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Sick after Baytril

Snowball2552

New Born Pup
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Jan 1, 2025
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Hello, I am coming here for help because I'm not sure what to do. My guinea pig went to the vet a few weeks ago because she was peeing blood. She had a bladder stone very low that the vet was able to remove without invasive surgery. He put her on a week of Baytril and a few days of pain medication. The day after she finished the Baytril, she stopped eating and drinking and was lethargic. I recently lost my home and health insurance. I cannot afford another vet visit; the last one was $250 and I was lucky he removed the stone for free or it would have been much more. She has been given Critical Care every day since; at first, I gave it to her every 2 hours. She eats her hay and asks for lettuce constantly, which I give her extra wet to help water intake. This went on for around 5 days. Yesterday, she started Bene Bac Plus. Every once in a while, she will eat a pellet or 2 but it's a rare occurance. Her poops are getting better, but they are small and still squishy. I really hope I can get some advice without judgement on my financial situation. I'm doing everything I can, including waking up every 2 hours at night to check on her. I have cut down the Critical care since she is eating hay but I may need to start it up again more frequently. I am so distressed over all this. Her vet isn't even back in office until the 2nd of January. I've been waiting over a week just to try and speak over the phone. I would appreciate any help. Thank you so much.
 
Welcome to tge forum, I'm sorry about your piggy's problem and your financial worries.
Baytril can affect the gut flora causing loss of appetite. Is it just the nuggets that she is not eating, or hay as well? Do you weigh your piggy regularly? The best way to know if she is eating enough is by daily weighing - if her weight stays roughly the same, she is eating enough hay. Nuggets and fresh veg are less than 20% of the diet, it doesn't matter if they eat less of them so long as they are eating enough hay.

After a tummy upset it can take time for appetite and poop size to return to normal. And piggies do sometimes decide for no obvious reason that they no longer like their usual brand of pellets or a particular veg...

It is the early hours of New Years Day here in the UK so it may be several hours at least before any of the health experts are online again to advise further. But good luck and hang in there 🤞🙏 Sending healing vibes 💓
 
Welcome to tge forum, I'm sorry about your piggy's problem and your financial worries.
Baytril can affect the gut flora causing loss of appetite. Is it just the nuggets that she is not eating, or hay as well? Do you weigh your piggy regularly? The best way to know if she is eating enough is by daily weighing - if her weight stays roughly the same, she is eating enough hay. Nuggets and fresh veg are less than 20% of the diet, it doesn't matter if they eat less of them so long as they are eating enough hay.

After a tummy upset it can take time for appetite and poop size to return to normal. And piggies do sometimes decide for no obvious reason that they no longer like their usual brand of pellets or a particular veg...

It is the early hours of New Years Day here in the UK so it may be several hours at least before any of the health experts are online again to advise further. But good luck and hang in there 🤞🙏 Sending healing vibes 💓
Hello, thank you so much for your response! She is eating hay daily! I keep her stocked up on fresh hay each day. It's just her pellets she is not eating very much, but I can see her trying to eat them from time to time. I can try to find her a new pellet food if I need to in order to change it up for her! She just started the Bene Bac, so I'm hoping that will help her improve even more than she has. You are so kind and helpful. I truly appreciate you! And Happy New Year!
 
Hello, thank you so much for your response! She is eating hay daily! I keep her stocked up on fresh hay each day. It's just her pellets she is not eating very much, but I can see her trying to eat them from time to time. I can try to find her a new pellet food if I need to in order to change it up for her! She just started the Bene Bac, so I'm hoping that will help her improve even more than she has. You are so kind and helpful. I truly appreciate you! And Happy New Year!
That's good. I would recommend you start weighing her to ensure she is eating enough and maintaining her weight as she recovers from the bladder stone etc. Daily or every other day, then weekly once you're happy she is stable. You can leave changing her pellets until then.
Yes the BeneBac is good for helping them to recover from tummy upsets, so that is good to be giving too.
Ler us know how she gets on 😊
 
Welcome to the forum. You have been given good advice above. The only thing I will add is that poo output is a day or two behind and therefore a reflection on how much was eaten then, not today. Also too much wet veg can be contributing to squishy poop as well as possibly decreasing hay intake.
It sounds like you are doing a great job nursing her through her recovery but make sure you look after yourself too.
 
Welcome to the forum. You have been given good advice above. The only thing I will add is that poo output is a day or two behind and therefore a reflection on how much was eaten then, not today. Also too much wet veg can be contributing to squishy poop as well as possibly decreasing hay intake.
It sounds like you are doing a great job nursing her through her recovery but make sure you look after yourself too.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me! I will take y'all's advice going forward! I didn't realize the wet veggies could be contributing to the squishy poops; I really appreciate the information! I have been super grateful for all the resources on this website.
 
I’m sorry to hear of your situation and I agree with the advice given so far.

You need to weigh her every morning to monitor her hay intake. It is the only way to ensure she is eating enough fibre (hay and critical care). If she is losing weight then she isn’t getting enough.

Nuggets don’t matter - mine only get five pellets each and even then only twice a week, they are one part of the diet that isn’t needed.

Soft poops occur when there is a gut imbalance - the gut flora has been wiped out by the antibiotics. To restore the balance they need more fibre, veg needs to be removed and a probiotic given to help.
Remove veg entirely from the diet for a few days, until poops normalise and then for a further 24 hours after normalisation. Veg must be reintroduced very slowly so as to not cause them to go soft again.

I’ve added some guides below to help

 
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