Hiitshannah
Junior Guinea Pig
Cinnamon is 5 and a half years old.
Around a year ago, he stopped eating and pooing very suddenly. We were told he had cancer and to put him to sleep by an inexperienced emergency vet on Boxing Day. After cisapride, loxicom and CC he bounced back very quickly and was back to normal.
Earlier this year, the exact same thing happened, bounced back again within days. Then 3 weeks ago, the same thing happened, but this time he isn’t bouncing back, he has proper runny diarrhoea which is up and down with tiny dry poo and cow pats, and he is also making a strange grunting sound occasionally, like his nose Is blocked, when he coughs it goes away. He also has crusty eyes, but the crust looks clear. His heart and lungs sound fine, with no fluid, so our vet doesn’t think it’s a respiratory infection. We syringe feed him every 4 hours (we were using emeraid intensive care, but recently switched to emeraid sustain as recommended by our vet as it’s now a longer term thing), he’s on metaclopramide 3 times a day, Cisapride twice a day, sulfatrim (was on baytril but we switched to sulfatrim), loxicom twice a day (we also tried Tramadol for a week in case it was pain related but no change), and fibreplex 3 times a day (we have also tried bio lapis and pro c in case they made a difference). He’s had 2 x rays (conscious and unconscious), an ultrasound, urine test and a blood test which have all come back with no issues, apart from a slightly swollen stomach which would be expected because he isn’t eating or pooping properly? No gas, and no actual blockage as he does poo, just not as often as he should. His teeth have been checked and are fine. His lymph nodes aren’t swollen. We’ve tried withholding veg (though at the minute the only veg he will really eat is mint and kale?) and he will occasionally nibble hay, and sometimes walk to his hay but not eat? But he can eat hay when he chooses to. He will take lots of water via syringe, but rarely drink himself, he previously drank up to 300ml per day consistently. He has also made pain noises when pooping occasionally (maybe once every other day) since he was ill the first time. We’ve ruled out bladder stones and sludge, he’s never had blood in his urine, and he’s had multiple x rays now at different times.
He clearly has a will to live still, he comes out and asks for his dinner, though he does spend most of his time laying down (he looks comfortable not hunched). We’re taking a fecal sample on Monday as the next step, and our vet is also going to prescribe Panacur to rule out parasites, but I’m sort of lost now on what this could be? Has anyone had any similar experiences? It feels as though we’re running out of options and I’m not sure how long it’s fair for us to be syringe feeding him round the clock for? It can’t be very nice for him
Around a year ago, he stopped eating and pooing very suddenly. We were told he had cancer and to put him to sleep by an inexperienced emergency vet on Boxing Day. After cisapride, loxicom and CC he bounced back very quickly and was back to normal.
Earlier this year, the exact same thing happened, bounced back again within days. Then 3 weeks ago, the same thing happened, but this time he isn’t bouncing back, he has proper runny diarrhoea which is up and down with tiny dry poo and cow pats, and he is also making a strange grunting sound occasionally, like his nose Is blocked, when he coughs it goes away. He also has crusty eyes, but the crust looks clear. His heart and lungs sound fine, with no fluid, so our vet doesn’t think it’s a respiratory infection. We syringe feed him every 4 hours (we were using emeraid intensive care, but recently switched to emeraid sustain as recommended by our vet as it’s now a longer term thing), he’s on metaclopramide 3 times a day, Cisapride twice a day, sulfatrim (was on baytril but we switched to sulfatrim), loxicom twice a day (we also tried Tramadol for a week in case it was pain related but no change), and fibreplex 3 times a day (we have also tried bio lapis and pro c in case they made a difference). He’s had 2 x rays (conscious and unconscious), an ultrasound, urine test and a blood test which have all come back with no issues, apart from a slightly swollen stomach which would be expected because he isn’t eating or pooping properly? No gas, and no actual blockage as he does poo, just not as often as he should. His teeth have been checked and are fine. His lymph nodes aren’t swollen. We’ve tried withholding veg (though at the minute the only veg he will really eat is mint and kale?) and he will occasionally nibble hay, and sometimes walk to his hay but not eat? But he can eat hay when he chooses to. He will take lots of water via syringe, but rarely drink himself, he previously drank up to 300ml per day consistently. He has also made pain noises when pooping occasionally (maybe once every other day) since he was ill the first time. We’ve ruled out bladder stones and sludge, he’s never had blood in his urine, and he’s had multiple x rays now at different times.
He clearly has a will to live still, he comes out and asks for his dinner, though he does spend most of his time laying down (he looks comfortable not hunched). We’re taking a fecal sample on Monday as the next step, and our vet is also going to prescribe Panacur to rule out parasites, but I’m sort of lost now on what this could be? Has anyone had any similar experiences? It feels as though we’re running out of options and I’m not sure how long it’s fair for us to be syringe feeding him round the clock for? It can’t be very nice for him
