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Possible sick pig

T

Taegijoon

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
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Location
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Hello all,

I have 4 female pigs. We noticed our pig Kimchi was bleeding from her vagina on Christmas. The day after she was no longer bleeding but We took her to the vet on Friday and was told she's in heat, I know sows do not bleed while in heat and the vet said it could be possibly a UTI and gave us enrofloxacin. We are to give her 2 a day for 7 days. Today we noticed she did not come out for her morning veggies like the others. She was puffed up and in a corner. I took her to a different vet. He told us to continue with the medicine and trimmed her teeth saying that could be the reason she is not eating. Before I took her to the vet today I noticed she had a stringy poo stuck to her bottom. I found another stringy poo and I'm really worried for her health. If I were to go back to a vet what recommendations does anyone have for them to give her a proper diagnosis!

She eats hay from my hand and came out for pellets, but her apitite has definately decreased
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The forum is pretty dead right now because the majority of members are from UK and they are fast asleep. I have no advice to offer but I send my wishes and prayers to her may she get well soon
 
Definitlt start syringe feeding mushed up pellets or critical care from a vets.

Here is a guide Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

You will want to keep her weight stable, weigh her everyday at the same time, the tooth trim doesn't sound good to me, guinea pigs will not eat when in pain, alot of rubbish vets trim teeth, thinking that's the reason. Whilst you are keeping you're girl stable, find a decent vet.
 
More experienced member will be online when they wake up, this is all I can say for now above. Sorry 👆👍
 
Definitely go with syringe feeding pellets, and if she seems okay with it, try to get hay in her. The fiber may help her digestive system if that's the problem.
 
Ritika said:
How's she doing now?
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Hi all, thanks for the advice! Yes, I did read up on the syringe feeding before I made this post. I tried and she was fussy, I tested the syringe with the other three and they gladly ate. I did manger to syringe feed her though and have been keeping my eye on her. When it was time for dinner my boyfriend was having lap time with her and I gave her a piece of lettuce and she ate it. I gave her the leftover stem and she nibbled here and there then lost intrest. Throughout the night I was watching her and she drank a lot of water, she did come out for hay when I refilled the rack and had some pellets on her own. It's hard to tell if she recovering but I'm hoping so. She squeals a lot now, which she's never done before. She squeals when other pigs get near her. Her most concerning symptom was her bleeding which happened on Christmas but stopped the day after. I'm not sure if I should follow the vets order of continuing the medicine for UTI or what :(
 
Also, if I can get help understanding syringe feeding. I'm not sure how much and how often. I have a 1ML syringe, how much should I fill it to?
 
The guides below will help you with how to syringe feed. Ensure you weigh her daily while she is unwell so you can tell if she is eating enough. If she starts to lose weight, then she isn’t eating enough and will need to be syringe feed more often - every few hours day and night when piggy has a total loss of appetite, aiming to get 40-60ml of food into piggy in a 24 hour period (the guides explain). Definitely see another vet if you are concerned. I would keep giving her the antibiotics though.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
 
Hi I'm not an expert but I believe bleeding from her bits could point to something going wrong with the reproductive system, ovarian cysts or a womb infection, I would ask the vet to check her reproductive system too. Best of luck to your piggy ❤️ was the blood coming from her bits directly or was it in her wee?
 
It's great that you have enrofloxacin, this is also known as baytril and is the only antibiotic in the UK licenced for use in guinea pigs though many good vets will prescribe alternative antibiotics but a waiver needs to be signed as they aren't licenced. If this is an infection in either the urinary or reproductive tract then this will help so you should always be sure to follow the prescription of the vet and complete the course.

Baytril can strip some of the good bacteria from the gut as well which can impact digestion. We recommend a probiotic either an hour before or an hour after the antibiotics to help keep the gut balanced.

If there is no improvement, or if your piggy continues to lose weight and go downhill then this might not be an infection. I had a boar who had a stone which prevented him from eating properly and pain relief did not help. He would run to the food eager but would stop after small amounts and he was clearly having discomfort when passing urine. Please syringe feed little and often and if you notice continued weight loss and no improvement in symptoms it might be worth asking for an x-ray to check for stones (depending on how knowledgeable your vet is you may want to shop around for a more experienced piggy vet as I'm a little concerned that her teeth were filed as a precaution rather than because the vet saw a problem). When you do go back please ask for a pain relief on the safe side, mostly goes by the names metacam/ loxicom/ meloxicom.

Did the vet book her back in for a check on her progress?
 
Emx93 said:
Hi I'm not an expert but I believe bleeding from her bits could point to something going wrong with the reproductive system, ovarian cysts or a womb infection, I would ask the vet to check her reproductive system too. Best of luck to your piggy ❤ was the blood coming from her bits directly or was it in her wee?
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It was coming directly from her genitals I believe, it even got on my stomach when she walked on me, that's how we first noticed. However, she is no longer bleeding. The first time we took her to the vet was about 2 days after we first noticed the blood, at the vet when they were handling her she got frightened and shrieked and then a blood clot shot out. That was the last time we saw blood, the blood was really dark though
 
Taegijoon said:
It was coming directly from her genitals I believe, it even got on my stomach when she walked on me, that's how we first noticed. However, she is no longer bleeding. The first time we took her to the vet was about 2 days after we first noticed the blood, at the vet when they were handling her she got frightened and shrieked and then a blood clot shot out. That was the last time we saw blood, the blood was really dark though
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Did they Check her reproductive tract?
 
