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11 week old runt losing weight

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Bananahan

New Born Pup
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Hi guys,

I'll stop by and introduce ourselves officially later...

I have three girls from a litter, 11 weeks old. They came with mange mites so have been treated with ivermectin for this.

They are 500g, 500g and 140g. The littlest is losing weight and now on panacur to check for worms, critical care and water by syringe. I know she may have something congenital and might not pull through but I'm wondering whether her issues are dental?

She eats ravenously but bites off the smallest bits and it takes her forever to eat anything. She can't eat pepper with skin, she doesn't eat leaves. We gave her banana this morning which she loved.

I'm considering getting a specialist vet to look at her, we live near Bath, can anyone recommend someone? I'll see if I can attach a video of her eating.....
 
Bananahan said:
Hi guys,

I'll stop by and introduce ourselves officially later...

I have three girls from a litter, 11 weeks old. They came with mange mites so have been treated with ivermectin for this.

They are 500g, 500g and 140g. The littlest is losing weight and now on panacur to check for worms, critical care and water by syringe. I know she may have something congenital and might not pull through but I'm wondering whether her issues are dental?

She eats ravenously but bites off the smallest bits and it takes her forever to eat anything. She can't eat pepper with skin, she doesn't eat leaves. We gave her banana this morning which she loved.

I'm considering getting a specialist vet to look at her, we live near Bath, can anyone recommend someone? I'll see if I can attach a video of her eating.....
Click to expand...

Hi!

Please off syringe feed but be extremely careful in letting her suck from the syringe tip instead of expressing more than she can hold and swallow at once; anything that goes down the wrong way will cause pneumonia in the very young and small.
Have her seen by a specialist vet as soon as possible. It sounds like potentially dental overgrowth due to misalignment of the teeth. Is your runt white and has noticeably smaller eyes than the mates?

Here is some helpful information:
Recommended Guinea Pig Vets
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Hand-rearing-and-support-feeding-orphans-and-tiny-babies.
 
She is predominantly white but has a ginger eye patch. She has dark eyes, not red. It sounds like it could be lethal white but I don't think her colouring quite fits the bill.

I'm giving her around 2ml a time in tiny mouthfuls. I'm trying to be careful but it's super difficult.
 
Bananahan said:
She is predominantly white but has a ginger eye patch. She has dark eyes, not red. It sounds like it could be lethal white but I don't think her colouring quite fits the bill.

I'm giving her around 2ml a time in tiny mouthfuls. I'm trying to be careful but it's super difficult.
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No, she is most definitely not a lethal. Dental misalignment and other congenital problems can happen in other piggies but I wanted to check for the most obvious thing first. The eating is suggesting that the mouth should be part of the health check at the vets, whether the problem is primary or secondary.

Please accept that we cannot (nor are we qualified to) replace a hands-on vet visit. We can at the best only guess and support you with our own owners' home care experience as much as possible during treatment and recovery but we can't tell you with just a glance what is wrong, as much as everybody wants to know what is going on right away. Unfortunately, popular online hip shot guessing games can send you in entirely the wrong direction and throwing all possible issues into the ring serves only to feed your anxiety.

All the best for the vet visit! Please let us know how you are getting on.
 
She clearly has some issues so it is well worth having her seen by a vet for a proper diagnosis.
Have a look at the Vet Locator List in the green bar at the top of the page.
This will allow you to search for a specialist vet to help your girl.

I would add that in difficult cases it is almost always worth travelling a little further and paying more to see someone who is experienced with guinea pigs.
Good luck and please let us know how you get on.
 
She visited the (out of hours! Eek!) vet and he couldn't see anything obvious wrong.

Are all the specialists on your resources list of the same calibre or is there somewhere great I could take her like the vet in Northampton I've read about?
 
Bananahan said:
She visited the (out of hours! Eek!) vet and he couldn't see anything obvious wrong.

Are all the specialists on your resources list of the same calibre or is there somewhere great I could take her like the vet in Northampton I've read about?
Click to expand...
In all honesty you will never go wrong with Northampton, so if it's at all possible I would try to get her seen there.
You will be 100% assured of seeing the best guinea pig vet in the UK.
Do be aware there is often a long waiting list so try to book an appointment asap.
 
Bananahan said:
She visited the (out of hours! Eek!) vet and he couldn't see anything obvious wrong.

Are all the specialists on your resources list of the same calibre or is there somewhere great I could take her like the vet in Northampton I've read about?
Click to expand...
The Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton would be the best place for any dental issues. They do on average about 15-25 guinea pig dentals each week - which is more than most vets see in a year or even in their whole career.
Please call and check whether Simon or Kim Maddock are there, though. It is the middle of summer holidays and they have a family.
Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic | Northlands Vets
 
After her initial disgust Clover LOVES her Critical Care. She's taking 6-9 mls now 4-5 times a day and I'm hoping that her weight will start to increase. She's been 148g the last two mornings so fingers crossed she's stopped losing now.20210806_183226.webp
 
Fingers crossed you can find out what the problem is and can sort it out for her 😍.
 
I would definitely recommend a trip to Northampton. Simon & Kim saved my Shy Little Meg's life last year. My vet (who is usually excellent with all things piggy) couldn't find out what was wrong with Meg. I took her up to see Kim and Simon last year and they diagnosed all sorts of problems the main ones being that she had tooth spurs lacerating her cheek (OUCH!) and a half paralysed face. Meg was determined to live so I was determined to help her and together we got her as well as she's ever going to be and she's still with us and very healthy. I took Meg to Northampton twice in two weeks. It's certainly worth going if you can. Hope your little girl has a lovely long life.
 
