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Eevee

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Hi, I'm Gavin's owner; Gavin's the first Piggy I've ever had and it was a spontaneous decision to get him, so not much research was done. I've had him for about 4-5 years now and about a week ago I noticed he stopped eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, and moving other than to reposition himself before going back to sleep. I took him to a local vet and they couldn't find anything wrong except a sore that was beginning to form in his mouth but she said it shouldn't have been causing that yet. She said it may be a blockage of poop because the anus muscles can grow weak in age, can't think of the technical term at the moment, she gave us a antibiotic, something to help give him an appetite, and another one I can't remember what it was for at the moment. She also gave us Critical Care. At first he was able to take it all decently. But as the week went by he slowly started to gag on the CC. Now every time we give him some he makes a noise like he wants to throw it up. We tried veggies and noticed he'll eat some, though he'll still gag, but other than that we've stopped feeding him the CC out of fear of accidentally killing him while trying to feed him and that none of it even goes in his mouth most of the time from him moving, not allowing us to get the tip in the side of his mouth. As of a day or so ago he's more active (gives us fuss for picking him up like he use to and will sometimes run around the cage and flip his hay ball) and he'll go seeking for water when he's thirsty. He still won't eat anything unless we put a spinach leaf at the opening of his mouth for him to eat. I don't know what to do, I don't want to put him to sleep and realise he could've been cured. Someone please help.
 
There are 2 types of crittical care, one , it is a powder that you add to water and syringe feed
It contains all nesesary nutreants to sustain a pig
And the other is a brown powder that mixes to a paste

Try him with the critical care white powder , it is far easer to feed an aucward pig,
And it contains all the nutreants to sustain you pig

If l were you l would get another vet to give a second oppinion
 
Last edited:
gizzy said:
There are 2 types of crittical care, one , it is a powder that you add to water and syringe feed
It contains all nesesary nutreants to sustain a pig
And the other is a brown powder that mixes to a paste

Try him with the critical care white powder , it is far easer to feed an aucward pig,
And it contains all the nutreants to sustain you pig

If l were you l would get another vet to give a second oppinion
Click to expand...
The only other vet that has good reviews for guinea pigs around my town is about 2 1/2 hours away. And I don't want to put him in stress for that long when he's not doing well already
 
Are you using white or brown critical care
 
You would be best spending some time getting him to trust you
Sit him on you lap, and weight untill he is as relaxed as you can get him , then slowly
Start to feed,

Erning the trust of an aukward pig can make all the diference !!
 
You may be better to as you vet if one of the vet nuses could take over untill he is well enough to eat by him self
 
He sounds very poorly to me. Please could you update your location as you may be nearer to a vet that we can recommend? I am wondering if he has dental issues, due to the vet mentioning the sore in his mouth. The problem with his poo could be related to the fact that he is not eating much for himself. I am going to tag our dental experts in case they can suggest anything @furryfriends (TEAS) and @MintyAndGarry (TEAS)

Here is our hand feeding guide. Though I am concerned about the gagging. The problem is though if he is not eating for himself his system will start to shut down.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
I agree with Helen, the major worry here is that without significant throughput, the gut will shut down, which is fatal for a piggy. Getting food into him is a priority. The mouth sore would be enough to stop him eating if it is painful, so a check of his teeth is vital. I would strongly recommend seeing the vet again and also seeking a second opinion.
 
The vet gave us the critical care that is greenish in color and tastes like bananas and apples I believe. And I'm about 3 hours away from Chicago Illinois.
 
To me, it sounds as though he may have overgrown molars in the back of his mouth. The 'gagging' you describe is something I've seen before in dental pigs, and is because things get stuck in the back of the mouth. The sore observed in the mouth is also potentially a sign of overgrown teeth, arising from pressure/rubbing of overgrown teeth on the mouth. Even that can be painful enough to stop a pig from eating. In the short term, getting food into him is the priority. If he does not get food in, his digestive system will shut down and he will likely not pull through. Someone has linked the syringe-feeding guide above, which may give you some pointers. I would also get on the phone and call all your area vets and see if anyone has experience with exotics, specifically guinea pig teeth (or rabbit teeth or chinchilla teeth- they can develop similar dental issues.) Having an experienced vet can make the difference between recovering or not. It's also possible to miss dental issues on first look, particularly if a vet is not that experienced. Even my experienced vet missed a molar spur on an exam with an awake and squirmy guinea pig, though she apparently had quite a major one when he anesthetized her to get a closer look. So a followup or second opinion is definitely required here.
 
Not much to add to what's already been said but it definitely sounds like a dental issue to me. The key to sorting that is getting a good vet opinion and keeping him eating as much as possible. The sicker he becomes, the harder it is for a vet to work on him successfully...

I hope you manage to find a solution soon for him.
 
We've decided to give him more medication but if he doesn't seem better tomorrow, he'll most likely be put to sleep. We can't afford anymore treatment and can't handle him being in pain anymore.
 
For an update, Gavin managed to get an upper respiratory infection over night yesterday so he's always sneezing and has to have short breathes, but he's pooping, though it stinks and it sticks together like a string of poop. We can't afford to put him to sleep so the vet just said to make it comfortable for him. It pains me but there is nothing else I can possibly do.
 
Final update. Gavin passed in his sleep a few minutes ago. Though I'm going to miss him so so much. I'm glad that he's not in pain anymore. Thank you all so much for your advice but I believe it was his time, he was never truly healthy when we got him a few years ago. This is him laying in my hood at his first vet appointment. image.webp
 
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