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[URGENT] Family took care of my piggy for TWO weeks, now when i got her i think she's on the verge of death.

so update : apparently the flies had gotten to her and that she had worms and stuff, that's why family had bathed her
when i got her back and checked this morning and did a closer inspection i didn't see anything, i checked her genital area, her bottom
her genital area was as described here
1692973872691.webpinbetween the second and third picture, that was the color of the redness by her genital area. she's ate and drank alot, added with vitamin drops, her urine seems to be fine, and her poop is completely unaffected.
 
It's good news that you haven't seen any recurring maggots or worms, and that she's still eating and drinking/ pooing.
That also looks like a normal colour genital area to me. :) (Obviously 'normal' depends on each piggy)
I'll tag @Wiebke here too as she knows a LOT more about guinea pig illnesses than me.

Edit: If your guinea pig is suffering from flystrike (I don't know whether or not she is) you may find this link helpful to read about some of the other symptoms and treatment routes (although this may not be possible if you can't access vet care). Fly Strike
 
gnpg222stardust said:
so update : apparently the flies had gotten to her and that she had worms and stuff, that's why family had bathed her
when i got her back and checked this morning and did a closer inspection i didn't see anything, i checked her genital area, her bottom
her genital area was as described here
View attachment 231122inbetween the second and third picture, that was the color of the redness by her genital area. she's ate and drank alot, added with vitamin drops, her urine seems to be fine, and her poop is completely unaffected.
Click to expand...

Hi

I am very sorry about your trauma. You are quite obviously a very caring owner.

The maggots are small white wiggly things. They typically attack necrotic tissue in very frail elderly piggies (or animals) that can no longer clean themselves or in badly neglected piggies (or fam animals) with open sores. If blue bottle flies get indoors, they can also affect vulnerable piggies inside. Affected piggies will deteriorate very quickly once the maggots get going. These flies can smell an animal with the right 'breeding ground' from over a mile away. :(
Fly Strike

Since your piggy is well, the genitalia are not swollen, the skin is a healthy tone for a white/more lightly coloured piggy and there is no sign of flesh eating maggots anywhere on the body, you can breathe a sigh of relief now.

Just continue on feeding her well with plenty of hay (which should make over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day) and keep her clean - she's obviously not been kept on an absorbent surface and never bee cleaned out, and also may have had some diarrhea if fed incorrectly in order to account for the mess she's been returned to you.

Perhaps you could find a temporary home with a guinea pig keeping school mate or teacher in the future?
 
ScrufflesRules said:
It's good news that you haven't seen any recurring maggots or worms, and that she's still eating and drinking/ pooing.
That also looks like a normal colour genital area to me. :) (Obviously 'normal' depends on each piggy)
I'll tag @Wiebke here too as she knows a LOT more about guinea pig illnesses than me.

Edit: If your guinea pig is suffering from flystrike (I don't know whether or not she is) you may find this link helpful to read about some of the other symptoms and treatment routes (although this may not be possible if you can't access vet care). Fly Strike
Click to expand...
of course, thank you. it seems though (i for some reason didn't write that) her genital area is swollen too, with the bit of redness. her stool has "loosened" a bit? and instead of being oval shaped it's more teardrop shaped. thank you again
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

I am very sorry about your trauma. You are quite obviously a very caring owner.

The maggots are small white wiggly things. They typically attack necrotic tissue in very frail elderly piggies (or animals) that can no longer clean themselves or in badly neglected piggies (or fam animals) with open sores. If blue bottle flies get indoors, they can also affect vulnerable piggies inside. Affected piggies will deteriorate very quickly once the maggots get going. These flies can smell an animal with the right 'breeding ground' from over a mile away. :(
Fly Strike

Since your piggy is well, the genitalia are not swollen, the skin is a healthy tone for a white/more lightly coloured piggy and there is no sign of flesh eating maggots anywhere on the body, you can breathe a sigh of relief now.

Just continue on feeding her well with plenty of hay (which should make over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day) and keep her clean - she's obviously not been kept on an absorbent surface and never bee cleaned out, and also may have had some diarrhea if fed incorrectly in order to account for the mess she's been returned to you.

