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Worried my Boar is dying post surgery.

AbbieMiddleton

AbbieMiddleton

Junior Guinea Pig
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Location
Hucknall, Nottingham.
Hi,

I'm just looking for advice and support please while my boar is with the emergency vet.

Friday afternoon he had a large abscess removal from his chin along with his front left, bottom incisor. This was with Simon in Northampton. There's no other vet I would have trusted.
My boar, Noop, has been largely unresponsive since. Simon said it could take a day or two for Noop to get back to normal but we're 48 hours in and he seems worse. He won't eat unaided but could yesterday. I'm feeding CC at regular intervals. His guts are working from what I can tell but he became impacted yesterday which I cleaned out; This is not uncommon for him though as an older boar and 'lazy pooper'. He's on Fibreplex, Oxbox CC, Pro-C Probiotics, Loxicom and Metronidazole. (Zithromax had previously disagreed with him.)

He was taking his feeds ok up until about an hour ago. He's pushing the CC directly out of his mouth and onto me. He can chew but it's very slow and disinterested. Sometimes he's just holding the CC feed in his mouth and doing nothing. His weight last night before bed was 1120g, after a feed. His weight this morning was still 1120g but that does include a 5am feed also.

I feel like I'm losing this battle. I've only seen this twice before and both sows passed away. He can move but doesn't seem to want to. I haven't seen him wee but he does have a slight, white discharge on his genitals which looks like the residue of a calcium rich urination. It's not grainy or sludgy. His poops are either normal, impacted or on the smaller side. His tummy is soft but there's a slight sloshing sound if i jiggle it around.

Please, does anyone have any advice? How can I help him rally? I feel I'm running out of time and nervous about what the emergency vet might suggest.
 
I’m so sorry. It sounds like you are doing everything you can at the moment. See what the vet recommends. I hope there is something they can do for him. 🤞🏻

I’ve had a piggy with a tooth root abscess. I took him Cat and Rabbit too. He completely stopped eating afterwards for about 8 weeks because of the Zithromax but he was fine after the anaesthetic.

I also had a piggy with a bladder stone and he didn’t recover well from the anaesthetic and passed away about 4 days later. He wouldn’t eat or move around much afterwards.

I so sorry. I hope your piggy is ok. Sending hugs to you.
 
Thank you. My sow has had multiple operations with Simon for abcesses and has always bounced back instantly afterwards. This is very different but I don't know why. Noop was eating grass yesterday but won't touch it today. This happened before, but not to full anorexia extent, when he was on Zithromax last February but as soon as we took him off it he was fine within a week or so. He only started his antibiotics yesterday morning. I honestly don't know what to do.
 
Quick update: The emergency vet has listened to his stomach and it sounds OK, albeit a little empty. We rushed him to the vet in the middle of an unsuccessful feed. There doesn't appear to be any bloat. His heart sounds fine but his temperature is a little below average but not in the danger zone. She's advised increasing the Loxicom dosage because she believes his lack of appetite to be pain related. He's on dog strength, 0.4ml twice a day, already though. The alternative is to try an opioid, I'll assume Vetergesic, but I don't agree with that as he's already very spaced out from having it on Friday. (I think that's what is used as GA for Guineas but I'm probably misinformed.)
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Quick update: The emergency vet has listened to his stomach and it sounds OK, albeit a little empty. We rushed him to the vet in the middle of an unsuccessful feed. There doesn't appear to be any bloat. His heart sounds fine but his temperature is a little below average but not in the danger zone. She's advised increasing the Loxicom dosage because she believes his lack of appetite to be pain related. He's on dog strength, 0.4ml twice a day, already though. The alternative is to try an opioid, I'll assume Vetergesic, but I don't agree with that as he's already very spaced out from having it on Friday. (I think that's what is used as GA for Guineas but I'm probably misinformed.)
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I agree with you, up the Metacam, if he is still spaced out the other will make him more so. Hope little Noop pulls through. If he is still not right give them a ring tomorrow first thing at 8.00 am they do have emergency appointments at the C&R
 
weepweeps said:
I’m so sorry. It sounds like you are doing everything you can at the moment. See what the vet recommends. I hope there is something they can do for him. 🤞🏻

I’ve had a piggy with a tooth root abscess. I took him Cat and Rabbit too. He completely stopped eating afterwards for about 8 weeks because of the Zithromax but he was fine after the anaesthetic.

I also had a piggy with a bladder stone and he didn’t recover well from the anaesthetic and passed away about 4 days later. He wouldn’t eat or move around much afterwards.

I so sorry. I hope your piggy is ok. Sending hugs to you.
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I'm so sorry, I didn't read your message fully as I'm in panic mode. I'm really sorry you lost a piggy post surgery. 😥
 
Bill & Ted said:
I agree with you, up the Metacam, if he is still spaced out the other will make him more so. Hope little Noop pulls through. If he is still not right give them a ring tomorrow first thing at 8.00 am they do have emergency appointments at the C&R
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The vet has said that she doesn't think he's spaced out, as such, but that he's so focused on his pain that he's not interested looking beyond it.
We've declined the Vetergesic. Initially we panic agreed but I remember one of my sows having it a few years ago and it was an awful experience. She offered for us to stay in the practice for half an hour post dose but we've refused it being administered. We can't up the Loxicom as he's already at max dosage but she's recommended Calpol as a top up alternative until the pain from surgery begins to subside. Has anyone heard of this?

She's giving him an emeprid injection and solution to bring home. He's having 20 minutes of hydration applied. We're also being given some hydration medication.
 
