I’ll apologise in advance for this long rambling typist but things are complicated and I felt people needed the back story.......
I would welcome any medical suggestions re my ongoing issues with Bella one of my guinea pigs. My exotic vet has been over seeing this whole process. I’m due to see her next week and thought it might be good to gather anyone else’s thoughts to discuss through with her.
Background Bella got severe diarrhoea a couple of months ago after 2 rounds of oral antibiotics for URI. We then moved onto nebulised antibiotic and nebulised decongestant. Cut out veg/grass started fibreplex, pro c, added in syringe feeding and after a week tried Carbodote for 5 days. URI cleared up but diarrhoea persisted. Stool sample had been taken and came back showing absolutely no bacteria ( good or bad). Used Imodium melts for 1 1/2 days big improvement...stools slowly returned to normal. Slowly introduced small amounts of veg/grass. All good.....
Was still on tiny amount of veg/grass when 3 weeks ago Bella was due to have an op to fully remove a large cyst on her side. Night before the op found ringworm on Bella. ( Had a cage mate with ring worm which had cleared up completely it obviously spores were still around so presumably caught from her). Vet confirmed ringworm so we cancelled the Op and Bella started straight onto Intrafungol as her cage mate had gone through variety of ringworm treatments to no avail and eventually ended up on Intrafungol which had finally ‘cleared’ the ringworm. I wanted it dealt with quickly so she could get back to getting her cyst op done.
Within a day of starting Intrafungol diarrhoea returned and has stayed. ( 2 weeks this time) Again stopped veg/grass, is on pro c, fibreplex, metacam, syringe feeding gave Imodium 1 1/2 days ( 4 days ago) diarrhoea improved. But slowly over next few days began to get looser. As she didn’t have her cyst removal op her cyst continues to grow, it looked about ready to pop so I visited the vet who drained it for me a week ago. It was not my normal vet as mine was away but this one felt the recent diarrhoea could be as a result of the Intrafungol she is on . I’m hoping when the Intrafungol stops her diarrhoea will improve however she is supposed to be staying on a longer course to make sure it’s clear so she can be safely operated on ( a further 2 weeks) . I was loathe to start Imodium again as it seems only a temporary measure.
So I started arrowroot powder treatment 2 days ago ( as suggested by Peter Gurney in his books). I also stopped syringe feeding and she actually put on weight when I weighted her yesterday. I plan to try the arrowroot for one more days but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be making any difference. So i just wondered if anyone had any other diarrhoea stopping tricks up their sleeve?
As I said I plan to discuss this with my vet on Tuesday.
I should just say she’s happy in herself and her stools are not liquid - more like toothpaste.
I would welcome any medical suggestions re my ongoing issues with Bella one of my guinea pigs. My exotic vet has been over seeing this whole process. I’m due to see her next week and thought it might be good to gather anyone else’s thoughts to discuss through with her.
Background Bella got severe diarrhoea a couple of months ago after 2 rounds of oral antibiotics for URI. We then moved onto nebulised antibiotic and nebulised decongestant. Cut out veg/grass started fibreplex, pro c, added in syringe feeding and after a week tried Carbodote for 5 days. URI cleared up but diarrhoea persisted. Stool sample had been taken and came back showing absolutely no bacteria ( good or bad). Used Imodium melts for 1 1/2 days big improvement...stools slowly returned to normal. Slowly introduced small amounts of veg/grass. All good.....
Was still on tiny amount of veg/grass when 3 weeks ago Bella was due to have an op to fully remove a large cyst on her side. Night before the op found ringworm on Bella. ( Had a cage mate with ring worm which had cleared up completely it obviously spores were still around so presumably caught from her). Vet confirmed ringworm so we cancelled the Op and Bella started straight onto Intrafungol as her cage mate had gone through variety of ringworm treatments to no avail and eventually ended up on Intrafungol which had finally ‘cleared’ the ringworm. I wanted it dealt with quickly so she could get back to getting her cyst op done.
Within a day of starting Intrafungol diarrhoea returned and has stayed. ( 2 weeks this time) Again stopped veg/grass, is on pro c, fibreplex, metacam, syringe feeding gave Imodium 1 1/2 days ( 4 days ago) diarrhoea improved. But slowly over next few days began to get looser. As she didn’t have her cyst removal op her cyst continues to grow, it looked about ready to pop so I visited the vet who drained it for me a week ago. It was not my normal vet as mine was away but this one felt the recent diarrhoea could be as a result of the Intrafungol she is on . I’m hoping when the Intrafungol stops her diarrhoea will improve however she is supposed to be staying on a longer course to make sure it’s clear so she can be safely operated on ( a further 2 weeks) . I was loathe to start Imodium again as it seems only a temporary measure.
So I started arrowroot powder treatment 2 days ago ( as suggested by Peter Gurney in his books). I also stopped syringe feeding and she actually put on weight when I weighted her yesterday. I plan to try the arrowroot for one more days but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be making any difference. So i just wondered if anyone had any other diarrhoea stopping tricks up their sleeve?
As I said I plan to discuss this with my vet on Tuesday.
I should just say she’s happy in herself and her stools are not liquid - more like toothpaste.
