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Scheduling of Surgery for Ovarian Cysts And "Pre-Care"

Thanks, Wiebke. Yeah I have been there before with the secondary complications with past pigs. That's good to know that the daily weight swing can be that big but definitely the trend has been downward since the surgery (and even beforehand with the cysts in the first place). Hopefully I'll know more by this time tomorrow after my vet visit.
 
Devout_Haruhiist said:
Thanks, Wiebke. Yeah I have been there before with the secondary complications with past pigs. That's good to know that the daily weight swing can be that big but definitely the trend has been downward since the surgery (and even beforehand with the cysts in the first place). Hopefully I'll know more by this time tomorrow after my vet visit.
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Wishing you all the best.
 
Figured I would post another update on here. Hilda went to the vet last Monday (January 20) for a follow up after having been on antibiotics for a week for a suspected infection. As mentioned in my prior posts her weight had not really been increasing at all and if anything slowly decreased even with me supplementing with Critical Care (~2-3 tbsp daily which she took willingly) and her acting and eating mostly normally.

At that appointment the vet checked her temperature and she still had a slight fever, though lower than last time she was in. The vet and I spoke at length about a possible hyperthyroidism situation as well. He was hesitant on the hyperthyroid idea and also noted he had to check with his lab to see, if we even drew blood, if they could diagnose it. For the time being he told me to continue the antibiotics for one more week to see if her fever goes away completely or if her weight starts to improve, and we set another follow up for January 27th (tomorrow).

Most of her week went the same as the prior week-- still acting energetically and eating, in addition to taking the antibiotics and critical care. She stopped losing weight and sort of settled at the low weight of 690g - 710g depending on the time of day. Part of me was thinking maybe things were starting to turn around. But today, Sunday Jan 26th, I've noticed her condition has deteriorated some. She is less interested in the Critical Care, kind of just nibbling at it tentatively rather than ravenously eating it like she was prior. I also notice her hiding more and withdrawn. She did still run around when it was feeding time, ate her veggies and a little bit of hay here and there this afternoon. I also found some soft stools from her-- wondering if that is just from her diet being a bit disrupted. I also noticed her drinking more Friday/Saturday but less today.

Really unsure what could be going on with her. For the time being I am going to try and get more food into her and bridge her to her appointment tomorrow but I feel like I really don't have a good direction to go with the vet (and this is a trusted vet I have treated a lot of piggies with and also treats many of the rescue pigs in my city). Seems like her condition is a bit of a mystery still, but I'm worried it could go downhill now. Luckily I only have ~15 hours until her appointment I guess.
 
Hi there just seen this thread I'll be thinking of you and pray your girl gets well soon. Take care, stay strong and follow your gut feelings. It is good that you have a vet you've used before so be honest and say you desperately want an answer so your precious girl can get through this 💕
 
Devout_Haruhiist said:
Figured I would post another update on here. Hilda went to the vet last Monday (January 20) for a follow up after having been on antibiotics for a week for a suspected infection. As mentioned in my prior posts her weight had not really been increasing at all and if anything slowly decreased even with me supplementing with Critical Care (~2-3 tbsp daily which she took willingly) and her acting and eating mostly normally.

At that appointment the vet checked her temperature and she still had a slight fever, though lower than last time she was in. The vet and I spoke at length about a possible hyperthyroidism situation as well. He was hesitant on the hyperthyroid idea and also noted he had to check with his lab to see, if we even drew blood, if they could diagnose it. For the time being he told me to continue the antibiotics for one more week to see if her fever goes away completely or if her weight starts to improve, and we set another follow up for January 27th (tomorrow).

Most of her week went the same as the prior week-- still acting energetically and eating, in addition to taking the antibiotics and critical care. She stopped losing weight and sort of settled at the low weight of 690g - 710g depending on the time of day. Part of me was thinking maybe things were starting to turn around. But today, Sunday Jan 26th, I've noticed her condition has deteriorated some. She is less interested in the Critical Care, kind of just nibbling at it tentatively rather than ravenously eating it like she was prior. I also notice her hiding more and withdrawn. She did still run around when it was feeding time, ate her veggies and a little bit of hay here and there this afternoon. I also found some soft stools from her-- wondering if that is just from her diet being a bit disrupted. I also noticed her drinking more Friday/Saturday but less today.

