• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Worried Mama :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
piglet_and_rogers_mama

piglet_and_rogers_mama

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
2,353
Reaction score
471
Points
645
Location
Pennsylvania
Hey everyone, I know it's been a while, hope everyone and their fur babies are doing well! xx
Anyway, I'm pretty worried about Roger...got him an emergency vet visit in an hour. He's all puffy, poop looks stringy, and I just have a funny feeling. Pig-intuition, I guess. I had already had an appointment for him on Monday because he has a little lump under his grease gland I wanted looked at, but I went down to feed him, and I can tell he shouldn't wait till Monday. He's still eating, so i'm hoping he'll be ok! Wish us luck.
 
Well back from the vet. She took an x-ray because of the bump under his gland. She said it showed that there is some extra gas in his intestines which might be causing him discomfort, but not so much that she's worried. The bump is bone, apparently. The xray shows that it's part of his spine and is a little "humped" up, but there's no break or anything, which could also be causing discomfort, but since he has no injury i'm aware of idk where that came from. She thinks that if we put a little weight on him (he's at about 2.5 lbs, down a little bit) the bony part won't be so obvious. She wants me to give him a probiotic, and supplement him with critical care. He's still eating on his own, and pooping (but they are small and almost yellow), so she wants to get his guts on track before she gives him pain meds. I'm supposed to make sure he gets strict rest, and to keep a close eye on his input and output over the next few days. Hopefully it's ok that I won't be able to get the probiotic until tomorrow.
 
piglet_and_rogers_mama said:
Well back from the vet. She took an x-ray because of the bump under his gland. She said it showed that there is some extra gas in his intestines which might be causing him discomfort, but not so much that she's worried. The bump is bone, apparently. The xray shows that it's part of his spine and is a little "humped" up, but there's no break or anything, which could also be causing discomfort, but since he has no injury i'm aware of idk where that came from. She thinks that if we put a little weight on him (he's at about 2.5 lbs, down a little bit) the bony part won't be so obvious. She wants me to give him a probiotic, and supplement him with critical care. He's still eating on his own, and pooping (but they are small and almost yellow), so she wants to get his guts on track before she gives him pain meds. I'm supposed to make sure he gets strict rest, and to keep a close eye on his input and output over the next few days. Hopefully it's ok that I won't be able to get the probiotic until tomorrow.
Click to expand...
awww poor little dude :( One of my 5 year old guinea pigs has a fatty lump on one side of her belly and then a small calcium buildup on the other side lol! They are both very small and have not changed in size. I got the pigs a few months ago and I know in their last home they didn't receive any veggies or hay, just pellets. The vet said that neither lumps were cancerous and she didn't want to have the pig sedated as she's a pretty old lady. They don't hurt her at all and the vet just suggested that I not feed her much for calcium rich veggies- which I generally don't anyhow. She's quite happily plodding along even in her senior years lol
 
poor Roger, his poo's sound like he has gas trapped like she has saw in xray. Make sure he is eating lots of hay. Did she give you any gut stim to push things through? Eating is a very good sign.
 
No she didn't, she said that she wasn't too concerned about it, because there wasn't an alarming amount showing, and since he is still pooing and eating. But she did emphasize to keep a very close eye out, and to call asap if anything changes. Do you think it's ok to wait until tomorrow to get the probiotic? They didn't have any in stock, and I won't be able to get to the store till tomorrow. She said the critical care might even be enough to get him back on track.
 
piglet_and_rogers_mama said:
And @Wiebke, she did say that she doesn't think he is dehydrated, but I will also keep a close eye on his water intake as well!
Click to expand...

It is good that your vet has recommended probiotic and recovery food to help stabilise the guts with more fibre. Stringy poos are a sign that something is not working fully. I would recommend that you cut out or at least severely restrict any veg until the poo is stable again for at least 1-2 days and then re-introduce them only slowly. That will hopefully take care of the gassing. You can also feed "poo soup" made by soaking fresh poos from a healthy piggy in some boiled, cooled water. Syringe the water; even normal poos contain digestive bacteria etc. that can help stock up the guts with the "right" stuff. While it is a bit gross, it is usually quite a hit with an ill piggy. In an emergency, you can always mush up some pellets with boiled, cooled water.

