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Weird behavior when taking medicine?

M

morumotto

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello everyone. One of my piggies has recently been exhibiting some strange behavior when taking her oral medication, and I was hoping to see if anyone has seen something like this before.

This started maybe two weeks ago. After she takes her medicine orally she will pull back and kind of make what looks to be a retching / dry heaving sort of movement. It's hard to describe, but she will pull her head back and scrunch herself up. Then she'll sort of tuck her head under herself, throw her head back up, tuck back under, and repeat this a few times. It usually lasts maybe 10 or so seconds. She makes no noise when doing this, only this weird movement.

The strangest part is that she ONLY does this when taking her oral medication. She eats hay, veggies and pellets perfectly fine. She drinks water perfectly fine. I tried syringing her water to see if it was something about the syringe, but she took that perfectly fine. I tried administrating the medicine slower, no difference. She has not lost any weight at all. I felt around her head / mouth and did not feel any lumps or bumps. No drooling. She loves the medication and actively begs for it, so it's not that she is recoiling at it. She has been taking this medication for well over a year, so it's bizarre for this to behavior to begin. I'm at a loss! Any ideas as to what's going on?
 
Perhaps the medication is coming through the syringe too fast and jetting into the back of her mouth? Could you video this?
 
Pantalaimon said:
Perhaps the medication is coming through the syringe too fast and jetting into the back of her mouth? Could you video this?
Click to expand...

This is what I initially thought, so I tried slowing down. I even tried only administering 0.1cc at a time. She still had the same reaction. It could possibly be how the syringe is angled, but she grabs hold so fast that it's hard to position it in any other way.

I will try to get a video tonight.
 
Could it be that she just hates the taste? A bit like if we licked a lemon and gagged and screwed our face up?
 
What medication is it? Some seem to taste awful, baytril in particular while loxicom tastes ok, some actually like it.
 
She gets two medications: Meloxicam (painkiller) and Cosequin (glucosamine). Both are flavored to be raspberry. She absolutely LOVES the medicine and begs for it every night, squeaking and chewing on the bars for it. She's taken it for over a year and the flavor hasn't changed. It doesn't matter which order I give the medicine in, she has the same reaction to both. Her cagemate also takes the same medication and does not have this reaction.

EDIT: I should clarify, she has taken the Cosequin for over a year. The Meloxciam she only took when she needed it, but has now had to have it everyday for the past three months due to severe cystitis flare ups.
 
Here is the video of her taking the medication: June 13, 2023

I did get a little nervous filming so I did shoot this medication a little fast, but she still does this even if I administer slowly. This was her first medication, and when I gave her the second medication after I did it much more slowly. I also tested to see if having her stand on all fours instead of propped against the side of the cage would make a difference. It did not. She still did the same behavior as seen in the video. In addition, she also looked to be wiping her mouth with her paw.

Any thoughts? My current guess is maybe she's so excited to get the medicine that she tries to inhale it and it makes it go down funny? You can see how she actually tugs on the syringe as I try to pull away.
 
It looks to me like she's just cleaning herself? My pigs do this when they have something juicy to eat such as tomato for a treat. So perhaps some has just dribbled down her chin and she's making sure she gets it all 🙂
 
almost looks like she’s licking it out of her fur! gorgeous girly, hope it’s nothing to worry about lets see what others think! xx
 
:agr:
My boy would do this when he would get critical care all down his chin. Are you placing the syringe behind the front incisors?
To ensure the medication gets fully ingested, and doesn't dribble out, you need to be making sure the syringe goes behind the front incisors, sort of next to the cheek.

Perhaps you can take her out of the cage, if possible, to ensure she is getting all of her medicine.
 
Oh that would be a relief if that's all that is!

I thought I was getting the syringe behind her incisors, but I will try to be extra sure tonight.

Thank you all for your comments / advice!
 
So tonight I gave her medicine again, and this time I just held the syringe in her mouth without pushing the plunger. I pulled the syringe back out and she began to do the behavior from the video before looking confused haha. So I think everyone was right; I must have gotten medicine on her chin once before and now she's learned to check all over herself for extra medicine goodness. Thank you everyone for your insight!
 
Our Hamish washes like this after his medicine too. Glad you solved the mystery.
 
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