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5 month old drooling and not eating

K

kattaylor52

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 18, 2026
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Location
Devon
Hi,
Looking for some advice please.
I have a tiny 5 month old, always been happy and healthy so far up until Sunday morning when I noticed he was all wet and grubby.
Realised the wet was drool so took him out to take a look at him and he was still very lively.
I separated him on Sunday afternoon to monitor if he was eating drinking or going to the toilet, after a few hours realised he was doing none of those things.
Started syringe feeding Sunday afternoon with critical care every hour or 2.
Over night there was a couple of tiny dry poos and a couple of wees in the cage.
I’ve continued syringe feeding constantly but he’s just the same- no better and no worse.
I’ve searched the local area for an exotic vet but not much comes up. Also I could take him for a consultation but then I couldn’t afford to treat him if it’s hundreds of pounds so do we think it’s likely it could be something simple like teeth even at only a few month old?
He’s only alive because I’m feeding him but obviously I won’t stop this but how long can I go on like this for. He’s dropped a little bit of weight over night.
What would you do? Please help
 
He needs to see a vet urgently. If you phone the vets in your local area and ask them if they will see a guinea pig they can do a basic assessment which is a start. They can refer him to a more specialised vet if necessary and this should not cost a huge amount. Only a qualified vet can diagnose and treat your little one.
 
Thank you for your reply.
I took him to the vet and he had to be PTS.
They couldn’t determine what had happened to him to make him so poorly.
He had no temperature, only issue was the drooling but his teeth looked fine and couldn’t see anything blocking his mouth or throat.
I’m now panicking about my remaining boy and worried it was something he’s now going to come down with.
Also we did lose another male guinea pig a few months ago so now I’m also wondering is this all related.
I’ve removed the remaining male from his cage and he’s going to be living indoors until I can decide what to do, I don’t want to get him a friend is he is then going to die as well.
Any advice welcome
 
kattaylor52 said:
Thank you for your reply.
I took him to the vet and he had to be PTS.
They couldn’t determine what had happened to him to make him so poorly.
He had no temperature, only issue was the drooling but his teeth looked fine and couldn’t see anything blocking his mouth or throat.
I’m now panicking about my remaining boy and worried it was something he’s now going to come down with.
Also we did lose another male guinea pig a few months ago so now I’m also wondering is this all related.
I’ve removed the remaining male from his cage and he’s going to be living indoors until I can decide what to do, I don’t want to get him a friend is he is then going to die as well.
Any advice welcome
Click to expand...
I’m so sorry for your loss. Sending you hugs. I would think it was something genetic as you said he was very small. You definitely did everything you could. Popcorn high over the bridge gorgeous piggy. ❤️
 
I'm sorry you've lost two guinea pigs within a short time. That's really hard.

Please try not to panic. Imagining worst case scenarios is seldom helpful. Instead I would suggest reading the very thorough information on guineas which you can find pinned at the top of sub-forums. Maybe start with info for new owners? Somewhere there will be info on the weekly health check for owners to do, and I'd suggest you start that for your remaining boy.
 
I am very sorry to hear this sad news. I hope your remaining piggy will be OK. Yes, best to see if he is healthy before getting another piggy. Living indoors is definitely better. Sleep softly over the bridge little one 🌈
 
Thank you everyone.
I’m hoping maybe we’ve just had very bad luck recently and everything will be ok.
We’ve had Guinea pigs for 30 years so not new to this and never had to take any to a vet before so I’d say we’ve been extremely lucky if I try to look at the positives
 
Hi

BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for your losses.
Please be aware that the symptoms you are reporting can have different causes.

If it helps you, at the start of 2017 I lost 3 of my guinea pigs that presented with sudden strong salivation, the inability to swallow and no tooth trouble whatsoever; they all had to be put to sleep there and then (in fact, in the case of two of them I took them to the out-of-hours vets for that purpose.
Maelog was found to have a blockage in the gut when I took him to an experienced guinea pig vet. Only 3 days later I was at the out-of-hours vets with another salivating piggy, Papi, where I had to get a ver old-fashioned vet with not the first idea about guinea pigs to please have a look at the back of her mouth and not send me home with oral baytril for a piggy that can no longer swallow. He was visibly shocked when he found a large swelling at the back of the mouth which had swelled the esophagus shut; it was not visible from the outside. The third one was Angharad who quite simply lost the ability to swallow from neurological causes.

Of course it really shook me because salivation is not the most common symptom and to lose three in such a close cluster was very unusual. However, it was just my human wiring to make sense and somehow seek the cause with ourselves - it turned out to be simply a coincidence of three totally unrelated, not transmittable issues. I have had nearly 100 guinea pigs passing through my life now and the only other drooling piggy had an incisor root abscess.

I know that you are in shock right now and that your thoughts are racing around right now, latching onto worst case scenarios. Since we do not know what your other piggies have died from, we cannot help you bat those out of the tennis court right now.

Please be kind with yourself. Occasionally you come up against some strange issues and it is hard to wrap your mind around. As humans, we are wired to reflect everything back onto ourselves in some shape and form. Your mind is obviously going down the lane of infection having been passed on somehow because you have put the boys together. It is frankly highly unlikely but it is a very normal trauma response to try and connect things just to try and make sense because there is no connection and no guilt or failure of yours - and that is for your mind the most difficult thing to cope with right now. Accepting that stuff happens totally randomly is not something we humans are wired to deal with well.

