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Help/Advice - What could this be? Vets seem clueless...

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EmmaH_91

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So our almost 2 year old Peruvian boar Benji has a recurring problem. We have no clear answers as to what it is at the point. He has always been a very porky pig, at his heaviest just 6 months ago he was 1.3kg. He is now just 750g. Gradually since May he has been losing weight and has had recurring ileus/gut stasis and bloat, he goes off his food, has mushy poos and gets severely dehydrated (eyes sunken), he then requires syringe feeding and medication for at least a week until then suddenly springing back to life. This has happened at least once every month, but more recently twice a month, since May. His last episode (just the end of last week) he presented with a new symptom of heaving, and seems to only be able to swallow very small amounts of food at a time otherwise he brings it all back up. He has been fine for a few days but is now showing signs of going downhill again already. Looking for any pointers as to what could be the problem. Vets have done a parasite stool test but not got the results back yet, they haven’t checked his teeth either, but say they would need to put him under anesthetic to have a proper check of the teeth... and I am not convinced that is necessary, nor if that would be a good idea with him being weak already to put him under anesthesia. Clueless at this point but don’t want to give up on him yet, and we only lost his cage mate just last month too ☹️ Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
I would recommend getting a second opinion from one of the piggie savvy vets on our vet locator.
 
Has your vet done xrays? I only ask as I recently lost one of my older girls, she bloated and began retching/heaving. This was on and off, sadly she had a tumour on the neck of her stomach and passed away a few hours after surgery.
 
I would start by doing a full range of simple diagnostic tests - at the very least and x-ray, urinalysis and ultra sound.
I would also ask how experienced your vets are with guinea pigs.
If this has been going on for months, and the weight loss is that severe they should have performed multiple tests and tried various medications by now.
Has he had any antibiotics, pain relief, anti inflammatories, gut stimulants or pro biotics?
These are all easy things to try and can eliminate a lot of common issues.
 
Yes he has been on various medications for at least a week each time to get him through these episodes. But still he gets it again. Medications he is currently on are co-trimoxazole, cisapride, metacam, fibreplex and we are giving 5-10ml critical care syringed 5 x daily to top him up with his weight being so low for him. He has been xrayed yes just last month which showed bloating on one side but nothing else. The vet has 30 years experience but is not a piggy specialist. I have noticed he does have a little pea sized lump on one side, it appears to be move-able and can be moved around a bit. We only noticed this recently though. I am going to phone the guinea pig in Matlock which is about 40 minutes away from us tomorrow and try and get an appointment for a second opinion.
 
Got an appointment tomorrow with The Guinea Pig Vet in Matlock The Guinea Pig Vet | Matlock, UK | The Guinea Pig Vet
Fingers crossed she can diagnose him pretty quickly. He started showing signs of going downhill again last night, retching/heaving and not keeping much food down :( We just want some answers at this point before we can make a decision on the next steps.
 
Hope you can get to the bottom of what is causing the problems with your piggie. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.:hug:
 
I hope you can get some answers and a plan for the way ahead. It’s such a worry when you feel as though you are fighting an invisible enemy,
 
The guinea pig vet is very good, I take my pigs there even though it's well over an hours drive away. Hope Ellie can resolve things
 
Hope you get some answers tomorrow. I would recommend he has an ultra sound. The bloat may not be an issue with his GI tract it's self but might be a result of an other issue such as with his liver/gaul bladder, which would not show up on an xray. What you describe sounds a lot like a piggy I had who had liver disease, so just saying its a possibility that's all.

Hope all goes well for your little man
 
Update... Well, the guinea pig vet at Matlock was amazing! Our appointment lasted well over an hour and she really listened and helped us to understand what she thinks has caused this. Benji has always been abit of a naughty eater, eating things he shouldn’t do and in particular has eaten a lot of plastic (corroplast from c&n cage), lots of fleece/fluff from bedding and lots of his recently passed cagemate Chucks hair (he was barbaring him like mad at one point only a few months ago)... So, she is pretty certain with his symptoms that it’s a blockage of some kind in his stomach. She did a thorough examination of his abdomen, she also checked his back molars and they are all fine so at least teeth problems can be ruled out now. She is pretty certain that from the retching it is a blockage that’s causing it. He was very poorly when we got him there and she said he needed some immediate relief as he wouldn’t have made it through the night otherwise, so she did a stomach flush with a stomach tube to attempt to flush out the blockage internally as she thinks it had got stuck and needed to be worked out of him, whilst the tube was in she put some food and water straight into his stomach to keep him going as he had not managed to keep anything down all day. The stomach flush was also intended to potentially break up the blockage and disperse it so that it can be passed naturally - I had never heard before that this could be done! She said with his weight so low she could not operate to remove it as he would almost certainly die whilst under anesthetic. She sent us away with some new medications to try and a form of liquid parrafin, which I believe is to help break things up in the stomach into smaller parts to help them pass easily (for when the blockage passes). We are also to continue syringe feeding until his strength and his weight have picked up again, and we are to call her on Monday to let her know how he is doing. You’ll be pleased to know he has made it through another night :-) - I am writing this at 6.30am on Saturday morning 21/08. So yes, we are so so pleased with how it went and will definitely be going to Ellie with any future piggy problems!
 
Wow. I had never heard of a stomach flush. It’s amazing what can be done now a days. I hope he continues to improve. 🤞
 
Very sad news ☹️ We said goodbye to Benji this morning 🧡 We woke up to find him in a really bad way, he had either had a seizure or suffered a stoke in the night as he couldn’t walk or support himself, his head was tilted and floppy and his body was limp. He couldn’t eat or drink properly, it’s as if he wanted to but his ability had gone. We held him close for three hours and kept him comfortable but thought it best to make the kindest decision and take him to the vets. We are so so sad and feel very lost as he seemed to be picking up so much in the last week 😢😢 xx
 
So sorry for your loss. Take care. Popcorn high Benji.
 
So sorry that you had to make the hardest decision for little Benji. It is the last act of love that we can show our beloved pets. Sleep well Benji.
 
So very sorry to see your sad update. I am so sorry that you have had to say goodbye. Sleep tight little fellow.
 
Here he was just a few weeks ago, enjoying some dandelions on my lap in the garden ❤️❤️ And the second picture with his cagemate Chuck, who also passed away only last month 😢
 

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Sorry for your losses. It sounds like you gave them both lots of love and cared for them very much.
 
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