Guinea Pig Story

[tweak]

Good day all , my name is Warren , I live in South Africa and have Two Guinea pigs both females . One is a year old and the other is comming up on 2.5-3 Years .

Where to begin lol ...

Luna , my 2.5 Year old has had a rough past 2 Months . She has never grown beyond 750g and always been a small little piggie .... But has fallen ill and has for the past 2 Months been between 450-480g .

It all began 2 months ago I noticed her she was allot smaller than usual , as her sister is young I assumed my eyes are playing tricks on me as she is still growing ... ( Coco is her name and weights in at 970g ) .

I then realized her one eye started to water up and loose abit of hair , I immediately took her to a vet , they informed me that she might have dental issues , and this is causing the injury on the eye ... ( They told me it will cost 2300 ZAR to fix witch is allot in my country so I looked for other vets ) . They left me with a course of antibiotics and eye drops , requesting I return in a two weeks if it gets worse ...

And it did , in my pursue to look for another vet I did not return to the same vet , I found another vet that said it's drastic and they X- Rayd her to tell me she has cancer , and has no more than 6 months to live ... Have me a few syringes of meta cam and said make her comfortable till she dies ...

Another week goes by and I find another Vet , reasonable over the phone they told me , 1000 ZAR they will fix the problem ... I went in and they said yes her front teeth are long I should bring her in tomorrow for a trim ... Charged me 1000 ZAR .... Then the next day they trimmed her teeth while awake ( Front only ) . And X-rayed her then told me she has authris ...gave me a bottle of metacam and said administer it twice daily at 0.1ml . After charging me another 1000 ZAR ... ( I should have just paid the first vet at this rate right ) .

Now I'm happy , 3 Vets later and 4 weeks finally she is well ? Sadly no , as we got home she tried to bite food ( Veggies / pellets ) but just couldn't , she chased the carrot around the cage trying to bite it ... Thinking it's nothing I left her and tried to stay positive .

In this time I heard her crunching an empty mouth , ( eating nothing but grinding her teeth ) , 3 More weeks go on and I'm trying my best to keep her alive buying critical care at exorbitant prices .. while I waited to generate more funding to try and take her in again ( at this point vets and critical care I'm about 10k ZAR in ) .

I went to the first vet that wanted 2300 ZAR and they looked at her and said bring her in tomorrow at 9 am we will fix her for the 2300 , without charging a consult for that day .. I took her in and they took photos of her mouth while under anesthesia showing bruising on her tong as her inner teeth grinded her tong . They squared up the inner teeth , and held her for the day to ensure she is oky ...

I went to pick her up at 5pm that day , and they explained that one of her front teeth are loose and this is causing her to not be able to bite , I should keep her on critical care till she can bite things again ... And again x-rays , said there is no cancer and no authritis , she walks funny and falls over due to malnutrition and has no muscles .

That brings me to today , still worried about my little piggie , keeping her alive 12.5K later , I'm sitting with a piggie I hope is going to survive and somehow grew an addiction to rolled oats

Just some things to add , she has not taken a nibble of grass on her own in 2 months , lived on meta cam for 30 days , and is addicted to rolled oats .... I keep her away from her sister because she is weak but put them in the sun every day together for 3-4 Hours ( not direct ) . Luna the ill little piggie sleeps on her side in the sun , and also needs a heater on near her cage or she weeps like calling for food but alot softer .

I know I just typed allot and I missed so much , I might add I know nobody else that owns piggies and mostly learnt to care for them from Scotty's Animals ( a youtuber from LA that works at a rescue ) .

If anybody picks up anything in what I said and can advise in any way ... I know it's soon and she just got back 2 Days ago ... But I'm still so worried for her and I have no idea if she will make it ... ( Cancer didn't take her yet as the 2nd vet said .. ) .

Greeting from South Africa Warren

PS: Typing this on my phone as we have regular blackouts , sorry for the poor grammar and or spelling .

 

[tweak]

Here are some photos for context .

 

[piggl]

I am very sorry to hear of the position you have been put in.

480g is a really very low amount for a 2 and a 1/2 year old. How much critical care have you been giving a day?
100ml of critical care a day is around the amount of total calories needed in a day for a pig, so getting as close to that as possible will give her the best shot.
If you do not have access to critical care, you can make makeshift support feed with her nuggets. Soaking them in water and then mushing it down and administering this by syringe.
Weight Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

I am also sorry to hear of the bad cards you have been dealt, vet wise. It sounds like the one you have been to most recently are the best, and I hope after her dental you start to see improvement in her eating.
Has she started eating on her own after the dental, or is the incisor impairing her ability to eat.
What medications is she on, after her dental?

