• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Specialist Questioning how to move forward - Bloodwork/Gut issues

S'mores and Pockets

S'mores and Pockets

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 5, 2020
Messages
117
Reaction score
34
Points
180
Location
USA
Hello all,
Upcoming long thread:

I am a bit conflicted about how to move forward with S’mores situation. Here are a couple of other threads I posted on some areas of the same situation.
Ordered in latest to earliest time/date I posted the thread:
Link to Abnormal Poops thread
Link to Weird Poops thread
Link to Stomach Issues and Clumpy/Abnormal Poos thread
Link to Bloodwork thread

Is there a big risk factor in bloodwork or anesthesia? Is it worth it to do a blood test?

I contacted the vet and asked some questions about bloodwork. Here is what they answered:
Cost: $310, £225
Anesthesia: Gas anesthesia
Where they will draw blood: Most likely vein in the neck
What they will look for: Liver, kidney, thyroid (I forgot the rest)
How they will move forward if they have found something: Most likely a medication (depends on what they find/if they find anything).

They will keep him 3-5 hours, depending on how he wakes up from the anesthesia.

Tuesday morning S’mores weighed 980, and Tuesday night 918. I am feeding him Critical Care right now. He is 953 Wednesday (this) morning, about the same weight after I gave him CC Tuesday night. Despite losing 62g he was squeaking happily and running around during floortime! His poop looks pretty normal this beginning of the week, not as bad as some other times.

My dad doesn’t really seem to want to pay for it. If I can’t convince him, I’ll chip in some of my savings for the bill.

Just pretty exhausted, it has been going on for 2 ½+ months now…

Advice, please! ❤️
 
Sorry that S’mores is having so many problems. Sorry, I don’t have much advise but if he were my piggy, I would be inclined to have the blood work done to see if blood tests reveal anything
 
One of my piggies had lots of tummy problems, bloating, constipation, mushy poop, odd poop etc and was often grizzly when I picked him up (which I thought was a sore tummy from tummy upsets). Eventually he was diagnosed with a stone stuck in his ureter. Since he has been on pain relief for the stone he eats really well and I’ve noticed he rarely has tummy problems. So it seems in his case, pain made him eat less hay, eating less hay meant more tummy upsets & mushy or odd poop depending on what veges I gave him. I don’t feed him anything that might upset his tummy & lots of things do, like watermelon, cos lettuce & tomato can be too acidic for him. I took him to the vet a lot for tummy problems but it was only when the stone caused bleeding that an X-ray picked up the stone & pain problem. Fixing the pain has subsequently fixed his tummy problems because he eats much more hay.
 
PiggyRupert said:
One of my piggies had lots of tummy problems, bloating, constipation, mushy poop, odd poop etc and was often grizzly when I picked him up (which I thought was a sore tummy from tummy upsets). Eventually he was diagnosed with a stone stuck in his ureter. Since he has been on pain relief for the stone he eats really well and I’ve noticed he rarely has tummy problems. So it seems in his case, pain made him eat less hay, eating less hay meant more tummy upsets & mushy or odd poop depending on what veges I gave him. I don’t feed him anything that might upset his tummy & lots of things do, like watermelon, cos lettuce & tomato can be too acidic for him. I took him to the vet a lot for tummy problems but it was only when the stone caused bleeding that an X-ray picked up the stone & pain problem. Fixing the pain has subsequently fixed his tummy problems because he eats much more hay.
Click to expand...
Hello! I am pretty sure he doesn't have a stone, he isn't in pain. Running, squeaking, and lively as usual. I haven't seen him have any problems with peeing, but I will keep the idea of a stone in mind. I currently have S'mores off veggies, and he eats lots of hay and the daily pellets.
 
Update: S’mores has a bloodtest appointment on April 15th, a Thursday. Hopefully it will go well 🤞
Currently he is having soft poo... 😕
 
2nd Update: S'mores went for his blood test appointment this morning! He is back home and doing fairly well. Active and lively, he lost about 50g, so I am giving him CC.
My other guinea pig Pockets was alone for about 9 hours, while S'mores was at the vet. I put S'mores back in the cage (as you would imagine) but they seem to be disagreeing. They are fighting quite a bit. Right now S'mores is up at the loft eating hay, and Pockets is downstairs, so they are fine now. Almost every time they see each other they teeth chatter and a chase happens. No blood has been drawn.
Do you know what could have caused this? Could it be because S'mores was gone for so long, and maybe he smells different (like the vets)? What can I do?

Thank you, a bit worried.
 
S'mores and Pockets said:
2nd Update: S'mores went for his blood test appointment this morning! He is back home and doing fairly well. Active and lively, he lost about 50g, so I am giving him CC.
My other guinea pig Pockets was alone for about 9 hours, while S'mores was at the vet. I put S'mores back in the cage (as you would imagine) but they seem to be disagreeing. They are fighting quite a bit. Right now S'mores is up at the loft eating hay, and Pockets is downstairs, so they are fine now. Almost every time they see each other they teeth chatter and a chase happens. No blood has been drawn.
Do you know what could have caused this? Could it be because S'mores was gone for so long, and maybe he smells different (like the vets)? What can I do?

Thank you, a bit worried.
Click to expand...

Likelihood is that S’mores smells different and Pockets is throwing his weight around a bit. Keep an eye on them but they should hopefully settle in a day or two
 
3rd Update: The vet got back to me about S’mores blood test results. His thyroid levels are fine, so that’s not what is causing his weight loss and abnormal poop. But the vet did say his liver has some small changes and he has signs of inflammation. (Idk where) So the vet is going to be in touch with a Zoo Medicine specialist and discuss his case and treatment options.
Hopefully this will all be sorted out soon 😅
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top