You may find this link here helpful in making more sense of what you are currently experiencing.
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

If you find that you keep stuck on this idea of dealing with an infection even though there are no obvious signs for one, please contact the free pet bereavement platforms of the Blue Cross. Talking is the best thing you can do.
Pet Loss Support

We are also offering to move this thread for ongoing community bereavement support to our End of Life and Bereavement Support section if you wish to as digesting all of this and your other losses that have come up again is not something you can just come out of quickly.

I hope that this helps you? It is very difficult for you to get your racing thoughts under control right now; if you find it impossible, please speak to the Blue Cross
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for your losses.
Please be aware that the symptoms you are reporting can have different causes.

If it helps you, at the start of 2017 I lost 3 of my guinea pigs that presented with sudden strong salivation, the inability to swallow and no tooth trouble whatsoever; they all had to be put to sleep there and then (in fact, in the case of two of them I took them to the out-of-hours vets for that purpose.
Maelog was found to have a blockage in the gut when I took him to an experienced guinea pig vet. Only 3 days later I was at the out-of-hours vets with another salivating piggy, Papi, where I had to get a ver old-fashioned vet with not the first idea about guinea pigs to please have a look at the back of her mouth and not send me home with oral baytril for a piggy that can no longer swallow. He was visibly shocked when he found a large swelling at the back of the mouth which had swelled the esophagus shut; it was not visible from the outside. The third one was Angharad who quite simply lost the ability to swallow from neurological causes.

Of course it really shook me because salivation is not the most common symptom and to lose three in such a close cluster was very unusual. However, it was just my human wiring to make sense and somehow seek the cause with ourselves - it turned out to be simply a coincidence of three totally unrelated, not transmittable issues. I have had nearly 100 guinea pigs passing through my life now and the only other drooling piggy had an incisor root abscess.

I know that you are in shock right now and that your thoughts are racing around right now, latching onto worst case scenarios. Since we do not know what your other piggies have died from, we cannot help you bat those out of the tennis court right now.

Please be kind with yourself. Occasionally you come up against some strange issues and it is hard to wrap your mind around. As humans, we are wired to reflect everything back onto ourselves in some shape and form. Your mind is obviously going down the lane of infection having been passed on somehow because you have put the boys together. It is frankly highly unlikely but it is a very normal trauma response to try and connect things just to try and make sense because there is no connection and no guilt or failure of yours - and that is for your mind the most difficult thing to cope with right now. Accepting that stuff happens totally randomly is not something we humans are wired to deal with well.

You may find this link here helpful in making more sense of what you are currently experiencing.
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children

If you find that you keep stuck on this idea of dealing with an infection even though there are no obvious signs for one, please contact the free pet bereavement platforms of the Blue Cross. Talking is the best thing you can do.
Pet Loss Support

We are also offering to move this thread for ongoing community bereavement support to our End of Life and Bereavement Support section if you wish to as digesting all of this and your other losses that have come up again is not something you can just come out of quickly.

I hope that this helps you? It is very difficult for you to get your racing thoughts under control right now; if you find it impossible, please speak to the Blue Cross
Click to expand...
Thank you this is really kind and helpful as I’m definitely spiralling right now!

What you say makes sense and when I think about it logically the other piggy we lost a few months ago was presenting with completely different symptoms- I think he had pneumonia as he started with gunky eyes and then nose and it all happened really fast, he never stopped eating or drinking.

We then had our remaining male by himself for 6 weeks to ensure he was ok so surely something would have shown up during that time.

After the 6 weeks we deemed it safe to introduce a new friend and they bonded amazingly before this happened today.

So now I’ll keep him alone again for weeks to see how how is and then consider another friend but this will be his third one, the poor guy, he thrives with a cage mate so this is just so heartbreaking

Not the mention how my children are feeling 😢
 
kattaylor52 said:
Thank you this is really kind and helpful as I’m definitely spiralling right now!

What you say makes sense and when I think about it logically the other piggy we lost a few months ago was presenting with completely different symptoms- I think he had pneumonia as he started with gunky eyes and then nose and it all happened really fast, he never stopped eating or drinking.

We then had our remaining male by himself for 6 weeks to ensure he was ok so surely something would have shown up during that time.

After the 6 weeks we deemed it safe to introduce a new friend and they bonded amazingly before this happened today.

So now I’ll keep him alone again for weeks to see how how is and then consider another friend but this will be his third one, the poor guy, he thrives with a cage mate so this is just so heartbreaking

Not the mention how my children are feeling 😢
Click to expand...

HUGS

I am very sorry. At this young age it is more likely either a genetic neurological timebomb, something stuck or a blockage further back than your vet could see. What it is most definitely NOT is an infection and certainly not something that has anything whatsoever to do with a URI.

It is quite simply a tragic coincidence that you are dealing with two deaths so close to each other.

It doesn't make your loss less painful but it hopefully stops your mental rocket from exploding somewhere in the stratophere.

Here is our information pack for parents if you find that helpful: Pet Death: How To Tell The Children? (Tips and Resources)

This guide here deals with the various challenges on what you can do for any bereaved companion immediately and in the longer term. Members from this forum can also help with practical tips and personal experiences.
Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig
 
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