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Kidney Disease

  • Thread starter Thread starter Angeldust
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Angeldust

My guinea pig Spice lost quite a considerable amount of weight recently, but i also have another guinea pig, Star, and she has ballooned up in size, so we thought Spices weight had went down due to Star eating the majority of the food we put out for them. We started bringing Spice indoors at feeding times and feeding her seperately to try and help her gain weight. Unfortunately, recently she stopped eating nearly altogether and so took her to the vets. We were informed that she may have kidney disease as she squeaked when the vet felt around this area of her body, and that it would result eventually in renal failure. We were given the option of euthanasia at that point in time, or giving her a chance to see if she perked up. We decided to give her a chance as the vet said she wasnt in too much pain and still seemed to have a lot of spunk about her. We were given recovery liquid food to try and fatten her up.

At the moment, we are giving her this recovery food, but also some baby food, and her usual dry food, and fruit and vegetables to try and fatten her up although she does seem somewhat more picky and doesnt eat as much. I also got her some carrot juice supplement to be added to her water from the pet shop as this contains Vitamin C alone which i read up that guinea pigs need. Before hand, we were adding Vita Sol to the water, but i read somewhere that guinea pigs would need to overdose on the other vitamins in Vita Sol before they got the correct amount of vitamin C they need daily.

As you can guess, I'm rather upset about this turn of events, no-one likes to see theyre piggie poorly and I'm wondering if anybody out there knows of anything that can help whatsoever? As in, are there certain vegetables or other foods which may help fatten her up or which will be better for her?
I need to take her back to the vets in a weeks time which will be thursday to see how shes doing, and I'm just hoping that it will be much better to be honest :'(
 
Firstly let me welcome you to the forum from us in OZ :)
I have no knowledge of kidney disease i'm sure once the health mod's come back on they'll be able to help you or steer you in the right direction.
It sounds like you're doing everything for the little Spice O0 Is she drinking plenty of plain water? even perhaps pre boil and cool down some and syringe feed this to keep her flushed out .... i'm trying to think what you'd do for a human here :-\ :-\
As for foods to fatten her up, i'm not sure i'd do anything other than what you are as i'd not like to recommend fiddling too much with additives until you find out exactly what is wrong with Spice :-\
I know corn can fatten them up O0 You could make a slushy mix of say her pellets and puree some veggies and syringe that a couple of times a day as well :)
Do a bit of a hunt around in the health threads here and see if somebody else has come across this O0
Good luck and we'll have our paws crossed for little Spice :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Hi
Sorry to hear about Spice, i'm not sure on what foods bulk them up but would say not to put the drops in her water as they can make the water taste funny.
Whenever i have had sick piggies i've given them 30mg (half of a 60mg) of a chewable Vit C tablet. You can get them from Asda or any chemist; just put it in her mouth near her back teeth & she should crunch it herself :)
 
Thankyou Glynis. Spice does drink plenty of water on her own accord, both the water mixed with the carrot juice and the plain water. I will try giving her corn though. Thankyou for your reply

And you too Niki, i did actually look for vitamin c tablets for guinea pigs and didnt find any, and i wasnt 100% sure that you could use tablets that were intended for humans but ill get some today and see how she seems. She seems a little bit more perky this morning anyway and is eating and drinking of her own accord at least :)
 
All the best love, i'm glad to hear that Spice is drining by herself :smitten: :smitten:
as i said i'm sure some more experience people in this area will be along soon O0
 
Hi, The Vit C tablets I use are from SPH Supplies thay are made by Oxbow, they're easy to break in half and give to guinea by putting to the back of the mouth.

You need to give Oxbow Critical Care (also available from SPH) or Science Recovery as a 'liquid' food as these contain fibre thats needed. But soaked pellets (eg Excel or your ordinary pellets are OK).

If you're giving carrot juice make sure there is another bottle of water there as well.

Sweetcorn is very starchy and not something I personally give a lot of, its also high in phosphorus, stick to a good balance of roots and leafy veg.

You probably won't be able to fatten her up if its kidney disease so don't set your heart on it, but give it a try and if she puts on and sustains weight it may be something else?
 
Kidney diseases normally cause weight loss rather than gain.I have not seen a gp with any kind of renal problem that has ballooned out.If she is looking big at the sideslike a mandolin shape) this coyld be ovarian cyst or tumour.If the vet cannot feel anything by palpation,might be worth getting an x ray or scan done.Has she any hair loss?.Did the vet thoroughly check the teeth/mouth.As she has stopped eating she may have overgrown molars or a spur.A sore inside the cheek or a throat infection are other possibilities.I would not even think about pts at the moment.Is there another vet you could get a second opinian from?.

There is not really anything you can give gps to fatten them up.A probiotic such as Avipro or Bio-Lapis will sometimes boost the appetite,but you need to find out why she is not eating.Kidney disease is too vague.In any case,gps with kidney problems usually eat more.,not less.

Give her water by syringe to stop dehydration,and try and encourage her to eat lots of hay.

Your top priority,if this has not already been done,is to get the teeth/mouth/throat checked thoroughly.
 
I just wanted to thank you all for your help and comments with this issue, i tried everything you said.

Unfortunately, spice died last night on valentines day :'( and ill miss her so much

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However, with having had two guinea pigs together from a very young age I'm worried about Star, she used to always follow Spice around. Will she be seriously affected by being on her own without Spice now?


Thanks again
 
I'm so sorry to hear about Spice. Give Star time to adjust, she may grieve but with plenty of love and cuddles you will help he through it.

Sleep Peacefully Spice :smitten:
 
RIP little Spice

Hugs for you and Star
 
I would get a companion pig asap.Sows get stressed and miserable on their own.Gps are gruop animals and need the company of their own kind.The exception to this can be a boar who is a housepig.
 
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