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Slightly off behaviour- should I be worried?

LucyP

LucyP

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Hi all

Our 6 year old girl pig Winnie has been fairly normal in her older age, and had a health check with no major issues in December. However today she seems a bit subdued, not as into her food and she’s done some well formed but slightly softer poos. We’re going to take her off fresh veg now for a couple of days. We just picked her up to check for bloat and her belly seems normal and soft. But on the lap she was vibrating a bit on and off, even when not being touched which is unlike her. She may just be a bit off but we’re wondering if this warrants a vet check.

Background - She’s had 2 ovarian cysts since she was young but as these have never grown or caused problems, the vets and we decided to leave these.

In her last check up the vet did say her breathing was a little bit more effortful (very slight rocking) but felt this was normal for her age as her lungs would naturally be less strong. She’s always eaten well and maintained her weight.

Any thoughts? Sorry it’s so vague! I may be overthinking it but also don’t want to miss something.

Many thanks
Lucy
 
Thanks so much. It always freaks me out when they turn their back on favorite foods. She’s just taken 120 ml of emerald though which I’m taking as a good sign. And she’s now munching some hay.
 
Actually I may have done the maths wrong but she took a fair bit of the feed.
 
Thanks everyone. Due to her being off her food, her subdued behaviour and some clumpy poos and then no poos, and the fact they felt some possible bloating, she’s staying in hospital tonight for some meds, fluids and syringe feed, with the hope that if she’s doing better tomorrow we can bring her home and take it from there. We debated bringing her back tonight as she’s more comfortable at home here but given her age and some of her past issues we decided the 24/7 nursing care might be a bit safer. Dottie is with her and they’re settled in their kennel, and the on call vet will call if there are any urgent issues. Otherwise we will get an update tomorrow morning. Worried and missing her but on a positive note, she did take quite a bit of syringe feed from us earlier with some enthusiasm and she was quite alert at the vets, responding quite normally for her with no other obvious health issues. But we all know how complex these little bubbas are so you do worry. Thanks for the support.
 
Quick update-

Winnie is apparently much brighter this morning and they’re happy to discharge her, so we’re collecting her this afternoon and will keep an eye on her at home, topping up feeds as needed while her tummy hopefully settles. They couldn’t find any obvious issues with her with regards to things like underlying pain, teeth or mouth issues, any growths or lumps or bumps etc, nothing wrong with her vital signs and the other usual checks, so I think we’re all hoping this was a digestive blip that will pass. happily she is now pooing again (a bit soft, but well formed) so they are confident her gut is getting back on track.

I think we’ll keep her off veggies for a while and go with the syringe feed and daily weighing, until her normal hay appetite returns.

Very relieved as last year we lost her friend to sudden bloat in a matter of hours and I still haven’t got over that.

Thanks again for your support- it’s great to have this forum.
 
Here are Winnie’s poos from overnight- not all normal but getting a bit better I think. The vets gave her something called Questran to help with the diarrhoea. She’s also having pro C in her recovery food. Hopefully she’ll be back to normal soon. Behaviourly she seems much more herself and I was pleased to see her begging at the bars when I came in this morning. IMG_7049.webp
 
Hello all, sad to be returning to this thread but I wondered what the wise owls on this forum might make of Winnie’s current situation.

We are in daily contact with our exotic vets by the way.

Since the tummy issues mentioned above (dihorea, lethargy, loss of appetite) after treatment she seemed to be doing well and back to normal.

Then on Saturday we thought she looked a bit bloated/big, her sides felt a bit firmer to the touch, although not rock hard. Otherwise she was on good form, eating well and pooing well, alert and active.

I think influenced by the fact we’ve previously lost a beloved pig to sudden onset bloat, and because of Winnie’s recent digestive issues, we panicked and took her straight to the vet as we emergency. She was rushed to the hospital area and upon examination appeared to be in pain, so she was given strong pain relief - Buprelieve. She then had an x ray which was hard to read because of her moving around but showed some gas.

We brought her home with some ritanidine for the gas.

She was really spaced out after the Buprelieve (not eating for herself or really moving and didn’t seem with it) …when I told the vet, they explained they’d given her a very small dose (1/4 of the usual I think) and this reaction is unusual at that dose but they agreed her sudden change in demeanour especially being so zoned out, was likely to do with the Buprelieve. She was really spaced out, a bit like they can be after GA.

She also started doing soft poos, although mostly formed, similar to how they were a few weeks ago, dark and quite wet.

Last night (Sunday) she perked up and started behaving more normally, eating for herself more although still spending some time looking a bit zoned out and on her own.

We’ve been feeding her critical care around the clock but her hay intake is looking more normal now so subject to daily monitoring of weight, we will gradually reduce the top up feeds if she keeps eating well. She’s also happily taking a few nuggets now which she wasn’t before.

What concerned us late last night was a strange movement where she sort of rocked forward on her front leg 5-6 times, a sort of jerking movement, almost like when you’re falling asleep and you jerk your a bit, but her leg? I’ve sent the video to the vets now.

Winnie leg movement

Our other concern is she made a couple of noises this morning that may sugggest discomfort (just when standing in her little hidey house), two squeaks and then a small grunt. I’ve read the pain guide here and understand that her noises may mean pain. I’ve asked the vets if we can try her on some metacam (we have some in date and neither we nor the vets want to put her on bupe again).

