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update: ‘Sadly, Jessi passed away’

scatters

scatters

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi one of my Guineas, Jessi has just turned 4.

Two weeks running, both on a Saturday, she has gone quiet and lethargic and gone off her food. I’ve taken her to vets both Saturdays and first one gave me emeprid and recovery food which I gave and she was fine by the evening and latest one gave Metacam and she was fine by yesterday morning. This morning I took her to a very experienced small animal vet as I’m not sure what is causing. He thought she was quite underweight and got me to feel her spine, but on normal occasions she does eat well. He felt around and couldn’t feel any lumps or bumps and is worrying about liver issues. He’s told me to do what I’ve been doing and to weigh her once a week for a month and report back then for a prognosis (all being well). I’m just wondering does anyone have any advice or experience as I obviously want to do anything I can for her x
 
This is her weight record.
 

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I can see her weight chart is going down but I can’t see the detail in terms of how much she lost and over what period. It can be better to weigh a poorly piggy once a day as it means you can more closely monitor hay intake and step in sooner. If weight is being lost at each daily check then you need to syringe feed. Weighing just once a week may mean yiu don’t step in quickly enough
 
Piggies&buns said:
I can see her weight chart is going down but I can’t see the detail in terms of how much she lost and over what period. It can be better to weigh a poorly piggy once a day as it means you can more closely monitor hay intake and step in sooner. If weight is being lost at each daily check then you need to syringe feed. Weighing just once a week may mean yiu don’t step in quickly enough
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Hi - thank you, I will do that. I’m going to monitor her closely 👍🏻
 
scatters said:
Hi - thank you, I will do that. I’m going to monitor her closely 👍🏻
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Basically:

Dec 19 - 1.12kg
Dec 21 - 1.2kg
Jan 22 - 1.2kg
Nov 22 - 0.83kg
December 22 - 0.77kg

☹️
 
scatters said:
Basically:

Dec 19 - 1.12kg
Dec 21 - 1.2kg
Jan 22 - 1.2kg
Nov 22 - 0.83kg
December 22 - 0.77kg

☹️
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As I say switch to daily weight checks so you can more closely monitor hay intake. If she is still losing weight then syringe feed as much as is necessary each day to stop weight loss (typically 40-60ml but she may need more or less depending on what the weight checks are telling you).
Unfortunately the weights you have provided cover too long of a period with too big gaps between to be useful.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
I know - I wish I’d weighed more regularly:(
 
How is Jessi this morning?
Have you been able to do todays weight check yet?
 
Piggies&buns said:
How is Jessi this morning?
Have you been able to do todays weight check yet?
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Hi 👋🏻. I just weighed her and she’s the same. However, she seems to be nibbling and not really eating if you know what I mean, so she’s looking as if she’s eating but not really doing it. I gave her Metacam and then some recovery food (which she actually seemed really hungry for). Vet did look in mouth but couldn’t really see well…
 
It’s good her weight is the same for the moment. All you can do is continue weighing at the same time each day and syringe feed accordingly. You are looking to stop weight loss at this point, and of course alongside the vet seeing if there is a medical cause for the weight loss.

It is important the back teeth are checked to rule out dental issues as being the cause of the weight loss.

If you could update your profile to show your country, state or UK county then we can offer more tailored advice.
 
Piggies&buns said:
It’s good her weight is the same for the moment. All you can do is continue weighing at the same time each day and syringe feed accordingly. You are looking to stop weight loss at this point, and of course alongside the vet seeing if there is a medical cause for the weight loss.

It is important the back teeth are checked to rule out dental issues as being the cause of the weight loss.

If you could update your profile to show your country, state or UK county then we can offer more tailored advice.
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I’m in Worcestershire and see an exotics vet in Droitwich.

I will continue weighing every day. I actually noticed she is chomping on some green oat hay 👍🏻
 
I’m taking her to see the vet who saw her on Saturday as she actually rang me as she’s been looking at her weight and wants to check her teeth! Wish me luck x
 
What a waste of time (and 24 mile round trip) :(. Vet tried to clear all syringe food, but couldn’t see and said the only way would be to knock her out which I don’t want to do at the moment :(
 
This evening she didn’t want pellets, has eaten some hay and 4 blueberries and nearly snatched my hand off to get syringe feed!
 
Incidentally, they very rarely have fruit, but I’m trying anything with her :)
 
If she is keen for syringe food then she is hungry which is a good sign. Can she eat grass? The special Recovery food is high in fibre so it's not just a fatten-up treat, it can be used for weeks/months to see them through problems. As you probably know, we can't compensate with veggies even when they're going nuts for them as they bloat up and get gassy. If a piggy is not eating much of anything you can give pretty much whatever they will take of Recovery. I had a little girl who would only eat about 45 ml a day when she wasn't eating anything else at all but bigger, hungrier pigs can wallop back as much as 90ml. It won't cure her problem (especially if it's dental) but it will help her stop losing weight and maybe even gain a bit back until you can get a handle on what's happening. You don't always have to syringe - you can leave a plate of mush in overnight unless there is a greedy cage mate who will snaffle it all! Maybe you could try soaking her pellets in water so they are easier to hoover up?

