Sick guinea pig wheeking

[murphymerp]

My sick guinea pig was wheeking but doesnt want to eat ANYTHING i offer him. He’s only surviving because of the critical care I’m feeding him. He already made a trip to the vet, but didnt give any advice about how to improve his appetite. What should I do?

 

[Sue and Smartie]

What did the vet say was wrong with your pig? Did they give you any medication?

Just as an aside, I kept a piggy alive on Critical Care for six weeks once, until he started to eat on his own again. Never did find out what had been wrong with him. It's a slog, feeding many times a day but in my case it was more than worth it.

 

[murphymerp]

What did the vet say was wrong with your pig? Did they give you any medication?

Just as an aside, I kept a piggy alive on Critical Care for six weeks once, until he started to eat on his own again. Never did find out what had been wrong with him. It's a slog, feeding many times a day but in my case it was more than worth it.

He was given an antibiotic for his UTI, ever since he started taking them, he lost his appetite he doesnt even like the critical care but i have no choice but to feed him that. I feel so sad for my piggy

 

[murphymerp]

What did the vet say was wrong with your pig? Did they give you any medication?

Just as an aside, I kept a piggy alive on Critical Care for six weeks once, until he started to eat on his own again. Never did find out what had been wrong with him. It's a slog, feeding many times a day but in my case it was more than worth it.

How often do you feed your pig with cc?

 

[Swissgreys]

Depending on the antibiotic given this could be the cause for his lack of appetite.
Some piggies do struggle with the effect of antibiotics on their digestive system.

Were you also give probiotics and pain relief?
These are usually given to help with digestive upsets and also keep any pain under control while your piggy is recovering.

You may find our syringe feeding guide helpful.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

You should also switch to daily weighing to keep a close eye on how much food your guinea pig is getting.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Its recommended to give probiotics to a piggy on antibiotics to help combat the effects of the antibiotics on digestive system.

Is he on pain killers?

You need to syringe as much critical care in each 24 hour as is necessary to keep his weight stable. You need to be weighing him daily so you can judge this. In a piggy with no appetite and not eating anything independently, you will likely need to be syringing every two hours throughout the day and probably once at night.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hang in there, syringe feed is exhausting and a rollercoaster ride emotionally. if you can support him until the Antibiotics course has finished he may well then get his appetite back and start to begin eating normally. I have syringe fed one of my piggies for two months after a dental operation that didn’t work until I could f8neine a decent vet who sorted his problem tooth out, so it is doable, its just hard work and takes quite a strain on you. We are here to give you support x

 

[murphymerp]

Thank

Its recommended to give probiotics to a piggy on antibiotics to help combat the effects of the antibiotics on digestive system.

Is he on pain killers?

You need to syringe as much critical care in each 24 hour as is necessary to keep his weight stable. You need to be weighing him daily so you can judge this. In a piggy with no appetite and not eating anything independently, you will likely need to be syringing every two hours throughout the day and probably once at night.

thank you for the reply! I'm also just wondering if i should be feeding my piggy in the middle of the night? the interrupted sleep has been taking a toll on my own health. Would like to know if it’s ok to not syringe feed my boy as i sleep?

 

[murphymerp]

Hang in there, syringe feed is exhausting and a rollercoaster ride emotionally. if you can support him until the Antibiotics course has finished he may well then get his appetite back and start to begin eating normally. I have syringe fed one of my piggies for two months after a dental operation that didn’t work until I could f8neine a decent vet who sorted his problem tooth out, so it is doable, its just hard work and takes quite a strain on you. We are here to give you support x

Finished his antibiotics course last thursday, but he still hasnt gotten his appetite back. He also started having soft stools after. It is a lot of work and sometimes I get disheartened when he starts feeling weak. I hope my boy survives.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank

thank you for the reply! I'm also just wondering if i should be feeding my piggy in the middle of the night? the interrupted sleep has been taking a toll on my own health. Would like to know if it’s ok to not syringe feed my boy as i sleep?