Thank you, Weepweeps. We've asked for Gabapentin as a precaution as I was uncomfortable with the Calpol. I've not used Gabapentin before as Simon usually prescribed Tramadol for us in the past. Noop is around 1.1kg, so perhaps his Loxicom dosage can't be raised much more.
 
Noop has just come home but with a chain-linked string of poops? This is very much worrying me. His poop was fairly acceptable just before he left.
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Noop has just come home but with a chain-linked string of poops? This is very much worrying me. His poop was fairly acceptable just before he left.
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Don’t forget poops are 24 hours behind so that least his guts are starting to move. These may be from the around the time of the operation, so hopefully things will improve. I’ve not heard of Calpol for pets but it’s just paracetamol based for children
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Thank you, Weepweeps. We've asked for Gabapentin as a precaution as I was uncomfortable with the Calpol. I've not used Gabapentin before as Simon usually prescribed Tramadol for us in the past. Noop is around 1.1kg, so perhaps his Loxicom dosage can't be raised much more.
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I'm sorry Noop is struggling post surgery.

I would tend to agree with you about avoiding Vetergesic. When Squeaks needed an additional pain relief for his arthritis, dental pain and then oral thrush a year ago Kim Maddock prescribed Gabapentin for him. He was on 0.4ml of Metacam dog twice daily too, when he weighed 1.1kg, Kim said it could go up to 0.5ml if absolutely necessary.

I hope he starts to improve soon x 💓
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Noop has just come home but with a chain-linked string of poops? This is very much worrying me. His poop was fairly acceptable just before he left.
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Hi

HUGS

I am very sorry.

Please keep in mind that it takes any food 1-2 days to pass through the system and come out at the other end. The string of poops is not related to the vet visit but to what has happened in the run up and your difficulty of getting food into him. You always see some funny poos after an operation.

It can occasionally happen even with the best of vets that a piggy is having a bad reaction to GA; less with Simon because they use isoflurane and not vetergesic but even then it is not perfect. All you can do is to hang on in there, keep feeding little but often, as much as you can get into him, and see whether you can bag an emergency appointment first thing tomorrow.
Staying off vetergesic was good idea.

Fingers very firmly crossed.
 
Thank you all, I'm really having a bit of a wobble at the moment. Received a 'no fault' eviction notice this morning only an hour before Noop needed rushing to the vet. Goodness me, I don't want to be an adult anymore...

Noop is still disinterested in moving but is capable. His poop is normalising and no longer linked. His weight is 1140g after hydration at the vet and some very firm support feeding from myself. He's eaten a small strip of cucumber, which I know means very little, but it's nice to see.
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Thank you all, I'm really having a bit of a wobble at the moment. Received a 'no fault' eviction notice this morning only an hour before Noop needed rushing to the vet. Goodness me, I don't want to be an adult anymore...

Noop is still disinterested in moving but is capable. His poop is normalising and no longer linked. His weight is 1140g after hydration at the vet and some very firm support feeding from myself. He's eaten a small strip of cucumber, which I know means very little, but it's nice to see.
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BIG HUGS

I'm so sorry. That really is a lot to deal with at once! :yikes:

Hang on in there for Noop. It sounds like you are turning the corner there.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
It might be the antibiotic. I’ve used both Metronidazole and Zithromax with no issues, but my friends piggy had a bad reaction to Metronidazole xx
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Thanks, Debbie. We used Zithromax with Floof all last year and this year. We used it with Noop in February too and his health plummeted straight away and Simon advised ending the course. Simon switched to Metronidazole on this occasion because of Noop's previous reaction to Zithromax. Do I need to just push him through this with support feeds and abscess wound flushing or are there other options?
 
AbbieMiddleton said:
Thank you all, I'm really having a bit of a wobble at the moment. Received a 'no fault' eviction notice this morning only an hour before Noop needed rushing to the vet. Goodness me, I don't want to be an adult anymore...

Noop is still disinterested in moving but is capable. His poop is normalising and no longer linked. His weight is 1140g after hydration at the vet and some very firm support feeding from myself. He's eaten a small strip of cucumber, which I know means very little, but it's nice to see.
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It's still good progress 👍
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I’d speak to Simon. Where is the abscess?
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The root abscess was bottom left of his chin, really quite far back and low. Almost his throat as it was dangling. It was a tiny bump one day and three days later, the day of surgery, you could fully grab it. Simon said they're generally the easiest to deal with because of gravity, if that helps? However, Noop needed the bottom left incisor removed too because it was wobbly. Simon did both at once Friday afternoon as the issues were connected. The wound is quite large but the post surgery swelling is slowly reducing. I'm hoping it'll look less intimidating in the next day or so.
I was very prepared to deal with it after managing Floof's multiple abscesses and two tooth removals (!) but I didn't anticipate Noop reacting like this. I can't tell if it's him not recovering from the GA, antibiotics or something else.

We've added Gabapentin in at 0.2ml every 8 hours. It's a 60mg/150ml solution, as far as I can tell. Emeprid is in the mix too now. We'll ring Simon tomorrow.

I hope I'm doing everything right so far...
 
You are doing great 😊 Hang in there till tomorrow and give them a ring. Hope Noop starts to recover now you have more pain relief 🤞
 
Oh my gosh, you are dealing with so much right now! Poor little Noop, at least he has you by his side during all of this! I don't have any advice, but I know he must be so thankful to have you taking care of him. I wish the best of luck to you and Noop!
 
You are doing everything right @AbbieMiddleton. Keep going. It’s up to Noop to help himself too.

Good luck. I hope this is the road to recovery. Like I said I’ve had a piggy with a tooth root abscess and he lost his tooth a few weeks later. It was a long slog. ❤️
 
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