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URI after teeth trim

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Annie73

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Hi there,
Any advice appreciated … one of our guinea pigs has a URI, we are worried sick she is such a beautiful girl.
It all came about a week after having a teeth trim ,she went downhill quite rapidly. She was put on Baytril and I gave her some oxbow probiotic alongside that for tummy support . We went back to vets yesterday as she started going downhill again just not her usual bubbly self, slow at eating and lethargic .We are now trying trimethoprim along side Metacam . She is eating but much slower and she’s lost a lot of weight . We have been weighing her daily for last week , it’s like it’s hard work for her breathing and eating the same time. I’m looking at giving critical care now to help her . I can't get hold of any oxbow critical care today. I phoned all my local pet shops and they don't have any in stores but I can get some delivered tomorrow. I've read about making my own critical care but I wondered do guinea pigs pass on medication / metabolize it through their own poop or would it affect the critical care as I’m worried about the antibiotics and Metacam being eaten again so to speak . We have four Teddy guineas living together indoors ( all almost 4 years old )in a c&c cage. One of our other guineas ( sods law) it also on antibiotics while having treatment for an abscess so this is why I’m extra worried the poop may have meds in! any advice appreciated !
Many thanks
 
I’m sorry to hear she is unwell.

You are right; they can’t eat when they can’t breathe which is why syringe feeding is so urgent when they are unwell.
Please urgently step in with syringe feeding. They need syringe feeding as soon as they lose 50g - if she has lost more than they then it is an emergency that she is fed.
She needs to be fed as much as necessary stop weight loss each day and to stabilise her. 40ml is the minimum amount to keep a piggy alive, but she could need as much as 90ml to stop weight loss. The more poorly a piggy is, the less they are likely to eat at each sitting so the more sittings you could need to do.

Please use mushed pellets for now and get the critical care when you can.

Please don’t worry about the medication and
eating poop - it’s not going to affect anything.

Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
Thank you so much for your reply , one of the things she does eat without hesitation is dandilions and grass so I’m thinking of mixing some in a blender with poo and vitamin c until tomorrow if the poop is safe to add .
Thank you again!❤️
 
Annie73 said:
Thank you so much for your reply , one of the things she does eat without hesitation is dandilions and grass so I’m thinking of mixing some in a blender with poo and vitamin c until tomorrow if the poop is safe to add .
Thank you again!❤️
Click to expand...

Just feed her some grass and dandelions freshly picked as they are - it can spark their appetite. Chewing fresh grass is also good for wearing the teeth (liquified won’t do anything for dental wear) (given she has had to have a dental treatment you don’t want her lack of hay eating to impact her dental function while she is recovering from the URI).
She is not likely to eat nor is there any need for it to be blended and mixed with poop.
She needs to a fibre rich syringe feed - the mushed pellets or the critical care when it arrives - to stabilise her weight and keep gut function not mashed vegetables and/or mashed grass. Fresh grass, if her gut is used to it, is fine to give though (provided she isn’t struggling with soft poops/diarrhoea)

You can give poop soup made from the poops of one of your other healthy piggies who is not on medication. That can help settle a poorly tummy if she is struggling to poor digestion and you’re seeing soft poops. It can help replace the gut microbiome which has been affected by antibiotics. There is no point in using her own poops as her good bacteria are being killed by the antibiotics so it won’t benefit her.
Fibreplex is a good probiotic also.
You soak very fresh, just produced poops from a healthy companion in water for 10 or so minutes, and then syringe just the water to your poorly piggy.
 
Thank you . I have made a lovely poop and pellet soup.After thinking about it I’m sure I can tell which poo is not from her and the other guinea on meds by going to where they all favour to sleep .She does love grass but if favouring dandelions and still eating some hay and pellets herself although slowly , so we will supplement it with the soup today .
Many many thanks ❤️
 
Annie73 said:
Thank you . I have made a lovely poop and pellet soup.After thinking about it I’m sure I can tell which poo is not from her and the other guinea on meds by going to where they all favour to sleep .She does love grass but if favouring dandelions and still eating some hay and pellets herself although slowly , so we will supplement it with the soup today .
Many many thanks ❤️
Click to expand...

You’ll have to see if she will eat it with actual poop in with the pellets - as that isn’t how you make syringe feed.
Syringe feed is just mushed pellets and given every couple of hours through the day (as I say up to around 90 or so ml per day). The tapered end of a 1ml syringe will need to be cut off to get pellet mush through it as it is more coarse than critical care.

Poop soup is just 1-2ml of very fresh poop soaked water given 2-3 times a day as a supplement to replace gut bacteria and isn’t a food and you don’t normally feed the actual poops, just the water they are soaked in as a drink
 
Oh ok thank you very much for that advice . I will try it as there is mostly pellets in the mix with about 1/5 poop. If it doesn’t work I will just do pellets mashed until tomorrow along with vit c and probiotic
Thank you
 
Vitamin c can be given as a short two week course to help boost the immune system. Do note though that recovery feeds, pellets and some probiotics already contain vit c so additional supplementation is not always needed
 
Hi

Over three quarters of the daily food intake should be grass/hay fibre; this is what any feeding support is replacing. It makes 60-90 ml in 24 hours.
Please read the guides; they contain all the little practical how-to tips and advice you need to get your piggy through the crisis. We simply cannot type them out in full every single time.
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency


Poo eating: The poos need to be absolutely freshly dropped and soaked in water for just a minute or two in order for any gut microbiome to reach the digestive system while still live. That is why piggies pick up their redigested poos straight from the anus.
You cannot pick up any old poos and feed them because the digestive bacteria in them are dead and the piggies will refuse to eat them.
Please follow the 'recipe' in this link here for your measure to be effective: Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe
 
Thanks they were fresh poos , we cleaned out cage this morning like I say we only mixed a few in with the pellets . She is lapping it up ! Thank you 🙂
 
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