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Lethargic pls help ASAP!

emiso

emiso

New Born Pup
Joined
Dec 8, 2024
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Location
Texas
Hello! A bit over a week ago all 4 of my piggies experienced bloat, which I’m leaning towards it being caused by a fresher hay, and 3 of them have gotten better although still being slightly bloated but 1 has suddenly gotten worse.

She did stop eating for a bit in the middle all of this and got better after being closely watched and cared for however today she is back to being more tired, eating slowly, and having smaller poops.

I massaged her around 3 times today and gave her a warm bath however looking back I’m wondering if this may have been stressing her out more. Since she has stopped eating as much (she ate about half a serving of pellets and nibbled on hay throughout the day as well as drinking water) I have been syringe feeding her critical care. Since I have to use a syringe for this the critical care is more on a watery side and I am wondering if that has caused her to have too much water intake over fiber and have diarrhea.

Her poops are very small and liquidy now and she is eating VERY slowly and sleeping for a while which is expected considering she is low on energy. I walked in to check on her and saw her facing very liquidy poop and I think she tried to eat it even though it was straight liquid.

I plan to call the vet as soon as the weekend is over/it turns morning for me, but for now she is in a smaller cage with all of her necessities close by so she won’t have to move much & she is on pain medication.

Please give me tips on how to help this at home until it is time for her to go to the vet!
 
If you have an emergency vet you can get to, then please do so and don’t wait until the weekend is over/morning. Full liquid diarrhoea is an urgent situation.

Have you cut the end off the syringe so the critical care goes through it properly?

Otherwise all you can do for home care is daily weight checks and ensuring you are syringe feeding enough to keep her weight stable each day. The daily weight checks are essential.
I would also give a probiotic if you’ve got one on hand - BeneBac is the commonly used one in the US

I hope she is ok

Wiebke

Thread 'Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment'

1 Statement
2 Emergency assessment and accessing vets
- How urgent is my guinea pig's problem?
- Finding an emergency vet
- Seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs (including lists of safe and dangerous medications)
3 First Aid care and easily available products
- General 'always have at home' stuff and comfort measures for very ill guinea pigs
- Improvising support feed; recovery formulas...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support'

1 Weight and Weight Loss
- Why regular weight monitoring matters
- How weight changes over a lifetime
- How to weigh on your kitchen scales (with video)
- The weight loss rules
- How critical is the weight loss for my piggy?
- Possible causes for weight loss
2 Body Mass Index (BMI) or 'Heft'
- Why is understanding your piggy's weight so important?
- 'Average' weight vs. individual weight - the big trip up
- How to check for the BMI...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)'

1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)


Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK...
  • Like
 
Piggies&buns said:
If you have an emergency vet you can get to, then please do so and don’t wait until the weekend is over/morning. Full liquid diarrhoea is an urgent situation.

Have you cut the end off the syringe so the critical care goes through it properly?

Otherwise all you can do for home care is daily weight checks and ensuring you are syringe feeding enough to keep her weight stable each day. The daily weight checks are essential.
I would also give a probiotic if you’ve got one on hand - BeneBac is the commonly used one in the US

I hope she is ok

Wiebke

Thread 'Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment'

1 Statement
2 Emergency assessment and accessing vets
- How urgent is my guinea pig's problem?
- Finding an emergency vet
- Seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs (including lists of safe and dangerous medications)
3 First Aid care and easily available products
- General 'always have at home' stuff and comfort measures for very ill guinea pigs
- Improvising support feed; recovery formulas...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support'

1 Weight and Weight Loss
- Why regular weight monitoring matters
- How weight changes over a lifetime
- How to weigh on your kitchen scales (with video)
- The weight loss rules
- How critical is the weight loss for my piggy?
- Possible causes for weight loss
2 Body Mass Index (BMI) or 'Heft'
- Why is understanding your piggy's weight so important?
- 'Average' weight vs. individual weight - the big trip up
- How to check for the BMI...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)'

1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)


Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK...
  • Like
Click to expand...
Thank you for the quick reply!

Although small and still bad her poops are more solid now, she is nibbling on hay right now.

I have had issues finding good guinea pig vets around me, I live in Texas and unfortunately do not see many exotic vets around me or more specifically guinea pig ones which is why I am trying to stick to my usual vet as they are the one I’ve had best experiences with numerous times. I am going to call that vet ASAP to see the soonest I can get her in and if not within a day or two at MOST (only if she isn’t lethargic by the time I call them) I will go to an emergency vet regardless of if they are good for guinea pigs specifically. I am just glad she doesn’t seem in pain right now, just very tired which I think is from having been massaged and force fed today.

Yes the syringe tip is cut, it was filed down as well and it does work faster however she really is fighting back on eating it still hence why it ends up being more liquid than I prefer to have in my CC because its hard to get it into the syringe for her in a good amount of time otherwise.

I bought the BeneBac syringe probiotic which I have given her according to what its meant to have and also try to mix the BeneBac powder probiotic into her food as well.