Her physical exam and x ray showed no obvious cause of underlying disease or pain but the x ray wasn’t the best (it was done as an emergency to check for anything major and quite blurry). They said her heart rate was high but we know that could be the vet environment. Poor thing hates the vets. I’d like to not rush her back in again unless she really needs it and see how she does at home for at least today.

Any thoughts what the rocking/leg jerk could be? She hasn’t done it since last night. But she did it on the floor of her cage too so it wasn’t just about being on a lap. Maybe this is wobliness from the bupe?

Maybe her discomfort is gas related and will pass. That’s what I’m hoping. She’s still on ritanidine for a few more days. I’m aware it could be something else underlying.

She has recently turned 6. She’s had ovarian cysts diagnosed since she was 1 but they’re very small and have never grown or caused problems.

Any thoughts on the jerking motion or other ideas would be welcome. I’ll also update on what the vets say (they are calling me back in a bit).

Right now she’s pretty perky, wheeked for her food, munching on hay and is still taking top up feeds with interest. So this good but I am worried overall.

Many thanks
Lucy
 
I should add that she’s able to move around well and doesn’t appear to be walking differently. A bit less since she was stoned by the drugs but she’s still capable of moving normally.
 
Update - we are trying her on metacam for a few days. 0.3 twice a day (she weighs 910g).
 
LucyP said:
Update - we are trying her on metacam for a few days. 0.3 twice a day (she weighs 910g).
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Hi

Unfortunately, it is rather impossible to say what exactly is causing the little temporary jerks.

Which metacam do you have - cat (0.5 mg/ml) or dog (1.5 mg/ml)? The dog metacam is 3 times stronger so it makes a difference.
Veterinary ranitidine used to be prescribed as zantac in the UK before it was recalled some years ago. It is the most effective anti-bloating drug for guinea pigs but is hard to get hold of for vets due to a massive worldwide over-demand for human use since a new version has come back onto the market.

Buprenorphine is a morphine. Some piggies are more sensitive to any medication so they can space out even at lower dosages.

Wishing you all the best with the metacam, now that the morphine is out of the body.
 
Thanks so much! It’s the dog metacam and we’ll start tonight and give it twice a day and then update the vets after that. She’s had it before and got on ok so fingers crossed.
 
LucyP said:
Thanks so much! It’s the dog metacam and we’ll start tonight and give it twice a day and then update the vets after that. She’s had it before and got on ok so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

All the best. Metacam is generally very well tolerated.
 
LucyP said:
Thanks so much! It’s the dog metacam and we’ll start tonight and give it twice a day and then update the vets after that. She’s had it before and got on ok so fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

Sending healing vibes ❤️
 
Thanks everyone.

Quick question about hydration- Shes never been much of a water drinker and hardly goes near the bottle generally, but usually has wet leaves and a slice of cucumber each day. We’re not really giving fresh veg while her tummy settles but she doesn’t want water from a syringe. Am I ok to give her a little bit of the cucumber (the wet bit) to help keep her hydrated? Thanks loads.
 
LucyP said:
Thanks everyone.

Quick question about hydration- Shes never been much of a water drinker and hardly goes near the bottle generally, but usually has wet leaves and a slice of cucumber each day. We’re not really giving fresh veg while her tummy settles but she doesn’t want water from a syringe. Am I ok to give her a little bit of the cucumber (the wet bit) to help keep her hydrated? Thanks loads.
Click to expand...

Could you try and squeeze a little cucumber juice in the water you syringe so it smells of cucumber and may be more welcome?
 
An update on Winnie:

She’s eaten more hay for herself today, not normal amounts for her but more than yesterday. Sometimes it’s like she needs to be prompted by waving hay near her but she will munch for a good few minutes at a time. She also wheeked for veg at her usual time which was encouraging to hear. Her poos are a bit better but some are still small and others are on the soft side. She’s less keen on the top up feeds today and turning her head away from those which is a concern, we managed just over 30mls so far (I’ll do some more in the night). Shes eaten some of the excel recovery nuggets and a bit of them in a paste.

She’s more active but still not normal, for example sometimes she’s running away as expected when you go to lift up her hidey, but not quite always, or she can take a moment to mobilise herself, which doesn’t seem great.

It’s now been 3 days since she had the apparently quite low dose of bupe on Saturday lunchtime. I’m wondering if it’s likely she is still a bit slow or subdued due to that, or if we’re maybe looking at a different problem? So hard to tell. I will call the vet again tomorrow.

She started the day really quite perky so we thought and hoped she’d turned a corner, and I think she’s going in the right direction but her decreased interest in the top up food and still being a bit slow worries me.

Her sometimes watery eye is now making me wonder if she may have an upper respiratory infection. Then again her nose is dry and we haven’t heard wheezing or clicking. She did sneeze today but only once that I heard. I’ll check if the vets listened to her chest when she came in as an emergency.

I’ll weigh her again in the morning to check where she’s at with that (Monday was 910, Tuesday was 895). Her normal is 900-940.

She’s now on day 2 of metacam- am I right in thinking it should have kicked in by now, if there are any issues with pain?

I'm struggling to work out why she’s still a bit off and what to do next.

Thanks for listening to me ramble and I don’t expect answers but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions I’d be interested and extremely grateful. We are struggling a bit tbh.

Many thanks and from Winnie too
 

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Morning unfortunately I have no answers I often wish I did but we are all here to listen to you Try to stay positive sending our best to you both 💐
 
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