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Help me please! Guinea Pig keeps squealing.

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lilsweets3138

Hi everyone,
I am new to this post and would like to say thankyou to anyone who can help me. My name is Christina and I have a shorthair Guinea Pig,his name is Pogy and he is almost 2 years old. Well recently Pogy has started squealing ALOT and I could not figure out why :(.This has been going on for maybe 3 or 4 days now. Last night I was watching him and noticed that I think he squeals when he pees.Everytime he squealed there would be a tiny tiny wet spot and I checked it out and it seems to look clear. I want to know why is he being like this? What could have caused this? He is a very healthy male guinea pig. What should I do? I know vet bills can be an awful lot so If there are any self remedies I could try first that would be great. Here are also some other things that I noticed him doing that might be helpful in diagnosing his illness. Usually he eats like crazy! But now it seems like all he wants to eat is his Timothy Hay and calcium drops. His food has not been changed or anything like that. Water wise, he usually does drink more then what he has been consuming.He is the only guinea pig I have and is never put around my other pets which is my ferret 'KIKI' .I do not let him run around outside. And I was wondering If this is contagious? Beacause I had a bonemarrow transplant 6 years ago, overall my health is in great condition I just want to be cautious thats all. If you can help me that would be GREAT! Thankyou for reading this.

-Christina
 
Hi Christina,

Poor Pogy! Could be a UTI or Bladder Stones. As he is squealing when passing water this is a sign of both of them. Have you noticed blood in the cage? Check these links out http://www.guinealynx.com/uti.html there is a link on there for bladder stones too. Really I would say get him the vet tomorrow for a proper diagnosis.

Good luck and welcome to the board!

Louise
x
 
If he is a boy it could be cystitis, this is less common in boys but a symptom is squeeling when weeing, if there is no blood this is a possibility, if there is blood it's more likely to be stones. Either way a visit to the vets is your best bet, one of mine had cystitis a few weeks ago and a short course of an antibiotic called baytril sorted it out so best get checked out sooner rather than later best of luck :) hope he feels better
Love Emma x
 
Hi Christina,


Welcome to the forum.

First of all stop giving the calcium drops,they are unnecesary and could possibly be the cause of the renal problem(too much calcium can cause renal stones)did someone advise you to use these drops or did you just see them in a petstore?

Have a look at the piggys penis to make sure it is not sore or swollen,this could cause pain on urinating.

The most likely cause of this problem,as others have said,is a uti.Give him extra water by syringe to keep the kidneys flushed through.He must have a course of Septrin otherwise the infection will become deep seated.Septrin is not that expensive.

Utis are not infectious.in fact there is very little that gps can pass on to humans,and those are very rare.

As he has had the problem for a few days,get him to a vet asap because the infection will just get worse.
 
When I purchased him from the pet store they advised me to give all guinea pigs calcium drops. Either in the treat forms or the drops you put in there water. I asked them if that is what they do and they said yes. This was at Petsmart by the way.
Thankyou all again for your help. I will be taking Pogy to the vet and will ask about the septrin.

-Christina
 
Oh dear poor Pogy i hope they can help him :'(
Good luck at the vets :smitten: we'll be crossing our paws for you both :)

and Welcome to the forum :)
 
Poor old Piggy! Sounds like a Urine infection or something like that. Hope the vets can help.
 
good old petsfart again! Hope pogy will be ok lets us know how he gets on! :)
 
Hi Christina

Hopefully it is just the calcium supplement that is causing the problem,.

Give some feedback to the shop(although they will probably ignore you) tell them that these supplements are dangerous,and also putting any suppliment or meds.into drinking water is useless and could be dangerous.,because you do not know how much the pig has drunk.Some gps tend to drink a lot ,others do not drink very much at all.

It is safer to give meds/supplements by syringe so you have control over the dosage.

Supplements are not necessary unless the piggy is poorly.They get all the vits and minerals they need from a varied diet of veggies and hay/grass.