Perhaps you could find a temporary home with a guinea pig keeping school mate or teacher in the future?
Click to expand...
uhh, what'd be the case if the genital area was swollen quite a bit? thank you for the advice and thank you for the information.
 
gnpg222stardust said:
uhh, what'd be the case if the genital area was swollen quite a bit? thank you for the advice and thank you for the information.
Click to expand...

Can you take a picture and upload it via the attach files button? Swollen genitalia are generally a sign of infection. I cannot tell you sight unseen. How bad is the hair loss around genitalia, the belly, back legs and bum?

For normal genitalia please have a look at the pictures in our sexing guide: Illustrated Sexing Guide
 
gnpg222stardust said:
of course, thank you. it seems though (i for some reason didn't write that) her genital area is swollen too, with the bit of redness. her stool has "loosened" a bit? and instead of being oval shaped it's more teardrop shaped. thank you again
Click to expand...

That sounds like a potential infection. Is the skin noticeably hotter and redder to the feel than the surrounding area/any skin you can see elsewhere?

The loose stool is likely down to malnutrition. Are you feeding plenty of hay, which is the fibre a guinea pig gut is laid out for? That should sort out the poos within the next two days if she is eating normally. Keep in mind that veg and pellets/dry food together only replace the supplementary role of wild forage while hay/grass fibre is vital for keeping the all important chewing teeth at the back ground down and for keeping the gut working well/general health.

Have you weighed her on your kitchen scales (if you have them) or have you have had a feel around the ribcage - if you can feel every single rib, then she is underweight/has lost weight. In a healthy piggy, you can just about feel the ribs, in an overweight piggy, you cannot feel the ribs at all.
 
Wiebke said:
Can you take a picture and upload it via the attach files button? Swollen genitalia are generally a sign of infection. I cannot tell you sight unseen. How bad is the hair loss around genitalia, the belly, back legs and bum?

For normal genitalia please have a look at the pictures in our sexing guide: Illustrated Sexing Guide
Click to expand...
i'm trying to, i don't want to make her lay on that black area by her bum, so i'm not sure how i can take a picture. she doesn't have much hairloss except for the black area, where the hairs are just, different.
she won't let me touch her genital area, she just runs away and keeps pooping.

edit : a way to describe her genital area would be "poofy"
 
Wiebke said:
That sounds like a potential infection. Is the skin noticeably hotter and redder to the feel than the surrounding area/any skin you can see elsewhere?

The loose stool is likely down to malnutrition. Are you feeding plenty of hay, which is the fibre a guinea pig gut is laid out for? That should sort out the poos within the next two days if she is eating normally. Keep in mind that veg and pellets/dry food together only replace the supplementary role of wild forage while hay/grass fibre is vital for keeping the all important chewing teeth at the back ground down and for keeping the gut working well/general health.

Have you weighed her on your kitchen scales (if you have them) or have you have had a feel around the ribcage - if you can feel every single rib, then she is underweight/has lost weight. In a healthy piggy, you can just about feel the ribs, in an overweight piggy, you cannot feel the ribs at all.
Click to expand...
sadly i couldn't touch her genital area, since she just pooped and kept running away from me, and sadly from this point on i'm not allowed to touch her anymore.

i'll try to fix her stool, thank you so much for the advice, and yeah, i think they just fed her bad when they took care of her, that's most likely what happened too.
i haven't weighed her at all, but when i feel her ribcage, it feels like how you described a healthy one.
 
Wiebke said:
Can you take a picture and upload it via the attach files button? Swollen genitalia are generally a sign of infection. I cannot tell you sight unseen. How bad is the hair loss around genitalia, the belly, back legs and bum?

