Poorly piggy

[RT03]

Hello, just wondering if anyone can advise on a situation with my piggy. Below is a message I wrote for a piggy group on Facebook just to give some background.

Wondering if anyone can help me with a bit of a mystery. Our piggy (Female, 2.5 years old) has always seemed uncomfortable going to the toilet. Antibiotics helps but only for a week or 2. She’s also had a injection (I think steroid but not 100% sure) which seems to help for longer but still doesn’t solve the issue. We’ve had multiple trips to the vets and we cannot figure out what is wrong with her. Along with the discomfort she sometimes has blood in her urine which has become more frequent in the passed few weeks, she goes on and off her food and doesn’t always seem herself. She’s had multiple scans which all show no bladder stone (was out first thought as we’ve lost a previous piggy to one). We tried giving her a fibre supplement as the vet thought it could be ibs or something similar (this seemed to stop the discomfort but her poop went very small and light coloured, pain returned once she was off it) We just hate to see her so uncomfortable and really want to help but no one can figure out what is wrong. I have another appointment booked for tomorrow to give her the injection to hopefully get her back to normal for a short while but really want to find a long term solution/diagnosis for whatever this is.

This has been going on and off for around 2 years. At the vets today she was given dexafort and we have ordered some herb medicine to give her as well that one of the other vets swore by. Since the appointment she has now got very smelly and wet poop. Not diahorrea but not far from it. She won’t eat or drink. We’ve given her some water off a syringe but I’m not sure how much is going in. She really isn’t herself and her lips are looking pale. Usually this jab perks her up so I’m hoping that this is just the effects of having it and she’ll settle down by tomorrow. We will ring the vet if she still has funny poop in the morning but just wondering if I can do anything for her overnight.

We don’t yet have a diagnosis for why the underlying issue is. We’re suspecting cystitis at the moment but it’s more of a trial and error with meds and vet says we need to look to manage it as he doesn’t think whatever it is is curable. Any suggestions are welcome, just want to try and make her more comfortable until either the jab kicks in or we can speak to the vet again tomorrow.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please step in with syringe feeding a recovery feed, syringing water isn’t enough.
Make sure you have switched from the routine weekly weight checks and are instead weighing her daily so you can ensure her weight stable each day.

by fibre supplement, do you mean syringe feed?
And that when her poop went small once off of it - were you weighing her daily to ensure she was eating enough hay independently? Small poop generally indicates lack of food intake

Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link

I would be concerned about her looking pale.

Dexafort is a steroid. Steroids should only be given by an exotic vet in dire situations - piggies should not have steroids ordinarily as piggies react differently to them.

If she is presenting with UTI type symptoms which are suppressed but don’t get better but are sometimes suppressed with antibiotics and then recur , then after a stone has been ruled out, a vet can look into whether it is sterile cystitis ie non bacterial cystitis. There isn’t a cure for it But treatment is a maintenance dose of metacam (increasing during a flare) and a daily dose of glucosamine which helps line the bladder

 

[RT03]

Please step in with syringe feeding a recovery feed, syringing water isn’t enough.
Make sure you have switched from the routine weekly weight checks and are instead weighing her daily so you can ensure her weight stable each day.

by fibre supplement, do you mean syringe feed?
And that when her poop went small once off of it - were you weighing her daily to ensure she was eating enough hay independently? Small poop generally indicates lack of food intake

Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link

I would be concerned about her looking pale.

Dexafort is a steroid. Steroids should only be given by an exotic vet in dire situations - piggies should not have steroids ordinarily as piggies react differently to them.

If she is presenting with UTI type symptoms which are suppressed but don’t get better but are sometimes suppressed with antibiotics and then recur , then after a stone has been ruled out, a vet can look into whether it is sterile cystitis ie non bacterial cystitis. There isn’t a cure for it But treatment is a maintenance dose of metacam (increasing during a flare) and a daily dose of glucosamine which helps line the bladder

She passed away with morning unfortunately she was only 2 1/2. I would’ve given her critical care but we don’t have any at home so was going to pick some up from the vet this morning. She has been given the steroid injection a few times as it worked for her before. We only give it once the antibiotics has worn off and if it hasn’t worked. Maybe there was a different underlying issue because she went very downhill between yesterday afternoon and evening.

 

[CTWC]

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

[Piggies&buns]

She passed away with morning unfortunately she was only 2 1/2. I would’ve given her critical care but we don’t have any at home so was going to pick some up from the vet this morning. She has been given the steroid injection a few times as it worked for her before. We only give it once the antibiotics has worn off and if it hasn’t worked. Maybe there was a different underlying issue because she went very downhill between yesterday afternoon and evening.

I'm so sorry for your loss.



Just so you know for any emergency situation with any other piggies you have, in the absence of critical care you need to mush normal guinea pig pellets with water and syringe feed that

 

[Cait_lin]

I'm so so sorry

 

[weepweeps]

I’m so sorry.

 

[Wheekallweek]

So sorry you've lost your little piggy
RIP little one

 

[fluffysal]

I'm so sorry you lost her. Sleep well and popcorn high over the rainbow bridge little lady