It would be recommended to put your girls back together, as removing them from each other will just cause additional stress. Putting them together for a couple hours a day is not suitable either.
You must reintroduce them in a neutral area and see how they get on from there. Having that social aspect in her life will likely have a positive effect on everything else going on.
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

I am going to tag some people with more experience in such than me (with dentals and incisor losses), just off the top of my head, and hopefully they may be able to give some more tailored insight.
@furryfriends (TEAS) @Claire W @Bill & Ted

My thoughts go out to you and Luna, you’ve been doing so well for her throughout all of this x

 

[Claire W]

I am very sorry for what you and Luna have been through and for all the money you have spent seeing various vets but the first seems to be the best.

I am very sorry for the dental issues that Luna appears to have. If she has a wobbly incisor, this will be causing her pain as she’s eating so if it doesn’t fall out on its own, it may be in her best interests if the vet removes it but even then, her mouth will be sore afterwards.

You are aiming to get around 60ml of critical care in to a piggy that’s not eating over 24 hours and she will need feeding roughly every two hours. You can mush up her regular nuggets and syringe feed those.

My Ella had an incisor removed and I had to syringe feed her every two hours for over two weeks but her mouth is no finally healing. Guinea pigs can cope with 3 incisors.

In the meantime, you may want to try grating her veg and see if she can eat it grated

@furryfriends (TEAS) is our dental expert so will hopefully be able to look at the photos for you and advise further

Sorry I’m not much help x

 

[Claire W]

Here’s Ella’s thread Ella has a bottom incisor missing

 

[Merab]

Welcome to the forum.
Just want to offer support to you and your beautiful girl

 

[tweak]

Hey yall , thanx for all the wishes and responses .

@piggl , She does not eat on her own ( Unless I place a teaspoon of rolled oats in a bowl for her she wiggles to it vibrating/shaking like cold, and eating it ) .
The medication she is currently on is CISAPRIDE 2.5Mg @ 0.1Ml twice daily , Vitamin C @ quarter pill once daily and Metacam 0.1ml @ once daily .
I would love to put them back together but she is so weak and her sister is so full of life running around playing allot , my fear is she gets hurt as she falls over very easily onto her side .

@Claire W , I try to administer as much as i can , generally she will only eat 1x1ml shot of critical care . After that i have to go through the extremally horrible process of forcing her to eat . ( I Blended carrot and water then fill the syringe with 0.9ml food and 0.1ml carrot puree ) . As for veggies I blend them and sometimes she takes one bite off of a spoon then just turns away .

Today I got home and found her trying to stand up near the water bottle but stuck lying on her side , like in the photos above .. Immediately I picked her up and forced in 10x1ml syringes . I cannot emphasize on how horrible it is to force feed her . I will force feeding her 10ml every 2H in 6 separate sessions , it almost takes 60 min to feed her those 10ml .

Also I managed to get her to eat cucumber last night but she eats it like a watermelon , just the inside .

Thank all you lovely people for your support !

 

[Bill & Ted]

So sorry for you and Luna, dental issues are the worst in my view and very difficult to treat and get them eating properly again.
There is nothing wrong with giving her a bowl of rolled oats in her cage if she will eat them. They are healthy and will build her up. Obviously no substitute for hay intake but if she will eat them let her. I had a guinea pig who had a molar spur which grew into his teeth. He had regular conscious filing on the spur for several years by a very skilled vet luckily who kept him eating
Can you try her with soaked mushed pellets? critical care is great but very expensive. You could alternate with soaked mushed pellets to syringe or offer her a bowl in her cage. Do carry on hand eating veggies and maybe a little grass if she can eat it. Give a little bit and increase gradually if she likes it
I would strongly consider re bonding her with her companion. I know you are trying to protect her but I think she would be happier if she was with her friend

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

 

[tweak]

Hi @Bill & Ted ,
She currently does not want to eat , since i found her in a state earlier today . She doesn't move at all at the moment and shivers when she tries to move . I syringe fed her 30ml in the past 12 hours , I'm going to wait for her to poop as since i fed her she has not pooped . She is so fragile and her friend for some reason if pulling her hair under her mouth when i put her back .. Also she is only 1 year old and very playful running around the cage popcorning the whole time ... she tends to keep bumping into Luna .. I did try and leave her a bowl of oats but it tends to give her soft poops .

A year of trimming and hand feeding is commitment good job ! I also doubt i could afford taking her in for trimming for a year long if that comes up . This is all just hard for me because luna used to be so full of life and it is hard seeing her struggle like this ...