Here are our hand feeding tips: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/
 
Hope he improves over tonight.
If his poos haven;t improved within 24hrs (or get worse) then please go back to vet and insist on gut stimulants - emeprid/zantac and cisapride.
x
 
Ugh rough night. Just got back from the emergency department. I went down to check on him and his belly sounded hollow. Well $484 dollars and xrays and blood work later, they've decided that there is a substantial mass in his abdomen. They don't know what it is. I've gotten 10 days of antibiotics incase it's an abscess, 10 days of pain killers, and instructions to contact a surgeon. He's 4 years old, and still relatively feisty, so they think he might benefit from surgery. He was given subcue fluids at the vet. I'm to continue the CC and see how that goes. They said his blood work looked good, but they couldn't get a lot without sedation, and I didn't want to do that. They said whatever is going on might be part of why his tum is having problems. I don't know what to think. Right now he's pretty out of it because of the pain killers. I just want him to feel better. He only just started acting unwell...how long could he have had this mass? Is it possible it's an abcess? I just want to cry. Just for reference: the pain med is Buprenorphine, and I think Bactrim antibiotic. I'm supposed to syringe feed him, but he's so out of it, i'm afraid he'll choke. :no:
 
Last edited:
He isn't as enthusiastic about CC today, but on the other hand his poop looks a little better, so I don't know what to think. I gave him a piece of green pepper to see if he'd take it, and possibly encourage him to eat on his own, and he's tearing it up! So I think it's a waiting game at this point, he has meds and still wants his favorite food so I'm definitely hoping for a Christmas miracle!
 
Hope Roger is feeling better! It's so scary when they're unwell but he sounds like he's a little fighter :) Seems like a good sign that he's making an effort to eat and that his poo looks better. Fingers crossed all goes well!
 
Thank you for asking. :) He is hanging in there. He is devouring a pile of hay as we speak, which I couldn't be more thrilled about. But, he still doesn't seem to be interested in his pellets, so I am still supplementing him with CC. He still has pretty light colored poops, but they are getting bigger in size. Still on the antibiotics, but I haven't given him any pain meds lately because he is more active so I don't think he's in pain, plus it really seems to wipe him out (I never thought I'd see a guinea pig look stoned, but what can you do! :))). Plus he seems excessively thirsty, so I have been making sure he is getting enough fluid. I'm just glad he has improved so much!
 
So Roger is doing pretty well. He is still on his antibiotics, which has made an incredible change in his wellbeing so it makes me wonder if whatever "mass" they thought they saw was some kind of infection, or maybe not a mass at all. He is eating hay on his own, and drinking, but still not interested in pellets. I know the antibiotics can upset stomachs, and I have been providing probiotics and CC, but when should he be eating pellets on his own? I don't mind syringe feeding, but I would love to see him eat on his own. Any ideas?
 
Not sure if this is always the case but when Daisy was on antibiotics she didn't eat pellets until she was off the antibiotics and the vet said this was completely normal - he actually advised me to take them out for that time as hay and fresh veggies are far more important, particularly when they aren't well. Once she was well again she was back to devouring pellets. So I wouldn't worry about him not eating pellets for the time being as long as he's eating hay and veggies as usual, which is sounds like he is. In saying that, Daisy wasn't on probiotics or CC so I can't say for sure whether that makes a difference.

I'd say just give him time :) he sounds like he's doing really well considering so I wouldn't rush into syringing him pellets unless your vet thinks he really needs them.
 
Ugh just when I think he's improving, something else happens. I went down to look at him and he was all puffy, and his right eye looked goopy. He's still on his antibiotics, and has no other symptoms of URI, so I can't imagine what would be causing that. On the plus side, he has been more enthusiastic about food in general, and is eating pellets on his own. Is it possible that he's just still not feeling well because of the antibiotics, and honestly I haven't given him any probiotic or critical care in about 2 days because I've been all over the place for New Years. What should I think? He has a couple doses left of the antibiotic, and several doses of the pain meds left (I just gave him some because he looked so miserable). I could take him to the vet, but what can they do? He's pooing and peeing and has been on antbis for almost ten days, so I highly doubt theres an infection. It's just frustrating, I feel like each vet said something different, and after the 500ish dollars I've already spent, it's starting to hurt! :(
 
Oh no, it's horrible when it seems like just one thing after another :( Is it possible he just has something stuck in his eye? I doubt that would explain him being puffy, but if he has no other URI symptoms and is still on antibiotics that could be it. I've got Pippy on eye cream at the moment because she got a scratch in her eye. When you say it looks goopy, how so? Is it watery/cloudy/swollen/etc? It could possibly be an ulcer as well.

I'm so glad to hear he's been eating so well! How are his poos? The fact that he's eating more makes me doubt it's the lack of probiotics affecting him, but I'm definitely not an expert. You're probably best off getting him to a vet. They'll put dye in his eye to see if there's a scratch if there's no ulcer or nothing stuck in there. I loved the dye, it glows in the dark! Haha. If it's just an eye problem they're generally pretty easy and cheap to fix. I can imagine how frustrating it is to have spent so much money and still have conflicting advice from vets.

Best of luck x
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top