DebiGliori
Forum Donator 2023/24
Hello, husband and I are the loving slaves to two rescue boars who ,up until three weeks ago, were both healthy, contented boys. The poorly one, Merry, started having strange poos that were soft and would leave streaks across the GuineaDad mats in the boys' pen. So, at first I took out all veg and kept both boys on loads of hay and small amount of Burgess mint nuggets. Initially, this paid off, Merry's poos went back to normal for a week and then it started again. I stopped taking them outside to browse on grass thinking that might be the issue - but no change, still soft, mat-streaking poos. So I swapped to grain-free nuggets and hoped that might be the answer. Finally, when it became apparent that all was still not right, I weighed him.
I know - I should have done that ages before, but like an idiot, I had forgotten that weight loss was the clearest indicator of a need to visit the vet asap.
He's lost 20% of his weight, down from 1300 to 1050g. I panicked, phoned the emergency vet and in we went. Vet had a look at his teeth and listened to his tummy, and decided gastrointestinal stasis was probably present, so prescribed Emeprid and Metacam and gave Merry both in injectable form, sent me home with both in liquid form and advised syringe feeding CC till he was better.
Two days later, still losing weight despite six critical care fine grind feeds to a daily total of 60ml, still a poorly pig, still trying to eat but nuggets falling back out of his mouth, and little or no hay being eaten either.
Back to vet. Vet had a good look at his teeth and decided to remove spurs from rear teeth under a GA next morning. We continued with critical care feeding, plus metacam plus Emiprid and next morning, in went my little boy.
He tolerated the GA, came home that afternoon and on we went with critical care, pain relief, Emiprid and nothing improved. He was doing tiny little poos, which made me think if we just kept going, he'd eventually work up the strength to begin eating hay again and everything would sort itself out. We were due for a post-op follow-up check up two days after the GA, so in we went, two days on. ( Just to clarify - Merry went to the emergency vet on Saturday 27th August, had the GA on Wednesday 31st August and we had the check-up on Friday 2nd September)
2nd September, saw a different vet ( same practice) who asked if I'd consider a specialist. I said yes, and two hours later we were at a new vet's practice who had more experience with dental issues in exotics. After a thorough examination, the specialist vet said he recommended another GA and some reasonably conservative work to try and rectify Merry's malocclusion which he couldn't determine was pre-vet 1's GA/operation, or was the result of inexpert work being done by Vet1. Obviously a second GA in such quick succession was highly risky, but I had no idea what to do otherwise. I signed the consent forms and left my poor little piggy in what I sincerely hoped were good hands.
All went well, they reported that he was doing well post-GA2, was eating, drinking and pooing and sent a photo of Merry with a basil leaf to prove...I have no idea what. He was kept in overnight because vet specialist preferred to keep post-op patients under observation overnight.
So. Next day I picked him up, was told he was eating, drinking, munching hay and greens and no meds or Emiprid was required. I took him home and he retreated into his Haypigs pavilion and pulled it down over himself which has always been his signal to Leave Me Alone, Hoom. So, I left him for an hour to decompress and smell the familiar smells of home and hear us bumbling around in the background and then I thought, food. Let's get some food down him because he's gone from 6 syringe feeds a day to...nothing.
He didn't want to eat anything ( none of his favourite parsley, basil, coriander, dandelion, cucumber insides, shavings of carrot) but together with my husband, we administered a syringe feed with Merry lying back in my arms in such a relaxed and floppy way that at first we found endearingly funny and then we suddenly were convinced that he'd died.
Truly. His breath stopped, the tiny flaps inside his nostrils stopped moving, he flopped completely and I held him for what felt like at least a minute/month and then he gave a twitch, twisted in my arms and came back from the foothills of the Other Side. Reading this forum told me that piggies do that - post-GA bright, chipper, eating etc and then suddenly the rapid decline and give you the fright of your life. Yup. That happened. That was Saturday.
Since then, we've been syringe feeding him 70ml CC per diem, two lots of Emiprid and two x 0.2ml of Metacam, poking parsley into his mouth ( he sort-of plugs away at it, doggedly grinding from side to side, slowly, oh so very slowly trying to process it with his weird new configuration of teefs) offering him hay ( nope, he just sits in it, as if he's forgotten how it works) nuggets ( he tries, bless him but they fall out his mouth) and the only thing we've had any success with was a dandelion leaf this morning that, in desperation I took him outside on the grass in the garden ( to try to alleviate his obvious depression at losing the ability to chew his own food) and gave him every single good thing I could think of ( plus the grass in their pen) and the dandelion leaf was chosen. He ate that. It's nothing, but after the week the poor little mite has had, it's a major victory.
