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Advice needed on poorly baby piggie.

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sharonS

sharonS

Adult Guinea Pig
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Her symptoms are lathargic, eyes not as bright as a healthy guinea should be, on listening to her side there is a slight click when she breaths with laboured breathing on resting. She was eating and drinking this morning, but is not interested in a slice of cucumber this afternoon. I have syringed her small amounts of critical care and she has eaten that. I was wondering if I could give her some calpol to see if it helps the symptoms but not sure how much. She only weighs 290gms she was 300 a couple of days ago. All advice much appreciated.
 
Do you know how old she is?

Will she accept Goat's milk if you soak some brown bread in it (warmed milk)?

You have to be so careful syringing babies because it can choke them. You could use a cotton bud to offer her milk.

I'm not sure about Calpol dosage as she is sooo small :(

Hope she is ok

Sophie
x
 
Hi Sharon I'm sorry to here your piggie's not well. I think a trip to the vets is in order, it might be a respitary problem if her breathing doesn't sound right but I'm certainly no expert I just know from experience when they don't want cucumber it's not good. Make sure she keeps drinking, they dehydrate so fast.
Hope she gets better soon.

Kate x
 
I would go to the vets asap young piggies can go down hill in a blink of an eye!
 
She was eating ok, managing cucumber and carrots this morning. I have got a one ml syringe with the end cut off given her very small amounts of CC and she has been eating it, but she is not acting like you would expect a baby guinea of that age to act, they are normally zipping about. Having said that she won't zip about if she is not 100%.
 
I doubt very much whether a LRTI would occur with such a rapid onset.
Was she inbred?
 
If you have been syringe feeding her, she could have aspirated some of the liquid. This gives a 'clicky' sound when breathing if this is the case.

I would get her to the vets asap as it's critical if she has aspirated accidently.

Good luck
 
Been to the vets, unfortunatley the vet we saw wasn't very knowledgable with small animals, but she was able to tell me that there wasn't a problem with her heart or breathing, she has a problem with her abdomen, didn't feel hard she said, but wasn't sure what the problem could be. She gave her a metacam shot 0.5mls, and refered me to a vet at Cheshire vets, Molly her name is. She is an exotics vet. I am so worried now though as she seems in so much pain poor thing, just hope she goes through the night and we can help her. My appointment is at 9.20 in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed for the poor little girl, I hate to see them in pain.:(
 
AWWW I also hope she's okay.

At least she sees an exotic tomorrow.

Keep her warm, offer fluids on a cotton bud as said by Sophie. Maybe give her a bowl of mushed up pellets too.
 
She has had some more CC and 0.5mls of water just, she seems to of relaxed a bit as though the pain has subsided, when we were travelling to the vets she was in her snuggle sac and turned onto her back with all four paws in the air, due to the pain we think. Hope to god we can get the problem sorted tommorrow. Thanks for all you kind messages.
 
I am sorry she doesn't seem at all well, if she's definitely eight weeks old and such a low weight there's definitely something not right there. Is she a rescue pig?

Hoping she does well overnight and the vet in Cheshire can help you in the morning. xx

P.S. Are you sure it was 0.5ml, and not 0.05ml of Metacam given?
 
Sorry yes it is 0.05mls, it is going to be a long night she seems in so much pain, even with the Metacam. I have to confess that she was a pet shop piggie, I have called them to tell them, they said that they would re-emburse any vets fees, I think it is going to be a hefty one it has already cost £30 at the vets tonight, I think they may have to take an x-ray to find out what this problem is tomorrow. Hope she can see it through to tommorrow.:(
 
I really hope so, she is really poorly, will let you all know what happens tommorrow. Don't think I will sleep tonight.
 
Sorry for the delay, but here is an update. I gave her some more CC and water about half ten last night, then put her in her snuggle sac with snugglesafe under to keep her warm and went to bed. Got up at about 3am to check on her and found that she had passed away. I got upset because I knew what she had gone through, picked her up and noticed that she had what looked like small maggots on the top of her head and on her shoulders. I am wondering now if it could have been worms or something similar that has been in her gut. Does anyone have any opinions. RIP poor Daisy.:(
 
Oh goodness, how awful :( I've never heard anything like that.

I'm so sorry she didn't make it. Was she in with other piggies at the petshop?

So sorry for your loss

Sophie
x
 
sophiew said:
Just a thought, could the 'small maggots' be lice? They look like tiny wriggly maggots

Sophie
x
Click to expand...
This is what the vets said that I spoke to this morning. They seemed to appear only after she died, and lots of them. I had to take her back to the pet shop, they looked her over and said they couldn't see anything. I did have to put her outside this morning in a box, as I didn't want things crawling round the house, and I wondered if they had dissapeared some where warm due to the cold. I did have another guinea that came with her, she is showing no signs, cos I have had a good look. The guinea that died seemed to walk with her bottom tucked under too, but she would if she had a tender tummy. I have never seen lice in guineas before, they are disgusting if that was them.:(
 
Lice are horrible things and look like tiny white grains of rice, they wriggle down the hair shaft towards the skin when disturbed. They can 'appear' (running lice) on ill or stressed piggies, so it would make sense in a way.

I'm so sorry.

Sophie
x
 
I'm so sorry the little guinea didn't make it. Sending hugs to you, not a nice day. xx
 
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