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Ill guinea pig-being syringe fed - help needed urgently!

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Sara

Last night i noticed one of my guinea pigs (Apricot, the one on my avatar) was really unwell when i took her and the other three their evening veggies. She was hunched in a corner and didn't touch any of the veg i offered her. She was also drooling a lot and was really weak. She hasn't been eating or drinking and not much has been coming out of her, either. I took her to the vet today and after looking said she said she thought is was malocclusion. I'm currently syringe feeding her a pellet/baby food mix every 2-3 hours and she's also taken a few blades of grass.

She's going back to the vets on Monday to go under anaesthetic and have her molars rasped down (i'm not too happy about her going under though). I'm going to get some pro-biotic and metatone tonic for her tomorrow, can anyone think of anything else i can do? Is it normal for guinea's to go downhill so quickly? She seems really ill for just a tooth problem, so i'm wondering if anything else could be causing her to go off her food, or do you think it's just dehydration from not eating?

Thanks :) Sara and Lucy.
 
Sounds like you are doing all that you can for now.

Keep her warm, pain free and with a full tummy.

Can you also syringe her with some water or better still rehydration fluid - she could be dehydrated if not eating or drinking and this will make her feel a lot worse.
 
Try not to worry about the anaesthetic. A good vet can anaesthetise a guinea very well. I have been through it four times with mine. Perhaps you could ask for ISOFLURANE - Scarby had a bad reaction to an intra-muscular anaes, (but was fine the next day) so the next time we used ISO. It is used for humans too as it has few side effects. (I work in anaesthetic dept)

When Dr was ill with malocclusion I used Recovery food and also fruit smoothie which he loved.

Loads of good luck xx
 
When Munchkin was poorly we gave him metatone tonic and it really does help to perk them up, he was so thirsty and just took water from the syringe.

Sending you big hugs

x
 
aww she will be fine I'm sure... good luck at the vets! your apricot looks nearly exactly like my cindy in that pic! :D lol
 
Bad news everyone.

Me and Lucy got up at 1.30am to give Apricot some water and food but she was very weak and was clearly in a lot of pain. She wouldn't swallow any of the food or water and was just....limp. She died about half an hour later while we were sat with her :( We're absolutely gutted. I'm at least thankful that she was at home with her mummies and not on the operating table.

Thank you for all your help and support everyone, it really is appreciated. It's just a shame there wasn't more we could do.

We're still trying to figure out what it was, it just seemed like she went downhill very quickly and i'm wondering if there was more to her illness than just malocclusion.

Thanks again for all your help and hugs :)
 
aww I'm so sorry to hear that :( she is so beautiful but at least you got to say goodbye! It really is a shame when there is nothing you can do :(

Sorry again R.I.P Apricot! You run free now lil girl :(
xx
 
aww so sorry you lost her what an awlful thing to happen to you, we have all been there I'm afraid I think malaclusssion is the worst thing for pigs, it could be her teeth were growing up into her brain as happened to my lavender or across her tongue trapping it so she couldnt eat and had trouble drinking this happened not so long ago to my patch, I dread the wet chin I know its not always a good sign, at least she went peacefully with you, God bless little angel Apricot run free across the bridge :'( :'( :'(
 
Did you notice a funny smell about her at all?. I'm almost certain she died of toxaemia (yes they can get it without being pregnant) or maybe kidney failure. I've seen both these a few times before, in fact I lost my texel boar to kidney failure last week. Unfortunately there's nothing can be done for either of these and the piggy will die :(

Kat
 
RIP little one, your mummy tried so very hard for you :'( :'( :'( :'(

I'm sorry Sara and Lucy that you've had to go thru this, we try so hard for our babies but sometimes our efforts are not enough and we just don't know why.

Take care :-* :-*
 
Thank you all for being so understanding -hugs- I've never lost a pig before and it was a complete shock to us both, especially because she was so young (she was going to be 2 in March).

I did notice a funny smell about her actually, kind of sickly sweet and that was there before i gave her the apple baby food so it wasn't that. I had thought initially that it might be her kidneys or something internal because she had been eating perfectly fine on the wednesday and thursday morning, and i'd have definitley noticed any drooling long before she got so sick. I wonder why the vet didn't suggest anything like that.
 
the smell that is sweet smelling is ketosis the bodys breaking down something or other and is not a good sign it can often be smelt on terminal cases anyway it makes the organs shut down and the kidneys being one of the first affected so its kidney failure, my vet told me all about this a while ago when I mentioned I could smell something sweet on one of my pigs that did die not long after,
 
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