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Sick piggie

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richardg

My guinea pig is really sick, I have done a lot of reading on the web,but I will keep looking for as much info and help as I can get.

purchased approx. 5 weeks ago, my pig is female, not eating and only drinking a special drink givin by the vet to stop her getting dehydrated, she has wattery stools, which are really smelly, we went to the vet yesterday as she had not eaten in 24 hours and was sitting all puffed up, some websites have suggested feeding her through a syringe but the vet said not to give her any food, today she seems worse, starting to look a little emaciated, my question really is should I try force feed her, or wait till I see the vet again tomorrow.

At the moment she is getting a drink approx 1-2 mls every hour by syringe into the mouth, this drink is to help her not get dehydrated, but the lack of food really concerns me,

Any advice would be greatly accepted, this is our first guinea pig, apparently the shop we purchased her from had given us hamster food,this must have contributed to her getting sick, we found out 10 days ago and we changed her food to a guinea pig food.
 
aww poor little thing, i hope she gets better soon..maybe critical care would be ok? that keeps all the goodness going through them..
 
She is only having watery discharges. I am only just back from the pharmacy, I went to get her a hot
water bottle, my girlfriend is really upset I got our piggie which we called Baily as a present for her.
I feel really helpless,

Again any advice would be greatly appreciated
 
Ask your vet for Baytril at 0.4ml x2 daily. Though it may be due to a change in food not an infection, wouldn't hurt though...
Give her some Probiotics, your vet will have some Bio Lapis or something. Some green can help with diarrhoea but it depends what has caused it, you need to get rid of the problem.
She needs to eat, give hay, dry food, and a little celery. If you can get some Shepherds Purse, Yarrow or young Bramble leaves these can also be fed, but in small amounts and stop if things get worse. Her gut will stop moving if its not processing food which will cause more problems.
Yes to syringe feeding. Soak pellets or use Oxbow Critical Care or Supreme Science Recovery. Guinea may even eat it from a dish
 
just a thought, how long has she been without food? Could be why her pellets aren't normal?
 
She has not eaten her food for about 48 hours now, we saw the vet yesterday and he said not to put any food out for her only hay and water, she is not going near her water bottle, so we are giving fluids every hour, we could not find a vet who has special knowledge of piggies, just a local vet,
 
Where are you? Its OK to just put hay out as long as she eats it. If she's not eating the hay then you need to give her something else either via syringe or something else. Try her with her dry food and just a little greens- she MUST eat or you'll lose her anyway. Soak some pellets in water and put them in a bowl for her or put them to the back of her mouth on her back teeth.
Edit: Oh, I'm repeating myself now!
Do get Probiotics for her from the vet, Bio Lapis is the best one. You can give live yogurt but some piggies are Lactose intolerant and it can do more harm than good. BL has more good bacteria in it too (according to B.A.R)
 
We are in Dublin Ireland, unfortunately, it is not easy to find a specialist, the vet gave her 2 injections, one antibiotic and one vitamin, we are due back to the vet in the morning, and I cannot thank you enough for your advice.
 
do you have guinea pig pellets or museli? it's the pellets that you need to soak in water and feed, not museli.
You need to get her to eat as karen mentioned earlier her gut will stop moving, and she just won't start eating again. The vet you saw sounds like he didn't know this about guinea pigs.
If you haven't heard of all the treatments mentioned by everyone, it would be a good idea to write everything down so you can remember them when you take her to the vets.
 
The food we were given in the second pet shop is not pellets but a mixed color food, like seeds and other dried foods, the shop said it was only for piggies, I have some soaking at the moment, with the amount of info I have read on the web and on this forum I really feel my piggie is suffering from the poor advice that we have been given. Tomorrow when we return to the vet at least I will have a lot more questions for him.
 
She has just taken 2.5mls of soft food by syringe and another 1ml of her drink, how often should I force feed her ? we held he wrapped in a towel while doing it, she was not too keen on taking the food.
 
I am sorry your guinea has gone like this. I personally would not advise force feeding her or given her anything other then hay and little cucumber, she should want to eat this, it fill her up a little bit and will also help making sure she stays hydrated. Tomorrow when you return to the vets ask them bluntly do they have a clue what is happening to her and if so what. If they don't demand they contact another vets straight away who will have a better idea. This is my personal opinion. Let us know how it goes. :)
 
When you go back to the vet ask for some critical care to stringe feed your piggie or the sience recovery stuff. I do hope everything goes well with your piggie please update us on how you get on at the vets. I would also give your piggie some food during the night too ;)
 
i think your doing the right thing, and i hope the museli works,not sure how often though, maybe the same again for tonight,(pumpkinpiggie suggests throughthe night too)you really just want her gut to start working again and then she should feed herself after that, Cucumber would be good though. Definatly ask the vet for some critical care,i have used this to syringe feed 2 of my piggies before when they stopped eating, it works great. In my experience if you don't get her gut moving again, she just won't eat at all.
keep us updated
 
Critical Care (OXBOW) is available from SPH Supplies as is a Vetark Probiotic (which I have completely forgotten the name of). Ask for the one that Karen at Reading Guinea Pig Rescue uses if you can't find it, Sue is great and will respond quickly.