Really unsure what could be going on with her. For the time being I am going to try and get more food into her and bridge her to her appointment tomorrow but I feel like I really don't have a good direction to go with the vet (and this is a trusted vet I have treated a lot of piggies with and also treats many of the rescue pigs in my city). Seems like her condition is a bit of a mystery still, but I'm worried it could go downhill now. Luckily I only have ~15 hours until her appointment I guess.
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BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry. There seems to be something something else underlying in play that is very, very hard to finger but is preventing recovery.

With their much faster metabolism and guinea pigs very much falling into the gap between classed as exotic pets but being to 'pedestrian' common 'children's pets', there is still a huge lag in research and species knowledge, and vets have to transfer to other species most of the time once you get past the standard illnesses. :(

You are such a dedicated and loving owner and are truly doing your best, as seems your vet within their own abilities and means.
 
Figured I would give another update on Hilda here. So last I posted Hilda was seeing the vet on Monday, Jan 27th. That Sunday she had been on Albon for two weeks and was still slowly losing some weight (sitting in the 690-700g range) and had some soft stool starting up.

At the vet, he took some xrays and didn't see anything. He took her temperature and she still had a fever (105F+). He was still convinced she has an infection due to the fever and prescribed two new antibiotics. She got put on .2mL of pradofloxacin orally and .2mL of ceftiofur injected for 2 weeks. He has had some success with these with one or two pigs over the years from the local rescue Today marked day 8 of that treatment. I've been taking her to the vet to get help with the injections (I am giving the injections but a tech is helping hold her). A few times they also checked her temperature:

Weds Jan 29th-- still had a 105F+ fever
Sat Feb 1-- very mild fever of 103.6F
Sun Feb 2-- no fever
So I got kind of hopeful, and so did the vet, that the antibiotics were working. I should also mention her weight loss stopped and she was sitting around the mid 680s-690g for that whole week. Still not gaining weight back but it was a start.

But then today she had a fever again when I took her for her injection, 105.5F. Behavior for the most part still seems normal and I see her eating throughout the day, drinking normally, poops normal, excited for food, etc. I am still giving some critical care which she takes off a spoon (though her interest in it varies).
Been weighing her in the morning and at night. This morning she was her "normal" 686g, but tonight-- despite a very normal seeming day, she was only 643g. Now I will say she did pee (on me) right before I weighed her and I know she can fluctuate daily but I was still a bit shocked, lowest I ever saw for her by a longshot. One maybe silver lining is it doesn't seem the antibiotics are messing with her stool or anything

My vet is out of town until next Monday so our current plan was just to finish this 2 week course of antibiotics (which goes until this upcoming Sunday) and then see him next Monday. Glad I have all that setup but I am a bit worried. I got my hopes up the antibiotics were working but now I'm not so sure.
 
Hey everyone, figured I'd give another update on Hilda.

Sadly she is still under the weather. She finished her two week course on the two antibiotics I mentioned in my last post (one oral, one injected) on Sunday and saw the vet Monday. She still had a mild fever and had not gained back any weight (sitting around ~648g). On the plus side she has still had a lot of energy and seems to be in good spirits, eating on her own and taking critical care and water on her own. But the underlying cause has not really been found. Nothing on xray or ultrasound to speak of, nothing notable on her coat, ears, teeth, poop, etc. based on the vet's exam.

So we started on yet another antibiotic since the vet is still concerned about the fever and thinks it's an infection. This time we started on Doxycycline and today was her third day of it. So far no change in her weight or behavior in any direction. I did see some slightly off looking poops so was worried about it affecting her gut. Giving her BeneBac and keeping an eye on that. She is on this course for 10 days and then seeing the vet again. I'm hoping one of these antibiotics will work.

If they do work, I'm not sure if I should expect to see any upward weight change until she is off all medications. Just hard to tell if it's doing anything.
 
Devout_Haruhiist said:
Figured I would give another update on Hilda here. So last I posted Hilda was seeing the vet on Monday, Jan 27th. That Sunday she had been on Albon for two weeks and was still slowly losing some weight (sitting in the 690-700g range) and had some soft stool starting up.

At the vet, he took some xrays and didn't see anything. He took her temperature and she still had a fever (105F+). He was still convinced she has an infection due to the fever and prescribed two new antibiotics. She got put on .2mL of pradofloxacin orally and .2mL of ceftiofur injected for 2 weeks. He has had some success with these with one or two pigs over the years from the local rescue Today marked day 8 of that treatment. I've been taking her to the vet to get help with the injections (I am giving the injections but a tech is helping hold her). A few times they also checked her temperature:

Weds Jan 29th-- still had a 105F+ fever
Sat Feb 1-- very mild fever of 103.6F
Sun Feb 2-- no fever
So I got kind of hopeful, and so did the vet, that the antibiotics were working. I should also mention her weight loss stopped and she was sitting around the mid 680s-690g for that whole week. Still not gaining weight back but it was a start.