Lastly is it not going to cause her emotional damage force feeding her ? i literally put the syringe in her mouth corner as she will not take it on her own ..

Edit : i have started giving her mushed pellets as my critical care is finished and i cant go and buy more right now ...

i have science selective grain free and burgess excel blackcurrant pellets that i crush with a bread roller and mix with water ... can i give this to her for a week or is it essential to get critical care again ?

 

[piggl]

It sounds like she needs to get back in to see a vet. Inability to walk is not a good sign,
is the Metacam dog or cat, and once or twice daily.
My worry is that the shuddering would be from pain/weakness in the legs although I can not directly correlate this to dental issues.

It would be best to get proper critical care asap, but the pellets will be fine for now.
I do not believe this will cause any sort of emotional damage, loads of members on here have had to administer support feeding/medication at some point, including me, and nothing like such has ever come of it. It is great you are putting the syringe round the side of her mouth to ensure she can’t spit it out.

I can definitely empathise with your situation, and I can not imagine how tough this is for you all.
I am sending lovely Luna many healing vibes x

 

[tweak]

@piggl , I'm not sure if it is cat or do , its called inflacam . But vet calls it meta cam .. She used to be on 0.1ml every 12H .. The vet said its not necessary as she doesn't have pain she just has malnutrition. I should reduce it to 0.1ml daily ... I'm wondering because since i moved her to 0.1ml she has been weaker .

I will get her more critical care as soon as I can.

its this : Inflacam Oral Suspension For Dogs - 5 ml

 

[Piggies&buns]

@piggl , I'm not sure if it is cat or do , its called inflacam . But vet calls it meta cam .. She used to be on 0.1ml every 12H .. The vet said its not necessary as she doesn't have pain she just has malnutrition. I should reduce it to 0.1ml daily ... I'm wondering because since i moved her to 0.1ml she has been weaker .

I will get her more critical care as soon as I can.

its this : Inflacam Oral Suspension For Dogs - 5 ml

The dog version is fine. It’s stronger.
If you think she is in pain, please talk to the vet. Piggies require their painkillers every 12 hours.

Please do not wait until she poops before your feed her though. She needs to be fed regularly. She will only poop when she is getting enough food (lack of poop often being because of not enough food).
Make sure you weigh her every morning so you can know whether she was fed enough the previous day, which will allow you to adjust food intake.

I absolutely agree though - I would take her back to the vet for another check particularly if she is getting worse

 

[tweak]

Stayed up with her through the night , she was shaking like having seizures , fed her kept her hydrated ... and she layed on her side while we stroked her as she stopped breathing ... She was a fighter and went through hell , but we loved her and she loved us i know it ... She always showed allot of love , its sad she left us ..... I burred her in a nice spot in some silk and a box , asked the holly father to keep her safe in his embrace . Thank all of you for being there , i just wish we had better vets in south africa ... was my first piggie and she was full of love and life , and i still dont know why she died after all the vets .

Again thank all of you .
Take care .

 

[piggl]

I am very sorry to hear this.
Sometimes there is nothing we can do no matter how hard we try. It may have been complications from her procedure or it may have been something underlying that had been brought up by everything else going on.

No matter what it was, I hope you can find peace in the fact you did everything you could have and you were there at the very end.
I cant imagine how safe and loved she felt in your embrace, right until the very end.

My thoughts are with you in this time x

 

[tweak]

Thank you so much @piggl ,

I am going to save some money for a vet emergency in future ....
But once i have saved enough , now Co-co is going to be lonely and she is only 14 months old ... Should i get her a new baby sister in the next few weeks ?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you so much @piggl ,

I am going to save some money for a vet emergency in future ....
But once i have saved enough , now Co-co is going to be lonely and she is only 14 months old ... Should i get her a new baby sister in the next few weeks ?

I’m sorry for your loss.

Yes, she will need a new friend.
The guide below explains how to look after her while she is by herself

Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig

The guide below explains how to introduce and bond piggies properly. You cannot just put a new piggy in the cage with her. They need to be introduced on neutral territory first

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

 

[Merab]

Hugs

Hope you find a new companion for Co-co soon

 

[Wheekallweek]

Oh no I'm so sorry you've lost Luna
You did everything you could, what a tiny pretty piggy!
Give Coco lots of love and cuddles!
RIP Luna, over the Rainbow Bridge
Love and prayers

 

[DavRz]

Aww, May Luna Rest in Peace, she was such a cute little piggy.