I agree with CC that syringe feeding is a lsat resort but if she hasn't eaten for 2 days then you must do this or you will lose her I'm afraid, they need constant food. Antibiotics should be given over a 10 day course in order for them to work. You need probiotics with antibiotics.

Celery will replace lost potassium and keep her guts moving, its almost Isotonic! Try her on the leaves too.

Ask for:
a course of antibiotics @ 0.4ml x2 daily (CCT recommended dose) but many vets are not taught this and have a standard practise dose, do try and get this though.
Probiotics, you'll probably get Bio Lapis sachects, syringe these into guinea through the side of her mouth so you know how much she's taking.
You could ask if they have any idea what caused it, is it something she ate or an infection...

I think you said you were keeping her warm, thats good and is one less thing for her body to deal with :)

Good luck, :)
 
Antibiotics job is to kill of harmful bacteria that is making the subject ill, however, antibiotics can't tell the difference between good and bad bacteria so just kills both. Meaning antibiotics will kill the probiotics (a good form of bacteria). When you go to the vets tomorrow ask about giving her some painkillers and something to boost her appetite. It's a good job you are keeping her warm providing she can escape to a cooler part of the cage if she gets to warm.
 
Always best to give Probiotics when giving antibiotics though, especially where there's tummy troubles :) Sometimes just giving Probiotics can help relieve the problem I've found, but if its an infection then Antibiotics are needed. I always give Probiotics for as long as the course of antibiotics is.

Richard, if in any doubt phone Vedra at CCT on 07721 026401 to text/phone your message. :) She'll give you over the phone advice, please join them, its only £20 a year and you have unlimited access to the phone line and some sound advice.
 
Just found the sachet wrapper,,it is bio-lapis that the vet gave us, he told us to mix it with 50mls of water and we have giving at least 1ml per hour, the vet just gave the one antibiotic by injection yesterday
we were not given any to take home,,the vet did say he believed it was a stomach infection. A little update for you, since we gave her the food and the hot water bottle she is at least moving and not so puffy, she stays under her hay, but just to see her move is encouraging. We will be getting up through the night to make sure she gets her fluids hourly, hopefully tomorrow we will have some really good news, I feel that tonight is the critical night, and the advice from all here has been so informative and helpfull,, my partner Andrea and I both say thank you to all.
 
I'd be syringe feeding critical care immediately, or the mushed up pellets with a little pureed baby apple food to help with taste.
Welcome to the forum :)
Sorry you'r little Bailey is not doing well but i would be calling Vedra as she's amazing. She may know of a vet that's piggie savvy near you. I'm sure someone else if from Ireland perhaps they'll read this and help you too.
We'll keep our paws crossed for you all over night, good luck love :)
 
Good news :) Does she try and eat anything at all? If its an infection then it wouldn't hurt to give her some grass tomorrow, but make sure its dry or you'll be adding to the problem and if it all gets worse again perhaps you should stop giving it :)

Going to bed now! Work in the morning LOL!
 
That's good news, keeping my fingers crossed. Remember when you go to the vets tomorrow find out what they think is wrong, many vets will try and treat guineas not actually knowing or have an idea of what is wrong with them. Keep us updated. O0
 
So sorry to hear about your poor Bailey, what a worry. Hope all is well, let us know when you can xx
 
Update on Bailey

We made a lot of calls today and found a vet who knew a lot about guinea pigs,
he knew all things that were suggested on the forum last night, we took Baily to see
him at 2pm today and he admitted her into the clinic immediately, he said his priorty
was fluids as Bailey was extremly dehydrated, he was also going to make sure she ate
and provide plenty of heat.

The vet phoned at 7pm this evening and told us that that Bailey was a lot brighter and
more alert and active, he said that she was not out of the woods and decided to hold
her over night, but he was more hopefull now.

Fingers crossed.
will let you all know as soon as we get more info.

again thank you all so much

Richard & Andrea & Bailey
 
That's good news, fingers are crossed and well done for finding a vet who is exprienced with guineas. Did he tell you what he believed is wrong with Bailey? O0
 
I am soooooo pleased that you got her to a vet who knew about guinea pigs, we take it for granted that vets should know everything, and they really don't.
You are very clearly the right sort of people to care for guinea pigs, as you have done everything you can to get her better. Well Done both of you.
I am also pleased to hear she is a little better.She is in very capable hands, I will be thinking about her.
Hope you'll stick around on the forum, it definatly helps us all to learn more and more about our piggies.Everyone has great advice to give. We are all really friendly too.Hope to speak soon
Paula x and piggies, Star, Maisy,Toffee and Charlie (who we are rehoming from the rspca this saturday)
 
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