He's still losing weight ( down to 957g) but that may still be the lag from the day of op/GA2. His poos are now cow splats of green squish - pretty much like what you'd expect from someone eating critical care papaya flavour ( I can smell it in my sleep). I'm outside Edinburgh and do not think he'd survive a trip to Northampton to the dental genius there. Should we carry on syringe feeding for a few more days before asking vet 1 or vet 2 what to do? I'll need to go back to one or t'other to get more metacam anyway. Do we discontinue the Emiprid, since he's clearly got a food in/poo out flow going? Should we not panic and just keep on doing what we're doing? All advice gratefully read and sifted.
I know - I should have done that ages before, but like an idiot, I had forgotten that weight loss was the clearest indicator of a need to visit the vet asap.
He's lost 20% of his weight, down from 1300 to 1050g. I panicked, phoned the emergency vet and in we went. Vet had a look at his teeth and listened to his tummy, and decided gastrointestinal stasis was probably present, so prescribed Emeprid and Metacam and gave Merry both in injectable form, sent me home with both in liquid form and advised syringe feeding CC till he was better.
Two days later, still losing weight despite six critical care fine grind feeds to a daily total of 60ml, still a poorly pig, still trying to eat but nuggets falling back out of his mouth, and little or no hay being eaten either.
Back to vet. Vet had a good look at his teeth and decided to remove spurs from rear teeth under a GA next morning. We continued with critical care feeding, plus metacam plus Emiprid and next morning, in went my little boy.
He tolerated the GA, came home that afternoon and on we went with critical care, pain relief, Emiprid and nothing improved. He was doing tiny little poos, which made me think if we just kept going, he'd eventually work up the strength to begin eating hay again and everything would sort itself out. We were due for a post-op follow-up check up two days after the GA, so in we went, two days on. ( Just to clarify - Merry went to the emergency vet on Saturday 27th August, had the GA on Wednesday 31st August and we had the check-up on Friday 2nd September)
2nd September, saw a different vet ( same practice) who asked if I'd consider a specialist. I said yes, and two hours later we were at a new vet's practice who had more experience with dental issues in exotics. After a thorough examination, the specialist vet said he recommended another GA and some reasonably conservative work to try and rectify Merry's malocclusion which he couldn't determine was pre-vet 1's GA/operation, or was the result of inexpert work being done by Vet1. Obviously a second GA in such quick succession was highly risky, but I had no idea what to do otherwise. I signed the consent forms and left my poor little piggy in what I sincerely hoped were good hands.
All went well, they reported that he was doing well post-GA2, was eating, drinking and pooing and sent a photo of Merry with a basil leaf to prove...I have no idea what. He was kept in overnight because vet specialist preferred to keep post-op patients under observation overnight.
So. Next day I picked him up, was told he was eating, drinking, munching hay and greens and no meds or Emiprid was required. I took him home and he retreated into his Haypigs pavilion and pulled it down over himself which has always been his signal to Leave Me Alone, Hoom. So, I left him for an hour to decompress and smell the familiar smells of home and hear us bumbling around in the background and then I thought, food. Let's get some food down him because he's gone from 6 syringe feeds a day to...nothing.
He didn't want to eat anything ( none of his favourite parsley, basil, coriander, dandelion, cucumber insides, shavings of carrot) but together with my husband, we administered a syringe feed with Merry lying back in my arms in such a relaxed and floppy way that at first we found endearingly funny and then we suddenly were convinced that he'd died.
Truly. His breath stopped, the tiny flaps inside his nostrils stopped moving, he flopped completely and I held him for what felt like at least a minute/month and then he gave a twitch, twisted in my arms and came back from the foothills of the Other Side. Reading this forum told me that piggies do that - post-GA bright, chipper, eating etc and then suddenly the rapid decline and give you the fright of your life. Yup. That happened. That was Saturday.
Since then, we've been syringe feeding him 70ml CC per diem, two lots of Emiprid and two x 0.2ml of Metacam, poking parsley into his mouth ( he sort-of plugs away at it, doggedly grinding from side to side, slowly, oh so very slowly trying to process it with his weird new configuration of teefs) offering him hay ( nope, he just sits in it, as if he's forgotten how it works) nuggets ( he tries, bless him but they fall out his mouth) and the only thing we've had any success with was a dandelion leaf this morning that, in desperation I took him outside on the grass in the garden ( to try to alleviate his obvious depression at losing the ability to chew his own food) and gave him every single good thing I could think of ( plus the grass in their pen) and the dandelion leaf was chosen. He ate that. It's nothing, but after the week the poor little mite has had, it's a major victory.
He's still losing weight ( down to 957g) but that may still be the lag from the day of op/GA2. His poos are now cow splats of green squish - pretty much like what you'd expect from someone eating critical care papaya flavour ( I can smell it in my sleep). I'm outside Edinburgh and do not think he'd survive a trip to Northampton to the dental genius there. Should we carry on syringe feeding for a few more days before asking vet 1 or vet 2 what to do? I'll need to go back to one or t'other to get more metacam anyway. Do we discontinue the Emiprid, since he's clearly got a food in/poo out flow going? Should we not panic and just keep on doing what we're doing? All advice gratefully read and sifted.
