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My Guinea Pigs keep dying - is this normal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter heath_jd
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heath_jd

Hi Everyone,

I own about 20 piggies. I love them to bits. They all have really big cages & lot's of play toys. This is what I feed them;

-Unlimited Oaten Hay
-Fresh Water twice daily (in sipper bottle)
-Mix of Chaff, Oats, Wheat, Guinea Pig Pellets (with added C vitamin) & bran.
- Mix of 3 different vegetables/grasses 4 days per week.

They live inside my garage but in a gazebo which keeps out mosquitoes & the cold. I open it up daily to let in light.

I have had 9 guinea pigs die over 1 year. The recent ones are below;

2 on hot days - 4 month old & 1 year old (I used frozen bottles & fans)
1 was skinny (not sure how old though as she was rescue pig) - maybe 3?
1 that was 8 months old recently (don't know why - she stopped eating)
2 this morning - 6 weeks old & 2 month old (one of them was a runt and they both were eating okay but really thin)

What am I doing wrong? Am I feeding them the wrong food?
Or do guinea pigs just drop off like that?
Most of the ones that died were fancy breeds - texal & rex. 8 were female

Thank you - I appreciate your responses & any help you can give me.:(:(
 
Really sorry for your losses, you obviously care for your pigs and seem to be feeding them the appropriate things. Just a thought, do you check their teeth on a regular basis? Just thinking in terms of the one who stopped eating. Also in the ones who were thin- had you taken them to the vet to check for possible reasons?

Piggies ARE very good though at hiding their illnesses until it can sometimes be too late. x
 
I am sorry to hear you have lost so many. With rescue pigs especially, you often just don't know much about their history. Looking at the situations in which you lost your pigs I could offer some medical conditions that could lead to death, but I do wonder if there is something else going on. Medically speaking:

- The two you lost on hot days could have had dehydration and/or heatstroke.
- The skinny one, if she was eating well, may have had problems absorbing nutrients, or she may have been older than thought and just naturally faded away.
- The 8 month old could have had dental problems, an oral thrush infection, or an issue somewhere in the digestive system (e.g. bloat, stasis)..

The two you lost this morning may have had a genetic problem, and with many of those you have lost being fancy breeds I wonder if they could have been inbred and thus showed signs of or been carriers of a genetic defect.

It sounds like they have a great home with you, their diet looks good and it's good to hear they have big cages and plenty of toys. The only suggestion I would make is to make sure you give veggies daily, instead of just 4 days a week. What veggies do you tend to give them?

As MissPiggy said, sometimes it's just one of those things. It isn't "uncommon" to hear of a pig who was perfectly fine in the morning and gone by the evening.

Again, I am sorry for your losses.
 
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Hi There

Yes they are good at hiding their illnesses aren't they. I hate that.
I've come to notice that signs now and usually get them to the vet before
they become too ill but it still hasn't helped.

The last two were prescribed with an antibiotic. I used that for two days then they both died. The vet couldn't pin point the actual problem. He said their teeth were fine. He said it might be a virus or an internal problem.

But that still doesn't help me. I wish the vet could just look at them and know what it is. They just seem to check the skin, the teeth, the heart rate, the temperature and palpate. After that they take a guess but really never know.
I hate that too.

Heath.
 
How awful for you. I agree with MissPiggy and CC they do hide their illnesses so well and we as owners have to be extra watchful for any changes. I've lost 2 suddenly like this and it is awful.

Welcome to the forum. I have 20 pigs too. It sounds as if they are eating all the right things but probably you've just had a terrible run of bad luck with them.

Edited to say vets often will say that because some vets aren't well up on guineas, they are still referred to as Exotics. Do you syringe feed when ill? Antibiotics can make them go off food too so a pro-biotic will help to restore gut flora. :)
 
What antibiotic did they give, and can you remember what dose?

As hard as it is, a post-mortem *might* give you some answers. I think the time limit is something like 3 hours after death. It would be emotionally difficult but it's worth considering if you do lose any more - if there is a chance it would give some answers as to what's happening to these piggies.
 
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CCC4 said:
I am sorry to hear you have lost so many. With rescue pigs especially, you often just don't know much about their history. Looking at the situations in which you lost your pigs I could offer some medical conditions that could lead to death, but I do wonder if there is something else going on. Medically speaking:

- The two you lost on hot days could have had dehydration and/or heatstroke.
- The skinny one, if she was eating well, may have had problems absorbing nutrients, or she may have been older than thought and just naturally faded away.
- The 8 month old could have had dental problems, an oral thrush infection, or an issue somewhere in the digestive system (e.g. bloat, stasis)..

The two you lost this morning may have had a genetic problem, and with many of those you have lost being fancy breeds I wonder if they could have been inbred and thus showed signs of or been carriers of a genetic defect.

It sounds like they have a great home with you, their diet looks good and it's good to hear they have big cages and plenty of toys. The only suggestion I would make is to make sure you give veggies daily, instead of just 4 days a week. What veggies do you tend to give them?

As MissPiggy said, sometimes it's just one of those things. It isn't "uncommon" to hear of a pig who was perfectly fine in the morning and gone by the evening.