You need to look after yourself as well.
If he is maintaining his weight at his daily weight checks with the amount you are syringe feeding, then you won’t need to feed in the night. Perhaps try giving a big feed before you go to bed and then another first thing in the morning and see how he goes. It’s the collective amount in each 24 hour period which counts, but it all comes down to those daily weight checks being your guide.

The effect of some antibiotics can be quite a bit.
Do try giving a probiotic, but also if he has a healthy companion then you can give poop soup.

The companion must be healthy. Pop his companion in a carrier/box etc and feed him/her their favourite snack and wait for a poop or two to be produced. Immediately put the poop in water to soak. Then syringe the water to your poorly piggy. This directly helps to replace a healthy gut micro biome to help rebuild your poorly piggy’s gut. The poops you use must be very fresh, just produced and soaked and the water given within five minutes otherwise the good bacteria will have died off and therefore the poop soup will be useless.

Most importantly, if you are at all concerned, you should have him checked by the vet again, to be sure he is definitely over the UTI and that there isn’t another cause for his lack of appetite

 

[Free Ranger]

There are different types of recovery food and if he hates his CC so much you could try a change with his normal pellets mushed up with water to make a slurry.
I pounded parsley with a little water and then used that green water to mix into my slurry - the flavour made my piggy more interested. I tried this with raw carrot too but they're harder to pound!

When doing long term feeding for a pig that couldn't eat anything I finished the last feed about 11pm and started the next day at 7am. But I made sure that she got enough in the time she was fed to keep things going. She couldn't take more than between 35 and 45 ml (varied each day) but as long as she was maintaining her weight and kept pooping I settled for that. Short-term emergencies I do feed in the night but they've gotten through it after 2 or 3 days. If he's doing soft poops his poor system has taken a real knock

Is he wheeking in hopes for veg or still wheeking in pain as he pees? Over here if we get antibiotics for UTI we can also get meloxicam (metacam/loxicom brand names) as a painkiller to help them. If the appetite is down we might be prescribed emeprid which is a gut stimulant. Probiotics we can just buy, they don't need a prescription. I use Biolapis powder or Fibreplex... I mix it into the piggy slurry so they get it at every feed. If you can find some fresh grass (that is free from dog pee and not from a roadside!) he might be tempted by that?

Good luck little fella x

 

[murphymerp]

You need to look after yourself as well.
If he is maintaining his weight at his daily weight checks with the amount you are syringe feeding, then you won’t need to feed in the night. Perhaps try giving a big feed before you go to bed and then another first thing in the morning and see how he goes. It’s the collective amount in each 24 hour period which counts, but it all comes down to those daily weight checks being your guide.

The effect of some antibiotics can be quite a bit.
Do try giving a probiotic, but also if he has a healthy companion then you can give poop soup.

The companion must be healthy. Pop his companion in a carrier/box etc and feed him/her their favourite snack and wait for a poop or two to be produced. Immediately put the poop in water to soak. Then syringe the water to your poorly piggy. This directly helps to replace a healthy gut micro biome to help rebuild your poorly piggy’s gut. The poops you use must be very fresh, just produced and soaked and the water given within five minutes otherwise the good bacteria will have died off and therefore the poop soup will be useless.

Most importantly, if you are at all concerned, you should have him checked by the vet again, to be sure he is definitely over the UTI and that there isn’t another cause for his lack of appetite

He has a healthy companion. Glad to know his poop can help. Will definitely try doing this ASAP. The vet apparently did not prescribe any probiotics. I feel like his uti has resolved since he doesn’t hunch and doesn’t strain when peeing. Thankful for a support group such as this.

 

[Piggies&buns]

He has a healthy companion. Glad to know his poop can help. Will definitely try doing this ASAP. The vet apparently did not prescribe any probiotics. I feel like his uti has resolved since he doesn’t hunch and doesn’t strain when peeing. Thankful for a support group such as this.

