fisher9988
New Born Pup
Apologies for the long winded post. My unneutered approx 1 year old male guinea pig Kevin has been experiencing issues the past. I rescued himself and his companion, another unneutered male, from the RSPCA on 25th March with little to no background information on the pair.
Kevin had been suffering some rather aggressive mounting behaviour from his companion on and off since last week. They have now been separated for the time being while a new cage with divider is set up. Since this Kevin lost 86g in one week and then has lost a further 16g since an unhelpful vet appointment Saturday (This was in May 20th and 21st). Since doubling the cage size the mounting has stopped.
Kevins appetite was reduced, he enjoyed his fresh food but his intake of pellet and hay had been reduced. His is also not drinking out of his bottle, all alternatives have been tried and we are now having to hold him and encourage the bottle into his mouth multiple times a day to get some fluids in him. He seems more lethargic than usual and his poos have become smaller and there are less than usual.
We had taken him to our vets twice, once in May(for reasons explained above) and once this week and they failed to inform us until our appointment thursday that our exotic vet had left and the nearest was an hour drive away in Sheffield. We took Kevin there Friday evening as he has begun to have massive issues walking, he was falling over and struggling to move about, they vet gave Kevin a through check over and believes he may have a neurological issue as displayed pain in his neck when they tried to check in his mouth, which explains not drinking as he didn't want to raise his head. They believe there could be an issue with his spine or neck which is not sending signals to his back legs, causing the falling and lack of movement, the vet also mentioned he could have been born with this and it has been a slow burning issue and could have been present at birth or caused by the conditions he was seized from.
We are due to take him for testing (Bloods, x-rays etc) Wednesday morning. His condition has taken a decline, probably 15% worse than Friday now. He will only leave the hidey to get to food and doesn't move at all when he needs the toilet, just urinates and poos where he is laying. Often we have found him laying in the open of the cage or in the hay looking either spaced out and vacant or asleep. His weight has also decreased another 15g since Friday despite eating more and not moving at all.
We just wanted some honesty on whether it will be kinder to Kevin to put him to sleep, he is getting weaker and weaker each day and there is worry that if he is anesthetized for the testing he may not even be strong enough to wake up afterwards. Or that testing may find his condition/quality of life may never improve. Any help, advice or support is welcome and we just look for an honest opinion rather than making him suffer further.
Kevin had been suffering some rather aggressive mounting behaviour from his companion on and off since last week. They have now been separated for the time being while a new cage with divider is set up. Since this Kevin lost 86g in one week and then has lost a further 16g since an unhelpful vet appointment Saturday (This was in May 20th and 21st). Since doubling the cage size the mounting has stopped.
Kevins appetite was reduced, he enjoyed his fresh food but his intake of pellet and hay had been reduced. His is also not drinking out of his bottle, all alternatives have been tried and we are now having to hold him and encourage the bottle into his mouth multiple times a day to get some fluids in him. He seems more lethargic than usual and his poos have become smaller and there are less than usual.
We had taken him to our vets twice, once in May(for reasons explained above) and once this week and they failed to inform us until our appointment thursday that our exotic vet had left and the nearest was an hour drive away in Sheffield. We took Kevin there Friday evening as he has begun to have massive issues walking, he was falling over and struggling to move about, they vet gave Kevin a through check over and believes he may have a neurological issue as displayed pain in his neck when they tried to check in his mouth, which explains not drinking as he didn't want to raise his head. They believe there could be an issue with his spine or neck which is not sending signals to his back legs, causing the falling and lack of movement, the vet also mentioned he could have been born with this and it has been a slow burning issue and could have been present at birth or caused by the conditions he was seized from.
We are due to take him for testing (Bloods, x-rays etc) Wednesday morning. His condition has taken a decline, probably 15% worse than Friday now. He will only leave the hidey to get to food and doesn't move at all when he needs the toilet, just urinates and poos where he is laying. Often we have found him laying in the open of the cage or in the hay looking either spaced out and vacant or asleep. His weight has also decreased another 15g since Friday despite eating more and not moving at all.
We just wanted some honesty on whether it will be kinder to Kevin to put him to sleep, he is getting weaker and weaker each day and there is worry that if he is anesthetized for the testing he may not even be strong enough to wake up afterwards. Or that testing may find his condition/quality of life may never improve. Any help, advice or support is welcome and we just look for an honest opinion rather than making him suffer further.
