My guinea pig losing weight, sleeping and hiding all the time.

[Pearlunaandwhiskey]

Pearl is 1 year old, female guinea pig, she has never fallen sick before this. Before I could understand anything, she had already lost few gms and the first sign of her illness I noticed was crusty eyes and wheezing, sneezing more than a normal healthy piggie would ever do. I took her to the vet and they gave few drops for eyes and Baytril for her suspected cold. I kept her warm and snuggly. Next two days I monitored she was eating less so I ordered a kitchen scale on Amazon and my doubt was true. By the time I weighed her she already lost her appetite and thirst. I took her to the vet again and they did an ultrasound and it was found that she has bloating and constipation. She was given laxative and since last two days she pooped all kinds of weird pellets - gooey, clumped up, very long, tear dropped end, etc. She started gaining weight but today I noticed she has lost 30 gms just in a day.

What should be done? I have arranged a visit with the vet. But it will be crucial for me and her to know others experience and suggestions regarding this. Thank you.

 

[Siikibam]

Hi and welcome. I’m sorry your girl is unwell. A couple of things to note. Piggies do not get colds - it’s an upper respiratory infection - and they also don’t get constipated. Poo output is 1-2 days behind so if she didn’t eat enough today, she’d be producing less poo tomorrow or the day after.

Antibiotics can ruin the appetite. You will need to step in and syringe feed several times a fay. If you can’t get hold of the supplementary feeds in the guides below then you can soak her pellets and use that. Weigh her once daily in the morning and adjust how much you syringe feed accordingly. You are aiming for 60ml in a 24 hour period so 5ml every 2 hours. You have to sleep so night time feeding can be left. You could try giving it to her on a spoon or putting some in a bowl for overnight. Your aim is to help her maintain her weight.

How long is she supposed to be on the baytril? I’m not sure about using laxatives in piggies so will tag @VickiA @PigglePuggle @Piggies&buns

I hope your girl is better soon.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[Pearlunaandwhiskey]

Yes, noted.

Her appetite seems better than before but she sleeps more than usual. I had to wake her several time to nudge her to eat. I did syringe feed her an hour ago and she seemed to like it ( she wasn't ready to let go the syringe). Crusty eyes and wheezing has gone. Her antibiotics course is left of one day only. I panicked cause she was gaining weight gradually and this seemed like a sudden dip despite her eating well.

 

[VickiA]

If a piggy is bloated the vets can give motility drugs to help push the poo through the guts - that may be what has been given here. Piggies who have an upper respiratory infection end up having to choose between breathing and eating, so go off their food. If piggies stop eating they can get bloat. The antibiotics used to treat URTI can also cause loss of appetite leading to bloating. The very best thing to do is to keep syringe feeding her regular amounts of food and water, and to have her re- seen by the vet in case she needs a different or longer course of antibiotics. Well done for syringe feeding her - that is really vital when a piggy is poorly.

 

[weepweeps]

I hope your piggy continues to improve

 

[Claire W]

I hope that Pearl feels better soon

 

[Free Ranger]

If she likes the syringe food you can give her as much as she will take. We have the option in this country or 'Recovery food' (brands such as such as Critical Care and Emeraid) which is basically a fine powder that we mix to a slurry for the syringe but if you don't have that you can use her normal food pellets crushed up and soaked in water to make a paste. If Pearl is hungry and staring to feel better she might eat this on her own from a bowl! Although veggies are good to tempt a piggy to eat they really need the fibre that syringe food provides to keep the guts moving - too much veg without fibre food can also cause bloating problems. If she finishes the syringe and looks for more you can give her more. Poops will look weird at first but like was said above the poops run a day or two behind eating so as long as she's pooping something that is encouraging.

When we've had baytril we sometimes get high dose for 5 days and sometimes low dose for nearly 3 weeks depending on what vet thinks is necessary. If she is looking better and you finish the course and then she starts to look poorly again it could just be that she needs a longer course of antibiotic.

We try to weigh our healthy pigs weekly and they are usually roughly the same weight but when we are weighing a poorly pig daily it can be alarming when weight goes down. However, if one day the bladder is full and the next day it is empty you will see fluctuations. I hope she gains this bit of weight back again and starts to improve. (I was so paranoid about weight loss that when I clippered my long haired piggy I weighed her before and after the haircut so I would know what to expect!)