole for you so you have to strike a careful balance.

It is always an awkward stage when you feel that something is not quite right but nothing is showing up yet or - with a bit of luck - will hopefully never go any further and fade away again.