Again, I am sorry for your losses.
Click to expand...
Thanks for answering my question.That all seems to make sense to me. I must make sure I feed them vegies every night from now on. I hope that will help.
I usually give them different things each time. They often get the below - usually a mix of either 2 or 3 of these;

celery - chopped small
carrot chopped
cabbage (small amount)
broccoli
grass (no insecticide)
dandelions
apple
pear
 
There are stickies in the diet section on what to feed CCC4 did a great job at working out all the calcium ratio's so its well worth looking at that to plan diets. :)
 
CCC4 said:
What antibiotic did they give, and can you remember what dose?

As hard as it is, a post-mortem *might* give you some answers. I think the time limit is something like 3 hours after death. It would be emotionally difficult but it's worth considering if you do lose any more - if there is a chance it would give some answers as to what's happening to these piggies.
Click to expand...
The antibiotic is Vibra Vet Broad Spectrum Antibiotic for cats & dogs.
'For the treatment of infections caused by or associated with doxycycline susceptible organisms in cats & dogs.

The vet said it is for cats and dogs but beleived it would be suitable for guinea pigs as well. He prescribed just a tiny nib off the end once daily. So it would be less than 0.1 ml.
 
CCC4 said:
What antibiotic did they give, and can you remember what dose?

As hard as it is, a post-mortem *might* give you some answers. I think the time limit is something like 3 hours after death. It would be emotionally difficult but it's worth considering if you do lose any more - if there is a chance it would give some answers as to what's happening to these piggies.
Click to expand...
Do you know who could do a post mortem? I'm not sure if my vet could do that since he is not fully clued up on guinea pigs being that they are exotics.
 
hi it sounds like you care greatly for your piggys just a few questions though if thats alright

what do you use to clean there hutch/cage?
do they have wooden toys to wear teeth down?
are any of these toys homemade just asking as varnish and other products may be on them?
What varietys of grass are you giving?
Are your piggys near any exaust fumes from cars?
and what sort of quantitys of pellets/hay/veges/grass are you giving?
Also what veges have you given them some aren't suitable for piggys?

Also i agree with ccc4 piggys need veges every single day and small amounts of fruit as well i have around 9-10 types of fresh food per day for mine and change it reguarly so they don't get bored of the same foods.:)
 
hi it sounds like you care greatly for your piggys just a few questions though if thats alright

what do you use to clean there hutch/cage?
do they have wooden toys to wear teeth down?
are any of these toys homemade just asking as varnish and other products may be on them?
What varietys of grass are you giving?
Are your piggys near any exaust fumes from cars?
and what sort of quantitys of pellets/hay/veges/grass are you giving?
Also what veges have you given them some aren't suitable for piggys?

Also i agree with ccc4 piggys need veges every single day and small amounts of fruit as well i have around 9-10 types of fresh food per day for mine and change it reguarly so they don't get bored of the same foods.:)
oh and i hope i don't upset you by this post just want to rule out the most obvious things:)
 
Is the garage ever in use? ie with a car parked inside?...or do you park cars infront of it?
 
Just looked Vibravet up. It is also known as Doxycycline, a safe antibiotic. Given your piggies situations, I don't see any particular reason this should not have been given, it is generally given for the more tricky problems that don't respond to the usual Baytril or Septrin.

http://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotics.html

Info on Doxycycline is at the bottom of the page in the link above.

Baytril is a milder alternative but I can potentially see why Doxy was given in this case. I do think the dose was a bit far out, but it does depend on the concentration. For a 25mg/5ml suspension, you'd want to give around 0.5ml twice a day if the pig weighed around 1kg. I think the drug could have been the right one, but the dose was probably too small.

A vet would do a post-mortem, yes. I'm not sure about cost, especially if your vet wanted to get anything tested.

More info on diet - I am updating this today (found an easier selection method!) but it should give you an idea of other veg to feed: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30297
 
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I don't pretend to be an expert, but here are a few things that could be factors:

-They might need more than three different types of vegies/grasses. Because you have so many guinea pigs, it must be difficult for you to notice if a certain pig/certain pigs do not like certain vegetables. If there is one that doesn't like any of them, that means that they are not eating any fresh vegetables/grasses. I would get each guinea pig out one at a time and figure out which vegies they like/dislike.
-Because you have at least one and possibly more rescue pigs, you do not know their background. I'm not sure if you breed guinea pigs or not. Some may be inbred, meaning they have health issues that are not always obvious.
-I believe skinny pigs require special care. I don't know details, but I don't think they can be looked after just like other piggies. Might be something to look into :)
-Because you have so many guinea pigs, it is probably difficult to keep track of all of them. However, I do believe it is important that you monitor each pig and know exactly how many you have and the condition they are in. If one shows any sign of illness, separate it from the others until you know that it is not sick and can not make the others sick. Perhaps take a photo of each pig and write details about them in a book so that you can check back, and don't get confused between them!

I'm also very sorry for all of your losses. This must be a tough time for you :( Don't blame yourself though, because you are doing the best you can. Hopefully things improve for you :) x
 
Heath, when you say "1 was skinny", do you mean one was underweight, or one was a hairless breed of piggie? Just checking as aussiegirl has mentioned about the skinny pig breed and I talked about an underweight piggie!
 
I've had a piggy react badly to Doxycycline (by injection) before. Not a major reaction, but not wanting to eat a lot, being puffed up etc - took approx 24 hours to get her back to normal.
 
It's vey good for sinus infections in humans and treats anthranx of all things! Had it myself never a problem.
 
I'm really sorry for your losses. I can't suggest any reason for this apart from some sort of virus? It's obvious you love and care for your piggies greatly so don't blame yourself in anyway :)
 
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