• 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

Sanity checking vet's treatment

TinaY

TinaY

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 27, 2021
Messages
106
Reaction score
138
Points
275
Location
Dubai
Hi all, it has been a while. My Donuts and Buckets have been living pretty drama free life until now... This weekend, we took Donuts (the white one on the avatar pic) to the vet because he started eating less and less for a few days and after he rejected a blueberry, I knew it was serious. I managed to get an appointment on Sunday and the vet checked his teeth, gave him some fluids, antibiotics and some painkillers and sent us home with Critical care and antibiotics for 5 days.

Donuts looked happier after a few hours and I thought we are fine. All Monday he looked OK, until Tuesday morning when he was very, very still. I noticed white in his urine and took him to the vet. She checked his urine and found blood, also told me he is in ketosis. He weighted about the same on Sunday and today. I have been giving him Critical care (it is a nightmare, he HATES it so a lot is going on his chin and all over the place), he managed to eat half of a blueberry and some kale the day before (besides a bit of hay). He refused capsicum, lettuce and a strawberry. He drinks almost nothing so the vet gave him fluids again via injection today. Do I need to give him extra C vitamin besides Critical care?

I am going insane with worry as she made it sound in a way that anything can happen.

I bought him parsley and watermelon today (he ate a tiny bit of both), I am with him all the time, I am feeding him every 2 hours getting as much Critical care into him as I can. Is there anything we are missing, anything we aren't doing? How long will this be critical? I am obviously going back to the vet for a checkup tomorrow again, I am just at the end of my nerves and need some reassurance or just plain please tell me if there is anything else I can do to help him. :(
 
Forgot to say that now he is on 2 antibiotics.
 
I’m so sorry Dounuts is poorly. It’s so stressful caring for a sick piggy. You really do feel that his life is in your hands. I’ve been there.

So just to clarify they are treating him for a UTI? So he’s on 2 types of antibiotics.

Is he on pain meds too?

The antibiotics can mess up their gut so I’d be giving a probiotic. I think you give it 1 hour before or 2 hours after antibiotics.

Poop soup made from fresh poop from Buckets can help too.

Probiotics Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

Keep going. Syringe feed as much as you can to keep his guts moving.

Good luck at the vets tomorrow. ❤️
 
I'm so sorry I hope everything gets better, I know it's very sad and upsetting when a Piggy is sick, I know Probiotics can help a lot! please keep an eye on the piggy! Also make sure hes drinking alot of water. too and watery veggies to possibly flush the Stone since he is peeing blood
[HEADING=2]Bene-Bac Plus Probiotic Pet Gel is perfect for guinea pigs[/HEADING]
 
Thank you everyone, I have now read all the guides - super useful! Donuts is pretty much the same as yesterday, I am giving him Critical care, C vitamin and will ask for probiotics at the vet today (last resort is the poop stew from Buckets :D). I live in Dubai so not all UK brands are here and it gets tricky.

To answer @weepweeps , she suspects UTI, yes. No other meds, should I ask for pain management too?

Is there a way to tell when he might start eating again? I am trying by offering everything I have - from watermelon, parsley, lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, blueberries, strawberries, etc. He does get excited but then takes only a few bites. I normally focus on giving him lettuce and capsicum, the rest I am aware about calcium in veggies, and sugar in fruit so fruit is a great treat usually for him.

My biggest worry is because he is not drinking. They are hydrating him at the vet by putting supplies of water under his skin. But on his own, nothing. He does eat a bit of hay and he did eat parsley yesterday and this morning.

Vet visit in a few hours. But honestly, he is the same as yesterday. :(

The vet hinted yesterday that is possible that he dies, is that true? It really shocked me because we brought him in so fast. :eek:
 
A simple UTI on its own is not usually fatal. Treatment is antibiotics and painkillers (yes, please do get painkillers - UTIs are painful). If there is something else going on then obviously that may change things.

An unwell piggy in pain is not likely to eat on their own. There is no way of knowing when he will eat on his own again but generally you’re looking at a 7-10 day course of antibiotics and then they are often feeling better. However, sometimes dealing with a particular bad UTI can take longer than one 10 day course of antibiotics.

You need to weigh him every morning so you can monitor that he is getting enough syringe feed for maintain his weight. While he isn’t eating enough hay for himself, you are aiming to feed every two hours and get a minimum of 60ml into him each day.
You can offer some water alongside a syringe feed but never press a syringe of water into their mouth. The need to drink comes before the need to eat so a piggy will not dehydrate themselves. Don’t forget critical care is made with water so that may be sufficient for his needs.
 
hang in there, you are doing a great job caring for Donut, make sure you get some sleep and relax if you can between feeds. It’s so emotionally draining looking after a sick piggie. Hope he is better soon

I would definitely get some metacam pain relief for him if you can, good luck 🤞
 
Keep going. It can take a while before they want to eat for themselves. I completely syringe fed my piggy Pepper for 8 weeks last year. Definitely get pain killers. That will make him feel better. Good luck.
 
@Piggies&buns this is very helpful, thank you!

@Bill & Ted oh my goodness, you literally read my mind. I am exhausted. Emotionally a mess. Thank you for saying this, it makes me feel less alone and less not strong enough 💝. It is super hard and I cannot let it go, it is always on my mind no matter what I do, I keep rushing home for feedings and get super worried if I cannot make it on time. Juggling this, a daughter, a dog that cannot be left alone in another room, you can imagine the tears and the stress in our house at the moment🙃.

