Advice needed please : (

[lewpylew]

Hi everyone,
I am mummy to 2 baby guinea pigs, Peppa and Sammy who are almost 6 weeks old.
Back on the 3rd October I got home from work and noticed Peppa had a cut on her face. I took her straight to the vets and she was put on baytril to stop it getting infected and had her nails cut.
Three days later I noticed more scabs on her and dandruff like fleks and I asked about mites. Both guinea pigs were given a drop on the back of their neck.
Fast forward to Tuesday and Sammy has 2 big scabs on her, one looks infected. They were both given an anti-itch injection and another mite drop plus Sammy was put on baytril.
All seemwe fine til yesterday morning when I noticed she had diarrhoea and was bleeding from her bottom.
I took her straigh to the vets and two checked her over and basically said keep her on th medicine and see what happens.

I am so so upset. Have hardly slept and cannot stop crying : ( on the plus side she was still wanting to eat and drink yesterday and was being cheeky and inquisitive. I just don't know what I should be doing as regards food. She wants food but I don't want to upset her tummy?

 

[CandyFloss]

Hi,

Sorry to hear your piggies are poorly. Did the vet give you any probiotics to give with the Baytril ? I think one of the side effects of Baytril is diarrhea and a probiotic can help with that.

If you didnt get one you can get one online or in a pet store.

I think too much of the watery veggies (eg cucumber etc) can also cause diarrhea - I would give plenty of hay and pellets though.

Hopefully more experienced people will be along soon with advice.

x

PS Welcome to the forum

 

[lewpylew]

Well just been out to check them and albeit it's still a little dark she seems a bit better. Where she was sitting there are proper poos and her bottom looks like there is no fresh mess so fingers crossed she is going to be ok. I do hope so : )
I am so glad I found this place!

 

[Lady Kelly]

Oh bless her its not easy work being a guinea pig slave, they steal our hearts and make us worry Are the scabs in the same area or different areas of her body? Do you know if your vet is a specialist in guinea pigs/exotics? A good quality vet is hard to beat these days and well worth their weight in gold when it comes to these fur babies as they are very good at hiding their illnesses.

If the scabs are in the same place then it could be that she's caught it and been scratching making it worse which is what happened to my bumble (pic below) and she had flakes of dry skin around the scab and because of her scratching it ended up above her eye too. She ended up on baytril and metcam to stop the itching which worked fine

 

[lewpylew]

A little update from me, both piggies are looking a lot better. They are nearly 6 months old, not 6 weeks as I wrote before(tells how stressed I was).
Sammy has now been on her medicine since wednesday and after a mad panic on Friday with diarrhoea and a bleeding bottom and I really did think the worst : (
After a few days on hay and pellets I have slowly started introducing food and she seems much better.
Big scabs have dried up so hopefully those nasty mites are on their way out : )

 

[CandyFloss]

Oh thats great news They can be such a worry when they are poorly

Thanks for the update

xx

 

[Glynis]

Hi and welcome to you, Sammy and Peppa to the forum
OMG i'm really sorry your first visit has been cause of illness
You've done really well to get onto it so quickly!
You have my utmost sympathy i know what it's like to have a sick piggie and yes sleep is the last thing on your mind!
When things have settled down would love for you to post some pigtures of both girls in our stories/photo's section x)
Take care, keep us all updated,

Glynis, Velvet and Onyx x