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New piggie won't eat or drink well

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Pixel91

New Born Pup
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Hello Everyone,

Saturday I got a new guinea pig, Nugget, so that my old one, Peppa, won't feel alone after we've separated her from her babies. Unfortunately, the visit to the vet had to wait till Monday so I kept them separate just to be safe, since I got her from a pet store and from what I understood so far, they sometimes have health issues. Her eyes looked a bit closed the first day. Also, the pet store said she barely got there 2 days before I got her, so I'm guessing that adds to stress.

From Saturday to Monday, Nugget was kept in the transporter I used to get her from the pet store. She seemed to eat hay, and even some cucumber when she was in my lap. Normally I would let the new piggie get used to the environment and all but she was kind of scared and she kept hearing Peppa when she was asking for food so, I interacted with her a bit.

Monday came, Vet said she's perfectly healthy, although a bit thin at 263 grams. Came home with her, left her alone in her transporter for a few hours to settle down, and after I got the call that the stool sample was negative for parasites, I attempted the introduction. Before I had everything set up, I took Nugget close to Peppas cage and Peppa smelled and licked her on the head a few times, thought that'd be a good sign.

On big neutral grounds, with lots of food, Nugget was mostly standing still or munching on some small pellets, and Peppa was going around exploring and eating, not very much interaction between them. Only interactions was, Peppa sniffing her butt, and whacking her ever so gently when Nugget tried to sniff hers.
There was no circling each other, no rumbling, no signs of real "bonding" happening. When Peppa would approach Nugget, Nugget would basically just freeze.

After about an hour of that, I placed them both in Peppas cage, and kept a close eye on them throughout the day. Peppa was trying to sleep close to Nugget, aaaand Nugget was screaming for dear life that "something" touched her...
One day later, after I saw that Nugget was basically not moving at all in the cage, just sitting quietly in a corner all day, I tried a bit more lap time, but now she won't really eat.

She has everything she needs in her own cage now for an entire day, but she hasn't touched her cucumber at all, neither her pellets. Her hay seems to be going down but only a little bit.
I managed to get her to eat a bit of cucumber when cut into incredibly small pieces. Right now I'm feeding her manually, putting small cut cucumbers in water so she at least has something in her system.

I checked her transporter, and there is poop, not a ton of it but considering she doesn't really eat much, seems to be enough for a day.

Apologies for the long story, wanted a clear picture of the stress she had to go through.
So, a few questions for you guys:

1. How long can a guinea pig (6-8 weeks old) go without any food in her system?
2. Should I be worried about the interaction between Peppa and Nugget?
3. Should I keep them separate so Nugget won't feel stressed by Peppa or just let them both in the same cage and hope they start interacting a bit more?
4. At what point should I take her back to the vet? Had some issues with Peppa before and the vet gave me something for her appetite, thinking the same thing for Nugget.

Thank you ever so much for your time and patience reading all of this, hope to hear from you guys soon :)
 
A piggy of that age must not be alone so do not separate them unless there is a clear bond failure. Nugget will be desperate for companionship from Peppa.

I am not reading anything concerning in the behaviour at all. It sounds as if bonding has gone well.
Nugget’s screaming is not concerning. If sounds like submission squealing which is perfectly fine. She is telling Peppa that Peppa is her boss. No problem there.

Lap time a new and young piggy may be quite frightening. I would leave her with Peppa and give her a few weeks to settle in.

Hay is the most important part of the diet. The only way to know they are eating enough hay is through the routine weight checks. Veg and pellets are not a big part of the diet and won’t sustain them.
They can’t go without food at all (at any age), so you must monitor their weight to be sure they are both eating plenty of hay. Particularly as she sounds to be very small for a 6-8 week old piggy, keep a close eye on her weight. Piggies need to be weighed every week as part of routine care, but at the moment I would make sure to weight Nugget every day until you are sure she is gaining weight well.
Make sure you put hay in multiple areas around the cage and in hides so that Nugget can have free access to hay and eat whenever she wants to.


Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
Piggies&buns said:
A piggy of that age must not be alone so do not separate them unless there is a clear bond failure. Nugget will be desperate for companionship from Peppa.

I am not reading anything concerning in the behaviour at all. It sounds as if bonding has gone well.
Nugget’s screaming is not concerning. If sounds like submission squealing which is perfectly fine. She is telling Peppa that Peppa is her boss. No problem there.

Lap time a new and young piggy may be quite frightening. I would leave her with Peppa and give her a few weeks to settle in.

Hay is the most important part of the diet. The only way to know they are eating enough hay is through the routine weight checks. Veg and pellets are not a big part of the diet and won’t sustain them.
They can’t go without food at all (at any age), so you must monitor their weight to be sure they are both eating plenty of hay. Particularly as she sounds to be very small for a 6-8 week old piggy, keep a close eye on her weight. Piggies need to be weighed every week as part of routine care, but at the moment I would make sure to weight Nugget every day until you are sure she is gaining weight well.
Make sure you put hay in multiple areas around the cage and in hides so that Nugget can have free access to hay and eat whenever she wants to.


