Elgifu321
Junior Guinea Pig
I have 2 male guinea pigs that are about four years old, Oswyn (pronounced: Oz-win) and Rupert and both have generally been healthy up to now- in fact the only time I can remember visiting the vets with them was when I found a wart on Ruperts bum It's harmless though but better to be safe than sorry. I no longer have the same level of confidence in this vet and would prefer to go to a Guinea pig specialist. I live in Warrington (between Manchester and Liverpool) and don't mind travelling if I need to but am aware less travel equals less stress for the pigs.
I went on holiday for two weeks and got back sept 1st- a 28 hr journey so went straight to bed to be honest and saw the pigs first thing in the morning (a relative had been looking after them). I had a panic attack when I saw Oswyn- he'd lost so much weight and was sitting in the corner of his litter tray fluffed up. Rang the vet immediately and had him there in 30 mins. He had drool down his chest so vet suspected dental problem but as he also had crusty eyes and nose so the vet wanted to give him antibiotics to clear the infection but said due to him chewing at the tool she was using she couldn't see his teeth. She gave me ONE 20g pouch of recovery plus and told me to come back Monday morning to see if he could gain a little weight (he was about 675g) as she wants to X-ray him under anaesthetic.
I returned on Monday morning- Oswyn had attempted to eat and drink a little by himself but needed hand feeding and I also gave him water in a feeding bottle which he took it from happily. The vet was pleased and said he'd gained a little weight (710g), his dribbling had pretty much stopped (could this be because he was mainly eating liquid food?) and his eyes and nose had cleared up too. He's moving around more and making noises again but barely eating independently. She tried again to look at his teeth but couldn't as his mouth was full of food. She gave me 2 more recovery plus 20g pouches and more antibiotics and told me to return on Friday when she hopes to put him under anaesthetic and do the X-ray and possibly dental surgery.
My concerns are shouldn't she have had a device to open his cheeks up to see his teeth properly? And a rinse for when he had food in his mouth? When I got him home I noticed his ears are pretty waxy too and she never checked them though I'm sure the antibiotics will work on that. The recovery plus pack says one pouch per day and she's given me way less so I've been blending pellets and adding water and syringe feeding that too and I ordered a large 454g pack of critical care which he seems to prefer anyway so that's not ended up being so much of an issue. She didn't recommend any probiotics and told me to feed him 0.9g every hour just during the day which wouldn't meet his food needs at all and lastly the biggie- anaesthetic is super risky for piggies and ive been told that experienced Guinea pig vets do dental surgery without (it appears to be his molars) is this true?
Also conveniently enough a found a lump on Ruperts hip today... It's about the size if a peanut, maybe a little smaller and is really squishy like it's filled with fluid but I'd rather get it checked out to be safe than sorry. He's still acting like his normal self though at least.
The bottom line is I'd prefer Oswyn to have the surgery without the anaesthetic, especially in his weakened state so if I can find a surgery to do that I will definitely travel. I'm a supply teacher aswell and I've taken the week off to make sure I can feed him through the day etc so honestly I'll do whatever it takes to make him well again
I went on holiday for two weeks and got back sept 1st- a 28 hr journey so went straight to bed to be honest and saw the pigs first thing in the morning (a relative had been looking after them). I had a panic attack when I saw Oswyn- he'd lost so much weight and was sitting in the corner of his litter tray fluffed up. Rang the vet immediately and had him there in 30 mins. He had drool down his chest so vet suspected dental problem but as he also had crusty eyes and nose so the vet wanted to give him antibiotics to clear the infection but said due to him chewing at the tool she was using she couldn't see his teeth. She gave me ONE 20g pouch of recovery plus and told me to come back Monday morning to see if he could gain a little weight (he was about 675g) as she wants to X-ray him under anaesthetic.
I returned on Monday morning- Oswyn had attempted to eat and drink a little by himself but needed hand feeding and I also gave him water in a feeding bottle which he took it from happily. The vet was pleased and said he'd gained a little weight (710g), his dribbling had pretty much stopped (could this be because he was mainly eating liquid food?) and his eyes and nose had cleared up too. He's moving around more and making noises again but barely eating independently. She tried again to look at his teeth but couldn't as his mouth was full of food. She gave me 2 more recovery plus 20g pouches and more antibiotics and told me to return on Friday when she hopes to put him under anaesthetic and do the X-ray and possibly dental surgery.
My concerns are shouldn't she have had a device to open his cheeks up to see his teeth properly? And a rinse for when he had food in his mouth? When I got him home I noticed his ears are pretty waxy too and she never checked them though I'm sure the antibiotics will work on that. The recovery plus pack says one pouch per day and she's given me way less so I've been blending pellets and adding water and syringe feeding that too and I ordered a large 454g pack of critical care which he seems to prefer anyway so that's not ended up being so much of an issue. She didn't recommend any probiotics and told me to feed him 0.9g every hour just during the day which wouldn't meet his food needs at all and lastly the biggie- anaesthetic is super risky for piggies and ive been told that experienced Guinea pig vets do dental surgery without (it appears to be his molars) is this true?
Also conveniently enough a found a lump on Ruperts hip today... It's about the size if a peanut, maybe a little smaller and is really squishy like it's filled with fluid but I'd rather get it checked out to be safe than sorry. He's still acting like his normal self though at least.
The bottom line is I'd prefer Oswyn to have the surgery without the anaesthetic, especially in his weakened state so if I can find a surgery to do that I will definitely travel. I'm a supply teacher aswell and I've taken the week off to make sure I can feed him through the day etc so honestly I'll do whatever it takes to make him well again
