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Help needed please

R

Ridingscarlet

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Please can anyone offer any advice?, I have a 5 year old male pig who started to live out around 3 weeks ago, they come in over winter and out for summer. After the first week he seemed to be losing weight and wasn’t running away when I tried to catch him as he normally would. Saw the vet who thought he had arthritic pain so put him on an anti inflammatory. I noticed he was drinking more water than usual and had soft poops so saw the vet again who prescribed him antibiotics in case it was a urine infection. He has dropped lots of weight and does eat a little but isn’t himself at all. Spoke to the vet again who said his heart sounded good so she didn’t think it was heart failure, she said they could do a blood test but it stresses them out and they may find he has kidney failure which they won’t treat anyway?. She said it could be old age but this has literally happened from 3 weeks ago, they have an outdoor large run which is connected to an indoor shed with lots of shelter and hidey spaces. I just don’t know what to do for the best as it’s not nice seeing him deteriorate but I don’t want to put him through invasive tests if it won’t change things. Any advice would be most appreciated.
 
I’m sorry your boy is poorly.

How much pain medication is he on?
How much weight has he lost?

Now he’s on antibiotics you could also give him a probiotic an hour before or after the antibiotics. As sometimes antibiotics can upset the tummy.

If he’s losing weight then you need to weigh him every morning and syringe feed him critical care. If he continues to lose the next morning you will need to feed him more that day.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

I hope he is feeling better soon.
 
Thankyou for your reply, he weighs 1kg now, I’m not sure what he was before but you can see and feel his weight loss. I’ve never heard of critical care but I will take a look now. Thankyou again
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

It is essential that you step in with syringe feeding critical care as soon as he has lost 50g. He is losing weight because he isn’t eating hay and rhe syringe feed replaces the hay intake (fibre) and keeps the gut functioning
It sounds as if he has lost considerably more than that now so please step in with feeding him straight away.
Critical care is a fibre rich recovery feed as it is essential when they stop eating/stop eating enough. In the absence of critical care, mush his normal guinea pig pellets with warm water and that to him.
He needs a minimum of 40-60ml per 24 hours but it could be as much as 100ml. He will need feeding approximately every two hours depending on how much he will take at each sitting and what the daily weight checks tell you.
Make sure you switch from the routine lifelong weekly weight checks and instead weigh him each morning. This is important as it is the only way to ensure you are feeding enough to stop any further weight loss each day.

The guides below explain further

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

In terms of finding out what is wrong with him,
It’s something which only you and your vet can decide upon the best course of action.
Symptoms of kidney failure are drinking more, weight loss. Unfortunately kidney failure can’t be treated. There is a section on the guide below

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

I hope he is ok
 
You can buy critical care from the vets and then order more off Amazon as it’s usually cheaper.

Start weighing him every morning before you feed them. Then you will know how much he is losing. I had a piggy who wasn’t eating anything for himself so I had to feed him 100ml of critical care a day. But if he’s still eating for himself he won’t need that much.
 
weepweeps said:
You can buy critical care from the vets and then order more off Amazon as it’s usually cheaper.

Start weighing him every morning before you feed them. Then you will know how much he is losing. I had a piggy who wasn’t eating anything for himself so I had to feed him 100ml of critical care a day. But if he’s still eating for himself he won’t need that much.
Click to expand...
Thankyou
 
weepweeps said:
You can buy critical care from the vets and then order more off Amazon as it’s usually cheaper.

Start weighing him every morning before you feed them. Then you will know how much he is losing. I had a piggy who wasn’t eating anything for himself so I had to feed him 100ml of critical care a day. But if he’s still eating for himself he won’t need that much.
Click to expand...
Thankyou
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m sorry to hear this.

It is essential that you step in with syringe feeding critical care as soon as he has lost 50g. He is losing weight because he isn’t eating hay and rhe syringe feed replaces the hay intake (fibre) and keeps the gut functioning
It sounds as if he has lost considerably more than that now so please step in with feeding him straight away.
Critical care is a fibre rich recovery feed as it is essential when they stop eating/stop eating enough. In the absence of critical care, mush his normal guinea pig pellets with warm water and that to him.
He needs a minimum of 40-60ml per 24 hours but it could be as much as 100ml. He will need feeding approximately every two hours depending on how much he will take at each sitting and what the daily weight checks tell you.
Make sure you switch from the routine lifelong weekly weight checks and instead weigh him each morning. This is important as it is the only way to ensure you are feeding enough to stop any further weight loss each day.

The guides below explain further

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

In terms of finding out what is wrong with him,
It’s something which only you and your vet can decide upon the best course of action.
Symptoms of kidney failure are drinking more, weight loss. Unfortunately kidney failure can’t be treated. There is a section on the guide below

Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones

I hope he is ok
Click to expand...
Thankyou, unfortunately he passed away whilst at the vets. They said his heart was failing. This is the second pig who has died within a couple of hours at the vets and I must admit I have lost faith in vets. They don’t seem to know much about guinea pigs even though they say they are an exotic specialist.
 
I am so sorry for your loss take time to grieve and be kind to yourself 🙏
 
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