Emx93 said:
Did they Check her reproductive tract?
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No, the first vet claimed she was in heat but I know guinea pigs don't have periods. Instead of confirming if she has a UTI she claimed she couldn't rule it out and gave me the medicine.
 
Taegijoon said:
No, the first vet claimed she was in heat but I know guinea pigs don't have periods. Instead of confirming if she has a UTI she claimed she couldn't rule it out and gave me the medicine.
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Hopefully a more experienced member will be able to advise soon but I'd suggest having her reproductive system checked and also confirming whether or not she has a uti (urine sample?)
 
Lady Kelly said:
It's great that you have enrofloxacin, this is also known as baytril and is the only antibiotic in the UK licenced for use in guinea pigs though many good vets will prescribe alternative antibiotics but a waiver needs to be signed as they aren't licenced. If this is an infection in either the urinary or reproductive tract then this will help so you should always be sure to follow the prescription of the vet and complete the course.

Baytril can strip some of the good bacteria from the gut as well which can impact digestion. We recommend a probiotic either an hour before or an hour after the antibiotics to help keep the gut balanced.

If there is no improvement, or if your piggy continues to lose weight and go downhill then this might not be an infection. I had a boar who had a stone which prevented him from eating properly and pain relief did not help. He would run to the food eager but would stop after small amounts and he was clearly having discomfort when passing urine. Please syringe feed little and often and if you notice continued weight loss and no improvement in symptoms it might be worth asking for an x-ray to check for stones (depending on how knowledgeable your vet is you may want to shop around for a more experienced piggy vet as I'm a little concerned that her teeth were filed as a precaution rather than because the vet saw a problem). When you do go back please ask for a pain relief on the safe side, mostly goes by the names metacam/ loxicom/ meloxicom.

Did the vet book her back in for a check on her progress?
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply! Yes, I will continue with her medicine. I've been watching her, she's been eating hay and pellets on her own. She still can pass poo, they come out small and squishy. I'm assuming because she's not eating enough? Should I still syringe feed her even though she eats on her own? May I ask for an example on what probiotic? And the first vet did ask for a recheck after a week but I'm not to sure if I want to go back to them, I liked the second vet better but they didn't ask for a recheck
 
Taegijoon said:
Thank you for the reply! Yes, I will continue with her medicine. I've been watching her, she's been eating hay and pellets on her own. She still can pass poo, they come out small and squishy. I'm assuming because she's not eating enough? Should I still syringe feed her even though she eats on her own? May I ask for an example on what probiotic? And the first vet did ask for a recheck after a week but I'm not to sure if I want to go back to them, I liked the second vet better but they didn't ask for a recheck
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Yes still offer syringe feeding until the poops are back to a normal size and her weight has stabilised. The squishiness of them might be a slight imbalance in the gut. Probiotic wise I'm not sure what you can get as I assumed you weren't UK based? We have one called pro c which is sold in our pet shop chain and one called fibreplex. I'm not sure of any brands in other countries. Where abouts are you from?
 
Lady Kelly said:
Yes still offer syringe feeding until the poops are back to a normal size and her weight has stabilised. The squishiness of them might be a slight imbalance in the gut. Probiotic wise I'm not sure what you can get as I assumed you weren't UK based? We have one called pro c which is sold in our pet shop chain and one called fibreplex. I'm not sure of any brands in other countries. Where abouts are you from?
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I live in NYC, I have read that feeding healthy poops can work as probiotic? And I'm sorry, we didn't know weighing was an important process to pig ownership, so we don't have a scale currently. I ordered one and it'll arrive on the 3rd. So I guess I'll look out for if her poops have regulated?
 
Taegijoon said:
I live in NYC, I have read that feeding healthy poops can work as probiotic? And I'm sorry, we didn't know weighing was an important process to pig ownership, so we don't have a scale currently. I ordered one and it'll arrive on the 3rd. So I guess I'll look out for if her poops have regulated?
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Yes exactly. Poop soup is a really good probiotic for piggies. All u have to do is take fresh fresh poos from the healthy piggy( remember only fresh ones) and soak them in a little warm water for about 10-15 mins and then give that poo soup to the sick piggy. It's a really great probiotic and sometimes can work wonders as I have heard. And yes it's really important to weigh your piggies every week to detect and illness as early as possible. I am happy that u ordered your scale!
 
Ritika said:
Yes exactly. Poop soup is a really good probiotic for piggies. All u have to do is take fresh fresh poos from the healthy piggy( remember only fresh ones) and soak them in a little warm water for about 10-15 mins and then give that poo soup to the sick piggy. It's a really great probiotic and sometimes can work wonders as I have heard. And yes it's really important to weigh your piggies every week to detect and illness as early as possible. I am happy that u ordered your scale!
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How often should I do this? 😮 thank you all for the feedback!
 
If you’re asking about weighing then you need to weigh her daily now that she is ill.

When healthy, they need weighing weekly at the same time of day.
 
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