@weepweeps thank you! I will persist! :cool:

And a general update. I got the pain meds Metacam for 5 days! They did not have probiotics and they told me he does not need them since he does not have loose stools (this is exactly why I always check with this forum). I did feel that they are trying to book me in to make more money as they did not do much today and charged a fortune for the third time. Now I have 7 days of antibiotics, 5 days of the second one, painkillers, Critical care for at least 7 days, C vitamin. They also gave me something to relax his gut - I feel like he is already on a lot of things, should I really be adding this too?

I feel that Donuts was very tired today after the checkup and instead of syringe feeding, he was falling asleep on my lap. Is it OK, if I take him back now only, if I run out of supplies or if he starts getting worse? Or is there a valid reason to go back just because? I can easily tell how he is feeling and if things get worse I can go back straight away.

THANK YOU, again this forum proved to be essential in guiding me to be able to demand the right stuff from the vet (I did call around many clinics to find the right one and yet here we are - so far tested 4 vets for guinea pigs and none convinced me 😶).
 
Keep filing that tummy up, it is such hard work, I feel for you. Try and feed him lots of CC throughout the day, give him a feed just before you go to bed, then early morning 6-7 am if you can. You can add some plain porridge oats or mushed pellets in a bowl overnight. I would give him the gut movement drugs, it should keep his gut moving
 
Yes give him everything the vet has prescribed.

Also I think the probiotic replaces the good bacteria that the antibiotics kill. So even if he doesn’t have loose stools he could still benefit from them. We can buy them from a pet shop here. Hopefully you can buy something from your pet shop?

I’ve used this in the past. You can sprinkle some in the syringe feed.

IMG_3386.webp
 
Yes, definitely give him the gut motility drug. When piggies stop eating/eat very little their guts start to slow down and go into stasis. Gut motility drugs can make a huge difference in getting them through an illness.
 
Thank you, giving him the gut medicine! Looks like we are pretty covered now.

I also managed to find a brand of probiotics that is hopefully good (thank you for the suggestions @Bill & Ted and @weepweeps, they unfortunately did not have any of those two brands).

I bought this one:

Product_Synbiotic-180-S-150g.jpg

Any ideas how much should I give? Is this even ok?

Thank you for all the support💓. I honestly only feel understood on this forum, everyone else think "it is just a Guinea pig" and I am too much :cen::(.
 
That one looks fine. It should say on it how to dose. I think the one I had had to be dissolved into water. But I just put a pinch into the critical care I was mixing up.

They are not just guinea pigs. People just don’t understand. I hope he’s feeling better soon.
 
After fussing tremendously about being fed CC (and biting the blanket to really make his point 🤪), I had to stop at 8ml intake and just offered him hay. He actually took it from my hand🤩. I put him on the floor and opened a new batch of hay for him. He ate a few as long as I gave it to him. Hope it continues this way! :yahoo:

I’m continuing with CC as if nothing happened, but there is a glimmer of hope. Those painkillers must be working now.
 

Attachments

  • 725E44BF-9B56-482D-8E5D-A4A822AE4383.webp
    725E44BF-9B56-482D-8E5D-A4A822AE4383.webp
    54.6 KB · Views: 1
You can mix a pinch of it into the Critical Care if that’s easier? That’s what I’ve done in the past too
 
A quick update and a question. Donuts is improving daily, slowly, but daily🥳. He is still on antibiotics until Monday, I am still giving him gut motility medicine and a painkiller. He started eating more and more. I obviously cannot tell exactly how much hay he eats because I literally put hay all over the cage so it is there in case he feels like nibbling on something :D. So yesterday I gave him only 3 times CC (ccs 30-35ml) and he weighted about the same today as yesterday in the morning. Now, I noticed that he is getting more and more annoyed with getting CC (otherwise he is a very good patient, it was a learning curve for both, but now we got it and he takes CC with no "restraining", juts lots of talking and cuddles and he only wants cca 0,3ml per portion otherwise he bites the blanket🙃).

Should I test today with going down to 10-15ml and weight again tomorrow morning? How do you all do this usually, gradually stopping CC or should I keep going?

Thanks! 💕
 
His weight being the same tells you he is eating the right amount for stability. If you reduce critical care too soon his weight will obviously drop.
I would personally not start to reduce his critical care until after his course of medication has finished. Therefore I would still feed him the same amount of critical care on Sunday and Monday and then see how he is on Tuesday with a view that is he is recovered sufficiently that you reduce critical care and see what happens (still continuing daily weight checks for a little while so you can step back in if needed)
 
Can't add to the excellent advice already given but want to say you've done a great job. And hope he gets better soon.
 
Just want to say THANK YOU to everyone. Donuts is back to being his happy self for the second day now, eating, drinking, pooping as usual, chilling on the top of his house like a boss he is 😎 , begging for treats, and coming to greet us to get cuddles (he is our cuddle king:hug:). :clap:We cannot be happier and cannot thank you enough for all the guidance, emotional support and reassurance every step of the way. THANK YOU! 💓 💓 💓
 
TinaY said:
Just want to say THANK YOU to everyone. Donuts is back to being his happy self for the second day now, eating, drinking, pooping as usual, chilling on the top of his house like a boss he is 😎 , begging for treats, and coming to greet us to get cuddles (he is our cuddle king:hug:). :clap:We cannot be happier and cannot thank you enough for all the guidance, emotional support and reassurance every step of the way. THANK YOU! 💓 💓 💓
Click to expand...
That’s wonderful news, all down to your care, well done little man too
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top