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Not interested in food?

lauryn1289

lauryn1289

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone, my 6 1/2 year old boy Kip isn’t really interested in food right now. He ate a small bit of cucumber and apple and I gave him a few mls of cc but I’m concerned. I went for a nap around 11:30am this morning and overslept until 3pm because I forgot to set an alarm and he was absolutely fine this morning, when I went to sleep he was in his pile of hay eating away. Not long before then he was begging for some more nuggets too.

He’s walking fine and he’s alert and his tummy feels no different to his friend Ollie’s tummy, but his poops are very mushy again and less of them. I posted here a week or so ago about mushy poops that did fix itself again after about 3 days, seemingly giving him new fruit caused it. Maybe he had got too much pellets because the other day I hadn’t measured them and I gave them in increments during the day, but when I held him on my lap I could squeeze some mushy poops out. He just seems to want to sit in his house? When I was syringe feeding him I was concerned because he wasn’t moving his head as much but then he did start headbutting the air and resisting.

Maybe I’m really overthinking it and he actually just wants to sleep and I’m really irritating him but I’m on high alert since my Bobby passed a couple weeks ago. I called the vet and they can’t see him this evening either :( They only have an appointment tomorrow at 4pm which I’d struggle to get to because I need someone to drive, much easier past 5pm but if needs be I’ll figure it out

To add I did spot him eat something off the floor at about 7pm yesterday, have no idea what because he hoovered it up before I got the chance of get him to drop it but all it really could’ve been is hay, museli nuggets they get as an rare treat or perhaps a bit of tissue or paper
 
And also to add I’ve got the other new boy Eggs in quarantine so I’m worried I’ve given him something from Eggs, but I’m religiously washing my hands every time I touch Eggs, washing their blankets at 70° and apart from that Eggs has been here a week and seems very healthy anyway. I was actually at the doctor yesterday because my hands and arms are so inflamed and sore from washing them so much!
 
Are you weighing him? That is your guide as to how much hay he is eating.
I would monitor his weight daily if you are concerned and see if that shows anything.
If he has mushy poops again, then remove veg and fruit from the diet and concentrate on him getting plenty of hay.
 
Just gonna weigh him when I get him out for some more CC! Washing his weighing bowl because I weighed the quarantined pig a couple days back. I weighed him a few days ago so I have a reference, it’s just so unlike him to not want bananas especially or his nuggets.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Are you weighing him? That is your guide as to how much hay he is eating.
I would monitor his weight daily if you are concerned and see if that shows anything.
If he has mushy poops again, then remove veg and fruit from the diet and concentrate on him getting plenty of hay.
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Weighed him and he’s around 660g give or take a few grams. The week before last he was 684g and about 3 days ago he was 654g. He’s been around 650g for a long time now I assume because of his age and size so his weight actually seems ok
 
Okay so he doesn’t seem to have pooped in a while, he’s gotten probably about 15mls of CC since 3pm and some (hopefully) fresh poop soup. My boy Ollie is very picky about where he poops and never seems to go no matter how long he’s out on the floor so I just gathered every poop I could find and mixed it. He did sniff around at bits of food but doesn’t want anything.

When I pressed his bum I got a little bit of poop out but otherwise he doesn’t seem backed up at all, don’t want to keep prodding or squeezing and hurt him. Hopefully this passes
 
Sorry for another comment and the pics! But does this look like a worm or mucus to anyone? I got another bit of poop out by gently pressing him when I was giving him more CC and poop soup (left) and I’m just wondering what the thing on the right pic is. So unfortunate that my vet was booked up today, really hoping they can fit him in tomorrow
 

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Hmmm, it could be mucus perhaps? I think worms in pigs are uncommon. Perhaps you could put it in a sandwich bag to show the vet? Hope you can get him seen tomorrow ❤️
 
I'd say mucous - we've seen similar in George whose health issues and impaction lead to random pooping events! Extra pellets wouldn't make poops go wrong like unusual fruit though. He sounds a lovely old boy... this might indeed be a health issue, but prepare yourself in case he is gently winding down 💕
 
Free Ranger said:
I'd say mucous - we've seen similar in George whose health issues and impaction lead to random pooping events! Extra pellets wouldn't make poops go wrong like unusual fruit though. He sounds a lovely old boy... this might indeed be a health issue, but prepare yourself in case he is gently winding down 💕
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I am. I’m giving him about 5-6 mls of CC every 2 hours, whatever he’ll accept, and gently pressing his bum to release the couple poops in there, but I gave him a big kiss and let him know that if it’s his time to go that it’s okay. If it is that, it’s happened very very suddenly and he was totally normal and his happy greedy self even yesterday morning.

It’s absolutely heartbreaking if it is, especially just a few days after losing Bobby, but we’ve already had 6 wonderful years together. I still hope we have more. :(

Thank you and I hope your George is well! I think of him so often since your responses to my posts about Bobby’s surgery and passing ❤️
 
Hi, so I’ve been getting him about 7mls of CC and a few mls of water through the night every 2 hours and his gut is moving. We went from having no poops for hours and having to manually push tiny bits out to MUCH bigger and more often bowel movements, albeit very mushy poops progressively through the night with no mucus in them anymore. Also weighed him and he’s only dropped 20g.

I don’t think he’s eating in his cage, he’s still just staying in his pigloo as far as I can tell, but when I have him out for CC he has started to pick at cucumber and lettuce, although I put a tiny bit of cucumber in his cage and he did eat it just there. Not a lot at all but he is picking at things and eating tiny bits. His tummy is also quite rumbly. Watery eyes but he tends to have watery eyes anyway so hard to tell if relevant.
So long story short: right now he’s still not fully interested in food especially not hay or nuggets, kinda staying in the same place in his cage but does move around and can move fast, just moody and a lot less lively than usual and is passing stool now with some tummy rumbling.

I’m waiting to hear back from the vet if they can get him in today, but they’re not a pig savvy vets unfortunately so I always like to have an idea of the issue myself. Does anyone have any idea what it could be or have experienced anything similar?
 
At least he's picking at something! I wonder if the vets might prescribe him a gut stimulant to make him feel hungry? 🤔
 
Wheekallweek said:
At least he's picking at something! I wonder if the vets might prescribe him a gut stimulant to make him feel hungry? 🤔
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Vets have nothing available until Tuesday :( They said they’ll call with any cancellations but if I don’t hear anything I’ll ring tomorrow and ask if they’ll give me a metaclopramide injection for him. He’s just after fighting with me for some lettuce so hopefully that’s a good sign
 
Is there any other vets you can go to near you? I would definitely ask for a gut stimulant. Sending healing vibes to your poor little man, hope he makes a recovery 🤞
 
Bill & Ted said:
Is there any other vets you can go to near you? I would definitely ask for a gut stimulant. Sending healing vibes to your poor little man, hope he makes a recovery 🤞
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They squeezed in an appointment for 5:30pm tomorrow! Hopefully he does, I’ll keep up with the every 2 hour syringe feedings and keep him interested with some nice veggies. Thank you ❤️
 
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