elian
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi! Coincidentally the day after I make an account my sweet piggy may have a problem...
Emmie has had a lot of health issues since I got her from the pet store (I know, I know, I was uneducated at the time). When I bought her, she was quiet and liked to sleep in my lap and I did not know any better so I thought this was normal, but what I thought was a quiet sleepy piggy from day one was a pig with horrible pneumonia and I took her to the vet as soon as I realized what was wrong and was told she wouldn’t have made it though the night if I did not take her then. It took six weeks of syringing her water and critical care and antibiotics to help her get better and after she had diarrhea constantly from the first antibiotic and was losing weight quickly, she was switched to a second one which worked, cleared up the infection, but stunted her growth according to my vet (although she seems to have grown a lot since the last time we saw him so maybe not...)
She had a UTI in December most likely from the stress of traveling (we won’t be doing that again) since she does not pee when she’s in her travel carrier and I believe this probably caused the problem, and she fought that off with critical care and Baytril, but the diarrhea from the antibiotics was severe once again and she was losing weight so quickly that he gave her something to stop the diarrhea and I was again syringe feeding her critical care, water, and clear pedialyte as recommended by my vet.
He told me to watch out for her diet and make sure to limit calcium (spinach is one of her favorite veggies but no gorging on spinach allowed!) and I switched her to adult food at that point since she was around 6 months old and the young oxbow pellets are high in calcium.
She is not losing weight and she is eating all of her food just like she usually does, but there is white crust on her fleece where she has peed. I picked her up this morning and she also has white grit near her urethra. I know this is a sign of too much calcium in her diet, but I’m not sure what could be causing this...
I made sure that she still is peeing (although she might be peeing less than she usually does but I can’t be sure because she is very private when she pees...) She has been drinking a lot more water than she generally does but I thought it might have been due to the warming weather (the room stays around 70 but it’s getting warm outside) but my room is temperature controlled with the heater and AC and since these are automatic that does not make sense when I think about it.
She has constant access to hay and water and gets a small scoop (1/8th ish cup alltogether when both are combined) of oxbow pellets twice a day. She also eats spring mix veggies. I’m not sure what all of the leaves are but I know there’s green and red lettuce and spinach. I’ve been removing the spinach and giving it as only an occasional treat after December. I give her 1-2 oxbow treats per day (generally the apple and banana hearts because those are her favorite.)
Maybe I’m overworring but I really love her and don’t want to see her in pain again. I’m worried she will get a bladder stone or already has something wrong... My vet is no longer anywhere near where I’m living and I have no way to get there so I’ve been trying to get a hold of a new vet but I’ve had no luck so far.
What are the best ways in the mean time to reduce calcium further so that there will be less grit in her bladder?
Is there anything I can do to make sure there is not an immediate problem?
When I’m holding her she does not seem to be in pain and will flatten to a pig pancake like she usually does, but she seems a bit less active which knowing her is concerning since she is a chronic hyperactive happy wiggler except when napping. She is not sneezing or wheezing and has no signs of a uri or any other types of health problems that I know of. She is 10 months old and due to conditions a cannot control, my only pig until I can get my own apartment (hopefully soon.)
Emmie has had a lot of health issues since I got her from the pet store (I know, I know, I was uneducated at the time). When I bought her, she was quiet and liked to sleep in my lap and I did not know any better so I thought this was normal, but what I thought was a quiet sleepy piggy from day one was a pig with horrible pneumonia and I took her to the vet as soon as I realized what was wrong and was told she wouldn’t have made it though the night if I did not take her then. It took six weeks of syringing her water and critical care and antibiotics to help her get better and after she had diarrhea constantly from the first antibiotic and was losing weight quickly, she was switched to a second one which worked, cleared up the infection, but stunted her growth according to my vet (although she seems to have grown a lot since the last time we saw him so maybe not...)
She had a UTI in December most likely from the stress of traveling (we won’t be doing that again) since she does not pee when she’s in her travel carrier and I believe this probably caused the problem, and she fought that off with critical care and Baytril, but the diarrhea from the antibiotics was severe once again and she was losing weight so quickly that he gave her something to stop the diarrhea and I was again syringe feeding her critical care, water, and clear pedialyte as recommended by my vet.
He told me to watch out for her diet and make sure to limit calcium (spinach is one of her favorite veggies but no gorging on spinach allowed!) and I switched her to adult food at that point since she was around 6 months old and the young oxbow pellets are high in calcium.
She is not losing weight and she is eating all of her food just like she usually does, but there is white crust on her fleece where she has peed. I picked her up this morning and she also has white grit near her urethra. I know this is a sign of too much calcium in her diet, but I’m not sure what could be causing this...
I made sure that she still is peeing (although she might be peeing less than she usually does but I can’t be sure because she is very private when she pees...) She has been drinking a lot more water than she generally does but I thought it might have been due to the warming weather (the room stays around 70 but it’s getting warm outside) but my room is temperature controlled with the heater and AC and since these are automatic that does not make sense when I think about it.
She has constant access to hay and water and gets a small scoop (1/8th ish cup alltogether when both are combined) of oxbow pellets twice a day. She also eats spring mix veggies. I’m not sure what all of the leaves are but I know there’s green and red lettuce and spinach. I’ve been removing the spinach and giving it as only an occasional treat after December. I give her 1-2 oxbow treats per day (generally the apple and banana hearts because those are her favorite.)
Maybe I’m overworring but I really love her and don’t want to see her in pain again. I’m worried she will get a bladder stone or already has something wrong... My vet is no longer anywhere near where I’m living and I have no way to get there so I’ve been trying to get a hold of a new vet but I’ve had no luck so far.
What are the best ways in the mean time to reduce calcium further so that there will be less grit in her bladder?
Is there anything I can do to make sure there is not an immediate problem?
When I’m holding her she does not seem to be in pain and will flatten to a pig pancake like she usually does, but she seems a bit less active which knowing her is concerning since she is a chronic hyperactive happy wiggler except when napping. She is not sneezing or wheezing and has no signs of a uri or any other types of health problems that I know of. She is 10 months old and due to conditions a cannot control, my only pig until I can get my own apartment (hopefully soon.)
