N
ner188
I'm new to the guinea pig world, and I'm looking for opinions/experiences from seasoned guinea pig owners...
I bought a guinea pig for my daughter on May 29. We brought her home, and all was fine for a couple of days, then she stopped eating and started breathing laboriously and panting.
I took her to the vet the next morning, and while he wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with her (could be neurological; could be bacterial) he gave me antibiotics hoping for the best.
I gave Patches (our GP) the antibiotics for a week, and during that time, she got better. She ate well, and she acted totally normal.
The antibiotics ran out this past Saturday. Sunday she was fine. Monday she started acting funny... didn't want me to hold her. I blew it off thinking she just had a preference to my daughter since she seemed perfectly happy laying on my daughter's stomach and watching TV with her.
Wednesday, she got worse. She didn't eat like normal. By yesterday, she had stopped eating altogether, and she squeaked anytime you touched her sides.
I called the vet last night, and he said he would prescribe more antibiotics, since they seemed to work last time, but it may very well be neurological, for which he says there's no cure. Of course, I'm all for trying anything. We love our little girl, and we're totally heartbroken that she won't seem to stay healthy, but I don't know if I'm just prolonging the inevitable
Oh... One other thing.... Shortly before she started showing signs of sickness, I heard her running around her cage like crazy in the middle of the night. Usually, she would go in her house and sleep, so I thought it was odd.
Has anyone experienced this sort of situation with their guinea pig? Any comments are welcome.
Also, since I've had Patches, I've only seen her drink water once, and it doesn't look like the water ever goes down. She's been eating a 1/4 orange (sometimes more) every day, though, so do you think she may have been getting enough daily water from that?
I bought a guinea pig for my daughter on May 29. We brought her home, and all was fine for a couple of days, then she stopped eating and started breathing laboriously and panting.
I took her to the vet the next morning, and while he wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with her (could be neurological; could be bacterial) he gave me antibiotics hoping for the best.
I gave Patches (our GP) the antibiotics for a week, and during that time, she got better. She ate well, and she acted totally normal.
The antibiotics ran out this past Saturday. Sunday she was fine. Monday she started acting funny... didn't want me to hold her. I blew it off thinking she just had a preference to my daughter since she seemed perfectly happy laying on my daughter's stomach and watching TV with her.
Wednesday, she got worse. She didn't eat like normal. By yesterday, she had stopped eating altogether, and she squeaked anytime you touched her sides.
I called the vet last night, and he said he would prescribe more antibiotics, since they seemed to work last time, but it may very well be neurological, for which he says there's no cure. Of course, I'm all for trying anything. We love our little girl, and we're totally heartbroken that she won't seem to stay healthy, but I don't know if I'm just prolonging the inevitable
Oh... One other thing.... Shortly before she started showing signs of sickness, I heard her running around her cage like crazy in the middle of the night. Usually, she would go in her house and sleep, so I thought it was odd.
Has anyone experienced this sort of situation with their guinea pig? Any comments are welcome.
Also, since I've had Patches, I've only seen her drink water once, and it doesn't look like the water ever goes down. She's been eating a 1/4 orange (sometimes more) every day, though, so do you think she may have been getting enough daily water from that?