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Smelly and squeaking

Spaniel

Spaniel

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 31, 2021
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Poor Perry has started mildly squeaking on and off when going to the toilet :(

Checked him over and he smells of urine and a bit fishy. He is usually spotless underneath but had a little build up on his penis and a little bit of urine on one side of his tummy.

He has a vet appointment on Monday. Hope he’s ok. He’s such a nice pig, so soft and sensitive.
 
He’s stopped squeaking and the smell has gone. He’s doing all he usually does but something seems a little bit off. Can’t quite put our finger on it though. We’ll see what the vet thinks tomorrow.
 
You know your piggy best. If you think something is wrong its probably best to get them checked. Good luck.
 
:agr:

Switch to daily weight checks while you have concerns.

Let us know how you get on at the vet. I hope he is ok
 
Perry had his vet appointment earlier.

He had discomfort when his bladder was felt so he’s been put on metacam and he’s going back in the morning for an x-ray to check if there’s any sludge or stones.

The only other thing was that it might be that he’s starting with a bit of arthritis (I mentioned that he hadn’t been climbing the cage and bar biting quite as much and this is usually a well loved hobby of his!)

She said everything else looks good with him.
 
Good luck tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll feel much better on the metacam.
 
On our way to the vets. Please please please no sludge or stones and nothing else serious going on 🙏
 
He’s got a little bit of bladder inflammation but thankfully nothing else like sludge or stones.

The x-rays did show that he has a little bit of arthritis in one of his knees and his spine. Early stages and the vet said not an unusual finding in pigs of his age (5)

He’s on metacam and an anti-inflammatory for the next couple of weeks initially. We also need to keep his diet low calcium and he could do with losing a little bit of weight. He’s a fairly large piggy but he’s 1.3kg and the vet said 1.1-1.2kg would be a better range for him.
 
Phew I’m so pleased it’s not stones. I’m sure the medicine will help him no end.
 
I know it could have been a lot worse so we are relieved but something about arthritis in the spine seems quite upsetting. At least it is mild and he can have metacam daily if he needs it to keep him comfortable.
 
such great news about it not being sludge or stones!

bless him i hope painmeds help with the inflammation and arthritis xx
 
Back home safe and sound :)

He has cerenia for 5 days and metacam for a couple of weeks initially.

The vet has advised removing pellets from their diet completely because it will help Perry’s bladder and also hopefully his weight. Lola is also a bit overweight so best for her too. They usually have a teaspoon each in the morning so wish us luck for tomorrow when they’re expecting them!
 
Might have to re-think our morning routine because without the pellets it went a bit chaotic!

Usual routine;
- give pellets straight away to stop Perry bar biting and getting himself worked up whilst we get the hay ready.
- remove pellet bowls, put in hay pile. Lola eats hay but Perry resumes bar biting position to remind us to make veggie snack!
- they have veggie snack, Perry relaxes and then eats lots of hay.

This morning;
- No pellets so Perry unnerved, bar biting and stressed :(
- veggie snack plus bonus lettuce leaf to make up for no pellets. Appreciated? Nope.
- annoyed at being offered metacam whilst hay grazing so refused to take it!
- took metacam and cerenia only when syringes dipped in recovery food!
- didn’t graze as long because had more food and was stressed.
- routine took 45 mins!

He’s fine now but yeh, that didn’t work at all! Need to come up with something else 🙄
 
All this drama because of a teaspoon of pellets each lol. The vet really strongly advises no pellets though because of Perry’s bladder and because both are overweight. She advises no pellets at all for all piggies in general though. I thought we were doing ok with this small amount but I guess even a teaspoon adds up over a week, month etc doesn’t it? :(
 
weepweeps said:
Can he have a couple 🥺
Click to expand...
It’s tempting. We’re really soft on him. I’m sure he’ll get used to it over time. I think maybe in the past he wasn’t given much attention or maybe food was forgotten because he’s really intense about making sure we don’t forget. It’s more than the usual begging for food. The rescue we adopted him from were lovely but admitted they don’t always have the funds to feed much fresh food/a variety of fresh foods so he wasn’t sure what he would get and when. Apparently he wanted attention from anyone walking past him. He’s so friendly but he really craves our attention a lot. He is most relaxed when we are all together - his friend and his two slaves :)
 
No drama over pellets this morning. I think we were fixating on it to avoid thinking about other things to be honest. Feel so sad for him having cystitis and arthritis :(

He’s a bit up and down in himself. Toilet squeaked a little this morning :(

Hoping everything will settle down as we go along.
 
Bless him. He’s got a lot going on. I hope he’s on a good dose of the medication.
 
Aaaw poor Perry.....he is gorgeous! 😍

Something that might work for you, as it has for us, is to use the Science Selective Naturals Grain Free pellets.

We had one vet telling us that Guinea Pigs and Rabbits don't need pellets (even though they had Burgess ones for sale at the surgery?!), but our vet that we mostly see (at the same place) said that they are ok in moderation.

Thankfully we haven't had bladder problems with either Bubble or Squeak, but Squeak was overweight. Mid-December he weighed 1413g, and at the moment he is around the 1264g mark. This is since we switched to the grain free. Bubble did also lose a tiny bit of weight, even though he didn't need to, but not enough to cause concern.

They both love them, and from the start of introducing them over a 2 week period, they were eating these before their previous nuggets. We give them 12 each a day.....6 in the morning, and 6 in the evening.

Squeak especially is a bit of a nugget fiend, and so I would have felt bad stopping them altogether. We did try stopping for a few days, but Squeak was getting frantic looking for them, bless him.....especially as he can't see out of his right eye, and goes around in a circle to sort himself out to look for things.....with me being a softy, it was so sad watching him, and so had to go back to feeding them nuggets!
 
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