Weight - Monitoring and Management
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply, got some good info from it, however, I cannot let this go on for a few weeks if she's not eating while in the same cage as Peppa.
I had to pull her out and let her eat in a less stressful environment as her poop started going really soft, close to diarrhea but not there quite yet.

When it comes to "lap time being frightening", I don't think that's the case here. When I prepped the neutral territory for bonding, Nugget was pretty much sticking by me at all time. I laid down a bit and she came and snuggled under my chin (she loves my beard). And when I tried feeding her hay and veggies manually, every time I put her on my lap she climbed all the way back up in my beard, licks me, doesn't shake or freeze up when I handle her.

All of this is to say, I'm not trying to be stubborn, I'm just trying to make sure she gets better physically by munching down the hay and getting her poop back to being hard.

Today she's eating lots more hay while away from the cage, which is all I'm looking for right now. In Peppas cage she really didn't eat any. Next up I'm awaiting a call from the vet when he gets in and will keep her on high fibre and vitamin C veggies to get this under control. I'm thinking carrot and parsley.
 
Pixel91 said:
Thank you for the reply, got some good info from it, however, I cannot let this go on for a few weeks if she's not eating while in the same cage as Peppa.
I had to pull her out and let her eat in a less stressful environment as her poop started going really soft, close to diarrhea but not there quite yet.

When it comes to "lap time being frightening", I don't think that's the case here. When I prepped the neutral territory for bonding, Nugget was pretty much sticking by me at all time. I laid down a bit and she came and snuggled under my chin (she loves my beard). And when I tried feeding her hay and veggies manually, every time I put her on my lap she climbed all the way back up in my beard, licks me, doesn't shake or freeze up when I handle her.

All of this is to say, I'm not trying to be stubborn, I'm just trying to make sure she gets better physically by munching down the hay and getting her poop back to being hard.

Today she's eating lots more hay while away from the cage, which is all I'm looking for right now. In Peppas cage she really didn't eat any. Next up I'm awaiting a call from the vet when he gets in and will keep her on high fibre and vitamin C veggies to get this under control. I'm thinking carrot and parsley.
Click to expand...

Did you neutralise the cage also?

They need time to bond and if you are going to keep separating them then that process gets interrupted.
If you are thinking they won’t bond and will never be able to live in the same cage, then their cages need to be a minimum of 120x60cm each and need to be beside each other

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

If a piggy has soft poop you must stop feeding veg altogether and only feed hay for a few days to allow things to settle. Soft poops occur because of a gut imbalance. Have you been introducing new veggies slowly and one at a time?

No, don’t regularly feed carrot and parsley - carrot is too high in sugar (and too much sugar will make a gut imbalance worse) and vitamin a, parsley is too high in calcium. They should be treated as occasional treats and only given once a week in a small amount.
High vit c safe daily veggies are coriander and bell pepper but as I say if she is having soft poops/almost diarrhoea then she must not have any veg at the moment

You will need to make sure you weigh her daily to monitor hay intake, you can’t judge it by eye.

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
 
Piggies&buns said:
Did you neutralise the cage also?

They need time to bond and if you are going to keep separating them then that process gets interrupted.
If you are thinking they won’t bond and will never be able to live in the same cage, then their cages need to be a minimum of 120x60cm each and need to be beside each other

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

If a piggy has soft poop you must stop feeding veg altogether and only feed hay for a few days to allow things to settle. Soft poops occur because of a gut imbalance. Have you been introducing new veggies slowly and one at a time?

No, don’t regularly feed carrot and parsley - carrot is too high in sugar (and too much sugar will make a gut imbalance worse) and vitamin a, parsley is too high in calcium. They should be treated as occasional treats and only given once a week in a small amount.
High vit c safe daily veggies are coriander and bell pepper but as I say if she is having soft poops/almost diarrhoea then she must not have any veg at the moment

You will need to make sure you weigh her daily to monitor hay intake, you can’t judge it by eye.

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
Click to expand...
Understood, I will only keep her on hay for the next few days and monitor her weight closely.

I'm not worried that they won't bond, I'm just worried that right now she doesn't eat while in Peppas cage, and yes I did clean it thoroughly to made sure there isn't any smell, changed the water bottle, food, hay, cleaned the hiding places, everything I could think of that would have smell.

What I'm thinking is to keep Nugget separate only until she regains balance in her diet, and once that is done, give the cage another try.
I understand and agree with you that separating them will only interrupt the bonding but, I can't have her not eat at all in an attempt to make it through bonding and hope she starts eating after, I really have to make sure she's medically okay first, that's my priority.

Again, thank you so much for the help.
 
Status update: Took her to the vet because she started having diarrhea, got her on treatment.
Force feeding IC EmerAid every 6 hours and Bio-Lapis for a few days.
Regular vet visits scheduled and recommended I keep the piggies separate during this time.
No veggies at all until she gets better.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Status update, Nugget passed away... please close this thread.
Thanks again for the helpful information.
 
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