But then today she had a fever again when I took her for her injection, 105.5F. Behavior for the most part still seems normal and I see her eating throughout the day, drinking normally, poops normal, excited for food, etc. I am still giving some critical care which she takes off a spoon (though her interest in it varies).
Been weighing her in the morning and at night. This morning she was her "normal" 686g, but tonight-- despite a very normal seeming day, she was only 643g. Now I will say she did pee (on me) right before I weighed her and I know she can fluctuate daily but I was still a bit shocked, lowest I ever saw for her by a longshot. One maybe silver lining is it doesn't seem the antibiotics are messing with her stool or anything

My vet is out of town until next Monday so our current plan was just to finish this 2 week course of antibiotics (which goes until this upcoming Sunday) and then see him next Monday. Glad I have all that setup but I am a bit worried. I got my hopes up the antibiotics were working but now I'm not so sure.
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All the best. My fingers are firmly crossed. You are such a committed, caring owner.
Devout_Haruhiist said:
All the best.
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Hilda finished her latest course of antibiotics and went to the vet today. Weight still unchanged (~650g), still had a 104.9F fever at the vet. The vet and I are definitely on the confused end now. She acts and looks healthy otherwise, even the vet was impressed with her energy level. At this point after 4 antibiotics thinking maybe it is not bacterial. Going to try no antibiotics for a week or two and just see if her condition changes.
 
Another update on Hilda-- she's been off any medications per my last post. For the first few days/week or so of this I was actually hopeful-- her behavior still seemed normal, still into her food and willingly eating the critical care from a spoon as well as drinking water. Normal poops as well.
She also even had some positive weight fluctuations-- from the low 640s to mid 660s on Tuesday.

But unfortunately I think she has taken a downturn in the last 24-36 hours. Her weight dropped slightly back into the 650s-- not too alarming on its own but I've noticed her being very lazy for lack of a better word. She is spending a lot of time lying down and sleeping. She still runs around excited for veggies or if I give fresh hay, and she still ate the critical care earlier today but I don't know-- it seems like she has weakened somehow. I have a vet appointment Monday (and the vet is out until then) but honestly as per all my prior updates, I'm not sure what can be done-- all of the prior work has led to not diagnosis and no antibiotics worked. I might put her back on some metacam just because there's no real reason not to at this point probably.

I'm really hoping maybe she is just having a bad day or something but I am definitely concerned.
 
Sorry she has taken a turn for the worse yes you could try going back on the pain relief some guinea are on long term pain medication. Sending healing vibes 💐🙏
 
Well, Hilda saw the vet Monday and still had a pretty high fever. The vet took xrays and examined her but was out of ideas. He recommended another exotic vet who just opened up in town to get another opinion. Took her on Tuesday to have this other vet examine her, check her xrays and he also took blood. Oddly enough nothing really showed up in the bloodwork-- even her white count was normal.

He called on another vet in another city who is a small mammal specialist and said he would get back to me. That specialist says there might be a small chance still of hyperthyroidism but it would require more bloodwork I am still waiting to hear about getting done. The specialist also mentioned that she had at least one similar case before of completely unexplained fever that just had to be managed with meloxicam. Currently I am doing that twice a day (0.2mL twice a day of the 0.5 mg/mL solution) but waiting to hear about upping the dosage.

Hilda is still eating on her own and drinking, honestly she still has decent spirits though her weight occasionally trickles down more (she's around 620g atm) and she is definitely a lot lazier at other times. Still getting critical care as well.
 
It's great to see vets work together like that. I sincerely hope that they and you can get to the bottom of what is going on since this is certainly one of these 'out there' cases where vets have to turn into detectives more than anything.

Fevers in guinea pigs are pretty rare but even more so without any infection.

But great that Hilda is still hanging in there. You are a very caring piggy mum and she was lucky to find you!
 
Thanks, everyone! I'm pending an answer from all the vets but curious about thoughts on the maintenance metacam/meloxicam dose. I'm using 0.2mL twice a day of the 0.5 mg/mL formulation which I thought was fairly high, but I also know they can take higher. I just want to make sure if I could be helping her by giving more and further impacting her fever that I'm doing that since fever being lower seems to correlate with better eating and behavior.

EDIT: for the record atm, she is around 617-620g
 
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