It looks like her healthy weight would naturally be about 1.2 kilo. It's just whether she's been gradually losing over a long time or has been suddenly losing recently. However, if it's the latter you'd likely see her still losing. Although you weren't weighing so regularly (we've all been there!) perhaps her poops can give some sort of clue? I'm assuming that at this point her poops are smaller or thinner. But are they still firm? And have they looked 'normal' up until recently? And has she had any other medication (even if finished now?) or dietary changes recently (including food supplements) that might have triggered something.

Are her front teeth slanted at all to either side? It might be easier to see with the bottom ones. If she seems not to be chewing so well has anything else changed... perhaps she used to be able to munch through hard veg like carrot but now she can't bite down properly? Or maybe she is biting strongly but chewing in an irregular way? I know it's very hard to tell but perhaps you can compare to your other piggy? We're just fishing here - I'm trying to think back to my dental pigs. Although something that does come up on here reasonably regularly is an abscess in the gum, maybe at the root of a tooth, that causes piggy pain when she chews but which is really hard to spot. If they get big enough you can sometimes feel them as a lump along the jawline but the vet would have felt for that I'm sure.

Thinking of you Jessi x
 
Thank you so much for your detailed reply! She has got a very greedy cage mate 🤣

I will try all you suggest and am obviously keeping a close eye on her weight and I will go heavy on the recovery- I wondered about an abscess - I have experienced them in the past with my old buns!

Thank you x
 
Yayy - she’s put 25g on and was lapping up the recovery this morning (after showing interest in pellets but then not bothering with them! I’m worried as I’ve got to work til 3, my kids are at school but have instructed husband to put some recovery under her nose throughout the day (I can’t leave it in there as she shares!) x
 
If you can get her weight up a bit it will help her - although there will be something underlying all this and until it's identified she's going to have a problem. It's very hard when there is nothing specific to put your finger on like raspy breathing, hair loss or squeaking when peeing. When you get back from work try to get a look at her front teeth to check if they're smooth and even or slanting to one side... a problem on one side of the mouth will lead them to chew on the other side more and the incisors wear unevenly.
My girl Zara lost small amounts of weight over a number of months but we couldn't spot anything obvious. It was a bottom incisor in the end. Here she is as she stuck out her bottom jaw when chewing to avoid catching the tooth. The 2nd vid is after the dicky tooth was trimmed and you can see how the grass is smoothly taken into the mouth.

Zara before dental.gif nom2.gif
 
Free Ranger said:
If you can get her weight up a bit it will help her - although there will be something underlying all this and until it's identified she's going to have a problem. It's very hard when there is nothing specific to put your finger on like raspy breathing, hair loss or squeaking when peeing. When you get back from work try to get a look at her front teeth to check if they're smooth and even or slanting to one side... a problem on one side of the mouth will lead them to chew on the other side more and the incisors wear unevenly.
My girl Zara lost small amounts of weight over a number of months but we couldn't spot anything obvious. It was a bottom incisor in the end. Here she is as she stuck out her bottom jaw when chewing to avoid catching the tooth. The 2nd vid is after the dicky tooth was trimmed and you can see how the grass is smoothly taken into the mouth.

View attachment 215805 View attachment 215806
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Oh wow, yes! I will take a proper look later - that’s really helpful, thank you. It gives me an idea of the type of thing I should look for. Great filming by the way 😁
 
Hi all - so I saw my vet this afternoon and he has confirmed that Jessi has molar spurs on one side. He is going to to a dental on Tuesday and I’m really worried as although I’ve had many buns have anaesthetics, I’ve never had any guineas go through them. Has anyone got any good advice? :)
 
I would if you can go to see Simon or Kim Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton, they are the best when it comes to dentals. Both Kim and Simon do conscious dentals so no nasty General Anaesthetic is required, it takes 5-10 minutes and that’s it. They will give you a proper assessment of whats wrong and do a dental there and then. They are very experienced, owners travel from all over the UK to see them. They see around 40 guinea pigs a week. We used to travel from Cornwall, a 600 miles round trip, it was worth every single mile to see my boy Ted happy and eating

Good luck 🤞
 
scatters said:
Unfortunately, I went down this morning and Jessi had passed away. She was happy and eating last night - we are devastated 😢. Thank you all for your help xx
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I am so sorry you have lost your little lady, sending but hugs at such a sad time x
 
scatters said:
Unfortunately, I went down this morning and Jessi had passed away. She was happy and eating last night - we are devastated 😢. Thank you all for your help xx
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I am so sorry for your loss, you gave Jessi a life full of love and clearly cared very much for her. May she popcorn across the rainbow bridge 🌈 take care x
 
I am so sorry to hea this news.
Jessi couldn’t have wished for a better life than the one you gave her, filled with love and care.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve
 
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