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Unresponsive guinea pig

Nutter Butter has regained the ability to walk. She’s now eating bits of mushed pellet mixed with hay and is slowly sipping water. She still has a runny nose though, which concerns me
 
Piggies&buns said:
Have you been weighing her?
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Unfortunately I don’t have the PROPER equipment to weigh my guinea pig. (I do plan on ordering my guinea pig a scale though). I don’t mean to make my parents sound evil or inconsiderate but they don’t seem to understand how delicate guinea pigs are,which makes convincing them to order supplies harder since I can’t just hop onto amazon and steal their credit card information.
 
Nutter Butter said:
Unfortunately I don’t have the PROPER equipment to weigh my guinea pig. (I do plan on ordering my guinea pig a scale though). I don’t mean to make my parents sound evil or inconsiderate but they don’t seem to understand how delicate guinea pigs are,which makes convincing them to order supplies harder since I can’t just chop onto amazon and steal their credit card information.
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We understand your situation, your parents do have a responsibility to ensure vet care and all care requirements are met though.
Do try to get some kitchen scales. Its so important as part of routine care, and even more so now she is poorly, as you can’t know she is eating enough without being able to monitor her weight.
 
Piggies&buns said:
We understand your situation, your parents do have a responsibility to ensure vet care and all care requirements are met though.
Do try to get some kitchen scales. Its so important as part of routine care, and even more so now she is poorly, as you can’t know she is eating enough without being able to monitor her weight.
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We have a very simple scale that I’ve been using but I try not to pick her as little as possible since she’s so thin. Yesterday was her first meal and I don’t want to overwhelm her with food in case she’ll vomit.
 
Nutter Butter said:
We have a very simple scale that I’ve been using but I try not to pick her as little as possible since she’s so thin. Yesterday was her first meal and I don’t want to overwhelm her with food in case she’ll vomit.
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Guinea pigs can’t vomit
If she feels thin then she is likely losing weight, you must syringe feed her to keep her alive. It’s essential you weigh her but digital scales are needed to get an accurate reading
 
Worrying about picking her up is unfortunately something you will have to do because, as Piggies&Buns has said and others, you need to be weighing her daily now. Syringe feeding needs to be kept at a level that helps her maintain her weight.

I really hope you can get an appointment today. Your parents allowed you to have a guinea pig so they took on the responsibility of providing for all its welfare needs.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Guinea pigs can’t vomit
If she feels thin then she is likely losing weight, you must syringe feed her to keep her alive. It’s essential you weigh her but digital scales are needed to get an accurate reading
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Oh! I’m so sorry for not knowing some of this, I should probably look up what guinea can and can’t physically do at this point. I’ve been coaxing food into her every couple of hours tonight but I can’t force her to eat. The bags of Critical Care and syringes I ordered are arriving Wednesday so we’ll have to wait until then. Again, I’m still not familiar with what I should or should not do with a guinea pig, I'm sorry I haven’t been treating my guinea pig the best and I hope we can both escape this mess.
 
Nutter Butter said:
Oh! I’m so sorry for not knowing some of this, I should probably look up what guinea can and can’t physically do at this point. I’ve been coaxing food into her every couple of hours tonight but I can’t force her to eat. The bags of Critical Care and syringes I ordered are arriving Wednesday so we’ll have to wait until then. Again, I’m still not familiar with what I should or should not do with a guinea pig, I'm sorry I haven’t been treating my guinea pig the best and I hope we can both escape this mess.
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I understand you are in a difficult position but this is why a vet is so important now as she sounds rather poorly. It is simply essential that she is fed and syringing is so important, she needs to be getting around 60ml (or more if possible) of mushed pellets into her in a 24 hour period to help stop her losing weight and keeping her guts functioning.
We had linked in the guides previously, do read them, it explains the importance of keeping fibre rich food constantly going into them
 
Piggies&buns said:
I understand you are in a difficult position but this is why a vet is so important now as she sounds rather poorly. It is simply essential that she is fed and syringing is so important, she needs to be getting around 60ml (or more if possible) of mushed pellets into her in a 24 hour period to help stop her losing weight and keeping her guts functioning.
We had linked in the guides previously, do read them, it explains the importance of keeping fibre rich food constantly going into them
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I’ll make sure to do that, thanks for all the support and tips. They’re saving my piggie
 
There’s a syringe feeding guide by Debbie which I can’t figure out how to link on the phone
 
Thanks for all of this! After reading the articles you’ve linked to me, I think it’s safe to say my piggies symptoms aren’t life threading (I know they’re dangerous but I don’t think they are as serious as some of the listed life threatening symptoms, she’s at least eating) As for the vet visits, I’m looking up other exotic pet care places I can call/visit today
 
Nutter Butter said:
Thanks for all of this! After reading the articles you’ve linked to me, I think it’s safe to say my piggies symptoms aren’t life threading (I know they’re dangerous but I don’t think they are as serious as some of the listed life threatening symptoms, she’s at least eating) As for the vet visits, I’m looking up other exotic pet care places I can call/visit today
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Don’t underestimate the seriousness of not eating enough as a symptom, and the earlier you can step in with syringe feeding as soon as you see a 50 gram weight drop on the scales, then it can make all the difference, along with getting prompt vet care.
Of course, it all depends on the cause of them not eating enough - it ranges from something which can be dealt with to something which can be fatal within a matter of hours.
Good luck in getting her to the vet and keep us posted.
 
Hope you get on well at the vets. With Guinea pigs, they can go downhill extremely quickly so if anything doesn't seem right or if they're not behaving like their usual selves it's so important to get an appointment as soon as you can x
 
Update! Nutter Butter is alive and is currently being treated with antibiotics by the vet. She apparently had a respiratory infection which likely contributed to her loss of appetite (I still don’t know all the details yet, The vets were very vague.) She also had a minor foot injury that prevented her from moving around much. When we got to the vets, she was barely breathing and I sincerely think that if I didnt call the vets this morning, Nutter Butter would have moved on. Thank you all so much for your support! I plan on trying to earn some money to pay for vet insurance since the bills are going to be a pain to deal with. Thank you all!
 
Here’s a picture of Peanut (aka Nutter Butter) before all of this. She’s very grateful!
 

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Nutter Butter said:
I want to get her a friend as a welcome back surprise but my parents are reluctant because of Covid-19
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You can’t just put two piggies together and assume they are going to get on. A successful bond comes entirely down to character compatibility and if you just buy a piggy then they may not be compatible and you would then end up with them having to live separately so you’d need two cages.
Dating via a rescue centre is the safest way to find a friend as it ensures compatibility and a successful bond.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You can’t just put two piggies together and assume they are going to get on. A successful bond comes entirely down to character compatibility and if you just buy a piggy then they may not be compatible and you would then end up with them having to live separately so you’d need two cages.
Dating via a rescue centre is the safest way to find a friend as it ensures compatibility and a successful bond.
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Thanks for the feedback, I do have another area prepared in case the two piggies don’t like each other. I’m also looking up bonding tips in this forum.
 
What is it about COVID that’s making them reluctant? I’m pretty sure, as here, that rescues (and vets) are carrying out no-contact adoptions etc. She really does need a friend, it’s not fair for her to be kept alone.
 
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