Probiotics dont need a prescription - you can buy them from pet shops, Amazon etc. BeneBac seems to be the most commonly used probiotic in the US.

 

[murphymerp]

There are different types of recovery food and if he hates his CC so much you could try a change with his normal pellets mushed up with water to make a slurry.
I pounded parsley with a little water and then used that green water to mix into my slurry - the flavour made my piggy more interested. I tried this with raw carrot too but they're harder to pound!

When doing long term feeding for a pig that couldn't eat anything I finished the last feed about 11pm and started the next day at 7am. But I made sure that she got enough in the time she was fed to keep things going. She couldn't take more than between 35 and 45 ml (varied each day) but as long as she was maintaining her weight and kept pooping I settled for that. Short-term emergencies I do feed in the night but they've gotten through it after 2 or 3 days. If he's doing soft poops his poor system has taken a real knock

Is he wheeking in hopes for veg or still wheeking in pain as he pees? Over here if we get antibiotics for UTI we can also get meloxicam (metacam/loxicom brand names) as a painkiller to help them. If the appetite is down we might be prescribed emeprid which is a gut stimulant. Probiotics we can just buy, they don't need a prescription. I use Biolapis powder or Fibreplex... I mix it into the piggy slurry so they get it at every feed. If you can find some fresh grass (that is free from dog pee and not from a roadside!) he might be tempted by that?

Good luck little fella x

I tried mixing his vitamin c with the critical care but since the dosage for it is just limited, I can’t do it every feeding. Will try mushing fresh grass and incorporate it with his critical care, hopefully it would work.

He’s wheeking whenever i open the fridge. Will try giving him the poop soup! Thank you so much for your advice!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I tried mixing his vitamin c with the critical care but since the dosage for it is just limited, I can’t do it every feeding. Will try mushing fresh grass and incorporate it with his critical care, hopefully it would work.

He’s wheeking whenever i open the fridge. Will try giving him the poop soup! Thank you so much for your advice!

You can offer strands of fresh grass. I personally would not try to mix it with a syringe feed.
Fresh grass can often help tempt piggies to start eating again. It also wears the teeth
Dont overdo the amount of grass you give though if he is not used to eating fresh grass. Too much fresh grass on an unprepared tummy can cause problems for the digestive system (soft poops). As his tummy is probably upset from the antibiotics and his good gut bacteria has been wiped out, then you do need to be careful not to upset his system further with too much fresh food.

Its ok to give supplementary vitamin c to a poorly piggy as a way to boost the immune system but it’s not recommended to routinely give supplementary vit c to a healthy piggy (it can be detrimental to them for a few reasons). They get all their vit c needs from a healthy balanced diet.

 

[Wiebke]

He has a healthy companion. Glad to know his poop can help. Will definitely try doing this ASAP. The vet apparently did not prescribe any probiotics. I feel like his uti has resolved since he doesn’t hunch and doesn’t strain when peeing. Thankful for a support group such as this.

Hi

You can find all practical how-to crisis care information from the poo soup recipe to how to improvise with syringe feed. etc, via this link here: Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

 

[Free Ranger]

I made sure to just use the flavoured water to mix into the slurry. I did try and pound up grass but wasn't very successful! It will bung up the syringe if you try and mix whole bits in I think - and might get caught in the teeth if they're not expecting it. If the wheeking is when you open the fridge door that's a good sign! He still needs your help for a little longer to get that fibre in and get his guts moving - too much veg without the fibre food can make them bloat up. But if it looks like he's peeing comfortably that's great x

 

[Sue and Smartie]

How often do you feed your pig with cc?

Sorry to be late relying to you, I was at a funeral yesterday and have only just got back.
When I was feeding CC to this pig (it was LONG time ago now!) I had to fit it around my work schedule so he got as much as he would take whenever I was there. Probably about 5 times a day, sometimes more.