Good luck at the vets. Let us know how you get on.

My piggies are keeping their paws crossed for Piggy,
 
Sorry to hear about Pogy. Hope you get on ok at the vet.

As a general tip, if you want to check if there's blood in the urine, it's a good idea to put white towels (or similar) in the bottom of the cage.
 
Hi all,
Thankyou again for all your help! Well I took Pogy to the Vet and the vet said that he was okay..I had mentioned about the UTI and he said there were no signs of bad health. I also mentioned about the squealing when he urinates(which has decreased some) and he did not say much about that. :( I also mentioned about giving him antibiotics but he said that it was not nesessary, it might make Pogy feel even more sick. SO, I brought him home. He has been drinking ALOT and Iv'e been spot cleaning his cage because well I don't want to say it but he has rather large reproductive glands and they tend to get dragged all around and he is a chubby guy ..everything seems to drag on the bottom of his cage, including his little thing. The vet said that might be the problem.Geesh I think the vet was from across the world because he had a strong accent and I keep wondering If he's treated many guinea pigs. Pogy has been urinating ALOT. I also stopped the calcium drops and will never give him another one! I guess I will keep watching him and If his conditions get any worse I will have to take him to another Vet. :-\ It makes me sad everytime I hear him squeal. Do you think he will get better on his own since I stopped the calcium drops? Please let me know what you all think! Again thankyou for your help.

-Christina
 
I would hope now that things will improve dramatically O0
I'd still be keeping a strict eye on him, which i'm sure you will love,and any changes i'd be off to see another vet a.s.a.p.
Healing wheeks for Pogy :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
btw have you checked or did the vets check to see if there was anything stuck in his man bits? :-\ :-\

If you've any more queries, give Mary a pm and i'm sure she'll get back to you with some answers or suggestions :)
 
Hi Christina,

If you aren't happy with this vet I would get a second opinion. Hopefully Pogy will be ok now but for your own piece of mind if you aren't satisfied take him to someone else. :)

Hope he is ok!

Louise
x
 
Have you looked at his penis to see if it is sore or dirty?.

If he continues to squeel over the next 24 hours I would find another vet.It does not sound as if the one you have seen is very clued up about gps.

Something is causing him pain when he urinates or passes pellets,you need to find out what is going on here.
 
Last night I did check his penis and it was not red or swollen. I did look at pictures on the internet and compare them and everything looked normal. I even felt around it gently and he did not squeal. I did notice though that around his penis and anal area there were some brownish looking bits(dried poo poo) I'm guessing. It was not alot and none was on his actual penis but more so around the backend. Should I wash around that area? I was thinking of using baby wipes,would this be okay? Thanks again for your support!

-Christina

P.S. the vet did check his man bits(a quick peek) nothing to special. He did not feel around it or anything like that. Last night I noticed something about pogy, when he urinates or passes pellets his testes seemed to move almost kind of a shaking look. I dont know how to explan it very well. I don't want to say jiggle but thats what it seemed. What would this mean?
 
Don't know the answer to your testes question, sorry.

Sometimes things get stuck right up inside the penis - if you pull the skin back gently you can see much better. I once had a boar who dragged his rear end a lot and used to get bits of hay up there. That's one of the reasons I changed to Megazorb for bedding.

I would definitely get a second opinion if he's still squeaking when he pees. If you could bed him down on a light coloured towel for an hour or two you;d be able to see if there's any discolouration in his urine, which would help the vet to diagnose. When my pig had a bladder stone, I told the vet about the blood in his urine and she xrayed straight away. He was operated on and made a full recovery.

I would not ever use baby wipes on a pig - if the stuff is stuck, get a wide mouthed jar or an old ice cream tub, fill with warm (not hot!) water and gently lower his rear end in for a short soak, then clean up gently with soft tissues.
 
Too much calcuim can cause stones and I think thats whats happened :(

If you doubt your vet for a second, go to a different cavy savvy vet :)
 
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