She has dropped weight and I can see it even by looking at her because she is hairless & I think this is from the first day of bloat where she stopped eating then got better and back to eating again yet still lost weight in that amount of time.
 
It sounds like you are doing a good job.

Weight loss occurs/continues because she isn’t eating enough hay - even if eating some it doesn’t mean it’s enough.
You aim to syringe feed her 60ml or more per day - you are looking to keep her weight stable at each daily check.
In a critically ill piggy 40ml is the absolute minimum per day although that may not be enough for weight sustaining but is hopefully enough to keep gut function.

How much weight has she lost?
Is she still losing weight each day?
How much syringe feed are you getting into her each day?
 
Piggies&buns said:
It sounds like you are doing a good job.

Weight loss occurs/continues because she isn’t eating enough hay - even if eating some it doesn’t mean it’s enough.
You aim to syringe feed her 60ml or more per day - you are looking to keep her weight stable at each daily check.
In a critically ill piggy 40ml is the absolute minimum per day although that may not be enough for weight sustaining but is hopefully enough to keep gut function.

How much weight has she lost?
Is she still losing weight each day?
How much syringe feed are you getting into her each day?
Click to expand...
I haven’t weighed her yet which I am 100% starting first thing tomorrow (I know I should have been but with dealing with 4 bloated guinea pigs I’ve barely had the time) I will let you know then, however her bones are very prominent now and I am not comfortable at all with how bony she is right now.

She loses weight the days she stops eating fully, which was the first day she bloated and she lost some then she started eating and being fine and all of a sudden yesterday she was back to eating less and not being as lively again. Today she is the least lively and skinniest however she has had critical care today, she ate at least half a serving of pellets earlier, and has been eating hay on and off today just not as much as usual.

I give her the recommended amount of CC for her weight (which is 2 and a half scoops) to her on the days she doesn’t eat at all and will give her either half of that or 3/4 of it the days she doesn’t eat. However like I said I have to use more water than I like which makes me feel like I am just giving her too much water too fast but it is hard to choose between that or giving her less critical care at a time.

I am going to bed now as it is 3 AM for me however I just checked on her and she is eating her hay for a while and at a good pace. My mom is also checking on her at 4:30 AM so she won’t be completely unsupervised as I sleep but I feel safe leaving her be until the morning. Again, thank you so much for the quick responses I will update in the morning. 😊
 
Don’t feed critical care for her weight by the packaging - you have to feed it by what their daily weight checks are telling you.

I fully appreciate it is hard work looking after four poorly piggies but that (during illness) is when the daily weight checks are even more vital.

Bloat comes in waves so you can think they are on the road to recovery but it then comes back.

Definitely get some rest. I hope she is ok
 
emiso said:
Hello! A bit over a week ago all 4 of my piggies experienced bloat, which I’m leaning towards it being caused by a fresher hay, and 3 of them have gotten better although still being slightly bloated but 1 has suddenly gotten worse.

She did stop eating for a bit in the middle all of this and got better after being closely watched and cared for however today she is back to being more tired, eating slowly, and having smaller poops.

I massaged her around 3 times today and gave her a warm bath however looking back I’m wondering if this may have been stressing her out more. Since she has stopped eating as much (she ate about half a serving of pellets and nibbled on hay throughout the day as well as drinking water) I have been syringe feeding her critical care. Since I have to use a syringe for this the critical care is more on a watery side and I am wondering if that has caused her to have too much water intake over fiber and have diarrhea.

Her poops are very small and liquidy now and she is eating VERY slowly and sleeping for a while which is expected considering she is low on energy. I walked in to check on her and saw her facing very liquidy poop and I think she tried to eat it even though it was straight liquid.

I plan to call the vet as soon as the weekend is over/it turns morning for me, but for now she is in a smaller cage with all of her necessities close by so she won’t have to move much & she is on pain medication.

Please give me tips on how to help this at home until it is time for her to go to the vet!
Click to expand...

Sending my vibes and keeping my fingers firmly crossed.

Please take the time to read the information links that @Piggies&buns has provided. You will hopefully find them very helpful because they contain all the practical how-to tips and in-depth information.
 
since she died in my moms arms her partner doesn’t know we are about to let him see her body is this a good idea though? ive read that they need this to acknowledge shes gone and they may even lick her eyes
 
I'm so sorry to hear this.

You can show him her body but make sure you are lead by him - if he is distressed by seeing her then remove her.
He is likely already be aware that she has gone and not need to see her.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I'm so sorry to hear this.

You can show him her body but make sure you are lead by him - if he is distressed by seeing her then remove her.
He is likely already be aware that she has gone and not need to see her.
Click to expand...
thank you, shes with her right now he is eating close with her and licks her face we are going to leave her with him for about 30 minutes then we are going to call to get her ashes and plan an appointment.
 
we are using paws and peace they are picking her up in an hour is this a good one to use?
 
I'm sorry you lost your piggy. Thinking of you, your piggy's partner and your mom.

I don't know about paws and peace, in a different country, sorry.
 
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