Can anyone advise

[Emma72]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum for posting but have been reading threads for a while, and they have been a wealth of information, I wish I wasn’t posting this...
I have recently got my twin girls 2 female piggies, we have had them 3 months and I would say they are around the 6 month mark. Whilst they aren’t from the same shop we bought separate cages and bonded them and now they are living quite happily together ,
Last week buttons seemed to feel thin, and stopped coming to sit on top of the hidey at breakfast and tea , waiting for its veggies.
I have noticed that it seems to be breathing funny or is it that I can see it’s heart beating. ..? I’ve not noticed this before. So I took it straight to the vet on Friday who was quite dismissive said it’s chest was clear it’s bowels sounded fine, it weighted it it was 450g said he could not find any thing wrong with it. . But agreed it’s breathing was fast, so said as a precaution he would give it a shot of antibiotics and ibrophen , 65 pound later... said If wanted to weigh it again the next day or bring it in if concerned which was the cost of another consultation fee. So I left feeling like I’ve over reacted
It’s still the same , it will eat cucumber when on my knee but I’ve not seen it come out and seek food?
Tonight I’ve decided to separate then to see if it comes+out to eat any thing as smiggle it’s cage mate is a greedy sod and I don’t know if it’s eating anything , so now I have a situation that the well pig is frantically trying to get across into the other cage chewing the bars and has been for the last hour I honestly don’t know what to do smiggle is clearly distressed being separated from buttons but I don’t know what to do the vet said not to split them? It is a very dominant pig and is defo the boss

Please can someone advise.?

 

[Lady Kelly]

The piggy who is ill needs to see a cavy savvy vet for a correct diagnosis and treatment. In the mean time you will need to step in with syringe feeding as it sounds like your piggy is getting no where near enough in them.
Not Eating, Weight Loss Over 50g And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

As for separation, its a difficult one to call. I've done it before when I wanted to see how much one piggy was eating on their own when ill but the last piggy I tried this with did not cope well on their own and ate less when separated from their cage mate so I ended up putting them back

 

[Emma72]

I’ve weighed it today and it’s put on 30g since Friday ? I just don’t know if it’s coming out to eat.? I was only separating them over night to assess in the morning as there are 2 other vets in our area I don’t know if to take it for another opinion somewhere else ?

 

[Freela]

Your piggie who is dropping weight and breathing rapidly definitely needs a second opinion from a vet who is used to seeing guinea pigs. It's always a good idea to call around and see which vets have experience with guinea pigs. A lot of vets are really only familiar with cats and dogs, but will take on guinea pigs as patients without really knowing much about them.

If your pig is not eating and is losing weight, you may be in a situation where you need to syringe-feed to supplement your pig. There is a sticky post at the top of the page that describes this in detail. You can mix usual pellets with water if you can't get your hands on a specific 'recovery food' for sick pigs. The goal is to keep their weight more stable and to keep their gut moving normally while they are ill.

As for separation, I can honestly say I've never separated for illness. By the time one looks sick, the other has already been exposed to the illness so it's late from a contagion point of view, and my pigs were more stressed by being separated than they were by one being sick. I would make sure there are two food bowls, etc. so that your ill pig isn't competing for food with the dominant pig, but I would say the decrease in weight is likely more from him being under the weather than from a cage-mate not giving him a chance at the food.

 

[Emma72]

Thank you so much for your replies, I’ve taken it to a different vet today and we now have antibiotics, anti inflammatory medication, fine grind critical care feed and diorolite , it’s chest is clear but is very nasally and is rapid / abdominal breathing, like suggested I ground pellets and syringe fed until I got to the vet, now we have swapped to the special food. It’s turned a corner on the food front and is absolutely starving has ate everything it could and the syringe feed, but the breathing is still there
So I’ve removed all bedding , sawdust, and straw from there cages, and now they are on puppy pads and fleece and I’ve bought some special hay that is meant to be less dusty
The vet didn’t know what it was it’s breathing is still laboured she said could be an allergy, sinusitis or it may has something stuck up it’s nose but don’t have scopes small enough to look
So I’ve made a little progress but defo not out the woods yet. .? Has anyone got any other suggestions I’m putting the piggies back together tomorrow now I know it’s eating again
I’m so desperate to make the little thing well again