Poor little Clover.
She’s so cute.
Hope you can get her teeth sorted out.
It sounds as if she’s in excellent hands with you.

When I’ve had to feed Critical Care I add in a small bit of mashed banana. All mine love it.
You may want to try grated carrot or sweet potato with some plain oats mixed in.
I find that helps with weight and it’s easy to eat.
 
Betsy said:
I would definitely recommend a trip to Northampton. Simon & Kim saved my Shy Little Meg's life last year. My vet (who is usually excellent with all things piggy) couldn't find out what was wrong with Meg. I took her up to see Kim and Simon last year and they diagnosed all sorts of problems the main ones being that she had tooth spurs lacerating her cheek (OUCH!) and a half paralysed face. Meg was determined to live so I was determined to help her and together we got her as well as she's ever going to be and she's still with us and very healthy. I took Meg to Northampton twice in two weeks. It's certainly worth going if you can. Hope your little girl has a lovely long life.
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Northampton can't book anything before sometime in September so we are seeing exotics in Bristol on Monday to see if they can pinpoint what's going on. I'm not sure if they do conscious dentals.

Clover is a fighter too, we can't let her go without a fight! I'm so glad they saved your Meg!
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Book September at Cat and Rabbit Clinic. Then you can ring at 8 am any morning snd get one of their emergency slots. I would really urge you to do that rather than go elsewhere xx
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It's a 7 hour round trip for us so it's pretty difficult to do last minute.... it's potentially doable while I'm off work through the summer but I feel like we need to explore locally before committing to travelling that far.
 
They have emergency appointments throughout the whole day. I’ve had ones at 6.:20. Maybe see what the other vets say, but I fear they’ll advise euthanasia. I’ve seen this happen so many times. Don’t agree to it, while she’s still wanting to fight on.
 
I know the Cat & Rabbit clinic is probably the best in the country but it isn’t always possible to get there so don’t feel guilty about going to another vet.
I haven’t checked the earlier post in this thread but I know there are a couple of reputable rescues in Bristol who will know good vets.
We lived in Marlborough until a couple of years ago and used Drove Vets. Their hospital in Swindon was excellent and I was always very happy with them.
Holding you in my thoughts
 
Many years ago, we had a tiny piggy, called Hazel, arrive here at TEAS, as she hadn't grown. She weighed 124g and was three months old. When our vet, Simon Maddock, checked her teeth, they were dreadful. She clearly wasn't able to eat very much, which was the reason she wasn't growing. Simon filed her teeth and got them to the right length and Hazel started to gain weight. She needed treatment over a few months, but her dental issues resolved completely! We did wonder if Hazel would remain small, but she caught up and lived to the grand age of 8 years.
 
I live in Swindon and Drove Vets is my usual vet. I have never had any bad experience with them. They have different branches around Swindon . Go to the main hospital at Croft.
 
weepweeps said:
I live in Swindon and Drove Vets is my usual vet. I have never had any bad experience with them. They have different branches around Swindon . Go to the main hospital at Croft.
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Have your pigs had dentals here?
 
Bananahan said:
Have your pigs had dentals here?
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Hello. Yes. Quite a long time ago (about 10 years ago) and the piggy didn’t survive 🙁. Not very positive for you. Sorry. But things have moved on since then. Maybe give them a call and have a chat. They are a very good practice. With very good vets. I’m phoning them tomorrow to try and get my piggy in for a check up (mites or fungal issues).
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Many years ago, we had a tiny piggy, called Hazel, arrive here at TEAS, as she hadn't grown. She weighed 124g and was three months old. When our vet, Simon Maddock, checked her teeth, they were dreadful. She clearly wasn't able to eat very much, which was the reason she wasn't growing. Simon filed her teeth and got them to the right length and Hazel started to gain weight. She needed treatment over a few months, but her dental issues resolved completely! We did wonder if Hazel would remain small, but she caught up and lived to the grand age of 8 years.
Click to expand...
This really gives me hope!
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
They have emergency appointments throughout the whole day. I’ve had ones at 6.:20. Maybe see what the other vets say, but I fear they’ll advise euthanasia. I’ve seen this happen so many times. Don’t agree to it, while she’s still wanting to fight on.
Click to expand...
I won't euthanase any time soon. She's a fighter! She Loves her Critical Care and she's up to 157g from 141g 6 days ago.
20210808_201842.webp
 
I haven’t had dentals done at Drove but they were wonderful with Micah when he has post neuter complications.
He was a pathetic scrap of piggy then and I’m sure their competence meant his survival.
 
Bananahan said:
I have asked our vet for a referral to our nearest exotics specialist. If they confirm teeth are the issue I'll definitely consider driving the 7 hour round trip to Northampton.

Thanks for all your help everyone, feeling a little less stressed now!
Click to expand...
You don’t need a referral just give them a call. They have emergency appointments daily so ring at 8.00 am prompt as they go very fast. Otherwise you can book an appointment for when it suits but sometimes they are booked for 2 weeks in advance so an emergency appt would be your best bet.
Simon and Kim are amazing guinea pig vets especially when it comes to dental problems. They will do any work there and then at your appt and it’s all done consciously so no nasty general anaesthetic to worry about.
We used to travel from Cornwall with our dental piggie Ted from Cornwall, well worth every mile!
Good luck x
 
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