For normal genitalia please have a look at the pictures in our sexing guide: Illustrated Sexing Guide
Click to expand...
here is more pictures of the black area, and you could see a bit of her genitals and the described poofyness :
1692979525797.webp1692979536622.webp1692979549030.webp
 
gnpg222stardust said:
i'm trying to, i don't want to make her lay on that black area by her bum, so i'm not sure how i can take a picture. she doesn't have much hairloss except for the black area, where the hairs are just, different.
she won't let me touch her genital area, she just runs away and keeps pooping.

edit : a way to describe her genital area would be "poofy"
Click to expand...

Sorry, but without hands-on access and especially without any pictures, I cannot give you any further information apart from the fact that she will need to see a vet and will likely need antibiotics if the diagnosis is confirmed.

For the time, all you can do is keep an eye on her, her weight and check daily for any changes. At least she is obviously still healthy in herself and has been kept fed.

I also cannot comment on the black area on her back, whether it could be a burn or whatever sight unseen. There are limits to what we can do remotely without direct access and the additional filter of your own perception and therefore description. Please keep in mind that we are all only pet owners and not medical staff.

Give her time to settle down and have another look tomorrow. As long as her weight is OK, she is not in the kind of discomfort that is alarming.
 
gnpg222stardust said:
here is more pictures of the black area, and you could see a bit of her genitals and the described poofyness :
View attachment 231128View attachment 231129View attachment 231130
Click to expand...

Thank you. Poor girl - that patch looks nasty. The whole surface layer of the skin seems to have come off. :(
I really wish it could be seen by a vets. Is she itching/scratching or trying to bite her back (sign of potential mange mites)?
@eileen

The genitalia I can just about glimpse are a very nice, healthy pale pink; . They tend to stand out a little bit more in underweight and older piggies and there seems to be a little hair missing around them but they do not look alarming to me?
 
Last edited:
Poor girl 😞 her back looks ever so sore 😞 Other than taking her to a vet which we know your parents won’t allow, I’m really not sure what else we can advise. I’m so sorry you’re in this situation
 
Wiebke said:
Sorry, but without hands-on access and especially without any pictures, I cannot give you any further information apart from the fact that she will need to see a vet and will likely need antibiotics if the diagnosis is confirmed.

For the time, all you can do is keep an eye on her, her weight and check daily for any changes. At least she is obviously still healthy in herself and has been kept fed.

I also cannot comment on the black area on her back, whether it could be a burn or whatever sight unseen. There are limits to what we can do remotely without direct access and the additional filter of your own perception and therefore description. Please keep in mind that we are all only pet owners and not medical staff.

Give her time to settle down and have another look tomorrow. As long as her weight is OK, she is not in the kind of discomfort that is alarming.
Click to expand...
alright, i'll check on her weight and see but i'm not sure i'm able to check her weight since i can't really be close to her.
 
Wiebke said:
Thank you. Poor girl - that patch looks nasty. The whole surface layer of the skin seems to have come off. :(
I really wish it could be seen by a vets. Is she itching/scratching or trying to bite her back (sign of potential mange mites)?
@eileen

The genitalia I can just about glimpse are a very nice, healthy pale pink; . They tend to stand out a little bit more in underweight and older piggies and there seems to be a little hair missing around them but they do not look alarming to me?
Click to expand...
hm, they (family) did say that the black patch is a scab, since something scratched her, which could've been her i suppose. i'll check up on her and see if she's trying to do anything about it.
and alright, thank you and i'm glad that the genitalia seem to be fine. she pees completely normally from what i've seen so there's nothing that i can say right now is alarming

the black patch though, it seems like she doesn't even mind it. she's not trying to bite it, scratch it, she really doesn't seem too bothered by it.
she's eating alot, drinking alot, she's running around, has energy, and i fed her some peppers (her favorite)
 
Can you remember what colour the hair was over the black patch before she lost that patch of hair?
 
Wheekallweek said:
Why on earth wouldn't your parents let you be close to her, it's so horrible 😢
Click to expand...

Claire W said:
Why won’t your parents even let you get close to her? It’s clear how much you love and care for her 😞
Click to expand...
sadly those questions i'm unable to answer.
i was able to feed her though, and she was standing on her two legs and reaching out of her cage for me too, and i did feed her her favorite snack
 
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