Guinea pig unable to eat

[GuineaGirl479]

Hi,

My 4-year-old female guinea pig Toffee fell ill last Saturday and since then has been experiencing difficulty eating. When she attempts to eat, I have observed her gagging and pawing at the side of her mouth even when she tries to consume soft food, and she is only able to ingest miniscule amounts of food at a time. We have taken her to the vets twice in the past week, and both times the vets have insisted there is nothing wrong with her mouth and that there are no clear signs as to why she has suddenly stopped eating. She has been prescribed Metacam, Baytril and Emeprid by the vets, but despite giving her these on a daily basis she is showing no real signs of recovery. She is now refusing to eat almost all food items, including food she would normally never resist, and seems to be attempting to eat the wood shavings in her hutch instead. To get some food into her we have been feeding her a liquid recovery mix prescribed by the vet through a syringe every couple of hours, along with some water to keep her hydrated as she is showing little interest in her water bottle. She did stop producing any waste for one day in the week which prompted us to take her back to the vets again, and since then she has been passing waste in very small amounts aided by the liquid food. Despite not eating much, she still has a lot of energy and has not lost a great deal of weight over the course of the week.

The vets have suggested hospitalisation would be the next step, however I am unsure if this will make any difference to her condition, especially as they don't know what has caused her to stop eating in the first place. Has anyone had a guinea pig showing similar symptoms in the past? We are really concerned about her and are currently unsure of how to proceed.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

My 4-year-old female guinea pig Toffee fell ill last Saturday and since then has been experiencing difficulty eating. When she attempts to eat, I have observed her gagging and pawing at the side of her mouth even when she tries to consume soft food, and she is only able to ingest miniscule amounts of food at a time. We have taken her to the vets twice in the past week, and both times the vets have insisted there is nothing wrong with her mouth and that there are no clear signs as to why she has suddenly stopped eating. She has been prescribed Metacam, Baytril and Emeprid by the vets, but despite giving her these on a daily basis she is showing no real signs of recovery. She is now refusing to eat almost all food items, including food she would normally never resist, and seems to be attempting to eat the wood shavings in her hutch instead. To get some food into her we have been feeding her a liquid recovery mix prescribed by the vet through a syringe every couple of hours, along with some water to keep her hydrated as she is showing little interest in her water bottle. She did stop producing any waste for one day in the week which prompted us to take her back to the vets again, and since then she has been passing waste in very small amounts aided by the liquid food. Despite not eating much, she still has a lot of energy and has not lost a great deal of weight over the course of the week.

The vets have suggested hospitalisation would be the next step, however I am unsure if this will make any difference to her condition, especially as they don't know what has caused her to stop eating in the first place. Has anyone had a guinea pig showing similar symptoms in the past? We are really concerned about her and are currently unsure of how to proceed.

Hi and welcome
Has your vet check the mouth for overgrowth of the back teeth? The premolars can grow spurs when the chewing is not regular; these usually arch over the inside and bridge/trap the tongue but can occasionally grow outwards and into the cheek. Her pawing a spot in her mouth points towards a very localised discomfort/source of pain. Alternatively something could have got stuck between the teeth, for instance.

Please continue syringe feeding. Make sure that the formula is not too watery and that you get as close to 60-90 ml as possible into her over the course of 24 hours. The formula replaces the lack of hay, which makes normally over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day and what keeps the crucial back teeth ground down as grass is very rich in abrasive silica. You also need to be aware that it takes on average about 22 hours for food to pass from one end of the body to the other; in ill guinea pigs that process can be slower. This means that the poo output always runs at least a day behind the event horizon and reflects what has happened yesterday and not what is happening today.

Please take the time to read our very practical syringe feeding and medicating guide, which contains all the practical how to tips but which also explains everything that is connected to it. You should find it very helpful to make more sense of what you are noticing and being able to put it in the appropriate perspective.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

If your treating vet is unable to work out the cause, would they be willing to refer your piggy to the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton? They specialise in seeing only cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small furries and specialise in dental/mouth problems. However, they are oversubscribed and will only accept new clients that are referred by vets who are unable to deal with the problem.
CAT AND RABBIT CARE CLINIC | Northlands Vets

 

[Bill & Ted]

I can thoroughly recommend Simon and akin Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic, it’s worth the journey their expertise in dental problems is 5 star. they will assess the problem and do any dental work needed there and then, done consciously do no nasty general aesthetics. A dental is very reasonably priced too

 

[GuineaGirl479]

Hi and welcome
Has your vet check the mouth for overgrowth of the back teeth? The premolars can grow spurs when the chewing is not regular; these usually arch over the inside and bridge/trap the tongue but can occasionally grow outwards and into the cheek. Her pawing a spot in her mouth points towards a very localised discomfort/source of pain. Alternatively something could have got stuck between the teeth, for instance.

Please continue syringe feeding. Make sure that the formula is not too watery and that you get as close to 60-90 ml as possible into her over the course of 24 hours. The formula replaces the lack of hay, which makes normally over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day and what keeps the crucial back teeth ground down as grass is very rich in abrasive silica. You also need to be aware that it takes on average about 22 hours for food to pass from one end of the body to the other; in ill guinea pigs that process can be slower. This means that the poo output always runs at least a day behind the event horizon and reflects what has happened yesterday and not what is happening today.

Please take the time to read our very practical syringe feeding and medicating guide, which contains all the practical how to tips but which also explains everything that is connected to it. You should find it very helpful to make more sense of what you are noticing and being able to put it in the appropriate perspective.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

If your treating vet is unable to work out the cause, would they be willing to refer your piggy to the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton? They specialise in seeing only cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small furries and specialise in dental/mouth problems. However, they are oversubscribed and will only accept new clients that are referred by vets who are unable to deal with the problem.
CAT AND RABBIT CARE CLINIC | Northlands Vets

Hi, thank you very much for the information.

Yes, my vet checked her back teeth on Friday and said she had a few small spurs forming on the right-hand side of her mouth which was the side she seemed to be pawing at. The vet didn't seem overly concerned by these though, as she said they were much too small to have caused her not to eat. Toffee did also have a really severe issue with her breathing earlier in the week, but this has since cleared following the course of medication.
We are looking to switch vets to find a specialist practice if possible, so the practice in Northampton would definitely be one to consider.

 

[GuineaGirl479]

I can thoroughly recommend Simon and akin Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic, it’s worth the journey their expertise in dental problems is 5 star. they will assess the problem and do any dental work needed there and then, done consciously do no nasty general aesthetics. A dental is very reasonably priced too

Hi,
Thank you very much. I will definitely look into this as we are convinced she has some kind of issue with her teeth which has led to her not eating.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, thank you very much for the information.

Yes, my vet checked her back teeth on Friday and said she had a few small spurs forming on the right-hand side of her mouth which was the side she seemed to be pawing at. The vet didn't seem overly concerned by these though, as she said they were much too small to have caused her not to eat. Toffee did also have a really severe issue with her breathing earlier in the week, but this has since cleared following the course of medication.
We are looking to switch vets to find a specialist practice if possible, so the practice in Northampton would definitely be one to consider.

It rather looks like she has a pain/discomfort issue there if she has stopped chewing on that side.

The Cat&Rabbit Care clinic are seeing piggies from literally all over the country and are doing about 25 piggy dentals in just a week. They are by far the best vets in within your reach - lucky you, you are not too far away.